Reiss Nelson says that Unai Emery is a big help to him and the other young players as he allows them to express themselves, but will pull them up on things when required.
The head coach has shown faith in the winger, as well as Joe Willock and Ainsley Maitland-Niles last season and again this, and he says that the two sides to the Spaniard are good when you’re starting out in your career.
Speaking the official site, he said, “Unai’s very positive and always telling you to express yourself, but also he’s got that thing where he’ll tell you if you do something wrong,” he said.
“I think that’s good for a coach to have two sides: the jokey side and the fiery side.
“For me, especially, it helps me a lot to continue to improve and keep going. He helps a lot of the young players because there were a lot of them who came on the pre-season tour.
“He told them to be themselves, if they made a mistake just carry on. He helps them grow and gives them a great chance.”
The Europa League in particular will provide more chances for our Academy players, particularly as more senior players return to full fitness for the Premier League, but Emery has shown he’s not afraid to give youth a chance so far this season.
For all of Emery’s indecision about strategy, he’s really put his faith in the youngsters and it’s great to see. Willock especially I’m sure feels super confident that his manager is showing him so much faith. Same goes for Nelson and Guendouzi. Has to help their development when they can see tangible rewards in the form of starting big games.
I’m withholding judgement until we go to the European backwaters.
If first teamers are all on those flights like last year, then we are really going to be in trouble.
I think that’s fairly unlikely. Once Pepe, Ceballos, Tierney and Bellerin get up and running a few of the younger lads looking for games. Nelson, AMN and probablly Willock will not make the starting XI.
No no no what we need to do is play a bunch of inexperienced 18-21 yr olds so we can blame them when they have a bad game and we get knocked out taking away a vital chance for the club to get back into the Champions League. Because we know how understanding the fanbase is when we lose games. Definitely the best thing for their development. Or maybe the coach should do what he did last year, integrating young guys like he did with Smith Rowe and Saka (who both scored their first goals in the group stages) into… Read more »
I don’t remember Saka scoring. Did I miss that one?
Sorry, my mistake – think I meant Guendouzi. Both him and Smith Rowe scored their first goals in the same away game
Probably true. Although i think its right to say that theyre squad players now.
And thats a great crop that have progressed already with more hopefully to come
Its likely fhat willock and nelson will get significant game time this season.
I see shades of Diaby in Willock, box to box monster who can dribble past you as well as turn and run with the ball. Very different profile from our other deep lying midfielders like Xhaka, Matteo and Torriera..
Looks like Emery is backing up intention with action – always the best course. Good news.
Last year, Nagelsmann was talking too much about Nelson but not developing him. It is a good thing he did not go back. Unai gives chances to youth and this is very good. It started with Douzi last season.
Nelson is still lacking a bit physically, but he’s got all the raw characteristics to succeed, he’s a goal scorer, rapid, agile, quick feet, quick brain.
I liked Iwobi, and Nelson might be a sideways step for now, but Nelson looks to have the higher ceiling overall, I just expect we’ll need a little time and patience for him to get there.
Speaking of youngsters, there’s cup football for the under 21’s tonight away to Northampton in the EFL trophy.
He is one of us, I hope people realise that and be a bit patient as you would with your own. He cost nothing and even now he’ll easily fetch 20-30mil. He’s got the chance that many didn’t and won’t, I hope he realises that too and gives his 100%.
Make the most of it boy, the field is your canvas..
Jokey Unai wishing everyone a good ebening when they come to training in the morning
Yes Nelson emery is a good average coach.. A more handsome slightly better moyes!!!
But he is not what we need!!
We don’t deserve a coward as a coach!!
You make a team more confident when you tell them you hate playing them and that was what our clueless manager did….even when wenger was at his lowest these past few seasons..he never praised a team that way…. Even when we always met Bayern Munich and Barcelona after constant trashing in previous encounters!
I have lost faith in Emery
Jesus Christ, he was joking when he said the “We’d rather not play Liverpool” line – did you watch the interview or just read the Daily Mail headline?
You see it like a joke.. He made it look like one but trust me when i say that truly came from his heart
It was a joke….J . O . K . E .
You suck, man.
Thanks.. But i would continue to speak the truth…Emery is not what we need
How many times are you going to repeat the same cross? Saying it all the time doesn’t make it more convincing, just for future reference ?
You need more exclamation marks to make your point.
