Platypus
Vital Football Hero
Emery's clearly picking his battles with a depleted squad and I think the first half performance shows that he got his tactics and decisions pretty right in possibly the hardest fixture in the calendar. No Martinez, McGinn, Kamara or Watkins at Man City means that aiming to control possession would be a forlorn hope, so he set us up to counter and we looked dangerous doing that. The free kick before half-time made his mind up to cut our losses and in a way I admire that hard-nosed decisiveness.Emery got it wrong, horrendous lineup, horrendous subs, he’s got credit in the bank of course but that was what you’d expect from a Smith or Gerrard team.
I expected nothing even with a strong team but we must beat Brentford, if we don’t then you question if Emery is losing it. That team selection tonight was abysmal and the writing was on the wall before kickoff. Bringing chambers on was insanity, one of the worst players I’ve ever seen on a football pitch.
This is a marathon, not a sprint.