I watched the Real Madrid – Brugge match last night and have to admit it was a lot of fun to watch a small team get some goals in against a big team. It wasn’t even a win by Brugge, a 2-2 draw instead, but what a lot of fun to watch.
Of course I already knew that Real Madrid are the bigger of the two clubs but let’s say you pulled a reverso on me and put Brugge in white and Real Madrid in blue. In 10 minutes I could tell which of the two is the bigger club. The signifiers of “big club” are obvious: plays it out from the back, midfielders who control possession, and an almost austere approach to creating chances – the chances will eventually come!
Meanwhile, the signifiers of small club are equally obvious: sit back and let the opponent have the ball, an almost middle-class workman-like approach to winning the ball back, and rapid counter-attacks with maximum three players. If the little club literally bumble the ball into the back of the net – which Brugge did twice! – then there is no shame.
Even if all of their hard work comes unstuck and the little club draws the game from a winning position, there is no shame!
Brugge play on Jupiter and I don’t have any detailed stats for that League but if I were to guess, Club Brugge (as opposed to Circle Brugge) is a big club in their league. They have scored 21 goals and allowed just 3 in their first 8 games. I’d be very surprised to learn that they are a counter-attacking team with that record. It’s not impossible but most teams with that kind of split between goals scored and allowed are possession-based teams.
That means that their supporters have to go through a sort of Jekyll-Hyde transformation on European nights.
The question, then, is why does Unai Emery’s passive football drive Arsenal supporters so spare? Are we a big club?
I’ve seen a number of articles over the last few days about how Arsenal (and Man U) need to regain our faded glory. And I don’t think, I know, there’s a lot of angst about the way that Emery sets his team up. We are often watching Arsenal play Brugge-football against clubs like (no offense) Watford.
People point to the table and say “ah but we are in 4th!” I don’t care. As far as I can tell, any coach can get Arsenal to play counter-attacking football. Tony Pulis played that way and he wasn’t even smart enough to play Serge Gnabry. Sam Allardyce, Steve The Bruce, Chris Houghton, Allie McLeish, even SIR Alex Ferguson and The Special Mourinho played counter-attacking football against Arsenal during Wenger’s possession-days. It’s football 101.
In a funny way, which isn’t funny, Arsenal are suffering from big-club-small-jacket syndrome. We are currently wearing too tight a jacket and we have the money to buy a bespoke jacket. I wonder when we will get sick of this jacket?
I guess it’s all just about your expectations.
PS. I wrote a piece about Unai Emery’s passivity over on Arseblog please take a look at it if you feel like it.
I love how a random throwaway line will make me laugh. Steve the Bruce did that here, and Brugge play on Jupiter made me chuckle.
I have no idea why Emery is Arsenal coach. He should’ve been fired after the EL final last season. People say we aren’t Chelsea sacking coaches all the time. But we fired Bruce Rioch and got in Wenger. It’s about legacy with a big club. We need our own Ajax-style Cruyffian/Wengerian coup. I’m ready for Freddie.
Careful.. ready for Freddie could take off, and then we’d.. ya know.. have Freddie
Indeed cut Emery and go for Allegri maybe…. It would make me cry to see him at sp*rs.
Hey Tim, just finished reading your piece on Arseblog.
Are you saying Arsenal aren’t very good on defense then?
I thought so.
Heres my problem with Emery though, we look worse this season than the last, and there isn’t a single facet of the game we seem to be any good at anymore.
Bad at playing out the back.
Bad at transition.
Bad at ball retention.
Not very good at high press.
Not very good at handling high press.
Have I missed anything?
The only thing we seem to have going for us is Auba’s crazy conversion rate.
Not to worry though, as soon as we get the trio of Tierney, Holding and Bellerin – #kierobtor – fit and playing again, Emery will fix all our deficiencies in no time.
Surely.
Good summary, Tom.
Auba’s high conversation rate means that we are creating chances for him, no? Take some time to appreciate Saka’s assist. The REALLY good players — Fabregas, Arteta, Ozil — slow the game down in their heads, in stark contrast to others — Kola and Iwobi — who don’t. Saka, at 18, has the ability to slow the game down in his head. His weight of pass in the hurly burly, for a kid, is sensational.
What wasn’t so good to see was our playing it out from the back. I wish the “Leno’s two sentries” routine a quick and painful death.
ha! my point exactly from the other day….. meaning how saka released that ball to aubameyang (with one touch). how many players would have taken a touch? great work from the youngster that helped earn arsenal a point.
tom, bringing those players back will make arsenal stronger but only just. the problem is and has been granit xhaka. even in the summer when everyone was talking about who arsenal should sign, i said it didn’t matter who they signed if granit xhaka was still in the side.
arsenal paid £35 million for xhaka who was to replace arteta. when xhaka first got to arsenal, it was the first time arsenal had come to the states to play against henry’s ny red bulls side. arsenal were playing against a mexican team (i think chivas or morelia) and xhaka looked absolutely lost. those mexican players ran circles around him. it was only when wenger brought off xhaka, replacing him with an unfit cazorla, that arsenal looked like a proper team. after the first few league games, wenger knew xhaka wasn’t ready and persisted with a still unfit cazorla. it wasn’t until cazorla got injured that wenger had no choice and played the £35 million xhaka.
xhaka looks like and has the a similar technical level of xabi alonso but he doesn’t have the same tactical skill. there’s simply no good internal option; arsenal have to buy to replace xhaka.
