Arsenal: ‘Organisation’ the key word that was missing

In a revealing interview with Sky Sports, Unai Emery, when asked about his style at Arsenal, repeatedly referred to his team being ‘organised’. It is the key word that was missing for so many years.

The new era starts now. For some fans, the end of Arsene Wenger was something that they had been waiting for for many years. For others, it came too soon. That is the nature of an uncertain sport. Only time will tell if Arsenal made the right decision or not — yes, it was Wenger who officially resigned, but he was without question pushed to do so.

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Unai Emery is the man who they chose to succeed Wenger, his detail on the current players, the extent to which he had researched his potential new squad, the plans that he had in store for the future, the ideas he shared, the breadth and depth of his understanding of the game, all shining through during the interview process, according to Chief Executive Ivan Gazidis.

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And Emery, inevitably, will bring change. Any new manager would. The very nature of making a change is that change then happens. It sounds obvious. It is obvious. But sometimes it is so easily overlooked. The crucial question for Emery prior to the start of the new season is what change. What will his stylistic differences be from Wenger’s? How will he evolve this team? What elements of the culture, the tactics, the personnel, the coaching techniques will he alter? Well, that is precisely what Sky Sports asked him in this very intriguing interview. Specifically speaking about the style on the pitch, this is what Emery had to say:

"“Our style with the ball is to be protagonists, to do things with combinations, to control the match with the positioning of the ball. And then when we have the space, to be aggressive going forward. Defensively: first it is to be organised, recover the ball quickly. But in these two moments in the match, we need to work. To say it here is easier than doing it on the pitch. We also need time, but now I am happy because I think the players are improving. We need two things: quality players, which we have, and then, organisation. Together I think we can improve, to win in our way. I repeat: organised, then play.”"

The key word is ‘organised’. He wants this team to be organised, particularly without the ball. Later on in the interview, Emery talks about he envisages the goalkeeper being the first attacker and the strikers being the first defenders, highlighting the need for a cohesive, connected unit across the whole pitch, not just in particular areas.

Contrast that to Wenger. How many times did we see Wenger’s Arsenal look lost, lacking any semblance of instruction, absent of clarity and meaning in their play, not committing to any particular approach, drifting neither here nor there between different, ambiguous, undefined philosophies? If there’s anything that we can say about Emery, it is that he has a clear style of play that he wants his team to adopt, and that he will work intensely with each and every player so that they fulfil their responsibility within that collective style.

For Wenger, the warts were most evident when it came to the defending. Complacent, unsure, hesitant and lapse. These were the characteristics that people thought of when they envisaged defending like Arsenal. Unprotected from the midfield, vast distances between each singular, isolated defender, every player simply playing for their own survival with no comprehension of the other. In a word, it was disorganised.

That is what Emery is trying to change. It will take time. It will require patience and practice and repetitiveness and mistakes and improvements and coaching and encouragement. But, hopefully, it will come. It has been missing for far too long.