Match Reaction v Citeh (away).

[Özim]

We’re pretty shit and I think some of Emery’s decisions have been questionable but he’s really working with scraps here. I don’t think we should come down on him like a ton of bricks just yet.

We probably only have 3 maybe 4 players that could get into the other teams in the top 6. We need huge investment but it’s just not going to happen.

The Europa League is where it’s at for us this season. Emery could really lay down a marker for himself and the future if we could somehow win that. I highly doubt we will but that’s got to be the target even more so than 4th.

True but if we look at yesterday for a start the lineup was wrong, it was really negative with only Iwobi (who has no footballing intelligence and pretty much caused 2 goals they scored) as a creator, you're always going to struggle with that, especially given we don't have a good defence at all, I still think given our resources, Ramsey and/or Ozil should have played as let's face it noone else creates anything for the strikers.

The subs I also thought could have been brought on earlier, then 2nd half we went 45+ minutes without a shot on goal which is pretty poor to be honest, we're not one of the promoted clubs we should be getting shots on goal, it's pretty disappointing and you've got no chance if you can't even shoot towards goal.

Then there's Lichsteiner, we all know he's awful, it would actually be better to play with 10 men than with this guy, we could have played Jenkinson (also rubbish but better than Lichsteiner) or stuck Mustafi at right back and played Mavropanos (my favoured option even though Mustafi isn't that great, he's played there for Germany).

The way I see it there were a lot of errors he made yesterday and they gave us no chance of getting anything, in reality the score flattered us, City weren't that great but had a fair few chances, Leno made quite a few decent saves.

I agree Emery has had it tough, but it would be better if he didn't compound it with basic managerial errors as well.

[Özim]

I have a question though, who here trusts Emery to get it right assuming he is given some kind of backing to build "HIS" team / squad?

I question Emery has what it takes to take us to the next level if I am being brutally honest.

I don't entirely trust him now, but that's based on his decision making recently, including signing Suarez a middle of the road guy in a position we didn't even really need that much, he chose to sign him instead of focussing on defence (which he admitted he's fine with - a shocking admission if you ask me based on everything we've seen) or even a winger, we're actually crying out for width.

These are the kind of things that make me sceptical, if he couldn't find a winger or defender then fine (although there were players he could have got) but why bother with Suarez, we don't actually need him and he's not a long term option either IMO looking at his career.

[SMatthews]

I expected a defeat because we can't compete with the best teams in this league, we all know that and we all know that we are a level or two below them.

As Zim has stated, Emery makes some very dubious team selections and his tactics at times leave a lot to be desired.

I am prepared to give Emery time and so far he has done so great work mixed with questionable work.

I have a question though, who here trusts Emery to get it right assuming he is given some kind of backing to build "HIS" team / squad?

I question Emery has what it takes to take us to the next level if I am being brutally honest.

With the current set up and investment, there is no next level. We might get back to doing what we did under Wenger, which is top four and playing champions league, but aside from the cups, that’s about it. Unless we sell big and reinvest, whether now or in the near future, there’s a limit to what we can do as a club now. Any manager we hire will be limited.

[Mac76]

True but if we look at yesterday for a start the lineup was wrong, it was really negative with only Iwobi (who has no footballing intelligence and pretty much caused 2 goals they scored) as a creator, you're always going to struggle with that, especially given we don't have a good defence at all, I still think given our resources, Ramsey and/or Ozil should have played as let's face it noone else creates anything for the strikers.

I think his team selections are partly guided by factors other than the best players or lineup - he favours limited players who will no doubt be loyal to him in return for getting games - Mustafi, Iwobi, Xhaka (now mercifuly dropped admittedly), Shitsteiner

what happened at PSG says it all - he can't control the big egos - trouble is they are often also the best players

look at how Soljaer has brought the best out of Pogba - find me a Man Ure fan who's complaining about that £89m now...

[Özim]

I think his team selections are partly guided by factors other than the best players or lineup - he favours limited players who will no doubt be loyal to him in return for getting games - Mustafi, Iwobi, Xhaka (now mercifuly dropped admittedly), Shitsteiner

what happened at PSG says it all - he can't control the big egos - trouble is they are often also the best players

look at how Soljaer has brought the best out of Pogba - find me a Man Ure fan who's complaining about that £89m now...

Yes that seems to be the case which is worrying, we had enough of favouritism with Wenger the last thing we want is another manager who does the same, those players you mention should be nowhere near the first team.

I agree about PSG as well, he couldn't deal with the big players at all, but as you say they are usually the best players so that's an issue, Suarez in many ways is one of those small club players who'll do what he's told without asking questions, trouble is we're not Sevilla who with all due respect are a small club, I don't know whether he's more suited to managing a small club, some managers are.

[Marc Overmars]

True but if we look at yesterday for a start the lineup was wrong, it was really negative with only Iwobi (who has no footballing intelligence and pretty much caused 2 goals they scored) as a creator, you're always going to struggle with that, especially given we don't have a good defence at all, I still think given our resources, Ramsey and/or Ozil should have played as let's face it noone else creates anything for the strikers.

The subs I also thought could have been brought on earlier, then 2nd half we went 45+ minutes without a shot on goal which is pretty poor to be honest, we're not one of the promoted clubs we should be getting shots on goal, it's pretty disappointing and you've got no chance if you can't even shoot towards goal.

Then there's Lichsteiner, we all know he's awful, it would actually be better to play with 10 men than with this guy, we could have played Jenkinson (also rubbish but better than Lichsteiner) or stuck Mustafi at right back and played Mavropanos (my favoured option even though Mustafi isn't that great, he's played there for Germany).

