Arsenal: :Like Arsene Wenger, Lucas Torreira Unai Emery’s blind spot

Arsene Wenger had a blind spot towards destructive defensive midfielders. Given his management of Lucas Torreira, it now seems his successor at Arsenal, Unai Emery, suffers from the same shortcoming.

In the latter decade of Arsene Wenger’s tenure at Arsenal, there was one fairly obvious problem to the overall set-up of the team: the lack of a defensive presence in central midfield. Ever since the decline and eventual departure of Gilberto Silva, the Gunners failed to properly address arguably the most important on the pitch right up until Wenger’s resignation over a decade later.

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And the man to blame for that is Wenger himself. He was patient with the wrong players, unwilling to pay up for the right ones, and eventually moved to contort those that didn’t fit into the position. In the end, it left his team with one of the worst defensive midfield situations of an elite Premier League side for far too long.

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The same summer that Wenger resign saw Lucas Torreira arrive, the precise type of player that Wenger would never have targetted. Torreira is far more limited in possession, his passing range nothing more than adequate, his touch tidy but certainly not capable of unpicking compact defences. His true qualities lie out of possession. He is very quick to cover ground, he snaps into challenges wonderfully, he reads the game well, consistently ranking high in interceptions, and he helps to shuttle the ball forward neatly upon recovery.

Torreira cannot drive a team forward like Abou Diaby or spray 50-yard passes like Alex Song or conduct the tempo of play like Mikel Arteta, but he is a more capable defensive midfielder than all of those players because of his qualities off the ball. This is something that Wenger would rarely take into account. In the end, it would cost him his job. But not it seems his successor is making the very same mistake.

Unai Emery is ostensibly insistent on using Torreira higher up the pitch, shifting him out of the anchor role that he has made his own and attempting to harness his energy to instigate a more effective high press. From that specific angle, the tactical move makes sense. But from almost every other element of consideration, it is a maddening, foolish choice. And Arsenal are suffering as a result.

Not only is Torreira far less effective in this new role; those that have replaced him in the anchoring role are not able to replicate his defensive security. It started with Granit Xhaka, who lacks the awareness, athleticism and discipline to play a more defensive role proficiently, but has also extended to Matteo Guendouzi, who, while possessing a more rounded skill set than Xhaka, is still a primarily controlling, creative, offensive-minded player. He is not a natural defender. Torreira, on the other hand, is.

And on Monday night, he proved it. Playing at the base of the midfield for Uruguay, Torreira was widely praised for his performance against Argentina and Lionel Messi. It is not a coincidence that he was at his most comfortable and impactful when dropped deeper in the midfield. And yet, Emery just cannot seem to see it.

Could it be, then, like Wenger, that this is just his blind spot? He is obviously a very intelligent football coach. He has been sensationally successful throughout his career. But then, so was Wenger. Maybe this is just a specific inability of both coaches. Sadly, though, unlike Wenger, Emery does not make up for it in other areas.