I watched our match against Vitoria of Portugal. They are 4th in the Portuguese top league. Not a great pedigree, but good enough to lead us a merry dance for 80 mins when Pepe equalised their second goal. He then went on to score the winner with a last gasp free kick. That was a momentous achievement for Pepe and one which saved our blushes. We seem to be unable to raise our came against much inferior teams and the Europa League is a minefield for us.
There is a common denominator in these matches. The team selected for the lesser games contains a substantial number of Academy players. I am not blaming the youngsters for our failings, but Emery is not doing himself any favours by simply dropping them into their positions without properly instructing them into carrying out his tactics.
Martinelli shining
The batch of youngsters this year is amazing, and I am sure that eagle eyed coaches in other clubs will have taken note of them. No one could miss the talent they display, but despite all of that, only Martinelli confirmed his previous promise by scoring another goal and generally slotting into his position seamlessly. He is exceptional and I have no doubt that he could play effortlessly in the first team in a consistent manner.
In contrast, poor Maitland Niles who has played some excellent games in recent seasons, looked totally shot in midfield, despite that that is reputed to be his best position. Willock, once again was practically invisible, but Smith Rowe had sparks of success in attacking their goalmouth and combining with the other forwards. Guendouzi continued as the light cavalry charging at the enemy and covering acres of space. He has cemented his place. Bellerin, Mustafi, and Holding were clearly showing rustiness from not having been playing, as did Tierney, though he did improve considerably in the second half.
Willock struggling
Vitoria had some surprisingly dangerous forwards and they played as many lesser teams have done against us. They were disciplined. Their two ranks of four were clearly evident when they defended, and they sprung attacks regularly to both wings. Their midfielders harassed our midfielders (I hesitate to call them that because we didn`t have a clearly effective midfield) and their speed of purpose worked much better than we could muster.
Torreira whom I finally mention was careering around trying to break up attacks but with no obvious connection to Willock or Ceballos. He doesn`t seem to have a solid connection with Guendouzi either, so all in all we are soft in midfield and our insecurity in central defence is well recorded.
I come to the crux of the matter by asking “Where is Emery in all of this”? We are now depending on sheer ability and individual brilliance to rescue a rudderless ship. It is no coincidence that all the criticism from scribes and contributors have the same opinion of his present position. He was brought in to improve the team and drag them out of the mire of slow aimless football which they were playing. Despite the talent of our youngsters, (which I think is down to Freddie Lundberg), and the acquisition of Torreira, Guendouzi and Pepe etc. there is no discernment of any improvement.
When we did get into the final of the Euro League, we abjectly surrendered to Chelsea. There was absolutely no feasible explanation for such a gutless display. Yes, the players did not perform, but it is the job of a successful manager/coach to shout and cajole if necessary, but also to instil a template for the kind of football he wants them to play. I don`t see any sign of such a template. Can anyone tell me what an Emery team looks like? What is it about our team which anyone could see that it has his stamp on it?
A sophisticated, articulate Arsenal Man of Mystery. Aged 70 and a bit.
Nothing unfortunately, Emery seems clueless he stands on the touch line pulling faces as if he does not know what to do. Give this squad to a Ljungberg, Arteta, Nieglesman or Howe I think our young team would fair far better.
I look at PSG (who have the most expensive team on the world) and Sevilla ( a team packed full of experienced players who should have really had better careers) and you can see he has never worked under the conditions at Arsenal. We have, and rightly so I might add, decided to build a squad of future world class potential and youth from our own academy.
Emery is not the coach for this setup. We need to either drag him into the board room andsay you have till Christmas. Or get rid now and give someone 3/4 of a season to get his philosophy in place. We knew we were going to struggle to challenge this season with our defence the way it is. We need 2 more windows to compete and under Emery I don’t think any future signings will make a difference
Thank you for your comments James, I was determined not to get into the serious criticism which identified Arsenal for the last two years and I resolved to give Emery two, seasons to make an obvious difference to the results in the premiership. I thought that with a honeymoon time to settle in, he would provide a definite improvement . Unfortunately that has not happened and as you can see from my article, I cannot see any strategic changes as to who we play and how they appear to be parts in the Emery plan. In short, I think the job is beyond him. There is no shape to the team and even if there was, it would change for the next match when he will introduce 3 or 4 different players, but with no discernable difference in the game-plan.
I don`t deny his efforts to make changes are genuine and something which he would honestly hope would change the negative attitude which has perpetrated our matches. However, we simply should not be struggling against teams like Vitoria ( no disrespect to them ). The talent we have now should certainly propel us into the top 4 but we need a wise head to devise a strategy which makes the most of our experienced players and at the same times uses the precocious talent of our younger players. That is our future, but I don`t think Emery is the man to make it happen.