Arsenal: Unai Emery the perfect ‘freak’

Granit Xhaka has described Unai Emery as a ‘freak’, delving into the Spaniard’s coaching methods with the Swiss press. The Arsenal head coach might be the perfect kind of obsessive.

The private goings-on of a football club are rarely disclosed in public. No team, understandably, wants to give away its coaching secrets. But there is still a serious disconnect between what the fans see on the pitch at the weekend and the hard work that goes on at the training ground.

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So when players or coaches or club figures do provide us with a peek behind the curtain, what they say can be truly riveting.

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And that is most certainly the case with Granit Xhaka and his recent comments with Swiss media on the work that Unai Emery is undertaking at London Colney this season. Speaking with Aargauer Zeitung, Xhaka said:

"“It’s the best I’ve felt at Arsenal since I came to the club and the coach has had an enormous influence. He prepares us all and we have a plan. We know how to do it with ball and without ball. We know how and when to stand where. Emery is like Lucien Favre [Xhaka’s former boss at Monchengladbach], a freak who pushes us back and forth, ten times, until everyone understands. The first video analysis follows right after the game. And then it goes on, every day. 30 minutes of video on the game day after breakfast – and then again, before we go to the game.”"

They are fascinating comments indeed.

When Emery arrived at Arsenal in the summer, he was famed for his almost obsessive, relentless traits. His extensive use of video analysis, his intense attention to detail, especially when it comes to the positioning of his players at certain points in the game, known for physically pulling his players into the space that he wants them to occupy on the training pitch, his incessant, insatiable drive.

And it seems, per Xhaka’s comments, that that is precisely what kind of attitude that was required with a group of players that had seemingly grown comfortable and complacent with life at the Emirates. Under Arsene Wenger, it was easy, secure, consistent, confirmed. That same protection is not now afforded under Emery.

It is making a difference to these players. Xhaka is enjoying his best season since he arrived in 2016, not that that is saying too much. Alex Iwobi is in the form of his life. Hector Bellerin has re-discovered his youthful exuberance. Alexandre Lacazette has been renewed and re-energised.

Under Emery the ‘freak’, this is a squad that is together, united, in-step, and under clear and concise instruction. It might just be the perfect combination.