Arsenal: Unai Emery best XI confusion completely telling

After Monday’s loss to Sheffield United, Unai Emery was asked what his best Arsenal XI is. His answer was a confused one, to say the least. This, really, tells the whole story.

During Arsenal’s 22-game unbeaten run last year, Unai Emery was consistently asked about the disparity between his team’s performances and their results. During this period, they were performing poorly, relying on unsustainably excellent finishing and wasteful play from their opponents. Emery, wisely and with great awareness, recognised this change.

Find the latest episode of the Pain in the Arsenal Podcast here — The Unai Emery One

It would have been very easy for a new head coach at a new team looking to establish himself in the early goings to simply focus on the positives, extol his side’s winning mentality, only talk about the good results he brough to the club, and gloss over the more nuanced but more impactful prospects of the performances. But Emery didn’t. He admitted his and his team’s mistakes and publicly recognised that improvements needed to be made.

More from Pain in the Arsenal

• 3 standout players from 1-0 victory over Everton
• 3 positives & negatives from Goodison Park victory
• Arsenal vs PSV preview: Prediction, team news & lineups
• 3 talking points from Arsenal’s victory at Goodison Park
• Mikel Arteta provides Gabriel Martinelli injury update after Everton win

A part of what made him so popular in these early months was how he handled the media. He was superb in post-match press conferences, despite the language barrier, and he spoke with great passion, understanding and intensity.

But after Monday night’s loss to Sheffield United, Emery lost me — and everyone else. During his post-match press conference, Emery was asked whether he knows his best XI and what that XI might be. This was his response:

"“Really, my point of view tonight is that there are things to analyse and improve. Defensively at the beginning of the match they pushed and we didn’t stop them. We didn’t concede a lot of chances, but they had corners offensively and they can score from these corners. We had more than them, but we know they are a strong team in that situation and they use it to win matches. In other situations throughout the 90 minutes I think we controlled it in moments to create more chants. We didn’t score tonight, but if we played another match like tonight, I think it’s more easy to achieve the points.”"

As you can see, it has nothing to do with the question.

Now, I am not sure where the confusion enters the equation. Perhaps Emery misunderstood the question. His English is still a little sketchy. Maybe he just did not want to answer the question and so spoke about a different topic entirely to avoid even hinting at a possible answer. Or maybe he just does not know his best XI, which given his continued tinkering and lack of clear identity suggests is highly plausible.

But the root conclusion of this is that there is tremendous confusion at Arsenal. Whether it be the cause of a manager failing to recognise the issues, the players unable to execute his instructions, or his communication and coaching skills lacking the efficacy of a positive idea being well-explained, Arsenal are a confused club right now. And this answer is the perfect microcosm for that.

It remains to be seen whether Emery is the cause of this confusion or not. There is certainly a growing mountain of evidence that he is, and the longer it pervades the Emirates corridors without correction, the more certain we can be that it is his doing — and will be his downfall eventually. But if Arsenal are to challenge for a top-four position this season, and titles and trophies in years beyond, they must do so from a place of clarity and direction, not the aimless mess and mire they currently preside in.

Emery is a confused man. And his management is having a confusing impact. Until that changes, nothing will improve in north London.