Arsenal Vs West Ham: Unai Emery needs years

Unai Emery is embarking on a project at Arsenal. As Saturday’s 1-0 loss to West Ham United continued to prove, it is a project that will take years.

It was never going to be a quick-fix. Ivan Gazidis knew this when he asked Arsene Wenger to resign last season. Vinai Venkatesham and Raul Sanllehi knew this when they took over from Gazidis. And Unai Emery knew this when he was appointed Wenger’s successor in late May. Arsenal are in a mess that will take years to fix.

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There are many reasons for this — and many other people to blame. I will not get into them now. But what has been made clear during the festive period, and most recently in the humiliating 1-0 loss to West Ham United on Saturday, is just the extent of the hole that the Gunners must now try and dig themselves out of.

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Jamie Redknapp, after the match, made the rather ambitious claim that Arsenal’s and West Ham’s squads are comparable. He said that if you were to look at the two benches, there wasn’t much difference between them. Although I would not wholly agree with his claim, the sentiment that Emery is working with a lacking squad is a painfully accurate one.

Many of the players that Wenger left behind simply are not good enough. And many of the ones that are good enough were allowed to run down their contracts to the extent that they can either leave for free or an extremely reduced price. Additionally, a number of the squad players are on rather egregious wages, meaning that the club is right up against its budget with little to invest in new talent. This week, Emery infamously admitted that there will no permanent signings this January, only loan acquisitions.

All this leads to one, depressing fact: the Unai Emery project, whatever that may mean and whatever it may become, will take years to bloom, perhaps many more years than most realised when he arrived in north London in the summer. This is anything but a quick-fix.

Realistically, it would be naive to expect Arsenal to compete for a top-four finish, nevermind a title, this season. Even next season, it will be a difficult task with the quality of the top-six and the expectation that Manchester United will re-invest heavily in the squad under the guidance of a manager in tune with the modern game.

Could Emery be genuinely expected to construct a team capable of winning the Premier League in three years, looking at the number of holes that currently infect this squad? I don’t think he can. You could make a very sound argument that every single position bar right-back, centre-forward and goalkeeper needs investment in, whether it be for a starter or depth. Arsenal are asking Emery to conduct revolution, not evolution. To think he can do that in just two or three summer windows is madness.

As the thoroughly depressing loss to West Ham illustrated on Saturday, this Arsenal team and squad have much work to do. The extent of that work requires years. Lots of years. Let’s hope that Emery is given them.