Arsenal: So, Unai Emery really was an idiot?

Arsenal produced their best performance of their Premier League campaign in their first game under Mikel Arteta. Maybe Unai Emery was really an idiot after all?

Mikel Arteta has been in charge of Arsenal for less than a week. He was unveiled as the new head coach last Friday, watched the team play Everton the next day, before taking just three training sessions before his first game in the sidelines, the Boxing Day draw with Bournemouth.

Find the latest episode of the Pain in the Arsenal Podcast here — After Everton, good luck Mikel Arteta

To think that Arteta, someone who has never been a manager before and only retired from playing three-and-a-half years ago, in less than a week could properly prepare a team that has been so hapless for so long is foolish.

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And yet, despite all the evidence pointing otherwise, Arsenal produced their best Premier League performance of the season. They had nine shots in the first half, the most of a Premier League game this season. They ended the match with 17 shots, the joint-most of an away game this season. They had 61% of the possession, Mesut Ozil created more chances from open play than any individual player all season, and they largely controlled the match, allowing 12 shots, four of which were on target.

Now, that this was the Gunners’ best league display of the season is rather concerning. In fact, it says more about the disastrous performances throughout the campaign than it does the brilliance of this outing. Arteta’s first match in charge was a positive display, but it was far from perfect. Bernd Leno made three saves, two of which were excellent, the final delivery was extremely wasteful, while Bournemouth’s goal came from the inability to play out from the back, something that Arteta demands. Yet, the bar is so low, this was still the best performance of the season.

That says more about what came before Arteta, specifically the coaching of Unai Emery. Quite how Emery can work with these players for 18 months, including having three transfer windows to retool the squad in the manner he wants, and yet cannot produce a performance better than what Arteta can in a week, I am not sure, but that is precisely what happened.

What is even more damaging for Emery’s reputation is that Arteta reversed many of his decisions, almost all of them having a positive impact on the team. He played just one central striker, Ozil was the heartbeat of the team after being maligned and marginalised under Emery, while, most impactfully, Lucas Torreira started at the base of the midfield and utterly controlled the match.

Torreira was infuriatingly pushed higher up the pitch under Emery. He was capable enough to still impact games in this new role, such is his ability, but it was clearly not the best use of his talents, as Arteta’s positional change illustrated in his first match in charge.

Now, one match does not change everything, of course. But it is telling that Arteta could utterly overhaul Arsenal’s playing style in a week when the hapless Emery could not find any identity in more than a year. Perhaps, then, Emery really was an idiot.