This Interlull gives us an opportunity to review Unai Emery’s league performance.
First a look at Arsenal’s record after the first 12 games of every Premier League season.
| Arsenal EPL History after first 12 games | ||||||||
| Season | GP | W | D | L | Pts | GF | GA | GD |
| 1992/3 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 20 | 15 | 12 | 3 |
| 1993/4 | 12 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 22 | 12 | 6 | 6 |
| 1994/5 | 12 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 18 | 17 | 13 | 4 |
| 1995/6 | 12 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 24 | 16 | 6 | 10 |
| 1996/7 | 12 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 25 | 24 | 10 | 14 |
| 1997/8 | 12 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 24 | 27 | 10 | 17 |
| 1998/9 | 12 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 23 | 14 | 5 | 9 |
| 1999/0 | 12 | 8 | 1 | 3 | 25 | 20 | 12 | 8 |
| 2000/1 | 12 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 27 | 23 | 10 | 13 |
| 2001/2 | 12 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 20 | 25 | 14 | 11 |
| 2002/3 | 12 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 26 | 27 | 13 | 14 |
| 2003/4 | 12 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 30 | 25 | 10 | 15 |
| 2004/5 | 12 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 27 | 32 | 13 | 19 |
| 2005/6 | 12 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 23 | 19 | 10 | 9 |
| 2006/7 | 12 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 22 | 20 | 7 | 13 |
| 2007/8 | 12 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 30 | 27 | 10 | 17 |
| 2008/9 | 12 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 23 | 25 | 13 | 12 |
| 2009/10 | 12 | 8 | 1 | 3 | 25 | 36 | 15 | 21 |
| 2010/11 | 12 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 23 | 24 | 11 | 13 |
| 2011/12 | 12 | 7 | 1 | 4 | 22 | 25 | 22 | 3 |
| 2012/13 | 12 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 19 | 23 | 13 | 10 |
| 2013/14 | 12 | 9 | 1 | 2 | 28 | 24 | 10 | 14 |
| 2014/15 | 12 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 17 | 20 | 15 | 5 |
| 2015/16 | 12 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 26 | 22 | 9 | 13 |
| 2016/17 | 12 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 25 | 25 | 12 | 13 |
| 2017/18 | 12 | 7 | 1 | 4 | 22 | 22 | 16 | 6 |
| 2018/19 | 12 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 24 | 26 | 15 | 11 |
| 2019/20 | 12 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 17 | 16 | 17 | -1 |
Based on previous seasons Unai’s performance in the first 12 games of 2018/19 was acceptable and gave us hope for a positive change of guard and boded well for Arsenal’s future.
The start to the 2019/20 season has washed those hopes away; he has equalled the lowest amount of wins (4) the lowest goals scored since 1998/99 (16) the second highest goals against (17) and equalled the lowest amount of points (17).
Here are the results of his last 19 Premier League games; I chose 19 as its equal to half of a season.
| Arsenal’s last 19 games Premier League Games | ||||||||
| Oppo. | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | |
| Everton | A | 1 | 0 | 1 | -1 | 0 | ||
| Watford | A | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | ||
| Crystal Palace | H | 1 | 2 | 3 | -1 | 0 | ||
| Wolves | A | 1 | 1 | 3 | -2 | 0 | ||
| Leicester | A | 1 | 0 | 3 | -3 | 0 | ||
| Brighton | H | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | ||
| Burnley | A | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | ||
| Newcastle | A | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Burnley | H | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Liverpool | A | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | -2 | 0 |
| Tottenham | H | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| Watford | A | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| Aston Villa | H | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Man United | A | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Bournm | H | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Sheffield U | A | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | -1 | 0 |
| Crystal Palace | H | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| Wolves | H | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Leicester City | A | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | -2 | 0 |
| Away Games | A | 3 | 2 | 6 | 10 | 17 | -7 | 11 |
| Home Games | H | 3 | 4 | 1 | 14 | 12 | 2 | 13 |
| Total Games | 6 | 6 | 7 | 24 | 29 | -5 | 24 | |
This is a shocking indictment of his abject performance as Arsenal manager!
We have 24 points out of a possible 57 or 42.1% of the points available, goals for average of 1.26 per game and goals against average of 1.53. Home advantage looks like a thing of the past as it is as poor as our away results.
Here is what a full season of those results would equal:-
W12, D12, L14, GF48, GA58, GD -10, Points 48.
That looks like mid to lower table mediocrity to me but it seems that our B.O.D have a different opinion and have given him a vote of confidence.
Over to you…………..
GunnerN5
Bergkampesque 
Cheers GN5, they hurt the eyes these stats. It looks poor, it is poor and it is hard to see how things will improve. Is this season a write off already? I am going to take a step back and invest less emotions into our team for the remainder of the season. The one thing we need to keep doing is support the players and hope for good individual progress, even though it will be hard if the ‘system’ is nowhere near as good as it could be.