What is the name of the article on Arseblog please?
I couldn’t find it either. I think Tom might be confusing our Tim Todd with Arseblog’s Tim Stillman who did put out an article yesterday.
Found it. Go to: News>Stats and you’ll see the Article.
I’m sorry for being off topic but I have to say that I was at the Tottenham match yesterday, sitting amongst the most vocal Spurs supporters and it was most enjoyable seeing their enthusiasm go from high to actually running away when the fifth goal went in.
I’m sorry I didn’t record that but I was crying from laughter to see them empty the stadium (which is rather impressive tbh) so fast.
I think we may be witnessing the beginning of the end here and I for one am about to enjoy the ride.
i don’t really talk about guardiola but i’m a huge fan of his and the post i just made on xhaka prompted this thought in my head. guardiola has always been very particular on who plays cdm for his side. when arsenal signed xhaka, there were rumors of fc bayern and man city (both managed by pep) having interest in the big swiss. wenger stole in and brought him to arsenal but it seems he didn’t know how to develop him, hence the disaster we currently know as xhaka.
i think xhaka suits the approach man city currently use with the inverted fullbacks. it allows him to do what he does best without being so easily exposed. arsenal’s approach, under both wenger and emery, provides no such protection. as a result, teams like to attack xhaka’s weakness.
pep converted a right back into a cdm and bought xabi alonso to replace an aging schweinsteiger at the heart of the bayern midfield. upon his move to man city, pep opted for the cdm of his biggest bundesliga rival, borussia dortmund, to join him at man city, making ilkay gundogan his very first signing. ironically, gundogan turned down the opportunity to re-unite with klopp to play for pep.
people need to understand, cruyff didn’t bring guardiola into the barcelona team because he was talented. he brought pep up from the barca reserve side because he declared pep as the smartest player at the club. pep, similarly paid that compliment to phillip lahm, ilkay gundogan and even more recently kevin debrunye. he’s paid a similar tribute to his #1 assistant and former arsenal cdm, mikel arteta. my point is that this position is not about talent. it’s about intelligence.
i’m just rambling…
I find the defences of Xhaka amusing.
“The coach always plays him, so he must know what he’s doing.”
“He’s been made captain everywhere he has played, so…”
No actual statement of his abilities… just “the coach knows best.” Which was a much made and strongly offered reason for Arsene staying in his position — a defence made right up until the moment his departure was announced.
Xhaka has considerable physical attributes, and he looks like a poster boy for an expensive gym. But he looks unsuited to the EPL. It doesnt make him an awful player, but perhaps a player who would do well in Italy.
Xkaka’s brainless, lazy tug on Brighton’s Solly March as he streaked into the Arsenal penalty box should have been a lightbulb moment for people seeking to justify his presence in the team. And the coach, Unai Emery.
So he’s captain of Switzerland, a proud moment for his accomplished immigrant family, no doubt. But the player he succeeded in the role was Lichtsteiner. He’s a hard player to dislike. In fact, there’s much about him to admire, and I’ve no doubt that off the field, he is a credit to the club. But he’s not one of our best 11 players, and does not deserve to start when everyone is fit and firing.
I said that he’s been captain everywhere as a response to people saying he shouldn’t be captain, or that he doesn’t bring anything. Captaincy is about intangibles, and Xhaka seems to have them.
You asked me how it can be determined that he doesn’t cause panic among his teammates. Much like it can be determined that Mustafi did. I don’t know if there’s a measure or metric for it, but I just think Xhaka, due to a combination of his personality, his work ethic, and yes, his skillset, has the respect of his colleagues and superiors.
As for his skills, I think his defensive awareness is a major issue with him, compounded by his lack of speed. I think his passing range can be a useful tool, provided he has the right partner next to him to help him deal with an opposition press. If it’s Cazorla, oh boy. But even Torreira and Xhaka showed promise as a midfield duo last season, before that was shelved by the great tactician.
I don’t think Xhaka is irreplaceable, or that he shouldn’t be upgraded on. There’s no readymade upgrade we can buy in my mind. If there is, I’d favour going out to get him. I wanted all our budget this season to be thrown at a top quality cdm. I just don’t think he’s as bad as he’s made out to be.
JOSHUAD, I agree with your point.
I have always defended players at the highest level and I refrain as much as possible from declaring such talented individuals as bad players. I have always thought about the path for players to make it to England, and not just England, but the top sides in the Premier League. I have spent some time with players from Nigeria, Ghana and Senegal, and the biggest thing that I noticed about these players is how many countries and teams they have to go through to get to England.
Many players from outside of England have to stand out in their own countries, move to other countries to compete with better quality players and continue doing that until they get to the highest level of football, which Arsenal is.
A player like Xhaka has had to prove himself at Basel, which has very good young players and an excellent development system. He has had to stand out from there, all the way to Germany and Borussia Monchengladbach. Where he played so well and even earned the armband because he has natural leadership abilities. He played so well at Monchengladbach, that he attracted the attention of the three really top sides. Bayern wanted him as a replacement for Shweinsteiger, while Pep had earmarked him for the role that Rodri is currently shining in.
