Arsenal: 3 lessons Mikel Arteta can learn from Unai Emery tirade

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LONDON, ENGLAND – OCTOBER 24: A fan holds a sign regarding Unai Emery and Mesut Ozil during the UEFA Europa League group F match between Arsenal FC and Vitoria Guimaraes at Emirates Stadium on October 24, 2019 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Bryn Lennon/Getty Images) /

1. Have a system that is good enough to demand commitment

Emery demanded a lot of his players. Some of them did not respond well. Mesut Ozil was chief among them. “I spoke a lot with Ozil,” he said. “He has to be self‑critical too, analyse his attitude and commitment. I tried with all my might to help Ozil.”

“In preseason I told him I wanted to help recover the best Ozil,” he continued. “I wanted a high level of participation and commitment in the dressing room. I respected him and thought he could help. He could have been a captain but the dressing room didn’t want him to be. That’s not what I decided; that’s what the players decided.”

Emery was right to ‘freeze out’ Ozil. Ozil did not work hard and Emery was justified to drop him from the team. Where he went wrong was his system. Emery did not have a system that was capable of making up for not having your best player. Where Pep Guardiola, Jurgen Klopp, and even now Arteta to an extent can get away with dropping star players for the betterment of their system, Emery did not have a system that was worth the sacrifice.

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Arteta, like Emery, demands a lot of his players. For that to take effect, when it comes to dropping them, it is imperative that his system holds up.

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