Arsenal: Unai Emery’s “breath of fresh air” the most important piece

Arsenal had 22 years under Arsene Wenger, which can get kind of numbing at times, which makes Unai Emery’s first ingredient so important.

Arsenal found themselves in a bit of a lull in the waning years of Arsene Wenger’s tenure. It was a steady diet of Champions League places and early eliminations, never getting much better, but never getting much worse.

When they did get worse, it was time to bring in something new. It didn’t make sense how a team that was so talented on paper couldn’t bring out the same talent on the pitch. There was a clear disconnect, perhaps down to the lack of a desire to win or…

The lack of a sense of urgency. Everyone was comfortable where they were, they were embedded into their positions and there was nothing that could disrupt that, for better or worse.

The No. 1 perk of finding a new manager was the simple shake-up of this regime. The casting of discomfort across the ranks. They had to convince these players that they could actually have their peace and quiet disturbed.

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In a sense, a “breath of fresh air.” Which is exactly what Unai Emery has just highlighted as one of the biggest necessities that this club had on their list.

As mentioned, there was no reason why a club, with the talent that they had, couldn’t get higher than they did. They had superstars and young talent galore, but without added impetus, there wasn’t anything propelling them to going beyond the bare minimum, with occasional runs of form coming about from just being quality players.

Unai Emery is spot on. And this isn’t the first time we heard it. He said when he first joined the club that he already had so many pieces in place, that he was more interested in maximizing the talent that was already here.

No matter who might have come besides Emery, the initial result, this breath of fresh air, would have been the same. That was the first ingredient, and it provided a foundation with which Emery has been able to instill the needed secondary ingredients – a will to win, urgency, passion, consequences.

But it all started with that breath of fresh air, with pulling the team out from underneath that warm and comfy blanket that had bunkered under. Now just keep that breath fresh and keep the ingredients coming and we’ll be in good shape.