To me Xhaka is a good player who has never really found the right setup or tactics at Arsenal for his strengths to shine through, while minimising his weaknesse, which are pretty clear and obvious. I will also say this before anyone says that a good player can player in any system and shine, that’s false and has no real example outside of Ronaldo and Messi. Football has become such a team game where the gaps in tactics that were around in the past have been filled up by pressing, possession and greater aggression. Players can’t play however they want to anymore, players can’t stand and think for too long in the ball anymore, it’s now more about tactically entrenched instincts of a player’s game and how the player’s strengths offset his teammates weaknesses and vice-versa.
I like Xhaka as a player. I think his role in the game is severely underrated. I know why people keep asking why every coach seems to trust him and play him so much, wether at club or international level. It is all because of his ball dominance. The very thing that makes Guendouzi stand out, is Xhaka’s forte, but he doesn’t have the dribbling or ball control to stand out on the ball. Xhaka’s football is based on directing the flow of the game, and the player who gets on the ball the most is the player that is able to define your tactics as a coach.
For me, I try to understand what a player is good at and then I can deem them as performing below their standards if they don’t do what they are good at. If a player’s weaknesses are exposed over and over again, I put that on either the system, tactics or the make up of the qualities of the players around them. I remember Wenger’s last season and the majority of Xhaka’s errors leading to goals happened at the beginning of it. The team was instructed to push higher up and pull markers with them, and Xhaka was supposed to pick the ball up from the defence in midfield, turn and pass through the lines. Teams picked up on that and didn’t follow Xhaka’s teammates, instead they pushed higher up the pitch and pressed Xhaka. He coughed the ball up for goals against Leicester, Everton and Stoke.
In saying that though, he has shown his quality as the fulcrum of a talented Swiss side that has been performing well for 10 years now. At Arsenal, he just doesn’t and hasn’t had the system, tactical setup or the players around him to amplify his strengths and offset his weaknesses. Right now, his presence is also denying our current midfielders the very same thing that he didn’t get from Ozil and Ramsey, which is balance in getting the most out of them while covering their weaknesses.
It is always easier to change one failing part of the side, rather than purchasing brand new players to get the most out of one player, especially if that player isn’t a game changer type of player like Ozil, Sanchez, Aguero, Kane, Pogba and etc.
Xhaka unfortunately isn’t indispensable, but his strengths shouldn’t be taken for granted. We shouldn’t be fooled into thinking dynamism in midfield is the only way to go just because some players are standing out while providing it, balance is key and a ball dominant player like Xhaka guarantees a certain amount of possession. He directs play according to tactics, not through reactions after running with the ball and passing the first player they see. His decision making and ability to slow down the game, allows us to get the ball to our most talented players in the positions where they can cause the most damage.
I like Xhaka, I think if we make him available, Bayern would be first in line for his services. He is a perfect player for their side, for their midfielders and for their tactics. If we want to improve on him, we need to replace the good that he brings. If we want to get the best out of him, it’s gonna cost us millions. Even though I still hold hope of a Xhaka, Torreira and Ozil midfield in a team that plays on the front foot.
Xhaka’s issue, in a nutshell, is a) that he can be pressed in possession and b) that he is forced to defend space. Chelsea had a similar issue with Jorginho. When players like that cannot pick up their heads to pass the ball, they cannot perform. Similarly, when asked to defend space, they look lost. Jorginho got targeted last season the same way Xhaka has been for Arsenal. They’re not bad players. But issues elsewhere meant teams could devote resources to exploiting their weaknesses. Why don’t teams do the same thing to Busquets and Alonso? Because their teams dictate the terms either with possession or with pressing or both. Xhaka helps you get better possession and ball progression so he is part of the solution. But the cohesion in the team isn’t there in either phase, Arsenal aren’t controlling games, and so his lack of athleticism is exposed time after time.
This is why I’m preaching the gospel of Bellers. Chambers showed how to control a dangerous winger as the fullback: a) get your spacing spot on but more importantly b) force him to defend you instead! James couldn’t get at Chambers too much because he kept having to worry about Chambers’ overlaps. Being able to deliver a telling final ball from wide does that. That just happens to be Hector’s forte. He helps pin the opposition back. That enables the press, makes it harder for the opposition to press, and tilts the control of the match to Arsenal and opens up the game to creative types who don’t have to worry as much about being pressed out of their socks. Hector’s presence changes how opponents play against us. That’s massive.
Obviously no one player is a panacea for all that ails this team. But it sure is going to help, especially if Tierney can be the Scottish Bellers on the other side.
Devlin, you write superb posts but to me this over-analyses something that’s been obvious for 3 seasons. Granit Xhaka, actually, simply isn’t that good a premier league footballer.
The really good ballers like prime Fabregas or Gilberto are a beat ahead of the game. Xhaka is always 3 beats behind. That’s why his most deployed skill is the sly arm tug that begs fo ra yellow. When you give him time to transfer it to his none chocolate leg and pick out a long or medium range pass, he has a smashing peg. When the tempos’s high, he gets found out.
It’s not an exaggeration to say that Xhaka’s almost absent minded, reflexive tug on Solly March cost us a Champions League place. There were lost of factors leading up our terrible slump at the end of last season, but that action at that time was huge, emblematic and significant. It cost us two points in a game we HAD to win. His mad lunge at Son cost us two points in a game we should have won. The Spurs foul was snap bad judgment and forgivable… the Brighton foul was unbelievable. Run the YouTube again.
And can I remind everyone that out of all the players the the premier league — EVERY man Jack — Xhaka is statistically the absolute worst player when it comes to game changing errors? How’s that for a tangible, Shard?
