Originally Posted by
WES
Henry Winter likes him :-(
Arsenal are very fortunate to have a head coach with Unai Emery’s brains, dignity and decisiveness. Given the myriad issues at the Emirates Stadium, ranging from an absentee owner, confusion in the executive and technical structure, an imbalanced, under-resourced squad and a colossal fan base that, in parts, is demanding to the point of deafening, Emery’s calmness, sense of purpose and direction are even more important.
The 47-year-old from Spain, who took over from Arsčne Wenger last May, is the man with the plan, and there have been too few of these leadership figures at Arsenal over the past decade. That is why Saturday’s 2-0 victory over Chelsea at the Emirates gleamed with significance. Post-mortem examinations focused more on the vanquished Maurizio Sarri, and what it meant to his future as Chelsea head coach, when the result meant as much to Emery’s.
It is time for Emery to be properly appreciated. The win, and especially Arsenal’s tactically smart, energetic first-half performance, stopped ripples of dissent towards the head coach from turning into a wave. After four losses in eight games, including a 5-1 shoeing at Anfield and the parochial pain of going out of the Carabao Cup to Tottenham Hotspur at home, the pressure built on Emery.
Shouldn’t Mesut Özil, a World Cup winner, on Ł350,000 a week, really be starting? Shouldn’t Aaron Ramsey, who is off to Juventus, really be on the bench and not starting? Emery was being increasingly questioned. Ridiculous. After only 33 games. After only six months of a three-year contract. In the most competitive English season for years. Saturday brought patience that Emery deserved anyway.
As ever in the era of short tempers and long Twitter threads, some fans doubted the new man, ignoring the fact that Pep Guardiola, Jürgen Klopp and Mauricio Pochettino all needed time to settle in their first seasons at Manchester City, Liverpool and Tottenham respectively. And all those three were working with superior squads to the one Emery inherited from Wenger.
Emery’s critics need to remember the sorry state of affairs, the sad decline under his predecessor, and acknowledge Arsenal’s improved form against leading opponents. Under Wenger, Arsenal took only six points out of a possible 30 against the glitterati last season. Already this season, Arsenal have taken eight points off the elite, beating Spurs and Chelsea and drawing with Liverpool and Manchester United. Many challenges lie in wait, especially with City, Spurs and United lurking among their next seven Premier League tests, but Saturday confirmed Arsenal are developing well.
Emery outwitted Sarri, using Ramsey at the tip of the diamond to stifle Jorginho, pressing and counterattacking briskly, being on the front foot with two forwards. Emery won the game and won the Özil debate. If the skilful German will not contribute when Arsenal don’t have the ball, he just cannot start. Emery has been diplomatic with his comments about Özil, praising his “quality”, partly because he is a civilised man but also because he is not dazzled by stars and is very clear of what he wants from players. Emery does not risk losing their respect by criticising them in public as Sarri has done. The esteem in which Emery is held is also reflected in Ramsey consistently delivering even as he edges towards the exit. (It is also a sign of his consummate professionalism.)
Emery makes all of his Arsenal squad believe they have a chance of inclusion
Emery makes all of his Arsenal squad believe they have a chance of inclusion
CHRIS RADBURN/PA
Emery has made mistakes and fans are right to have some reservations, and three at the back doesn’t really work with this squad, but this is a studious manager, hugely respected within European football for setting teams up well. So, when he puts Granit Xhaka in defence, because of an injury crisis, there is method in perceived madness, even when the willing Switzerland international looks uncomfortable and his redeployment breaks up that promising axis with Lucas Torreira.
When fans became fidgety about Emery’s sparing use of Torreira at the start of the season, Arsenal’s head coach was taking the longer view, bedding him in slowly to a new league after a hectic summer.
When supporters then became annoyed at their new cult hero being rested, Emery clearly felt that there were medical concerns about the hard-working Uruguayan player succumbing to injury. In a sport too addicted to short-term fixes, Emery deserves applause for taking a long-term approach. He cares about his players’ welfare.