The way I see it there were a lot of errors he made yesterday and they gave us no chance of getting anything, in reality the score flattered us, City weren't that great but had a fair few chances, Leno made quite a few decent saves.

I agree Emery has had it tough, but it would be better if he didn't compound it with basic managerial errors as well.

I find the Ozil situation bizarre. I don't know if they've had a falling out or if Emery simply doesn't rate him, either way we don't have the options to replace him at this moment. He will have to be sold now because you can't keep expensive deadwood like this, it's just haemorrhaging money. The Ramsey thing I have some sympathy for because that was out of his hands and now he's reluctant to use him. I agree both should be playing because without them we lose a lot from our midfield in terms of forward play.

I can't be bothered to dissect this game because even if we had gone with the best players/tactics etc the chances are we still would have been beaten easily. City have better players than us in every position and have been competing for the top prizes for years. We are so far behind right now.

The jury is very much out on Emery but he needs to be backed in the summer, otherwise it will be the same old story. You could be Pep in charge of this squad and results wouldn't be much better.

[selassie]

I don't entirely trust him now, but that's based on his decision making recently, including signing Suarez a middle of the road guy in a position we didn't even really need that much, he chose to sign him instead of focussing on defence (which he admitted he's fine with - a shocking admission if you ask me based on everything we've seen) or even a winger, we're actually crying out for width.

These are the kind of things that make me sceptical, if he couldn't find a winger or defender then fine (although there were players he could have got) but why bother with Suarez, we don't actually need him and he's not a long term option either IMO looking at his career.

Yep, I agree. Signing that Denis Suarez at the expense of strengthening our defence was a bit "Wenger-ish" IMO!

I don't know, I'm still backing Emery but I hope he makes the necessary required changes in the summer or at least goes someway towards really trying to tackle our problem areas.

[selassie]

With the current set up and investment, there is no next level. We might get back to doing what we did under Wenger, which is top four and playing champions league, but aside from the cups, that’s about it. Unless we sell big and reinvest, whether now or in the near future, there’s a limit to what we can do as a club now. Any manager we hire will be limited.

I agree, with the current options we are where we are irrespective of the quality of the manager.

I think we just need to invest and squad build wisely. I don't think we are going to need "City" level investment to improve...we obviously won't be getting that investment anyway.

We just need to build the squad wisely.

[Özim]

I find the Ozil situation bizarre. I don't know if they've had a falling out or if Emery simply doesn't rate him, either way we don't have the options to replace him at this moment. He will have to be sold now because you can't keep expensive deadwood like this, it's just haemorrhaging money. The Ramsey thing I have some sympathy for because that was out of his hands and now he's reluctant to use him. I agree both should be playing because without them we lose a lot from our midfield in terms of forward play.

I can't be bothered to dissect this game because even if we had gone with the best players/tactics etc the chances are we still would have been beaten easily. City have better players than us in every position and have been competing for the top prizes for years. We are so far behind right now.

The jury is very much out on Emery but he needs to be backed in the summer, otherwise it will be the same old story. You could be Pep in charge of this squad and results wouldn't be much better.

It is bizarred, but as MAC said it's not the 1st time he's struggled with players with egos, sometime you have to put your pride aside for the good of the team, right now he's cutting off his nose to spite his face, the squad is rubbish and yet he's intent on cutting out one of our most creative players because he doesn't get on with him, that's fine if you have other options but not in this case, he'll probably end up costing us points and as you said Ozil is on 350k a week which is just being wasted at the moment, by all means sell him in the summer but use him until then.

As for Ramsey the way I see it Emery brought it on himself a bit, last summer he should have said I need him to sign by a certain date and if he doesn't we should sell and invest the money, instead he waited and now Ramsey is going for free, he's not entirely innocent in this, I'm sure he was involved and this scenario is all a bit amateurish (again).

Whilst I see why he doesn't want to play him, he's been happy to play him a fair amount since it was decided he'd move on, so not sure what's changed, I can understand why you wouldn't want to play him more than the Ozil situation however.

City lost to Newcastle and Palace recently, if you try your best there's always a shot, but you need to get the lineup/tactics right, Emery just didn't, we've now accepted we're going to get a pasting from the big teams, even the likes of Palace don't so that shouldn't be the case.

I agree about backing him, if he makes many more the Suarez type signings however I'm not going to be particularly please, these aren't the kind of players we need, they're small time squad fillers with very limited talent, signing those kind of players won't get us anywhere, we need to be signings players in their mid 20s or young players with lots and lots of potential much like Spurs have done when building their team.

[Marc Overmars]

It is bizarred, but as MAC said it's not the 1st time he's struggled with players with egos, sometime you have to put your pride aside for the good of the team, right now he's cutting off his nose to spite his face, the squad is rubbish and yet he's intent on cutting out one of our most creative players because he doesn't get on with him, that's fine if you have other options but not in this case, he'll probably end up costing us points and as you said Ozil is on 350k a week which is just being wasted at the moment, by all means sell him in the summer but use him until then.
.

To be honest Ozil has never struck me as being someone with a massive ego or someone who's difficult to deal with anyway, he's a lot of things but disruptive and confrontational he is not. I think Emery had a lot more to contend with at PSG with the likes of Neymar who knew full well he was bigger than the club and better than everyone else in the league by a million miles.

Completely agree with cutting his nose off to spite his face though, it's pointless when you don't have the options.