“Unai is banging the drum about how he wants to play” – The Arsenal Problem as we know it
The Arsenal problem as we know it is a web of things that won’t work out, starting with the newly appointed manager – who is clearly not taking us anywhere but backward – to how the club is lined up and other problems brewing in the club. Let’s also not forget the recent bouts of indiscipline popping up here and there in the club with no one paying close attention to it.
Arsenal have gone from that classy London side club to a club in disarray. Sad as that seems, it was to be expected when the communication gap between the manager, the players, and the fans isn’t perfect.
We saw how Unai Emery had done his first interview in Spanish, using an interpreter to communicate with us when he was unveiled as the new manager of Arsenal, following Arsene Wenger’s resignation, and as much as that was fine, what wasn’t is that several months after that day, the 48-year-old Spanish manager is still yet to master English to a considerable level.
Not to continue bawling over ‘we don’t know what our manager is doing’, we already understand what the problem is, at least we feel we do, watching Arsenal play through the current form they are in is enough to see where the issue lies.
Former Arsenal left-back, Lee Dixon who won four league titles at Arsenal and three FA Cups has asked the players to have a talk with the manager on what the club is doing right and wrong.
When speaking on Season So Far as seen on Mirror UK, Dixon had a lot to say about the current Arsenal situation and how he feels there is no leader in the squad that can put it to Emery that his approach isn’t working.
“From [having] a shot at one end to conceding a penalty at the other end in the space of 20 seconds – that cannot happen, that has to stop.
“Now that game was Watford – I could have done [Aston] Villa at home, I could have done Liverpool away when he played a narrow midfield and let the Liverpool full-backs run the game.
“I could have picked any number of games and done the same analysis and just overlaid it onto the pitch.
“It’s happening every week – that has to stop and the players have got to go ‘We don’t know what you’re doing gaffer, can we change it? Can we change something?’.
“But there’s no leaders in that team, there’s no Patrick Vieira to go ‘boss can we change the system or something?’. Unai is banging the drum about how he wants to play and the players can’t do it.”
The Arsenal problem
We can all agree that the club has more than just one problem so far but one is dominant which is that the club is walking in a direction that leads nowhere. We continue playing with tactics and player selections that don’t work for Arsenal’s playing style.
Not to say trying to change things is wrong but we can’t just be so rigid while at it that the change causes so much damage that we won’t be able to get back from. As it stands, we are walking that path and it might not take much more time before we get there.
Currently, we are sixth in the Premier League table after having lost and draw matches we could have won comfortably. We have played 12 games this season and have won only four, able to keep just two clean sheets out of 12 matches.
We have conceded 17 goals leaving us at an average of 1.42 goals conceded per match. Looking at the goals we’ve scored, 16 goals in 12 matches and an average of 1.33 goals per match, the team isn’t doing so well, especially conceding that much goal, even more than the goals scored and we are just 12 matches into the season. (Premier League stat)
Conclusion
Something obviously isn’t working and the manager either sees it and is turning a blind eye or haven’t noticed and is looking for where he’s going wrong. Whichever it is, someone making him know might just be that break that’ll change and turn everything around.
