Arsenal: Mesut Ozil is Unai Emery’s designated tone setter

Arsenal had a very specific tone under Arsene Wenger, and it provided a safe environment. Unai Emery is not replicating this. And that’s okay.

Here’s a fun fact for you: No matter what approach a manager takes, when they hit a snag, everyone is going to say they’re doing it wrong. This isn’t just the case with Arsenal, though fans of our beloved club seem to take it to a whole new level, while the ports media knows this and exploits the hell out of it.

But as you can see between Arsene Wenger and Unai Emery, two managers that are incredibly different in their approaches, both were, at one point or another, accused of running the club into the ground.

Wenger had a very specific, nurturing, almost familial approach. Each player was like a child, and he was dedicated to them such that he would never, never let anyone go that he had a vested interest in. It was problematic in that some players lingered longer than they should and he did have a tendency to pick favorites. Just as Joel Campbell.

Wenger would twist and contort players to fit into different roles, even when it clearly wasn’t working, and he would do it instead of buying or trying out new players who could play that role better because, oh I don’t know, they were actually used to playing in that position.

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Unai Emery is the exact opposite. He’s very pragmatic. He has ideas he likes to experiment with and no one is above the curve. No matter what you’re making or what your name is, if you don’t fit into his current schematic, he won’t play you.

Essentially, it’s like Emery is the exact opposite of Wenger in terms of team selection. He has no favorites, he has no bias. At least not this early into his tenure at the Emirates.

And here, he is doing the exact things that we asked Wenger to do more of, and he’s being as heavily criticized for it as Wenger was criticized for not doing it. Now, I realize that you have to actually think about this to realize it, which not a lot of talking heads are capable of doing, but just because Unai Emery is at odds with Ozil’s playing style doesn’t mean that the direction the club is headed down is “frightening” or in any way dangerous.

Unai Emery is setting a tone for the future of the club. A tone of seriousness and no nonsense. This isn’t your grandpa’s Arsenal anymore.