Arsenal and Unai Emery: Mid-table mentality

On Friday, Unai Emery stated that his Arsenal team should be winning more games than they draw or lose. But while he may profess such statements in press conferences, his management on the pitch exudes a mid-table mentality.

Arsenal are one of the top-six clubs in the Premier League. They have been a top-four team for over two decades. While success should never be expected in football, anyone would be foolish to think that a club ‘deserves’ trophies, the Gunners should play in a manner and with an approach that is inherently offensive.

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Arsene Wenger always held this philosophy dear. He believed in winning matches — and playing to win them. But his successor ostensibly does not share this same set of beliefs. Instead, he is much more cautious in his approach.

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Unai Emery has routinely taken a more conservative strategy in his management of the Gunners thus far. Playing two or three defensive midfielders at home against lesser teams. Focusing on counter-attacking strategies rather than looking to dictate play. A lack of identity and clarity in the overall play, especially when boasting the superior players. And, perhaps most egregiously, focusing on not losing, not winning.

It is this last point that has frustrated fans greatly this season. Away from home, Emery has set his team up to eke out draws. Against Watford, Sheffield United and even Vitoria SC on Wednesday, Emery’s tactical decisions suggested that he wanted a draw as much as he did a victory, however backwards that may seem.

When asked to comment on this conservative approach in his pre-match press conference on Friday afternoon, Emery’s answer was not the most encouraging:

"“We are drawing the last matches, we can see those matches negatively because we didn’t win or positively because we didn’t lose. We are in the balance, but we when you are a team like Arsenal we need to win more than draw or lose.”"

In fairness to Emery, he does concede that a team like Arsenal should ‘win more than draw or lose’. But while he may claim these things in press conferences, his actions tell a very different, and rather concerning story. A lot of Emery’s decision-making suggests that the Gunners are a mid-table team, happy to scrap out draws against lesser teams just to protect their position in the table.

But that is not who Arsenal who are. They should be looking to dominate games, dictate their play, impose their philosophy on other teams. Instead, Emery continually adapts his team. From week to week, he changes the line-up, always concerned with the threat of the opponent and never considering the skill and quality of his own players. It is the type of approach to a season that a mid-table team would take.

The fact that Emery could view a draw as ‘positively’ tells you everything you need to know about his management style. His conservative, protective, ideal for a mid-table looking to scrap their way to a draw. But that is not who Arsenal are.