Unai Emery preferred to focus on the positives when asked about Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s performance in the North London derby even though his striker missed a last-gasp penalty that could have sealed all three points.
The Gabon international came on in place of Alex Lacazette for the final 35 minutes of the 1-1 draw with Sp*rs, winning the spot-kick which Hugo Lloris saved. It meant the Gunners had to settle for a point after Harry Kane – netting his own contentious penalty – cancelled out Aaron Ramsey’s first half strike.
In his post-game press conference, Emery was asked about his two strikers. “I spoke with him [Aubameyang],” revealed the boss. “He’s coming in for 35 minutes and his chances, his possibilities to help us to the victory. But he did this action, running back and getting the penalty.
“After, with this chance, you can score or not. But it’s one action in 90 minutes. For me, it’s not one mistake, it’s one action. The most important is to create chances, get the balls, take the penalty because we are there and after that you can score or not. But we need to create.
“The same with Lacazette. He had two chances and they were good chances in the match. Okay, he didn’t score, that’s no problem, now we need more. After Aubayemang was the same.
“This work we are doing and this mentality is about not being frustrated after we make one mistake or one action where we don’t score.
“I want to continue creating more and I think today we created so many important chances that gave us the possibility to win, but today it wasn’t for us.”
Alex Lacazette didn’t exactly look pleased with the decision to take him off, although some of his annoyance could have been with himself after a couple of missed chances. Asked about the reaction of the Frenchman, Emery made clear that all his players need to take his decisions on the chin.
“They need to accept the decision,” he said. “I am finding the best decisions for the team and they are playing other matches.
“Sometimes I am not happy with them both when their performances are not good when they’re both playing, but I am very consistent in our work to take the best decision and to give them the best performance for us, whether they’re playing together or alone.
“For example, next match it is not possible to play both because of the red card in Europe for Lacazette. I can only play Aubameyang.”
It was a shit “action”. Simple.
You need to talk to your strikers, Unai, in the private of the dressing room. They can’t continue to miss these kind of glorious chances. It’s not acceptable. Thank God Unai is not hanging out his players to dry, anyway. Excellent man management, unlike Mourinho.
He can’t hear you but why would he even need to have a word? I doubt they need telling they need to put chances away
Well said. How does this conversation go I wonder “you didn’t score that penalty, you’re supposed to score goals, that was not good by you”……..”uh thanks boss, I’m second highest scorer in the league but you telling me to score goals is just the advice that I was looking for”.
Love the player but that was a terrible penalty.
Good sign is we are creating chances unlike games during the bad run.
Exactly, as Emery says the key is to keep creating for our strikers.
According to whoscored, this season Laca and Auba have a higher conversion rate (23.5% & 21.4%) than Messi (20.7%).
But part of the reason Messi has 25 league goals, while our henchmen are on 16 & 12, is Messi averaging 5.3 shots per game while our guys get 2.5 and 2.1 respectively.
its Barca and Messi!!!
When you don’t play creative players like ozil and Ramsey consistently or set up tactically just being defensive what do you expect?
Both combined are getting similar shot amounts so maybe it might be better to use one striker? Since neither one is particularly good at passing.
Very on-brand for you to bitch about us ‘tactically being just defensive’ right after a game where our tactical approach was pretty much perfect. Always something to complain about eh?
Our attack is not the damn problem anyway. We could’ve won 3-0 today, and we’re the 3rd highest scorers in the league – it’s our defending and Big Errors we need to sort out.
Definitely not perfect, too many times we had no outlet from the back and hoofed the ball away to Spurs. Need to get better at playing out to our strikers and having them bring the ball down if we’re to continue playing this counter-attacking football.
That is not how we setup.
We were trying to play like this all season long. Only difference is players never hit their current form.
But I guess all that people know to moan about is player selection. Games like this last NDL should tell that no one knows more about Arsenal players than the Arsenal coach.
Isn’t Laca who created Ramsey’s goal?
@kaius Messi averages as many shots probably because of his superior individuality as a player. Of course Barcelona are great and create many chances for him and the others. But with Messi, you could give him a simple pass in the middle of the pitch and he ‘ll drive forward take on 3 or 4 players and have a shot on target. Auba and Laca are very good, but they don’t normally produce out-of-nothing shots on target. They need to be fed. And one thing that is a source of bother for the fans, our so called cutback system, is… Read more »
Is this why Iwobi plays all the time ? He needs more drills for the accuracy of the low pass. He is very good getting into the position to cross then cross spoils everything.