On that note, I rest my case.
Shockingly, I disagree with you about it not being an exaggeration to lay missing out on the CL on Xhaka and his tug.
Meh. He makes errors. We know this. I said his lack of defensive awareness is a major problem. How many of those errors are him on an island, or covering for teammates? Honestly, I don’t know. I don’t particularly care either. I just don’t think Xhaka is this total liability he’s being made out to be. I don’t believe in an appeal to authority, but if your assessment ignores that reality entirely then maybe you’re missing something?
He makes errors.
And Trump fibs now and again.
Look, what is it about being statistically the absolute worst player in the premier league when it comes to game changing errors that is so hard to grasp?
Can we stop calling a spade a shovel?
It’s not hard to grasp. It’s about reconciling that with what else we see. Namely that he retains the respect of the squad, and keeps his place in the team.
I don’t mind dropping him. I don’t mind selling him. I just don’t agree that Xhaka’s deficiencies are what primarily ails us, nor that it necessarily outweighs the positives he brings in this team as it is right now.
All that’s fair enough.
But no one said that his deficiencies are primarily what ails us. All Im arguing is that he’s an error prone player (whose errors are more costly than any other play in the EPL) who lacks dynamism, who plays in a key position. Badly.
Not his fault that he plays. That’d be Emery’s
Thanks for the post Tim
I read the article on Arseblog and I agree with your assessment that our defense has been poor and that is by far Emery’s biggest failing to this point. With regard to our attacking football and ball possession etc its my belief that we over think tactics and over analyze statistics etc. Discussing tactics and higher level stats makes great fodder for blog discussion but the obviously ultimate objective of attacking football is to score goals and no matter what the heat maps might tell us we have been good at scoring goals and we were 3rd in the league in Emery’s first season. Our goals scored in the last 4 years has been 65, 77, 74, 73. You might not like the way it looks to your eye but the reality is the attacking tactics we have been have worked. If you think the Emery’s tactics are that bad and ultra conservative then you would have expected our goals scored to drop off last season but they did not.
Funny, had posted this elsewhere– after having watched Real v Brugge as well:
“But a bit more wary of Standard Liege than you seem to be. Sitting second in their league. Especially, after watching the Belgian First Division A leaders Club Brugge nearly fend off Real Madrid yesterday in the CL at the Bernabéu. Had it not been for an 84th minute red card– it looked like Real were beaten. Casemiro headed in from the ensuing FK. Ended 2-2.
Interestingly? Watching Real Madrid last night was like stepping into The Wayback Machine. Looked like so much mid-Wenger-era Arsenal. With possession passing that was really sumptuous to watch. They were beaten twice by on counter attacks– playing a very high line near midfield. Yep, like AW’s bunch.
But it was fun to watch. I miss seeing that. Win, lose, or draw– it was a fine thing to see skill on display…”
If you can find a reply of the match you’ll see what I’m describing.
The antithesis of Emeryball. Joyless as it is.
I think the importance of the fullback positions has been understated. The old “eye test” told me last season that we were a much different team without Bellers in particular. Remember how much we used the cutback to score during that 21 game unbeaten run? So I went looking for the Bellerin Splits. Here’s what I found:
It’s a perfect half season split, PL games only:
Unai Emery with Bellerin ’18/’19: 19 games (counting Southampton away where he was substituted at half time and Chelsea home where he tore his ACL), 40/57 possible points = 2.1 points per game
Unai Emery without Bellerin ’18/19: 19 games, 32 points = 1.68 points per game
Bonus:
Unai Emery so far in ’19-’20: 7 games, 12 points, 1.71 points per game
Thoughts?
I think the calibre of opponent played a bigger part in that run than actual style or tactics. A lot of people intimated that the issues he faced defensively were a consequence of the remnants of Wenger’s tactics and player, but nobody seemed to attribute the positives in attack that Wenger left behind. Even our formidable home record under Wenger for the last 3 seasons faded as the season progressed.
That run was great points wise, but performance wise? Let’s just say that the down turn in results was predicted way earlier than the Holding and Bellerin injuries. Their injuries just coincided with the inevitable, and I hope they won’t get criticised when their presence in the team doesn’t provide a significant upturn in our defensive fortunes.
i agree with devlin. arsenal got points, including the unbeaten run, but they didn’t play good football.
Thanks for the comments guys but I still think I’m on to something. Blaming strength of schedule for that 50-50 split of games in one competition doesn’t hold water for me; a more likely confounder is the general downturn in form and confidence through the squad, in the second half of the season, but the injuries contributed a lot to that as well.
The EL game tonight has done nothing to dampen my fullback forward mindset!!
CLAUDEIVAN, I see your point on Xhaka and it is correct, he is statistically the most error prone player in the Premier League. When it comes to stats and how they reconcile with what we see, it’s plainly ignorant to argue against that. But I do think you are misunderstanding the points that myself and SHARD are saying.
We know what Xhaka has done, good and bad. We know the stats, good and bad. We also see his weaknesses, which are plain to see. What we are trying to say and what my post is mostly about is pointing out that players whose weaknesses are exposed will commit errors, especially the kind that Xhaka commits.
Xhaka’s shirt pulling and last ditch tackles are used to show how bad he is as a player, but there is also a reason that he has to do that. Players never make those errors while they are in a dominant position or when they have cover.
