NOBODY SHOULD EXPECT THE EARTH TO MOVE UNDER EMERY ANY TIME SOON
Ahuge silhouette of Arsene Wenger dominates Arsenal’s refurbished club shop, though there is no material evidence that a new manager has arrived to take up his mantle. Not a single image of unai emery adorns the place and even the one of him inside the stadium, beside a legend stating, ‘To the next chapter’, is modest in size. A half-hearted welcome to the future, you had to say.
When the man in question materialised he looked slightly uncertain about what to do with himself, awkwardly flashing a raised thumb to the TV camera which honed in on him before kick- off. It was light years away from the rapturous reception Wenger received when he walked to the dug-out on an October day in 1996 before his first home game against Coventry — with garish patterned red tie and large round glasses —which made him look rather less the part than his debonair successor.
It didn’t take long to be reminded why no one is expecting the earth to move under emery’s management any time soon. he’d talked impressively, declaring that ‘the past is good but it’s finished’ and managing to say, with no disrespect to Wenger, why the capitulation to Manchester City which had gary Neville fulminating in the bone-chilling cold of last February would not happen on his watch.
But the best rhetoric nearly always get washed away in the face of a gulf in class. emery had just about taken his seat when Raheem Sterling was strutting across the face of Arsenal’s goal to score with an ease which screamed superiority, making Shkodran Mustafi, Sokratis and granit Xhaka look very ordinary in the process.
emery did not deny that the goal was very much the old Arsenal. Much like the way that Riyad Mahrez and Benjamin Mendy eased easily beyond Ainsley MaitlandNiles down City’s right.
emery frowned, ground his teeth, chewed his nails on the touchline, though even as City dished out a serious football lesson there was something materially different about Arsenal. They chased, pressed and turned over possession in a manner which had become alien to the emirates when last season’s back-to-back 3-0 defeats against City sounded the death knell for Wenger.
henrikh Mkhitaryan robbed Mendy — the defender was everywhere but defensively vulnerable at times — before exchanging possession twice and forcing a save. If anything, there was more ambition after the break. Arsenal did search for ways to break City’s lines, though the finish was missing.
Some of the old habits were harder to break. Initially, Mesut Ozil dropped deeper and worked harder, though he was wasteful and vanished to the periphery. It was a desultory start to the new era for him.
The elementary misjudgment of a bouncing ball by Matteo guendouzi in the second half, allowing Sergio Aguero to race through on goal, was the kind of car- crash moment which summed up the job emery has to do in making sections of this team simply fit for purpose. It seems Arsenal will persist with the teenager, though he has looked vulnerable out of possession in pre-season.
Some of the manager’s own decisions were unfathomable. It took him 54 minutes to introduce Alexandre Lacazette, in place of Aaron Ramsey who had been billeted in an ill-suited and bizarre centre forward’s role. having been so miscast, Ramsey did not seem exactly delighted to be withdrawn. Lacazette immediately went close.
It also seemed a misjudgment not to start with full back Stephan Lichtsteiner, who typically looked up for the fight, and to wait an hour to introduce the greater midfield muscularity of uruguayan Lucas Torreira. emery expressed a desire last night to see his players ‘do more risk in the pitch doing the pressing, more risk when we are with the ball, break their lines and go forward to score one goal and create more chances in the match’. good luck with that away to Chelsea next weekend. emery’s name was not shouted once and it was Wenger they sang of, when the gleeful City contingent invoked his memory to remind Arsenal fans of the team’s shortcomings. ‘he won more than you,’ they gave back.
‘At least the club are trying something different,’ stated The Gooner fanzine in one of its editorials, though it was hard to not mourn the man who has left the building when the post-match discussion began.
Wenger so often had something interesting to say. emery simply adds more of the regulation Premier League bland.
Wenger laboured to a 0-0 draw in that Coventry game, 22 years ago, and the banner of him which hangs inside this stadium quotes a piece of his wisdom, seemingly more appreciated now he has gone: ‘For the brave, nothing is too difficult.’
Courage will be just the start of Arsenal’s requirements. This rebuild looks like a three-year job at the very least.
‘Ozil worked harder, though he was wasteful and vanished to the periphery. It was a desultory start to the new era for him’. ‘