Arsenal: Unai Emery hanging by a thread

Arsenal drew with Wolves on Saturday afternoon to win just their second game in their last nine Premier League matches. Unai Emery is hanging by a thread.

As the increasing number of Arsenal fans have called for Unai Emery’s position at the club to be considered deeply and substantially by those above him, I have repeatedly extolled the importance of patience. While I am not defending his management and its proficiency, I am arguing that the sample size upon which he is being judged is not a fair one.

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That is partly through a lack of time, partly through the context upon which it has been produced, and partly due to the situation he inherited. But this argument does not support Emery’s qualities. It instead states that Emery’s qualities — or lack thereof — cannot be proven either way.

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And with every passing game, the strength of this case diminishes. Eventually, the sample size will be of the required quality to accurately assess Emery’s management. And after Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Wolves, and his post-match comments when assessing the game, very much add to it.

When asked about how he felt his side had performed, shockingly, this is what Emery said:

"“We worked on different tactical situations well today. We didn’t concede a lot of chances on the transition. We created some chances to score the second but we needed to be more efficient in those actions. When we were winning 1-0 we knew in one moment they could score and they did. But we controlled the match a lot like we prepared <…> The result is a bad result, but tactically I think we worked how we wanted.”"

Quite how Emery can think that Arsenal performed tactically as he wanted, I do not know, other than to accept that he is utterly tactically inept. Wolves had 25 shots to the Gunners 10. They had eight shots on target in comparison to four. They created 16 chances to seven. They had 35 touches in the opposition box. Arsenal had 26.

Whatever way you want to cut it, Wolves were the better team. They had more chances, the better chances, could and should have scored more goals, and only conceded from a goal that stemmed from a corner kick — that is now the last three goals under Emery that have been scored directly or indirectly from corners.

More broadly, Emery has led his team to one point from matches against Sheffield United, Crystal Palace and Wolves. They have won just two of their last nine league matches. In those nine games, they have conceded 13 goals and scored just 14. They have only one clean sheet. That is mid-table form at best, against predominantly bottom-14 Premier League teams.

What comes of Emery remains to be seen. Arsenal are patient and they do believe in his ‘process’. But how long can this last? The sample size is growing and the evidence is pointing only one way. Emery is hanging by a thread, a thread that is splintering with every passing day.