Last night, Fabian Ruiz of Napoli did the very error Xhaka has usually been called out for, against Genk in the Champions League. It’s an error, but it’s a calculated one that tries to mitigate danger. Gerard Pique is a very good defender, if his side doesnt leave him in one on ones, like last night where Lautaro Martinez and Alexis troubled him so much. Unfortunately Xhaka doesnt have that great of defensive mind and if put in situations to make decisive defensive decisions, he will most likely fail.
I think we all know his weaknesses, so to ignore how the side plays and exposes them is judging aplayer in isolation, which to me is very unfair. There is a reason why you never see Xhaka make the same errors when he plays for Switzerland, it is even more notable that his performances are rated so highly. If his errors weren’t due, in part, to how the team plays, formation, tactics and the players around him, he would he been committing similar errors for his national side as well.
Henderson has the very same weaknesses as Xhaka, but Klopp has always tried to find a way to shield him and reduce his defensive zone, so as to not travel too far to do his defensive work. Henderson had Milner and Wijnaldum to protect him, and now he has Fabinho alongside him to reduce his defensive actions in a game. Henderson also has tactics that prevent the opposition from directly confronting the centre of the pitch and also tries to win the ball through the players ahead of him or by his sides. That’s a player with the right setup, tactics and players around him, so his weaknesses aren’t exposed as much anymore.
For me, Xhaka is far from a bad player, his skilllset is valued across the football world, which is why he is and will continue to be a key player for any side he plays for. His ball dominance is not easy to come by, it can’t be taught and allows coaches to dictate the game as much as possible. Don’t get me wrong though, I am not trying to say Xhaka should be the team’s main focus or that we should build around him. I am not say in he doesn’t commit errors or have weaknesses. I am just trying to say, our problems with Xhaka are not what defines him as a player, they are only a consequence of everything around him bringing those issues/weaknesses to the fore.
He wasn’t defensively exposed by others on any of the two fouls I mentioned, Son or Solly March. He just didn’t engage his brain.
“Oh, I’ll just have a tug at the Brighton player running past me in the box at 60 miles an hour, and see of I can away with it.”
What was he thinking? And he does it time again.
Another thing I forgot to mention, was his post match remarks after the Spurs game. He basically said that losing the game wasn’t his fault alone, as the strikers missed chances too. I wouldnt want my skipper doing that in the press.
There’s a clip of Inter vs Barcelona where Inter have the same two sentinels routine as we try. The difference is they never look panicked and actually find each other. At one point the keeper was put under severe pressure but just calmly lobbed it to his teammate in the box! who then played it out wide, and within 40 seconds it led to a shot for them.
I don’t think their players are better than ours. I think Emery just can’t coach this.
That is exactly what Tim and I have intimated this whole time. Emery knows and always knew what he wanted from his side, he is just unable to coach it into the players. These teams that play out from the back aren’t just told to do so, there is an extensive amount of knowledge and ability to drill playing out into the players required. Coaching is a very specialised field. If you are missing man management and an ability to instill your vision of how you want your side to play into your players, you will fail. It wont matter how tactically knowledgeable you are.
All of Emery’s tactics are actually understandable and make sense, thats why I think James from Arseblog can understand them, why they are implemented and seems to defend them. Clive from the Arsenal Vision podcast also seems to think the same, in that Emery’s decisions have some reasoning behind them. They make tactical sense and are viable options for a football game. But the frequent failure in terms of execution is primarily down to the coach not being good enough at coaching or drilling what he wants, rather than the quality of our players. Lesser quality teams like Leeds and Norwich are playing out better because it is a team thing, a combinations thing and a mentality thing. The quality of player just makes it work out better, which we should be doing.
Playing out doesn’t need rehearsed combinations, but an ability on the part of an individual to read opposition movements and the movements of your teammates, in order to position yourself as an option and out-ball for your teammate. Its a collective thing and all of that should then be instilled in every single player taking part in playing it out from the back, which isn’t easy but has been shown to be doable by qualified coaches.
The movements shouldn’t be predictable or inflexible as ours are. We stand in the same shape, with the same players and do not allow for any exchanging of positions to open up options and to also instill disorganisation in an opposition press. All the opponent has to do to Emery’s Arsenal is man mark the players and Leno will have no option but to kick it long.
A lot of Emery’s problems stem from an abundance of knowledge, but an inability to turn that knowledge into coaching methods that work. Currently in South Africa, at a club called Orlando Pirates, there is a young coach who is similar. He spent many years as an assistant to some successful coaches and has now finally gotten one of the biggest jobs on the continent. He is struggling to have his side playing cohesively, despite having being praised by many as one of the most tactically gifted coaches in Africa. He knows what he wants, but just cant coach it into his side because others did that for him.
Emery is similar to me. Tactically astute, but not a good coach at all, at least not at the highest level of football.
Shard
Playing the ball out from the back is not a hugely complex theoretical process that requires the players or the manager to have a degree in quantum physics to understand or to teach. Emery has been coaching football at the top level for a couple decades and he has been relatively successful where ever he has coached. The idea that he does not understand or can’t coach the concepts or the strategy of how to play out from the back seems way over the top.
The problem is the players have to execute the strategy under pressure and make decisions regarding where to move and where to pass the ball once the game starts. No manager can choreograph every movement and every pass and the players need to make decisions and take responsibility and make the right decisions when they are being pressured. Emery can’t kick the ball for them or stop the game and run out on the pitch and tell Maitland-Niles or Sokratis where to move or where to pass the ball when they have a defender within a couple yards.
