Arsenal: ‘Playing backwards’ shows Unai Emery mistakes

Leicester City attacker Demarai Gray said that Arsenal were ‘playing backwards’ on Saturday. While such an approach was the right one for that given match, the fact that Unai Emery felt it necessary exposes his sub-standard management.

On Saturday night, facing a nasty trip to an excellent, in-form Leicester City, given the recent performances of the team and the downward spiral of the season, Arsenal had to do anything to win. It did not matter how. It needn’t be pretty. Three points were all that mattered.

Find the latest episode of the Pain in the Arsenal Podcast here — Unai Emery out, again

So head coach Unai Emery devised a plan that he felt gave his team the best chance at victory. He used a 3-5-2 shape with split centre-forwards, allowed Leicester to have the ball for large periods, especially their centre-halves, remained deep, compact and then looked to attack space on the counter-attack.

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

Even the Leicester players were surprised. Speaking to LCFC TV after the match, Leicester substitute Demarai Gray revealed his surprise at Emery’s approach, seeing it as an appraisal of his side’s recent good form:

"“It was a nice win. It was a different kind of game. We had to be patient as they sat off us but we knew as long as we kept playing, we’d get the opportunities and Vards [Jamie Vardy] got us going.  I said on the bench at the start of the game to JJ [James Justin], ‘If you look at them, they’re quite deep.’ It’s kind of a compliment as we’ve got a team like Arsenal playing backwards.”"

As Gray rightly highlights, Emery did set up his team to play ‘backwards’ on Saturday. In and of itself, that decision is not a wrong one. In fact, I think it was the correct approach for that given fixture. But the fact that Emery felt he had to do it in the first place is a major mark against his sub-standard management to this stage.

That Leicester, a club who dealt with the tragic death of their owner outside their own stadium, replaced their manager just ten months ago, and sold their most important defensive piece in the summer for £80 million without externally replacing him, have a more defined and positive identity than the Emery-led Arsenal is a hammerblow to the Spaniard’s coaching.

Given the spending of the club, the time he has now enjoyed at the helm, and the return to fitness of several key players, Emery should now be in a position that he can have the confidence in his team to go to good teams and impose their style of play. Yes, Leicester are flying and pose a ferocious counter-attack, but a more capable manager would have Arsenal in a cohesive, connected unit such that they need not adapt to the threat of their opponents.

If you are taking this game on its own, you might argue that Emery is a capable coach, as the club seemingly are judging by their latest statement in support of Emery based on a positive first how at the King Power. But the fact that he had to adapt in such a drastic, necessary manner is proof enough that his coaching is the source of the problem that he is now having to solve.

‘Playing backwards’, then, as Gray puts it, in a one-off game is no bad thing. In fact, on this occasion, it was smart. But it points to a greater, more concerning, underlying issue, one that Emery himself is the cause of. And that Arsenal are unwilling to act on this more pressing need is very troubling indeed.