Arsenal: ‘Learning like children’ the only way

Alexandre Lacazette has stated that Arsenal are making mistakes because the players are ‘learning like children’. While it sounds degrading of Unai Emery’s practices, it is the only way to improve.

Patience is an increasingly rare commodity in modern day society. In all walks of life, people are desperately searching for instant gratification, for the quick fix, for the reward without any of the work that has to be put in to earn it. It means that when change is implemented at an organisation, there is a demand for quick results, with many not possessing the patience required to wait for the change in process to provide a change in production.

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Arsenal are currently undergoing this very method. As soon as they decided to move on from Arsene Wenger, hiring Unai Emery as the first manager of this club in more than two decades, that decision was taken. This was to be a project of change and it requires patience.

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And so, the mistakes that have been made by Arsenal in the first four games of the Premier League season are not to be unexpected. There was always going to be growing pains. Indeed, there were plenty of signs during Sunday’s 3-2 win over Cardiff City, especially defensively, with the lowly Welsh side scoring their first two goals of the season.

But after the match, Alexandre Lacazette, thankfully, provided an element of perspective. The striker and match-winner, who was phenomenal throughout, said that Arsenal are making mistakes because they are ‘learning like children’:

"“It was a good game, even if we did some mistakes. We have already learned a lot, but mistakes are going to happen. The manager said, if we do this kind of thing, we can concede a goal. So, we know everything. We just did mistakes because we are learning like children. It is okay, it is good, we will be better week after week.”"

It sounds like a derogatory comment from Lacazette — He probably realised how the papers would spin it because he immediately clarifies his statement by saying that it is good. But, actually, it is precisely what Unai Emery needs to be doing with this current crop of players.

There is no point in thrusting a load of new systems, tactics and general information on his players, confusing them simply through the number of new things there are to learn. It would only lead to further disconnection and misunderstanding. Emery needs to bring his players on slowly, mastering a particular tactical element before moving on to another aspect.

That is precisely what Lacazette is detailing, that he and his teammates are yet to fully comprehend what Emery is asking of them, and thereby they are unable to successfully execute it on the pitch. These are where the mistakes come, as we have seen plentifully in these first four matches.

But that does not mean that Arsenal are not improving, that the work on the training ground is not having an effect, that the players are not further understanding Emery’s tactics. It just means that it takes time and patience, two things that are increasingly rare in today’s age.