It would appear that the players currently being considered by Arsenal coach Unai Emery, all appear to have something in common.
It’s clear to anyone who watched Arsenal last season that there was a missing ingredient. The Gunners have looked irresistible at times in attack but all too often, they seemed to lack desire when in deficit and usually against sides that could be best described as ‘spoilers’
On the ball Arsenal look assured but when not in possession they looked short of ideas and unable to assert any authority. Emery has obviously identified, one fundamental flaw, which is the attitude.
Emery likes players that can battle it out, who want the ball and will work hard to retrieve it, something slightly alien to Arsenal’s current squad. On many occasions, Arsenal didn’t scrap hard enough and appeared almost happy to let the opposition threaten until play broke down in the final third or around the six-yard box, a dangerous ploy which has cost Arsenal dearly.
Emery wants his players to be skillful in the Arsenal tradition but he wants to see grit and desire and won’t settle for strollers, plodders or personnel that standoff waiting for others to deal with the problem. These issues have been inherent in Arsenal’s game for many, many seasons. Emery has arrived with fresh eyes to finally address the weakness running through the body of the team.
No leadership, no characters, no spine, no spirit, have been just some of the accusations leveled at Arsenal and unfortunately, the majority of those accusations are true. It’s the same old story, looking sublime when they have a commanding scoreline but when they are pegged back or locked in their own half, they certainly struggle and lack the mentality to turn the game around.
It’s a factor that has been evident in Arsenal’s dismal away form last season. A series of disappointing capitulations that saw Arsenal without a single win in 2018 until the last game of the campaign against Huddersfield. In truth, Arsenal were slightly fortunate to get the win and had to endure a number of scares. No offence to Huddersfield but Arsenal should be turning sides of their ilk inside out and winning by a margin of at least four goals.
Emery’s targets of Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Stephan Lichtsteiner, Caglar Soyuncu and Steven Nzonzi, all display a competitive spirit and a combination of any of those names may instill a new energy that can take the team forward.
Arsenal did put it a number of good performances against the top team’s last term but lost out in short spells where there were gross lapses in concentration and where they failed to press and harass. When the gunners have lost they have usually been subjected to these tactics by others and sadly there never seemed to be a plan B, even though it happened time and time again and that responsibility was Arsene Wenger’s.
The most ardent fan of the former manager will grudgingly admit that he wasn’t much of a tactician. His attacking ethos was dominant and as a result, Arsenal had one style especially in Europe where they embarrassing rolled over by Bayern Munich. One hopes that Emery’s skill as a communicator at a one to one level and the introduction of new players of a certain mentality, will restore some ambition in the squad and achieve some measure of success next season. It won’t be the Premier League, it may not involve silverware but if they manage to get back on terms with the top four and give a good account of themselves against those leading contenders, progress will have been made.
