Unai Emery insists that Lucas Torreira has a future at Arsenal, but says that the midfielder needs to improve.
His comments come after some Interlull unrest in which both the Uruguayan and his agent made it clear there’s unhappiness over his current role at the club and the way he’s being used by the head coach.
Signed as a defensive midfielder, Emery appears to see him as more of an attacking midfielder, and has challenged the 23 year old to improve his performances in spite of not being used in his best position.
“He has a very big future here, but he needs to improve,” he said.
“He has to learn in some situations to help us and do better. It’s one process.
“He was playing good last year; this year he’s not being consistent but my challenge to him is to improve, to do better with some tactical issues on the pitch, but above all being consistent and taking that into the next matches.”
Emery revealed a meeting with Torreira this week in which he showed him videos of his best moments, but says he has to link play better to be considered for a defensive midfield role.
“We need that position for the capacity to build up; it’s a big responsibility,” continued Emery.
“He can play as a defensive midfielder, but we need a defensive midfielder to be offensive because the buildup for us is very important.
“At the moment, to give him that responsibility as a defensive midfielder who builds up and creates a lot of combinations with our team, he needs more time.
“He’s helping us, he’s sometimes playing well, he’s being consistent, but needs to learn and improve in that issue.”
Well, that’s cleared it all up.
Mesut Ozil Saga 2, the Search for Emery’s Tactics.
Our manager seems to screw up everything at our club, Mourinhosque style except that he seems quite calm in his press conference. ( Slow poison)
Emery: “you need be more offensive defensive midfielder “…
Torreira “but boss, it’s called defensive midfielder”
Emery : “you don’t Umstand tactics watch video here, you miss a goal and then more 5 seconds you in front of defenders not”
Yet again the only fitting word is clueless.
Well I guess that’s the end of torreira.
He wants Ozil to be more defensive and he wants Torreira to be more offensive. Lol.
Unai should stop doing interviews, it only scratches everyone’s heads….LOL
I have lost the ability to get angry when I read Emery’s interviews. It’s like shouting at a wall.
Totally agree
I wish I could say the same. What I can’t shake off is: If his comments such as this one fill me with so much pain, what about the players. We are coached by someone who is clearly out of his depth. It’s a shame those that matter at the club are drinking his cool aid. Decisive leadership should have fired him since after the Watford game or during the international break. The negative effects of keeping him for the next games will probably be felt for years. It’s a shame we have a decent team held back by a… Read more »
I read an article on The Athletic about a certain Kia Joorabchian and his influence over the team. He brokered Emery’s deal, and Edu’s, plus he is Rauls man. This has unfortunately complicated things, because if Emery wasn’t Kia’s man he would have been shipped out after the watford game.
Calling for xhaka to come back and basically at the same time saying torreira isn’t good enough as a DM, while playing him as an AM. What a disaster ??♀️
Yes, we have Bellerin calling for togetherness, Emery slagging players off. Hardly Unity Emery.
This has to be a joke!!!
Yes it’s so stupid it sounds like a joke but sadly not. Emery clearly doesn’t know what he is on about.
Genuinely can’t understand what Emery is even attempting to say…
I think he’s saying that he needs to use the ball well once he’s won it / picked it up from the defense. I wonder why the consideration doesn’t work the other way, though: why Xhaka or Gendouzi are played in a deep lying role despite their weaknesses off the ball.
It’s obvious what Emery is saying, unless you’re some sort of thicko.
yes, but what he’s saying is still dumb.
Its obvious, he’s teaching them how to defend.
He’s basically saying that as a DM Torreira doesn’t do a good enough job of distributing the ball. Perhaps that’s fair enough, Torreira has given the ball away on occasion this season, but it doesn’t explain his continued use of Xhaka! Plus it ignores the other purposes of a DM which are to win the ball back, protect the back four and cover for advanced full backs.
Emery seems to point out about playing from the back when we have possession with our goalkeeper and Torreira is a liability receiving the ball just like how Luiz or Sokratis or Xhaka or Guendouzi have been. But I don’t believe Torreira is going to improve his technique anytime soon because let’s face it, he’s limited to being a poor man’s Kante. Chelsea were getting shredded last season for not playing Kante as defensive midfield by Sarri but Sarri/Lampard have figured his game’s deficiencies and strengths and played Jorginho as the deep midfielder and Kante the box to box midfielder… Read more »
It’s pretty clear though: he’s being consistent, which is good, but he’s not being consistent, which is a problem
Oh go away, Emery! You’re about to drive away one of the best players at the club. You’re the one person in the known universe who doesn’t realise what Torreira’s best position is. It’s embarrassing!