The other thing to point out is this season’s goal difference is poorest of all in PL history! -1!!!
Individual progress counts as nothing if there is no togetherness, TA.
GN5. Thank you.
That makes ugly reading. If there was any sign of a developing plan then this may be acceptable, as it is, we lurch from one horror show to the next and watch fine players struggle to work with UE’s tactics.
We are crying out for Mr Wenger-type genius,; as Joni Mitchell says ” You don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone”.
Well, from the next manager’s point of view by giving up this season we gain maturity on Saka, Guendouzi, Martinelli, Nelson, Saliba, Nketiah, ESR and others; will integrate Tierney into the team, but will lose one of the last prolific years of Auba, the chance to reinvent Ozil, and might drive away players like Mavropanos, Xhaka, Ceballos and Torreira.
Here is Unai Emery’s record of achievement as a Manager.
Sevilla
UEFA Europa League: 2013–14, 2014–15,2015–16
Paris Saint-Germain
Ligue 1: 2017–18
Coupe de France: 2016–17, 2017–18
Coupe de la Ligue: 2016–17, 2017–18
Trophée des Champions: 2016, 2017
Arsenal
UEFA Europa League runner-up: 2018–19
Individual
Miguel Muñoz Trophy (Segunda División): 2005–06, 2006–07
La Liga Manager of the Month: March 2014,[60] January 2015
European Coach of the Season: 2013–14
UNFP Manager of the Year: 2017–18
………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
Managerial record by team
Team P W D L Pts %
Lorca Deportiva 70 34 16 20 56.2%
Almería 84 39 20 25 54.4%
Valencia 220 107 58 55 57.4%
Spartak Moscow 26 12 4 10 51.3%
Sevilla 205 106 43 56 58.7%
P S G 114 87 15 12 80.7%
Arsenal 2018/19 38 21 7 10 61.4%
Arsenal 2019/20 12 4 5 3 47.2%
Totals: 769 410 168 191 60.6%
Oops the record by team has collapsed – but if you have the patience the first number after Deportiva is the games played the last number is the points won %.
Unai Emery’s record indicates that he has a solid achievement in various cup competitions but he has only one league victory in his history and that was with all the riches of PSG at his disposal.
Obviously I rely heavily on stats to form my opinions but in the end result the stats are his resume and right now it’s the resume/cv of a manager on the brink that I would like to see him pushed over – I’ve had enough of him.
Hey GN5… Good for you for putting together your tables…There’s nothing like tinkering with such things to get an appreciation of, er, situations…
No time for me (for such things) at the moment…and, who knows, maybe this is rock-bottom and the board standing behind the manager will get the manager standing behind his players…and that will get the fans standing behind all the characters (manager, players–even X captains or guys who make–even point costing–mistakes) and then our players will play to their potential and bounces will go our way and we’ll regress (or progress…) back to the mean…and all will be happy by the holidays…and we’ll get up (by hook or by crook, EL or PL) for a CL spot in the new year and this (also new) decade will be the Roaring Twenties for Emery’s Arsenal…
😀
Hope…
Once we’re done blaming (everything in sight)…It’s (maybe) all we’ve got left….
😀
Hope…
🙂
Real optimism? Nah, unlikely.
Sarcasm? Hmm, more than likely…
Spiking your espresso? Can’t hurt, can it? 😉
Blaming? Yeah, what generally happens when something enjoyable is wilfully crushed into gravel — then passed off as the new standard.
jw1
GN5, you really took time to put all of this together. To be honest, we’ve all seen Emery’s performance indicators looking poorly; what I have feared was someone putting all together like this to reveal the stark reality that he is not the right man for this job and hasn’t shown any thing to give room for optimism.
It grates even more when you know the club hierarchy probably have similar stats to review, for decision making, yet come out to back him. Like I’d stated, I have no problem with this move because the whole club needed to show solidarity. But, they had better be seeing something we cannot see; I will be happy to be proved wrong and see the club staying up there.
17HT,
Thank you for your comment.
I have to go all the way back to the period between 1953 and 1968 to remember when I felt this badly about our team. That was our wilderness period when we had little or no hope under the incumbent managers. I usually a positive individual but the only thing I feel positive about with this edition of Arsenal are our young players.
Emery is responsible for our situation and does not appear to have the wherewith all to move us up another one or two levels. We are almost 6 games behind Liverpool with 12 games played – that is nothing short of disgraceful.
Emery speaks in pigeon English and our performances are also unintelligible.
Gooneris,
Over the years I’ve put together spreadsheets detailing every single Arsenal game – I manipulate them to create the various reports I use for blogging.
I have so much detail that I know who scored every league goal – a tad over the top I guess.
Further evidence of Emery’s role in our down turn.
………………………………………………………………………………………..
Henrikh Mkhitaryan has pinpointed Unai Emery’s tactics as the reason for his poor form for Arsenal.
