The Arsenal we used to know: The attack-minded team quickly becoming a toothless dog

Arsenal under Arsene Wenger in his last two seasons was terrible. It was the Arsenal that didn’t give us a top-four finish anymore. We were used to not winning the league and had found consolation in finishing in the top-four – at least that earned us a place in Europe’s top league, the Champions League – but that was also taken from us when he couldn’t deliver that to us, so it had been fair when we started calling for his resignation. What we didn’t know was that his replacement would turn our club into a circus of clowns.

When Unai Emery was brought in, all we saw was a progressive manager who would make our attacking style even better than it used to be but over time, that proved to be something we might wait forever to see happen as Unai Emery doesn’t seem to know what he is doing with the club or doesn’t know how to communicate it with his players.

When the 48-year-old Spaniard took the job in 2018, he did his interview in Spanish and that had been fine until he’s been in Arsenal for the second season running and he still can’t communicate properly. Recently, rival fans have continued to troll him over how he speaks English, most of them using his accent for banter.

I wouldn’t miss the chance for a good banter if a rival club’s manager who has failed so far says ‘good ebening’ instead of ‘good evening’. I mean, anything goes for banter.

Most of us however have refused to believe his problem in the club is from communication but that in itself is hard to look away from because most of the players have said they turn to Ljungberg for help most times because they could not understand Emery.

The attack-minded Arsenal

The last two seasons of Arsene Wenger were his worst in the club but Emery’s poor performance has made it look like it was a good one.

In the 2016/2017 season, Arsenal played a total of 38 games in the Premier League, winning 23 games. They scored a total of 77 goals, leaving them at an average of 2.03 goals per match. They were also able to maintain 13 clean sheets.

Arsenal had 566 shots with 201 shots on target. This goes to show how much Arsenal used to take chances, even though it didn’t look like it then. This left us at 36% shooting accuracy, and 55 big chances created. (Premier League stat)

The 2017/2018 season also saw Arsenal play 38 Premier League matches, winning 19 matches. We scored 74 goals that season, leaving us at an average of 1.95 goals per match and was also able to keep 13 clean sheets.

We had 594 shots and were able to get 234 shots on target, 39% shooting accuracy with 81 big chances created. (Premier League stat)

The toothless dog Arsenal

Unlike Unai Emery, the two seasons considered to be the worst for Arsene Wenger looked even better than Emery’s.

In the 2018/2019 season, Arsenal played 38 games in the Premier League, winning 21. We scored 73 goals, which left us at an average of 1.92 goals per match that season and were able to keep just eight clean sheets.

We had 467 shots with 170 shots on target. In Arsene Wenger’s assumed worst seasons at Arsenal, our shots on target never dropped below 200 and this explains how slowly we started nosediving from being an attack-minded club.

That same season, we had 36% shooting accuracy with 72 big chances created but the fact that we could not convert those chances speaks a lot. (Premier League stat)

This season so far has been nothing to write home about. We have played 13 matches in the Premier League and have won just four, being able to keep two clean sheets.

Arsenal have scored 18 goals, leaving us at an average of 1.38 goals per match, with 162 shots and 58 shots on target. We have 36% shooting accuracy and have created 17 big chances. (Premier League stat)

What these stats show is an Arsenal that has gone from being attack-minded to being a team that can hardly secure a win even against struggling teams.

Conclusion

Now that we haven’t won a Premier League match in two months, patience has started running out and the ‘Emery out’ and ‘sack him in the morning’ chants after our draw against Southampton yesterday goes to show how tired we are of continuing this way.

Hopefully, the club’s management will see reasons and do the needful but before then, we will continue demanding for better for the club.