Yes, of course the ultimate execution of the plan is down to the players, but regardless of the cause we are clearly not very good at executing the plan. What worries me is that Emery insists on having the players do something that isn’t working. Presumably he hopes that by sticking with it we will eventually improve, but we’ve been locked in to this strategy for a whole year with no sign whatsoever of improvement. The collateral damage here is that the players’ confidence in themselves – and the coach – is taking a big hit. At some point Emery has to come up with a strategy that works for the players he has available. I’m not seeing that.
Players execute tactics is your quantum physics degree contribution here?
Strange then that players at clubs like Watford or lower table Spanish clubs manage to do it. Would you swap squads with them since those players must be better? What exactly do you think a coach does? Just draw Xs and Os? I think that’s what Emery does. He even said it last year. That he doesn’t have time to watch and analyse players. That he’s more a tactician.
And without knowing about this, my contention was Emery wants robots to execute his awesome super great perfect plan. That he enjoys the theory more than the practice. The fault lies with the coach. He’s not preparing the players to execute his vision, and he doesn’t mold his vision to the players he has. Even with NEW players.
Bill,
Emery only adopted this play it out from the back approach last season. Before that his teams were progressive in other ways. Also, this is a conservative man by his very nature. He once had a team with Mata, D.Villa, and D.Silva in it and scored just 59 goals.
Claude,
We’ll put re Xhaka.
I’m pretty much done with Emery so I won’t speculate why he keeps playing him , other than maybe it’s difficult to drop 100m worth of talent from the squad ( Ozil, Mustafi, Xhaka) without looking like you might be wasting resources.
One of the reasons Pepe is struggling is because our transition and combination play is so slow and Xhaka is part of that problem.
I never thought I’d say this but Pepe could do with a Ramsey type playing next to him.
my post about xhaka wasn’t really about xhaka, but more about guardiola. likewise, it was to highlight how two players with very similar technical levels (xhaka and xabi alonso) can be so different because of what’s between their ears.
guardiola didn’t play for barcelona because of his talent, he played because of his exceptional tactical intelligence. it’s plain to see that xhaka doesn’t have that so he needs to be insulated by a stronger strategic set up. that’s on the manager. i believe if you put xhaka in man city’s current set-up, he would shine as their strategy hides his flaws. a similar thing could be said with liverpool’s strategy. however, arsenal’s strategy, under wenger and emery, expose him too much. maybe it would help if arsenal had an actual strategy but i digress.
wenger brought in a highly regarded xhaka because he needed to replace an aging and injury-prone arteta. wenger had the chance to sign xabi alonso but blew it and didn’t want to blow it again when the chance to sign someone who was so favorable to alonso was available. the problem is, like i said earlier, xhaka doesn’t have the tactical skill of either alonso or arteta.
alonso averaged more than 100 completed passes a game, which is absurd. even more impressive, arteta could absolutely boss a game without even touching the ball. those two guys are cerebral jedi warriors. xhaka can’t do what they did but, seriously, who can? by virtue of that fact, i can’t be mad at xhaka.
the way forward? bid for ilkay gundogan from manchester city. he’s not quite arteta and alonso but he’s a mighty fine player. there’s a reason that gundogan was pep’s first premier league signing. the question is would he go from playing for klopp and guardiola to emery.
-gundogan is very close to arteta.
-it’s an absolute disgrace that arteta didn’t finally get a call up to the spain team five or 6 years ago when he was playing out of this world and both alonso and busquets were unavailable. it was deserved.
Jayke @ 7:35AM
I agree with that. I think a big part of the problem for Emery had last season is he expected a lot more from Ozil and Mkhitaryan when he came to the club. On paper before the season he had a great midfield but obviously both of those players were huge disappointments and he has gotten almost no creativity or positive attacking influence from his central midfield and the playing out from the back has not worked and he has been forced to plan B and then plan C. The only thing that has saved us is we have a world class CF in Auba and a pretty good second striker in Lacazette.
Ultimately the manager is going to take the blame when things do work the way we hoped and unless things really turn around then Emery should definitely not get a 3rd year as the manager. However, to suggest that he does not know how to manage something like setting up a plan to play out from the back seems utterly ridiculous given his past history. Clearly the players are not executing when they step on the pitch and the idea the players are all really good and just being held back by the manager seems hard to accept. I am not saying the players are all bums but outside of PEA and may beLacazette the talent on this squad is underwhelming.. If Pepe comes good and we buy a better DM and a creative midfielder and we can add a couple pieces to our back 4 then we could take the next step but until then we have a squad that can go deep in the Europa league but not much more.
I doubt there is a manager in the world who could take a team with as starting 11 that includes Leno, Maitland-Niles, Sokratis, Luiz, Kolasinac, Xhaka, Torriera, Willock and Guendouzi and play beautiful flowing football and potentially challenge for a league title in the PL or compete with the worlds other big teams. Thats a team which can challenge for 4th place and potentially do well against Europa League level competition as long as we don’t run into the better teams in the final rounds.
I mean… This take is so hot I’m going to drop it like a hot potato.
with the players currently on the arsenal roster, there’s nothing to suggest that that’s the best starting eleven. there’s plenty of talent on this arsenal roster. it’s the manager’s job to manage them.
tim has already told you about the valencia team that consisted of david villa, david silva, ivan rakitic, juan mata, etc. and only managed to score 59 goals in 38 games. is that because those players weren’t good enough too? no manager could get those guys to score a paltry 60 goals in 38 games? nuts!
