Arsenal: Can Unai Emery fulfil Arsene Wenger responsibility?

Arsene Wenger has stated that any Arsenal manager has a responsibility to play attractive, attacking football. But can Unai Emery fulfil this demand?

The job of a manager is to lead their team towards winning football games. In that sense, it does not matter how they get there, as long as they do actually get there. In sport, one thing matters and one thing only: winning.

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However, sometimes, there is a greater responsibility for managers to adhere to and fulfil. And at Arsenal, like with many other clubs, that is very much the case. A manager must do more than just win. They must win well, with attacking, attractive football.

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Some would contest that statement. They might suggest that it does not matter how you win as long as you win. And there is some truth in that argument. But in the aftermath of Arsene Wenger, the manager who instilled the culture of the modern era of the club, there is undeniable desire of fans for attacking play. It is one that Wenger himself still believes every manager should obey and fulfil:

"“I’m not here to judge coaches. I am a supporter of Arsenal Football Club so I just support [Emery] and hope that he can win games and plays a type of game that I like. I think a club like Arsenal is a huge responsibility and one of those responsibilities is to play attractive football. After that, I think the most important thing is to support the team, the club and win games.”"

Unai Emery is the first man to get a crack at replacing Wenger. Thus far, he has not done a very good job of implementing an offensive, attractive game plan. While there have been fleeting moments of his possession-based style rise to the occasion, predominantly, his Arsenal team has struggled to play out from the back, lacked control in the midfield, and always looked to the same combinations in the final third, lacking creativity or attacking guile.

Largely, Emery has proven himself to be a rather conservative and defensive coach. When the Gunners have played offensively during his tenure, it has been when they have had to. The best periods of matches have come when a deficit must be overcome. Rarely has the Emery-led iteration taken the initiative from kick-off.  And all this is despite Emery stating that he wants his players to be ‘protagonists’, to play with expression, freedom and a naturally attacking mindset.

There is a fairly obvious question to ask here, then: Can Emery overcome his ostensibly inherently cautious tendencies to manage an attacking, exciting, entertaining team, one that adheres to the responsibility that Wenger thrusts onto his shoulders?

That, I guess, remains to be seen. But if Emery is to play attacking football, he will have to change his ways, because, thus far, he has failed to implement such a style.