Unai Emery Quotes

We make adjustments and changes before and sometimes also during the games in order adapt to the opposition. The manager will, for example, tell the striker to make different runs or position the central midfielders slightly differently in relation to each other.

The way you adapt and play against different teams and different styles is going to be important.

Every opposition needs to be played in a different way and the formation depends on the opposition's strengths.

I think it's nice to have a variety of lineups and formations to use against different opponents, depending on what they bring.

If a team has multiple looks, it's so hard to stand in front of your team and say, 'This is the scouting report. This is what you have to prepare for.'

At the beginning of the week, when we do our game planning, we look at the opponent and all the unique things they do.

The old adage that you shouldn't change a winning team doesn't apply in modern international football because managers have to study the opposition and pick players who exploit their weaknesses.

I think anytime you play somebody on a yearly basis, you develop a history for what they like to do.

Of course you think about the goalkeeper you are facing before a game. You have to prepare yourself for the game and think about the weakness of the players you are up against.

I like to study everything: the way to be dangerous when you are attacking; what the players should do when you don't have the ball; where they should be. The tactics you tell the players to follow come from all this study.

At this point, I'm just grinding through it, trying to establish strikes in the zone with my pitches, using some information the opposition gives me, and kind of moving forward in that regard.

When you play Argentina and Messi, there are several ways to limit his impact, at least.

You play your surroundings. You pitch accordingly. Not that I drastically try to change my game plan based on the score or the team or stadium, but you have to take everything into consideration.

In England and Germany, perhaps, there is more of a focus on the physical side of the game, in breaking down the opposition's play, especially against the lower placed sides.

When we talk about Arsene Wenger, I like the fact that he focuses 80 percent about the style of play he wants for his team and not taking so much consideration into the other team.

It is not about the system, it is about how individuals perform on the pitch and whether they do the right things, so it is not as simple as just picking a system.

No one would ever take Messi out of a match if the teams are evenly matched. But it can be done in matches where we take a big lead. This way, he can preserve his fitness.

My coaches do all the breakdowns of my opponents, and I leave that up to them.

Anytime you get to play a team twice, you have a feel for what they do and how they play.

I consider that part of my job as a pro: to know who you're up against and how the attacking players play, what kind of characteristics they have, their qualities, how they move, their preferred foot.

You need to be 100% focused all match long against Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

I experienced how Pep Guardiola worked every day. He had football on his mind round the clock: 'What system does the opponent like to play? How do I want to set up my team, who do I want in which position?'

When you have your roster set up different ways, you really just have to examine the roster, find out what their strengths and weakness are and hopefully you take your roster and the vision you want to implement of how you want to play and you can tweak your roster to create that.

During the regular season, you don't have the sort of time you do in the playoffs to prepare for people, so you've got to go to your strengths.

I don't know why I performed well against Arsenal, but probably we prepared well, and it could be their football style as well.