Agreed. It seems a completely counterproductive thing to do.
That’s not good man management. That’s avoiding the question about a big moment in a game. That’s why they are paid what they paid and not on some mid to low table club. Especially when you compare to Mou everyone looks like a man management genius compared to him lol I’m not advocating him saying he blew it but we all know it and auba does too so I don’t think there would have been any problems with Unai stating that.
Auba knows it but will get mad if his manager points the finger at him. That’s the way it works.
More ‘goal action’ please boys
I absolve him of blame also. Mustafi on the other hand…
That was indeed as clumsy as unneeded action by Mustafi, worse, he knows what he is doing, appalling decison making
I think he probably just panics to be fair but it happens too much
Yeah it was Mustafi’s fuck up but the ref should have called offside beforehand. At the end of the day it was shit refereeing that cost us today. Now we really need to beat United but I think it will be more difficult than today. They are in good form and getting good luck at the moment. Without Torreira it will be more difficult. I thought the red was harsh. I wonder if an appeal would be worth lodging?
Considering what that prick Danny Rose got away with the cars on Torreira was nonsense.
Def. worth appealing that red card. Nothing malicious there or unreasonably reckless. He got the damn ball for f##@’$ sake.
It was an awful miss, but was worse was that loser Anthony Taylor missing a clear violation by Vertonghen being almost to the penalty spot as the kick was taken and he was the one to clear the follow up shot off of the line. It’s one thing if the keeper makes the save and knocks it out of play to not call that, but when that player who violated the law of the game is the one to block the immediate next shot that violation needs to be called. Why have the rule if it is not enforced in… Read more »
Same reason why they didn’t enforce the offside rule for Sp*rs penalty
Does anyone know if that is the referee or the linesman’s responsibility? (You can’t blame Taylor for the offside decision–there is no possible way to overrule his linesman on that sort of play.)
Lino is there to see if ball crossed line (no longer required if goal line technology in place) or if goalie moved forward from goal line. Ref’s responsibility to identify encroachment or paused runup and action dependent upon who encroached and whether it was scored. But I’m sure he’s also watching keeper too.
Ref probably needs more assistance/assistants to cover all of this.
Thanks.
It’s the Linesman/AR’s decision. He’s the only one who can see whether there is an actual infraction. It is completely his responsibility. On replay, he clearly missed the call. Won’t be the last time a referee doesn’t see it correctly. Tough job. It’s a sport all unto itself :p
I don’t absolve him or Laca. It was an irresponsible penalty shot and chance squandering.
A big f**k you for the hard word put by everyone.
Same can be said for the Mustafi penalty.
Shit like this should not happen at this crucial stage of the season.
The strikers do both need to do better.
To be fair that the standard we are judging them against is pretty high. We expect them to bury every decent chance, because we know they can.
Bit harsh to say it was a “fuck you” given he earned the penalty himself…
Oh do calm down, deary.
You think Auba planned to miss? Sheesh, with fans like you….
People are blaming Mustafi for this draw. He is not good enough but hanging the result on him tonight is wrong in my opinion.
Agreed, we had more than enough chances to take the game away from them regardless of the penalty. Big errors in both boxes cost us.
When Mustafi came to Arsenal, he reminded me a lot of Koscielny in his early days, both in strengths and weaknesses. I thought, like Koscielny, he would eliminate some of the rash decision-making (the flip side of very desirable aggressive, positive, play). I still think he has terrific skills, very quick, fearless, good in the air, a fine distributor from the back, etc. The big mistakes are indeed less common–but they are still there, and I am no longer sure they will ever be reduced to an acceptable level. But some of the attacks he gets are so overblown as… Read more »
We have two excellent strikers who can be relied on to score 40+ goals between them over a season, but if they could stop missing the sitters we’d have to worry far less about how porous our defence is
…or if our defence wasn’t so porous and error-prone, our strikers missing a few easy ones wouldn’t matter.
And seeing as our attack is much better than our defence it’s obvious which department has the most improving to do.
Yes defence needs more work, but building on our strength can help in the short term
Way too casual.
It was a poor decision that the Ref awarded the penalty against Spurts but a real stroke of luck.