You guys will see the bitter truth very soon.. By then we might have lost our best players and we would start from square one again
You sound like a right bundle of fun mate..we for to the Europa league final last year and missed out on top 4 by 1 point.. the teams Emery played in the run in last season were more than good enough to win a few of them games and the players are to blame for the shambles in Baku..chill out, go and have a joint or something..or better yet, go get your UEFA badgesand be the manager that Emery can’t. Just a thought
I for one appreciate him for taking on that tactic. It may have not worked (and to be fair I did not agree with it) but you cant blame a man who thought it out with intelligence. I mean think about it. Make sure that the ball stays away from Mane, Salah & Firmino. Make sure that they send crosses (which is not the strongest suite of the front three) which maximizes the strength of the defense and minimizes their weakness I.E. 1v1. The reason why I don’t agree with it is that Liverpool is so good in terms of… Read more »
A good reflection of his mentality/confidence that he differentiates himself from the youth players in Pre season.
Half the time, when players don’t make the step up, it almost feels like they don’t believe they belong in the first team picture.
This crop don’t seem to have that problem
Per and Freddie did a good job with them.
I had doubts about promoting Per after Andries Jonker left to coach Wolfsburg (he got sacked 6 months later lol) but the kids coming out of the academy recently seem more mentally sturdy and focused than in the past.
Very much in Per’s image.
Willock, Maitland-Niles, and Guendouzi are not only already permanent first-team players, but there isn’t a fan out there who doesn’t think they deserve their places. Bellerin and Pepe are 24, Holding, Ceballos, Torreira all 23, and Tierney is just 22. With Smith-Rowe, Nelson, and Nketiah – all a good bit younger waiting in the wings … not to mention Buyako Sako (17) Saliba (18) and Martinelli (18) … How ironic would it be if we won something with these ‘kids’ at a time when ‘project youth’ in the Premier League was long considered to be dead and buried? Ajax did… Read more »
I agree, Emery is slowly trying to add more dynamism to the team. Our midfield with Xhaka and Ozil is a bit one paced, Torreira, Guendouzi, Ceballos, Willock potentially offer a different dynamic, but will need patience, hopefully we get Ceballos in permanently, you could possibly add Smith-Rowe to that list. With the athleticism of Niles, Bellerin, Aubameyang, Pepe there’s the basis there for an exciting team. Getting shot of Mustafi + Elneny permanently this window, and Mkhitaryan, Ozil and possibly Xhaka over the next 2 windows will set us on a different course. I like Xhaka a lot, but… Read more »
Ajax did well because they had a protagonist that made things happen for their talents…he is a fearless manager…we need Erik ten hag!
These group of players shouldn’t be wasted by Emery…i feel pained seeing what Emery is doing…our talents don’t need pragmatic football…they need expressive football…please Emery leave respectfully because i don’t see your tenure ending well
These set of talented players don’t appear easily unless you have a very wealthy owner that can assemble them…that’s why i badly want us to take advantage of the talents we have so we can move to the next level before we head back to square one
In the article you are commenting on, Nelson literally says that Emery tells young players to express themselves.
Nketiah starts for Leeds tonight.
Maybe Eddie needs this year, and perhaps next, to become a solid PL threat. And he will be that threat.
Gooooal for Eddie. Again.
…was watching Adrian Clarke trying to make (excuse) it feel better with his analysis.
Noticed Granit whom everyone now prefers to have a go at since Mustafi isn’t around to blame, made 3 critical blocks (same as Luiz and Sokratis) and put the ball out a number of times from midfield leading to several of our best chances plus the intercept for the Torreira goal.
Not sure again what people are trying to focus on.
Instead of the obvious, Luiz is not very good, people like Claude on AFTV prefer to shift the blame on Xhaka.
Go figure.
Xhaka is a luxury player. Too immobile for the modern game. The days of the deep lying playmaker are gone, we need power and athleticism from our central midfielders.
He didn’t have an awful game against Liverpool but quite frankly we have better options in the midfield.
I would suggest our first choice three would be Willock, Torreira and Ceballos for a game such as this.
Xhaka (and Ozil) should only be used in games where the opponents allow us time on the ball.
If there is one quick thinking player at Arsenal, it’s Özil. But well, yes, he is slow, sorry, i forgot…
Think about how much time Guendouzi got last year. It was risky but so far it’s paying off this year. Seems even more obvious with Willock and Nelson and even AMN. They may get squeezed out as senior players some in, but they should rock it in the Europa league. Emery could have played it safe with Ozil, Monreal, Xhaka and blamed them if things went wrong, but he’s taking the riskier route with more potential upside. I’m up for it. Anything but the same old Arsenal.
Yes, work in progress. I’ve been following Arsenal for 6 years and i have always heard this. Work in progress, needed time… blablabla.. meanwhile we are not improving.
I’ve been following arsenal for 30 years and trust me..its been far worse my friend..