Bill, we can SEE that Arsenal are not that well coached playing it out from the back.
Mesut Ozil fails to make the squad (while an overworked Auba has), even though we’re playing the kids.
But you know, creating 6 chances in 60 minutes last time doesnt matter all that much. He’s been on the decline for 3 years, the coach knows what he’s doing so let’s not doubt him, and so it’s ok.
It’s not ok. At all. What is going on? Tim, any insight?
i’ll give you isight. when it comes to managing a team, unai emery is a f*cking clown!
Doesn’t look like the team needed him. I’d say 3-0 up at halftime is pretty decent. Besides, if you play Ozil, who clearly isn’t part of our long term future, it’s at the expense of the development of one of these youngsters who quite clearly is. Opportunity cost.
As for Ozil, his last game was Watford away. He captained the side. Do you remember the last away PL game Emery trusted him to captain? Wolves away, I believe it was, where we also drew (1-1) while deserving to lose. I don’t care how many chances he creates if the team performs like that. He doesn’t deserve to be a scapegoat or an outcast but on merit he also doesn’t deserve to start right now.
Auba — who plays every minute of every game — wasn’t needed either, was he?
Doc, you’re pro-establishment to a degree that I find bewildering. You’re clearly super smart, but can’t seem to think beyond the establishment position. All of your arguments could be boiled down to “the coach is always right”, whether it’s Emery or Wenger/
You adored Ozil — and he could no no wrong for you — until Emery froze him out. Oh, I remember well your odes to “oh captain, my captain”. Now you’ve turned on a dime. Because Emery. I have a feeling that if he was playing badly week in week out, but he was an Emery mainstay, you’d be lauding him.
Xhaka? Worth his place? “Perfectly fine. Why dont we zip it on that issue?” The coach knows what’s doing, and in any case is always right.
You advocated for Wenger right up until the moment he was pushed out, and your only criticisms of him came long after he had left.
Man, think outside the establishment box. Tim Stillman is right… Emery’s treatment of Ozil is not normal. Auba — who should by rights be rested — makes the squad and Ozil doesnt?
You make several wrong swerves in your last line. One, our performance today was anomalous. Two, no one could have forseen that, so you cant reduce his 6 chances created to nothing. Three, he does deserve to start B games at least… no one is arguing that he should start the big ones. Four, even frickin’ Mustafi got a run out, man. Someone Emery public told to leave.
And you think that the Ozil situation is perfectly normal?
I just find your constant “nothing to see here” schtick just puzzling.
To add …
Mesut is not making match day SQUADS — let alone the bench — for the league.
And he’s not making matchday squads — let alone the bench — for Europa games either.
Note what I said… squads. He’s bing totally omitted from our lists of 18. In all competitions, since playing an hour at forest. And the club isnt even pretending that he is injured.
Im kind of surprised that youd seek to explain that away as normal, justified and expected.
I’m just going to ignore all the stuff about me and focus on the issue if it’s all the same to everyone.
The people who are in the job doing it day after day know the job better than we do. We can and do second guess them but it’s kind of foolish to think we actually could do better. I don’t think that’s a controversial position (or maybe it is??).
But beyond that, for me the team hasnt performed with Mesut Ozil in it since this time last year. He also didn’t exactly carry the team under Wenger either. It’s possible to raise all sorts of sub plots to explain that away but the most plausible reality seems to be that Ozil isn’t pulling his weight and therefore he isn’t playing. I can’t quite understand why that makes people upset with the coach.
I defended Ozil vigorously when he was being blamed for all sorts of things with very little justification but now the pendulum has swung too far the other way. He’s not the answer to any of Arsenal’s problems and fundamentally doesn’t fit with the style of play this coach wants.
Claudeoivan
I doubt that any of us are smart enough to accurately tell the difference between poor coaching and players who are not as good as we hope to believe and who are not executing the way they should be. The reality is most like that its a combination of both. I stand by my comment at 8:19 AM and I doubt there is any manager in the world who could take our squad and get it to play out of the back consistently and play the attractive flowing ball possession football you want.
Plus one, Bill! This, in essence is why we keep talking about this stuff and never really get anywhere.
The point isnt to “get anywhere.”
We’re football fans, sounding off on a football blog!
You dont have to engage if you find all of this yawningly unproductive.
If Pep or Klopp became the manager they would rebuild 80% of the squad as fast as the money would allow.
“…they would rebuild 80% of the squad as fast as the money would allow”.
Doesnt this directly contradict your earlier assertion that we’re not smart enough to determine who is or isn’t good enough and who hasn’t had proper coaching? 🙂
Claudeivan
🙂
3 -0
Every time Tierney is on the ball something happens. And oh sweet Mary, a left back who can cross a football.
Get him in the First XI.
arsenal v below standard liege..
can’t be arsenal good, can it?
Standard Liege at the Emirates is the level of team this squad is capable of dominating.
they are only a point behind the team that drew with real madrid on tuesday..
enjoy it..
OMG, we can actually press a team into causing turn overs. Amazing.
Still can’t pass worth a sh*t, but hey, if you’re forcing the other team to cough the ball up in their end, who needs champagne football. I’ll take the chaos and a 3-0 score at half-time.