All the time, Emery has been assessing options, learning about the mental character and tactical and technical qualities of his new players. Fans talk of his tinkering, but he seems to have his front six established now of Xhaka holding, Matteo Guendouzi and Torreira tucked in on the diamond, and Ramsey behind Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. Initially reticent about playing two up front, mindful of weakening midfield, Emery realised the power of the pair of Lacazette and Aubameyang, their synergy and off-field kinship, and has unleashed them, mixing some poetry into his pragmatism.
The former Valencia, Seville and Paris Saint-Germain coach has not stumbled by chance on this system and choice of personnel. He has been watching, auditioning and building. He will doubtless change in games to come, starting against United in the FA Cup at the Emirates on Friday, but it is worth having a plan B. Sarri doesn’t. Emery is not so obsessed with dogma like Chelsea’s head coach with his “Sarri-ball”. He varies formations, 4-2-3-1 to 3-4-2-1 and now 4-1-2-1-2, the system that seems to offer best the balance and threat. And not for Emery any of the nonsense of playing his two best players out of position as Sarri does with N’Golo Kanté pushed up and, occasionally, with Eden Hazard as a false nine. Emery is a coach with his eyes wide open and his mind open.
He is still assimilating into English football. But this is a real thinker about the game, easily capable of adapting. Can he do it at Stoke City on a cold night in February? Well, actually, he can. Six years before taking the Arsenal job, Emery went to Stoke with Valencia in the Europa League, fielded some of his strongest, tallest players, stood up to the physical challenge and won 1-0 with a goal from the 6ft 1in Mehmet Topal.
He suits Arsenal so well. He has given youth a chance, mainly in the cups, prospects such as Ainsley Maitland-Niles (aged 21), Joe Willock (19), Eddie Nketiah (19), Emile Smith Rowe (18) and Bukayo Saka (17). Wenger fielded youngsters in the cups, so there is a continuity of pathway here, but not all managers do it. Sarri, especially, fails to appreciate that some of his colts such as Callum Hudson-Odoi could train on to become first-team thoroughbreds.
Emery has handled the Petr Cech succession politely but decisively, introducing Bernd Leno. He is respectful to referees and opposing managers. He has encouraged more tactical discipline in players such as Xhaka and Alex Iwobi. Arsenal defend corners better, run farther, press more, and work harder in the gym at their London Colney training ground. They are not the butterflies fresh from the chrysalis that they resembled too often in the recent past.
And no longer are Arsenal fans waiting until the hour mark for the man in the dugout to take action and send on substitutes. Emery changes games. His switch at half-time with Arsenal trailing 2-1 to Spurs at the Emirates on December 2 turned the match. Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Iwobi off, Lacazette and Ramsey on, three goals in 26 minutes, thank you very much. In the second half on Saturday, Emery frustrated Chelsea by sending on Maitland-Niles for Ramsey and Iwobi for Lacazette to give Arsenal more presence in midfield.
His final change involved Mohamed Elneny for the stricken Héctor Bellerín. Emery does not moan about injuries, even those such as the right back’s damaged knee, which restricts Arsenal’s threat down that flank. Emery simply pointed out that he had potential understudies such as Maitland-Niles “playing well”. He name-checked Stephan Lichtsteiner and added: “I do not forget Carl Jenkinson.” He makes all in his squad believe they have a chance of inclusion.
Just a glance at the list of sick and wounded under Emery shows the endless disruption that he has had to deal with: Laurent Koscielny (achilles tendon), Konstantinos Mavropanos (groin), Nacho Monreal (hamstring), Elneny (thigh), Danny Welbeck (ankle), Rob Holding (knee), Mkhitaryan (metatarsal), Lichtsteiner (hamstring), Maitland-Niles (tibula), Iwobi (illness), Jenkinson (ankle), Torreira (calf), Sead Kolasinac (knee) and now Bellerín (knee).
Fourteen players. That’s not a dressing room. That’s a doctor’s waiting room. Emery doesn’t bleat about it. He gets on with it. He is a class act, and Arsenal should count their blessings.