Should have tucked it away and he had a second bite of the cherry but Vertonghen was simply hungrier.
Personally not sure if it was the best decision to have taken off Lacazette sooo early.
Important thing is for Auba to make amends next week against United.
Move on.
I think there is much positive to take from this match. Away to a strong Spurs side today and we’ve won one (at home), drawn this one today. Its matches against BHA, Soton, West Ham that have been most vexing around Xmas (without Mustafi) and also of course losing to United and Liverpool. We spurned the opportunity with the gift of a penalty decision by poor officiating that also cost us on our end with the blatant offside not called. Would have personally liked to have seen us go to back 3 last 10 minutes when we needed the goal.… Read more »
I love his english… 🙂
Gud ebening
I think hearing fans talking about them missing a good chance rather than talking about all the good that they do, I think it creeps into the players minds. When Auba was leading the charts but would miss a good opportunity, a lot would be made of it from the fans and I think it only robs them of confidence that they deservedly earned. Social media is making them very aware of fans opinion, with more confidence and less criticism, I think things would turn out for the better, but fans need to realize that guilt edged chances will still… Read more »
Arsenal shd have won if Abu had not missed. I feel he shd be relieved of spotkicks for the next few matches until his confidence returns. Mustaphi is an accident waiting to happen.The sooner he’s gone the better for Arsenal. All is not lost . Next match against the Norwegian. His unbeaten streak will end at some point and why not at the ES.The thing is the referee. Both the linesman and ref are to be blamed. That’s why until the FA take stronger action ie ban for 10 matches/GBP1000 forfeit, against such incompetent officials such error will occur with… Read more »
This is simple. The strikers who are paid incredible sums to perform completely failed to do so. I have no problem paying people what they are worth. But high demands need to be matched with high performance under pressure. Ours failed. Again. In any other role they would be sacked. Why should footballers be any different. Alba last six pens – 66% conversion. Is that worth north of £200,000 a week. I think not. Laca completely failed to do what he is paid to do. Get rid and Laca and Ozil and get at least one who can do it… Read more »
Wow you’re dumb
Strikers miss attempts. That’s not all they are paid to do which they already do well.
I feel your frustration. They failed to produce at key moments in this key game.
But your comment reflects a lack of perspective. They’ve been brilliant overall for us this season.
For that reason, they deserve our support. They’ve earned it!
To be honest i really dislike Mustafi after this game, what an ahole and a stupid defender.
Incredibly frustrating.
Ironically, Mustafi actually played quite well on Saturday, except for the obvious needless, brainless, dickless push causing penalty.
That is the think with Mustafi: for every 5 things he does well (and he does), he has one colossal fuckup that is costly. A player of his experience should not be so inconsistent. He will not improve his decision making and brainfreezes. Needs to be sold in the Summer, IMO.
We out smarted their game plan. We played and excellent match overall. Harry kane is piece of shit. He was offside and dove. His trying to win golden boot with penalties while the real strikers out there score. I had a feeling auba would miss nevause he never git in the game. Mhki or xhaka were the player’s who should of taken it. I hope we not going to regret the 2 point loss because i believe we ready to go back to the champions league
You had me at “Harry kane is a piece of shit”.
As for torreira red card, that fucken danny rose puts his whole boot in leno chest and get nothing. Wtf
He still missed it. Behaving as if all is fine is right wrong.
Agreed. Just leather the bloody ball. I blame Aubu, that’s his job
Xhaka should be our penalty taker. Someone who can just hammer it home with no nonsense. By the way, Torreira; 1 match ban or 3 match? Any chance of appeal?
What is wrong with our fanbase? Our striker missed a late penalty, it happens. Yes he should have scored it, but remember he also WON the penalty. Remember a couple seasons ago when we couldn’t score a pen for love nor money with Sanchez & Ozil as our spot kick takers when Santi was out? We’re we saying flog them? Jesus, Dennis Bergkamp missed a late pen against Utd in 99 which may well have stopped them winning the treble and pushed us onto the double. Was anyone calling for his head the day after? Our stickers need to put… Read more »
Well said.
I’m no pro but I feel like if you get a last minute penalty in such hostile conditions, the best bet is to blast it. If the goalie saves that, fair enough.
Feel for Auba, not nice to see him looking so sad. He has missed 2 out of 5 for us though so I’d like to see Xhaka as an option on penalties.