Emery can continue wizard run with a bit of good luck
Rich is learning new ball game We’re the happy Hammers now
EVERTON boss Marco Silva admits he could be losing some of Richarlison’s talents by using him at centreforward.
But the Toffees boss looks set to stick with the Brazilian as the focal point of his attack against Brighton, despite conceding the winger is still learning how to make the ball stick up front.
“You can lose some things with Richarlison there, but you can win some things as well,” said Silva.
“Yes, he struggled to hold the ball against Manchester United. In some moments it is MANUEL Pellegrini believes West Ham is a happy place now he is in charge.
The spotlight is on the Hammers once again following Wednesday’s pitch invasions. during the Carabao Cup defeat by Tottenham.
But Pellegrini, who has spent £100million, since he succeeded David Moyes, said: “The club received some criticism last season so they invested this season.
“They bought new players and tried to make an upgrade of the facilities. I don’t want to criticise because every manager has his own style of something we are working with him.” Brighton midfielder Dale Stephens says hearing the final whistle for a 1-0 victory now gives him just as much pleasure as scoring a goal. Stephens, 29, plays the 300th league match of his career at Goodison but has not found the net since December 2016. “I’d rather sacrifice myself scoring in order for the team to be solid and for us to win 1-0. I don’t mind at all,” he said. play but also we are playing in a way the fans want to see. “Most of the fans are happy at this moment with the desire to win more games.” Joe Hart has finally found his way to a “good place” at Burnley, according to Sean Dyche. Hart spent a tricky loan spell at West Ham, which ended with him missing out on a World Cup place. Clarets boss Dyche said: “He’s enjoying the challenge because he knows it’s a challenge.” LIVERPOOL may take some stopping at the moment but Unai Emery believes he has done his homework.
Worryingly for Arsenal fans, though, right now the manager’s textbook for life is a story about Merlin the Wizard, Sid the knight, and the quest for a four-leaf clover.
Moreover it is a tale that involves a gnome, Morgana the witch, a talking rock and equally loquacious sequoia tree, not to mention some singing water-lilies.
It is a matter of record that Emery, 47 today, is a big fan of self-help books. Nevertheless, I was left as wrong-footed as Gordon Jackson in the Great Escape when I asked what he had read lately. “Good Luck,” Emery replied curtly. “I’m sorry?” “Good Luck. It’s the book,” he explained. “It’s a Spanish person who wrote it.
“I read a lot of books. need to continue reading books and I like a lot to learn about different people in the world, different people with success, in and outside of football.
“I use it for me and I use it also to give the players my experience or my learning in every moment.
“And Good Luck is recommend it to you.” So I read it. Two best friends lose touch as 10-year-olds and meet back together in Central Park 54 years later. One is hugely successful, the other down on his luck. We soon discover why.
“For quite some time I made no changes because everything seemed to be going fine,” the hapless Jim explains to his old buddy in the opening chapter.
“But then competitors began to emerge everywhere.” Quickly you begin to see very good. REPORTS the relevance to Arsenal. ‘La Buena Suerte’ by marketing consultants Alex Rovira and Fernando Trias de Bes is an international bestseller that points out the difference between plain luck and Good Luck.
The authors devise 10 rules for creating the right conditions for Good Luck to take permanent root and the message of the book shines a light on a lot of what Emery has been doing since he arrived at the Emirates.
The Spaniard’s incredible work ethic and attention to detail can be seen in the heart of the book. Specifically the Third Rule of Good Luck: “To have Good Luck you must create new conditions.”
For all that former manager Arsene Wenger asserted during the week that he had left his successor with a squad good enough to challenge for the title, there is little doubt the team’s current run of 11 consecutive victories has somewhat more to do with the groundwork Emery has put in to overhauling the mentality and attitude of that talent.
Liverpool at lunchtime will be a much sterner test of his progress and Emery is under no illusions that fanciful tales of dwarf cows with 12 legs – they too make a brief appearance in the latest instalment of his book club – are going to provide the secret to shackling Mohamed Salah and his free-scoring team-mates.
“For today it’s not important how many I read,” he said. “More important is the tactics, the mentality.” At least Emery can bring to his Arsenal squad the belief and knowledge that he has proved the undoing of Jurgen Klopp once before.
The pair met as managers in Basle for the 2016 Europa League final and despite Liverpool taking a first-half lead, Emery’s Sevilla side came back to win the trophy for the third year in a row with a 3-1 victory.
“It’s a very big moment in my career but I don’t live with what I did in my career,” said the Gunners boss. “I live with a new present and future. We need to create a new present and future for us and Arsenal. That said, every experience is important for us to learn and remember things.
“I remember this match as a very difficult match and I know how they played the final in the Europa League and then last year they played the final in Champions League. This is development.” However, it is not just the upward curve of Klopp’s fortunes at Anfield that Emery envies.
In perhaps his most illuminating press conference yet at Arsenal, Emery revealed a much more human desire.
“I look at Klopp and he smiles every day,” Emery said. “I want to smile like him. I need to learn also to smile more. Of course, when we win it is more easy.”
With a bit of good luck on his side, Emery might be able to smile this afternoon.