Pull Tierney at half, please Emery. That way we know he might still play on Sunday.
Why the heck is PEA coming on in the 79th minute, 4-nil up?
I actually liked that sub. I wanted to see how Martinelli would play wide with Auba playing through the center and saw some potential there.
That was fun. Does Standard Liege deserve to get a ‘participation trophy’ for that ‘gallant’ effort?
Once again the young players show how to press in a coordinated manner and guess what they force turnovers. Surprise, surprise, surprise (thanks Gomer Pyle).
Kane, ex-Arsenal. Malen, ex-Arsenal, Gnabry, ex-Arsenal, Martinelli, ex-Man U trialist (2017). Thank you, Edu.
Who knew that Emery was Mourinho in disguise except he not only plays passive against the top teams in the EPL but every pissant team in the EPL.
Can we all just relax with Pepe and let just let him breathe and figure it out at his own pace.
Tierney is what we expected him to be (thanks Dennis Green).
I think we all see why Nketiah went out on loan and Martinelli stayed behind, wow. His speed and movement are at the next level and was my MOTM today.
Torreira: 2 giveaways but no yellow cards, no red cards, no penalties conceded, fast play out of the midfield, and closing down in the midfield. Xhaka who?
I don’t know how much of today’s game was down to the terrible opponents we faced but wow.. we look like a completely different team when we are set up to attack. I would love to see us start with the team that ended today – with Leno and David Luiz instead of Martinez and Mustafi (though Mustafi played a really nice ball for Martinelli’s second). I like Torreira but I think we need an upgrade there to take us to the next level.
I expected Martinelli to be good on the ball as he was today, but I was pleasantly surprised by how good he is in reading crosses and heading the ball. His lanky frame works against him sometimes but if he can put on some muscle, he will be quite a player. He seemed to do well on the left side too. Their right back was pretty bad though. He will be having nightmares about Nelson skinning him all match long.
It appears our returning full backs will make a difference in our attacking shape and give us more width. Bellerin doesn’t seem physically ready for the league yet (perhaps as a sub) but Tierney looks just about there.
NYC, if we operated a meritocracy, the following would happen.
Martinelli would come straight in for Pepe. He played wide left. He could be deployed wide right, with Saka on the other flank. Not just his goalscoring threat and assist ability, but his workrate. The chases, presses and harries all game, and I was really impressed with his stamina. he was running as hard in Minute 90 as he was in Minute 1. Reiss Nelson, who gave as much and also played well, was dead on his feet after an hour. I rate Pepe and think he’s got time on his side, a game built on skill and penetration, and will come good; but one of my knocks against him is that he does not defend and support his RB enough. Martinelli can also be moved centrally if we are winning games comfortably, to give Aubameyang a breather.
Two, Tierney plays. His crossing is delicious, but he’s a very cultured ballplayer. Like Saka, he knows when to go through the gears and when to slow it down. And he holds his position defensively. Kola is a bit of a one-trick pony attacking wise.
Too soon for Rob Holding to be thrust back into the hurly burly of the EPL, but yesterday he did his job so effectively, that you never noticed him. Competent defending, no drama. In time, he should displace Sokratis, who has gone backwards a bit bin the early part of this season. Yes, heckle me all you want for saying this… David Luiz has looked a good, organised central defender, and ahead of the Greek in the batting order.
Xhaka would make way for three of Guen, Ceballos and Torreira/Willock. Willock is certainly a more effective player for us than our captain, and brings dynamism. Has a tendency, like Wilshere, to be ball hog on the dribble, but he’s still only 20. The other parts of his game are very solid.
If Emiliano Martinez continues playing like he did yesterday, Im going to prefer him over Leno. He looked far more assured and authoritative playing it out from the back, and even telegraphed calm to Mustafi. Defender pressed? No problem. I’ll hit the open player wide right or central. It helped that Torreira seems much better at receiving the ball form the keeper than Xhaka or even Guendouzi. Caveat? The quality of the opposition.
SLIGHT CORR… Martinelli played wide left when Auba came on
I saw (I assume) your comment under the match report on the Graun and it was weird – like walking into a new pub and seeing your mate hanging out with a whole different set of friends
It was I, yes. I was there before I was here, but I had stopped commenting there for years. So much so that I needed a new profile, and just added 2.
it’s nice to have a brazilian in the side again. when arsenal signed him, i said i was excited to see his industry on one flank and iwobi on the other; not gonna happen. meh.
the only downsides to me was, first torreira at cdm. ugh, he was quite sloppy on a few plays. sometimes it was the quality of his passing. others, it was the failure to recognize very simple traps that were being set for him. we’ll see how he progresses. second, i wasn’t a fan of nelson’s “shoot on sight” approach. i guess he’s best mates with jadon sancho and may be trying to keep up with his friend’s successful approach so we’ll see how nelson matures.
oh, big up to emery. i thought it was a dynamite move bringing on pepe when he did. unfortunately, the kid didn’t really shine in a game where there were plenty of players shining. i think he might be trying too hard. every time he gets the ball, it’s like he’s trying to showcase his skill. sometimes, it’s best to keep it simple and, to quote thierry henry, do what the game asks. if he doesn’t learn that, despite his great talent, he’ll never be a great player.
Claudeivan
Was the way we played yesterday a result of an excellent tactical set up and good coaching or was it a result of players who executed really well?
I think Ljungberg coached the young players well.
Surely that wasn’t Emeryball.