Top 4 Trophy Run-in.

[I am invisible]

Whether it’s by luck or judgement, it looks like Emery has somehow managed to keep the squad fresh for the run in with all of his early-season rotations, random formation trials, and by freezing out certain key players for long spells.

It also looks a lot like he’s been keeping a consistent system under his hat until recently, giving the rest of the league no real chance to observe it and pick out weaknesses? We’re still beatable, of course, but at least it’s forcing teams to have to outfight and outplay us instead of parking the bus and grabbing an easy 3 points through an obvious and easily-exploited flaw.

Risky strategy, but I’m not sure anyone knows what to make of us right now (us included!)

[SMatthews]

I’m not sure many other managers getting us into this position would be classed as being lucky. He clearly knows what he’s doing, and has figured out his squad and what they can give him over the course of the season. He’s also played the Ozil thing very well - getting him motivated and playing well on a consistent basis (so far).

[Mac76]

Well full credit to Emery now, we're looking in better form for the run in than the teams around us - let's just hope we can keep it together now and avoid any key injuries

But i'm still not sure about the over-caution around christmas which saw us looking shaky and going on a bad run - i know we had some injuries but i still think trying to be so defensive was wrong given especially at that time our best hope was to score more goals than the opposition rather than successfully defend a 1-0 lead

And actually i'm not convinced he had to freeze out Ozil to the extent he did but maybe they've both learnt something from the episode.

But anyway if we finish third all is forgiven

[I am invisible]

Credit to him - he’s worked out a system that clearly fits the players we have, and he’s been pragmatic enough to roll with it, even though it’s not his preferred formation.

Whether it was intentional, or just a by-product of experimenting with his new squad, he’s managed to remedy one of our major flaws: our crippling predictability. It’s not been a golden bullet for 3 points every week, but it has it least meant that opponents have to think a little harder than just parking the bus and hitting us on the counter now. And now we’re finally revealing a preferred system, I’m hoping it’s too late in the day for anyone to really analyse and exploit it?

Looking forward to seeing how we evolve next season - even if we bring in the players Emery needs to revert to his favoured 4231, it’s good to know we have this 3412 already nailed down if we need to mix things up.

[KSE Comedy Club]

I for one have judged Emery a little more harshly than perhaps I should this season, but that is definitely a hang over from the Wenger era & he is doing a good job so far. The Christmas period was a odd period and as Mac says, we were unnecessarily over cautious when we didn't need to be and could have resulted in us being in a more comfortable position now points wise if we hadn't, but I would still take where we are now over where we were last season any day.

The real key however, will be what we do in the summer with ins & outs, as to where we go from here and how Emery fairs next season imo.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

Off topic......don't think Santi is quite as finished as many thought. Another of Globalgunner's pearls of wisdom.

[Marc Overmars]

Great to see him back playing again but I don’t blame the club for letting him go.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

At the start of the season I thought we'd finish 5th, so I'd be delighted to be wrong and we finish 3rd....which to be honest, is looking most likely.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

Great to see him back playing again but I don’t blame the club for letting him go.

I'm not up in arms over it....but we brought in a dud like Litch and got rid of Santi? A player of that talent and contribution deserves a proper send off which to this day he has not had.....not to mention the fact our medical team couldn't get him right again and he had to push things to be seen in Spain to get fixed. I read he's even played 37 games this season. Had we kept him, I'm pretty sure everybody would be patting the club on the back now for exceptional decision making.

But yeah....what's happened has has happened. Happy for him he's back playing.

[Marc Overmars]

Maybe if Wenger was still here Santi may have been offered another deal but yeah what’s done is done. Unfortunate circumstance all round but as long as he gets to see out his career on his terms than good for him.