Arsenal DNA: This is a group effort, not just Unai Emery

Recent reports state that Unai Emery has a month to find Arsenal’s DNA again, but can we just remember that this isn’t all on him?

Any time new reports come out, I’m always a little skeptical about the source. Just a few weeks after the Arsenal board indicated that they were 100% behind Unai Emery, new reports from an unnamed source claim that the club has lost its DNA and Emery has a month to salvage his job.

Hate me if you want, but that seems woefully unfair. And trust me, I’ve ben right there with you complaining about Unai Emery’s tactics and personnel choices, and why we haven’t continued on the same relatively positive trajectory as we started to see last year. And his poor man management. And… a lot of other things. But I digress.

Now it’s shaping up like Unai Emery is the scapegoat to cure all the problems that have ensued under his reign. But here’s a concern that I will always have if he is let go too soon—what did we honestly expect to happen?

Yes, Arsene Wenger infused a certain DNA in to the club. A DNA of free-flowing attacking football, loyalty, bucking the modern trends (for better or worse) and not selling out for everyone’s favorite superstar. Keeping the club afloat financially, not going into debt, raising talented young players, etc.

Aside from the problems on the pitch, I don’t see Emery as having drained anything from the DNA of the club. And the problems on the pitch are the easiest to solve. That’s a surface issue. An abrasion. It’s not a deep-seated issue.

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I have scattered concerns around the club that are completely removed from Unai Emery, or at least not directly on his shoulders. For instance, a volatile fan base that has shown hideousness this year. Players that can’t seem to figure out their loyalties. An unwillingness from certain stars to do what is asked of them.

There’s a lot going on at the club that is hampering Emery and much of it is out of his control. Do bear in mind that a lot of these players are still not his. They are Wenger leftovers. He’s had to deal with the Mesut Ozil situation that Wenger left him, he has premade drama from Wenger being run out of the club. It’s not an easy situation to walk into and while patience is the hardest thing to ask fans for, especially when Wenger already asked for the same when he was still at the club… patience is what we need.

Thankfully, I feel like the people in charge, the people above Emery, are using that DNA by not firing him immediately. By staying patient. That’s a good thing, whether you like it or not.

And consider how well some of these youth players are doing under Unai Emery. Gabriel Martinelli, Bukayo Saka, Matteo Guendouzi and more have been bright spots of the club, and I can’t help but think that if you gave Emery time to nurture that talent and let the club grow around them, that we would have exactly the kind of club that the DNA of the team needs.

But therein lies the question—do we have the patience to wait for that future? Because I don’t think we do.