Why isn’t the club acting and getting this clown out? We need a new manager NOW!
PS: why do I get the feeling that tomorrow will be yet another humiliation?
Showed him videos. Tactics. Process. Consistent. ???
He didn’t show him videos, he showed him movies, lol
Saturday ebening fever.
Same can’t be said for you, Emery…
So basically, Emery wants and needs everybody to improve, apart from himself.
If only Emery improves and plays the players in their positions, the impact will be many fold, rather than trying to remold players!
This is an example of where, if the technical director doesn’t step in, they are failing as much as Emery is. Torreira’s importance has to be appreciated; whether from a footballing point of view as an important player who offers us something genuinely missing in midfield, or from a business point of view, he’s a valuable asset who’s value will only increase. If the manager is mis-managing him, action has to be taken. Thats the point of this model of having a head coach. I keep reading about how the big overhaul in the playing squad is an excuse for… Read more »
I can, he just took over across town. See: every job he’s ever had.
He wants an attacking midfielder who can press and defend- hence he doesn’t play Ozil.
He wants a defensive midfielder who can pass and distribute- hence he doesn’t play Torriera.
What’s next? A goalkeeper who can score goals?
fullbacks who score goals and wingers that can stop a cross from coming in, clearly
Central defenders that ship goals and score off corners,… We have those in abundance!
I used to love reading Arsene’s interviews even if I knew what he would have said by myself. Emery’s interviews on the other hand are absolutely appalling. Get this man out of the club before we all loose it.
The only tactic that Emery consistently pulls off is alienating his players
Can someone in the board say the exact same about Emery?
“He has a future at Arsenal, but must improve”
All the BS about noise, and Emery’s himself showing how to treat his situation
Or how about “we’ve decided that Emery can not improve. Therefore we’ve fired his incomprehensible ass and are appointing Freddie as interim manager with immediate effect. Oh and, er, to the fans, sorry.”
I’ve honestly never seen a comments section like this last couple of weeks, barely a downvote to be seen, towards the (bitter) end of the Arsene era it would still be a reasonable 50/50 ish split with whatever was said, with arguments on both sides, but seems EVERYONE is just in agreement, this guy has to go, everything he says just makes things worse. Now blaming a player for not performing in a role he doesn’t play, and is very vocal about not playing, it’s just ludicrous.
lol, i see someone had been on a down voting spree, didn’t know you read the blog, Unai 🙂
Oh FFS Emery…
He’ll improve the moment you’re gone idiot.
Please don’t say “moment” mate.
I’m just speechless, he didn’t lost the plot, he seems he doesn’t have a plot to lose
The board/Kroenke have lost it backing Emery. This is ridiculous. Torriera wouldn’t have to play better if….I don’t know….he was playing in the position he was hired for. Seems like this is just Emery trying to deflect now. Hopefully the people in charge (ARE there people in charge?) start finally clueing in….
So “He was playing good last year; this year he’s not being consistent” then “He’s helping us, he’s sometimes playing well, he’s being consistent” but for me, this is the punchline. It goes ”but we need a defensive midfielder to be offensive”
He…I…ahh fuck it what’s the point.
Emery: “he can play as a defensive midfielder, but we need the defensive midfielder to be offensive”. Right, got it. ??♂️
I understand that – it is exactly what Torreira did last year. You want your DM to be a strong defender, organizer and ball winner, but also to initiate the offense and not sit back when you are in their half/final third.
This year, he CAN’T play DM because Emery determines the formation and doesn’t play him there.
Emery:, “Oh, and by the way I want you to improve but I will keep selecting Xhaka” ?
While we keep leaking goals because our midfield is porous!
Same to you, sir.
This is a really strange one.
He’s basically saying that Torreira isn’t good enough on the ball to play as a DM. OK fair enough, I don’t personally agree with that (and it doesn’t explain why Xhaka is still his first choice pick) but fine, whatever mate. But at the same time, he decides to play him further up the pitch where playmaking skills are even more important…? Trying to make Ozil to press more I get, but this is just bizarre!
Sounds like mr good ebening wans a world class all rounded midfielder. It’s like asking messi to defend as well as he can attack ??
This is some fresh and juicy horseshit on the sidewalk.
Wow. Emery is poison, isn’t he.
