Gunners are still misfiring since Arsene left the club
Petit: It’s same old story under Emery
EMMANUEL PETIT believes Unai Emery is producing “the same old story” Arsene Wenger did at Arsenal.
Petit says Emery needs to completely rebuild the squad because it is not good enough defensively, lacks team spirit and even got “lucky” during their unbeaten run earlier in the season.
Former Gunners star Petit now fears the mood could quickly go against
Emery, even though the Arsenal manager has no cash to rebuild a squad which was already failing under Wenger.
Petit said: “It’s like Wenger is out but I have the feeling that it’s the same old story. What is happening after Arsene Wenger’s era? I think we were expecting more from the club. I am disappointed.
“You are telling me that Emery has the same problems that Wenger had. Nothing has changed. So why did they sack Arsene?
“If you sack the manager, you need to start a revolution. But I ask the question, ‘Why did they sack Arsene?’ If someone can give me the answer then I’ll be very happy.
“If you don’t give the control to Emery, allow him to oversee a revolution, give him the power to bring in new players to help him change the style on the pitch, then why create all of this mess?
“This team is not good enough to fight for the title. This team is strong enough to fight for third or fourth place and that’s it.
“They have been like that for years and years. You don’t have to be a magician to understand that.
“I was thinking, ‘OK, you sacked Arsene Wenger for good reasons’. But then I was expecting a revolution at the club. But it’s not happened. I don’t see many changes in terms of how the team play since Wenger left. I’m still confident with Emery, he’s a talented manager, but he needs to pick his own players as well. For sure, Arsenal need to change the squad.”
Petit believes the problems run deep through the squad as they lack creativity in midfield, lack desire among the players and are in serious danger of seeing their season peter out into disappointment.
They face Chelsea on Saturday already six points behind their London rivals, who are fourth, and Petit believes another defeat would effectively end Arsenal’s hopes of finishing in the Champions League spots.
“It’s a must-win for Arsenal,” said Petit. “They had a long run of games without defeat, I
saw every single game since the beginning of the season and I think in many games they were lucky.
“I was happy with a new feeling coming back into this club. But I was not naive and I was sure that the problems would come back in there, especially with the weaknesses in defence – and you could see that for the last two or three weeks.
“I watched the last game with West Ham and I was thinking, ‘How can you put Ramsey on the bench and leave Ozil at home, knowing that you have no creative midfielders?’
“Everything is on the shoulders of Aubameyang and Lacazette to score goals. And for a club like Arsenal, that’s not good enough. It’s about having the characters.
Look at Liverpool, the personality of the team, the desire, the anger. When I look at the characters like Milner, Henderson, Van Dijk. When I look at AlexanderArnold and Robertson, they fight for the ball every time. “That’s what you need if you want to compete at the highest level.
“If you look at the big clubs, even Barcelona, it’s all about desire. When you don’t have the ball, it’s about the desire to get it back. It’s really that simple.”
● EMMANUEL PETIT is a Paddy Power ambassador. Read his columns online at news.paddypower.com