So there we have it, the league is now finished and we can conduct a quantitative

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Originally Posted by AFC East

Did we get better in the league as Emery's influence had more time to take root?

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If anything, the reverse. That said, injuries didn't help and we looked a much better side in the EL. We still blew a very easily attainable top 4 spot though

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Originally Posted by PSRB

If anything, the reverse. That said, injuries didn't help and we looked a much better side in the EL. We still blew a very easily attainable top 4 spot though

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...because the vast majority of the team are powder-puff pansies, p

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Originally Posted by AFC East

Did we get better in the league as Emery's influence had more time to take root?

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So this is your new approach is it? :hehe:

When we play really well at the start of the season it's nothing to do with Emery but towards the end of the season when we go through a difficult period that's because Emery's incompetence finally took effect? :clap:

Would the other option be to admit you were prematurely harsh on Unai and he deserves a chance? That way you could start supporting the club again. :shrug:

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Originally Posted by WES

analysis of how we stand relative to last year.

League standing
2018 - 6th
2019 - 5th

Total Points
2018 - 63
2019 - 70

Points behind Champions
2018 - 37
2019 - 28

Points behind 4th place
2018 - 12
2019 - 1

Goals for
2018 - 74
2019 - 73

Goals against
2018 - 51
2019 - 51

So a marginal improvement with the annual decline we were seeing under Wenger clearly arrested. Put in the context that it was Emery's first season where he had to - mostly - use Wenger's players, and he was implementing a new system and this strikes me as a very credibly first season return. Consider further that we we re doing much better than this when we were hit with long term defensive injuries which exposed the lack of depth in the squad and it looks even better, I think.

And now we have a European final with a chance to win our first European trophy in 25 years and a return to the Champions League. A couple of defenders and an attacking player and we should be in a good position to press on further next year.

All terribly exciting to see how Unai does, one way or the other. :thumbup:

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To be honest, your stats suggest that very little has changed.

Have we improved? Total points suggest a little. Goals scored and conceded suggest not really.

Regardless of whether you are a Wenger in or Wenger out man, the consensus was that we came into the season with a leaky defence. Emery should have patched the leaks a little and made us harder to beat. He hasn't been able to change a thing in that respect. You can blame the players individually, you can blame the team spirit, you can blame the lack of funds etc etc. A decent manager should have been able to make at least a marginal improvement with these players. At the very least, fewer goals conceded. Chelsea and Spurs conceded 39 goals each.

The only thing Wenger leaving last summer was going to tell us was whether the issues at the club were caused by him or the lack of attention/interest/competence of the board. One year on, it seems that we are still trying to figure this out. This summer we should find out a little more.

Looking at the wider picture..... Was Emery our first choice or was he the only person that accepted the job with possible financial (or otherwise) restrictions imposed by the owner/board? Were there any restrictions (we can probably work that out based on prize, sponsorship, tv, gate money and spending of other clubs) or was the money available not spent wisely? Were there other candidates and we they offered the post. If we were under-performing, why wouldn't a top manager see some easy objectives? Did they turn us down and why? What about behind the scenes, Gazidis, Sven etc. How much influenced that have?

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Originally Posted by WES

So this is your new approach is it? :hehe:

When we play really well at the start of the season it's nothing to do with Emery but towards the end of the season when we go through a difficult period that's because Emery's incompetence finally took effect? :clap:

Would the other option be to admit you were prematurely harsh on Unai and he deserves a chance? That way you could start supporting the club again. :shrug:

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It's not an approach, it was simply a question. You can contend that Emery had more influence over the team at the start of the season if you choose.

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Originally Posted by Alberto Balsam Rodriguez

To be honest, your stats suggest that very little has changed.

Have we improved? Total points suggest a little. Goals scored and conceded suggest not really.

Regardless of whether you are a Wenger in or Wenger out man, the consensus was that we came into the season with a leaky defence. Emery should have patched the leaks a little and made us harder to beat. He hasn't been able to change a thing in that respect. You can blame the players individually, you can blame the team spirit, you can blame the lack of funds etc etc. A decent manager should have been able to make at least a marginal improvement with these players. At the very least, fewer goals conceded. Chelsea and Spurs conceded 39 goals each.

The only thing Wenger leaving last summer was going to tell us was whether the issues at the club were caused by him or the lack of attention/interest/competence of the board. One year on, it seems that we are still trying to figure this out. This summer we should find out a little more.

Looking at the wider picture..... Was Emery our first choice or was he the only person that accepted the job with possible financial (or otherwise) restrictions imposed by the owner/board? Were there any restrictions (we can probably work that out based on prize, sponsorship, tv, gate money and spending of other clubs) or was the money available not spent wisely? Were there other candidates and we they offered the post. If we were under-performing, why wouldn't a top manager see some easy objectives? Did they turn us down and why? What about behind the scenes, Gazidis, Sven etc. How much influenced that have?

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Very reasonable post. My view is that Emery almost certainly wasn't our first choice and he hasn't done anything to stop us choosing someone higher up the list if they are available.

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Originally Posted by PSRB

If anything, the reverse. That said, injuries didn't help and we looked a much better side in the EL. We still blew a very easily attainable top 4 spot though

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Exactly. We performed well in some big key games, but I'd argue that neither Napoli or Valencia are remotely close to the top 4 in the Premiership. It was a great opportunity to finish 3rd, but we choked.

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Originally Posted by Viva Prat Vegas

John Bunnell "Where does the fact we had our worst run of results since the 60s in the league stand? And also first round exits in the FA Cup & League Cup? Season has been utter dross."

Somewhere alongside that run of 11 wins on the spin in that 20+ match unbeaten sequence

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That was simply the new manager rejuvenation affect. Same happened with Ole at United. I think we should be more concerned with the worst run of results since the 60s. That is an atrocious for any manager to reside over.

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Originally Posted by AFC East

It's not an approach, it was simply a question. You can contend that Emery had more influence over the team at the start of the season if you choose.

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I have contended nothing of the kind. We did add reading to your areas for improvement, didn't we?

I contend that Emery should be judged on the entire season, all 38 games including the 11 wins in a row, the 20+ games in a row undefeated and the poor finish.

Any rational, logical person who understood anything about football would do exactly that. Not you and Bunnell, of course.

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Originally Posted by John Bunnell

That was simply the new manager rejuvenation affect. Same happened with Ole at United.

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The blip of good results at Man Yanited was due to the relief of Mourinho leaving rather than the arrival of Solksjaer.

Solksjaer will be sacked next season. mmw.