Like a dog’s tail, always crooked
Coward and big coward running to the media probably to try minimize the fan backlash from media comment by the player and his agent saying he wants to leave.
First it was Ozil now Toreira won’t be surprised if next he comes out and says the arsenal hierarchy support his decision and still wonders why the players don’t give 100 percent for him.
For a man with calculus equations on his wall and as much respect as I have for him he doesn’t come out as such an intelligent fellow
He could have explained it better. His man management is terrible.
Flamini was defensive and wasn’t able to build up play but put Cazorla next to him and you have a solution.
He could have said something similar about partnerships on the pitch and working out yourself how to best work with other players to develop the play.
Telling them they are getting it wrong doesn’t always help when it is a motivational issue.
We got the second Mourinho. The one who has all the poison but doesn’t even win trophies to compensate. If we don’t get rid of this guy soon, he is going to leave our club in a deeply damaged state.. Ozil, Laca, Auba and now Torreira… He has already antagonised arguably the top 4 players at our club. Mkhi has come out openly against this guy too. That’s 5 first team (last year) players. When did such a thing happen at Arsenal last time?
This clears the air. In order to build up play better as a DM he plays him as an AM for him to lesrn how to play key passes and spot teammates first.
Like Arsene used fo play strikers as wingers for them to learn how to take on playere first.
Why then is the effect and results so different? Cos 1 manager’s great. The other’s shit. #emeryout.
UE once again demonstrating the man-management skills that have half the first team squad looking for the exit
“He can play as a defensive midfielder, but we need a defensive midfielder to be offensive because the buildup for us is very important.”. As opposed to his preferred solution , Xhaka, whom he plays to death in the role he describes, despite the fact that he offers nothing of value defensively and is often so slow to move the ball on that our world class forwards are starved of service.
Emery is to management what Walcott was to playing the game – infuriating and consistent only in his inconsistency.
But, man, Theo had some fun moments. Not sure how much fun Emery has been responsible for
✌️? will live forever
Another press conference where Emery put the blame on a player. It is up to him to improve Torreira. Not putting him down publicly. So stupid this Unai
U need to improve Emery….big time.
Jesus we lost Torreira too if Emery stays…
How did we end up here. I really hate weekends now.
Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
Torreira cannot play an attacking role . He does not WANT to play an attacking role. Stop playing him up the field
Dear Unai. He. Is. A. Defensive. Midfielder.
Emery shut TF up!!!! You must improve actually Mr. Good Ebening
Throwing everyone under the bus one at a time huh…. Albeit undeservedly
Did he actually say both “needs to be more consistent” and “he is consistent” in the same interview?
We can Bruce Rioch and will give a massive boost to this team. We can literally get any Arsenal fan from the street or comment section and will improve this team. It’s a absolutely ridiculous how the “directors of football” are blind to BS
How is this clown a manager in the Premier league, let alone manager of Arsenal. Just the worst man management…
Our manager has zero self-awareness.
Just boycott the games guys..
These same players did play good football under Emery for many games. What i could not comprehend, was the sudden change, and now we cant beat anyone? Is is because he is playing players out of position? Has he lost interest because he knows who Arsenal is after?(as new coach). I did get the playing out from the back, and Arsenal are actually good at it now. That was on field training. I thought Emery was building a SQUAD, not a 1st team and 2nd team. Now he seems not bothered of the results of the games we play. He… Read more »
Arsenal could get most managers in the world, big wages and heritage, plus training ground etc.., not being in champions league at this days moment only issue , I wanted Allegri when Wenger left. as Edu was once a great defensive midfielder and fellow South American to Torreira, he must see this , know this or agree with this ?emery or tell him otherwise or sack! , which is Xhaka he is a better. Passer than Torreira, ( statistic showed him to be fifth best key passer in the league a couple of seasons ago, the second to last season… Read more »
Özil.
Mirror mirror on the wall ..
Can you please let Emery understand he needs to improve and show us a level of consistency?
I know this issue is over flogged but can we remember when Saka not so subtly complained that he doesn’t understand Emery? If this lunatic doesn’t leave our club he’s going to take us decades backwards. Franchise, player development, just name it. He’s damaging the Arsenal brand in more ways than I thought possible. This is like watching the DC Joker movie over and over again but this time our club is the butt of the joke and Joaquin Phoenix is nothing compared to Emery.
The Joker actually had motivation and strategy. Not sure emery has either.
Is it Torreira who must improve or is it Emery to leave?
I really dont like Emery anymore. Sad but true