Arsenal Vs Rennes: Unai Emery must hold his hands up

On Thursday night, Arsenal capitulated against Rennes after Sokratis’ sending off, eventually losing 3-1. A large portion of the blame can be attributed to Unai Emery his tactics with 10 men. He must hold his hands up.

After 40 minutes, it was all going rather well. Arsenal had a one-goal lead, they were in command of the match, chances were flowing, with more goals seemingly on the way, and little threat had been allowed on their own goal. And then, suddenly, it all went to sh*t.

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Thursday night’s troubling 3-1 to defeat to Rennes can be put down to one key moment, the Sokratis sending off. Sokratis was obviously at fault for his own mistakes. Three fouls in quick succession quickly and rightly led to two bookings and a red card. He must take the blame for that.

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But I believe there should be more responsibility apportioned to the collective team in the aftermath of his trudging down the tunnel, shoulders slumped, eyes piercing through head coach Unai Emery as he was given the cold shoulder. Red cards happen. Mistakes are committed. Teams prepare precisely for these kind of situations. And yet, Arsenal, predictably, looked completely unprepared for this one, thrust into shellshock by the sheer possibility that one of their players might not be allowed to finish the game.

The mental fragility was problematic. And it would cost the Gunners their lead and almost all of their hopes of qualification. But it was not the only reason for their post-red-card capitulation. Not only did the players on the pitch fail to adapt to the drastically changed situation, especially after a rasping volley nestled into the top corner from the resulting freekick, but Emery did not put them in the right positions to facilitate a positive response.

Rather than revert to the usual 4-4-1 when playing with 10 men, Emery risked a 4-3-2, playing without wingers, moving Alex Iwobi, who was swiftly withdrawn for the more natural fit of Matteo Guendouzi, into central midfield, and playing Mesut Ozil in behind Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. He persisted with this shape for the whole of the second half, even with Henrikh Mkhitaryan at right-back.

I can understand his thinking. He did not want to alleviate control of the midfield and believed that third central midfielder was critical to his team being able to play out and release pressure. But in packing the middle of the pitch with players, Emery left space out wide. Rennes did not fail to capitalise: their two second-half goals both came from crosses from their overlapping full-backs who were given the freedom to bomb forward without a winger to be aware of.

Emery has proven himself an excellent tactician this season. Many of Arsenal’s most impressive performances and results have come directly as a result of a tactical nuance that he has implemented. He is, I believe, a very apt in-game manager. But sometimes, he will get it wrong. This was one of those times.

That does not mean that he is suddenly a poor tactician. It does not mean that he is a bad manager overnight. It just means that, on this occasion, he got it wrong. Let’s hope that next week, he can redeem himself.