Arsenal: Unai Emery must solve winger and Wenger problems

Arsenal have problems in the winger positions and from the dregs of the Arsene Wenger era. It is now up to Unai Emery to solve both.

Arsenal suffered their second straight defeat in all competitions as Tottenham Hotspur cruised to a comfortable 2-0 victory at the Emirates. This also ended the Gunners’ Carabao Cup campaign.

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They simply were not at the races. It was quite visible from the team’s lacklustre performance. Nevertheless, Unai Emery must recollect the team and look forward towards the future. The festive period is now here. This is no time to be slowing down.

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In recent matches, the problems with the current squad have become clear. With every game progressing, the need for a proper winger deepens and deepens. Arsenal look short of wide options, depend almost exclusively on the full-backs to create and foster something on the respective sides. That does not pose a big threat to the opposition, especially considering none of the full-back options have the ability to beat defenders in one-on-ones.

Oppositions are able to block the creativity through the middle, which often leads to endlessly fruitless shuttling out wide. Games against Southampton and Spurs serve as perfect instances for this problem. I think it will be not wrong to say that the Alexis Sanchez void is still to be filled. Even the departures of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Theo Walcott have depleted the club of a genuine winger.

However, this may not be the only problem of the team in recent weeks. After improvements through September, October and November, in the past few weeks, Arsenal have more or less looked like the same defensive side they used to be under Arsene Wenger.

Sokratis has provided much stability to the backline. There is no denying that. But the old habits still come back to haunt. There is far too much space afforded the opposition, the vulnerabilities against speed and the counter-attack are still present, and there is a general hesitancy in the decision-making of the players.

Admittedly, the injuries to Rob Holding, Shkodran Mustafi and Konstantinos Mavropanos have also played a big part in the defensive woes. But it is the club’s fault for not providing the necessary personnel to deal with the inevitable onslaught of suspensions and injuries at the start of the season.

The defence needs to be sorted as quickly as possible. If this continues, there will be little chance of challenging for trophies and a top-four finish. The unbeaten run must not hide the lapses in certain areas. These issues have been present throughout, only Arsenal have been able to overcome them. But that does not mean that change needs to come.

The Wenger tendencies still remain. The absence of a true winger still hurts this team. Emery has much work to do. It will take time. Patience is necessary. But despite going 22 games unbeaten, there are issues that need to be solved.