Mkhitaryan, signed in a swap deal with Manchester United, only played 25 Premier League games in Emery’s first campaign last term, scoring six goals and assisting four others in that time.
The midfielder is currently on loan at Roma having been shipped out by the Gunners in September and he has played seven times for the Serie A side to date.
Speaking to FourFourTwo, Mkhitaryan revealed that he was asked to change his role by Emery which was part of the reason for his downturn in form.
[Emery] paid more attention to tactics, so my role changed,” the 30-year-old said.
“I was starting as a winger, but had to build play with the defensive midfielder. It’s why I couldn’t contribute as many goals or assists.
“I like to play more freely and move wherever there’s space, but you have to do the job that the manager asks.”
N5 … spread sheets and all … you are in outer space having some other kind of fun though tragically one is made to descend every now and then to the hard facts of things like Emery and an under performing team. You read a bit like my life but perhaps you hit greater highs and lows than me. It’s a tough journey that cannot that’s got no escape side road.
My summary of Emery is that he gets lost in too many innocuous details, missing the kernel of things. He is the very opposite of Wenger who understood the power of simplicity in coaching and of course in all life. Unfortunately many could not understand that less can be more so Wenger was hounded out. These days I get sick when I hear tales of hours of video study and analysis. Emery should spend those hours studying his players so he can know how to get the best out of them. But he wouldn’t. He is lost in his own Cloud 9.
You go, GN5! I admire a man with collections and detail. 👏🏽👏🏽👍🏽
PE, worse still, I can’t help but feel Emery goes into too much detail about how dangerous the opposition are; the reason we play against every side like we were up against Barca or Man City. The players appear to be walking on egg shells when playing in the EPL…. seeking the approval (or otherwise) of the Manager in-game.
When Wenger spoke about allowing the players use their intelligence in-game, it wasn’t so much because “he doesn’t do tactics” as most fans posited (in the not so good years), but because he knew the danger of making players feel shackled in the thick of things.
The Premier League site today featured something positive about us from the archives:
https://www.premierleague.com/video/single/1493729
GN5, as per Mustafi last season, his stats were good but he conceded goals that made us lose or draw matches. That’s why I never see a match in stats form.
Not saying that what you wrote is not good, it is still a brilliant piece and the thought process is quite well worked out, as well as the stats, but sometimes to a manager and a team in this form is for something to spark the team playing well.
What is it? It is not stats or a good video analysis. It is how to calm the players down and discuss internally about the best position a player have, where he can play to better help the team, his strongest attribute, his best formation, who he plays best with beside him, etc. The team should work this out with Ozil and Pepe in the centre, and then work out who plays best around them, and who they have a good relationship with, to form the starting XI.
Barca had a team that works best with Messi, and that’s why they are still a formidable team. We need to stick to our Total Football that Wenger had devised, and centred around Ozil and Pepe. If this is successful, Emery will keep his job and we will all be happy.
PE, on November 16, 2019 at 16:29 you wrote: “He is the very opposite of Wenger who understood the power of simplicity in coaching and of course in all life.”
Very well summarised. One cannot be all too worried about something and forget about other things in front of you. Seeing the bigger picture and all dependencies is what Emery should be doing.
njk,
I’m attempting to get a measure of our overall performance under the “leadership” of Unai Emery and I consider that our final results/standings are his report card. Single game results and player performances are merely the symptoms of our problem.
He is infatuated with tactics and video’s and force feeds them to his players. High skill players like Ozil, Pepe, Micky, Auba, Lacca need to be allowed to utilize those skills on the field of play and not be restricted and measured by his “do as i say” attitude.
One of the main reasons that I have negative views towards him is that he has taken the joy of out the game with his tactical views (incessant back passing drives me insane). I just love seeing the Ozil’s, Auba’s, and Pepe type of player strutting their stuff – but I get no joy out of tactics which mute their skill sets.
I agree GN5. And Wenger has certainly let his players work out on how to win the battle, and not “we should stick to what plan, blah blah blah”.
However, the board has faith in Emery, so we will wait and see.
njk,
I wonder if they have faith in Emery or are averse to change?
Thinking back, maybe the latter.
This may be a little left field but Arsenal already have a very successful manager within the club – Joe Montemurro.
Can it be so different to coach women to men? Probably, but this chap has been hugely successful in Australia and at AFC, he has a bright future ands AFC should be moving him upwards in the coaching staff.
I watched the 2-0 victory over the Miscreants yesterday and it was a joyous 90+ minutes. No diving, no feigning injury, no VAR, just two teams playing attacking football.
No diving, no feigning injury, no VAR, just two teams playing attacking football.
That sounds like football used to be Erik, Oh how I wish we could see that in the EPL.
Erik, I heard about the Australian coach on another blog and he was spoken of in glowing terms. Long shot? maybe – but Emery is a spent longer shot!
TA,
SENT A MAIL TO YOUR BOX.
Cheers PE, it will go out tomorrow or Thursday.
New Post New Post 🙂