United need more than De Gea to be great again
AT the top end of the pitch, Arsenal have so much talent.
They go all-out to play expressive, expansive football. Like the first half against Watford, when they showed they can open up a team, score goals, and everything is rosy.
But the minute they need to hold on to something, or tighten up, I don’t feel they have the players to pull it off.
They are still naive, still don’t have a Plan B, and that is why their own midfielder, Granit Xhaka, says there is “fear” in the team when they are trying to hold on to a lead. Firstly, the personnel.
Ask any Arsenal fan what they have needed over recent years, and it is to find a Patrick Vieira or Gilberto Silva type of player.
A player who is not always thinking “forward” on the ball, doing nice things. A player who is thinking, as play develops, ‘Where are the problems here? Where will it break down?’
For all the money spent in the summer, on the likes of Nicolas Pepe or Dani Ceballos, the Gunners have still been defensively poor, especially away from home.
They still haven’t really solved that area. Yes, there’s Lucas Torreira but, when I watch him, he goes forward a lot more than I thought he would. I thought he was more of a ‘sitter’. He scores goals and gets forward, so he is not that guy.
Secondly, they have two very experienced centre-halves in their team. Sokratis has played Champions League with Borussia Dortmund for a long time. David Luiz is David Luiz. He has won titles and been at big clubs.
They are two players who should have the ability to dictate everything that goes on in front of them.
But I don’t see any communication from them because Arsenal seem so stretched as a team.
Unai Emery (right) seems to roll the dice and see if it comes off. The quicker he returns to a back three the better. There is no way Luiz should be in a back four. Bringing him in, and losing Laurent Koscielny, is not an upgrade. The Frenchman was a leader and a captain.
Then there are the tactics. Arsenal, like many teams, are starting moves short, near their own goal. The opposition can nick the ball high up and get a goal. That is the risk. But the top teams are good at it and play through that high press.
You have to have a contingency when it breaks down. Other big teams have a Plan B. How many times has keeper Ederson at Manchester City gone to Plan B, and launched it?
Arsenal, particularly against Watford, were under pressure for 45 minutes and it astonishes me that not one player thought, ‘We’ve tried it short and got caught, let’s play
percentages for five minutes. I’m going to play it long to Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Ceballos or Matteo Guendouzi. Squeeze into a corner and win a second ball.’
They think it is unfashionable or old school to do that. When you are stood on the pitch, you have to feel that you don’t like a situation unfolding. It is a feeling and, when that happens, you have to respond to it.
They might think I’m just an ex-pro talking and that things are done differently now – that when the pressure is on, you build out of it, because that’s good for confidence.
Well, sorry Arsenal, you are not good enough doing that and the stats show, since Emery arrived, you are top of the table when it comes to errors leading to goals.
Many have come from when Petr Cech played out from the back and, a year later, it’s happened again. They’ve not got any better, and are not learning. The north Londoners have been predictable and naive. One of the worrying factors is they have experience in that team but, against Watford, they wilted away.
Xhaka said there was “fear” in the team. That is because it has happened before, and they think it is happening again. And nothing has been done to curb that feeling. They have not come through those sticky moments.
It is built in to Emery’s team. They don’t have the fundamentals there, which dictate you have to do some of the horrible stuff to win a game of football.
Guendouzi never hides. He always looks for the ball and is always available. He is the man getting on the ball, but often doesn’t have enough options. He didn’t play well against Watford but, sometimes, they give him the ball, then stand and think, ‘There you are, mate, good luck with that pass’.
They need a bit more of his heart and courage. Too many of the players go into their shells. Get out there and win tackles and win headers.
■ JERMAINE JENAS is ambassador for Footie5 DAVID DE GEA signing a new deal at Manchester United is massive – but I still think the season will be a struggle for both him and United. If we are honest, David has been off the pace for months. He has made a lot of mistakes.
A couple of years ago he was player of the year, but getting his head back in the game, getting him back onside, is going to be huge. But it will still be a difficult season. I think United have grit and steel in abundance. They are not a team who will melt away, and they have a lot of characters in there. They stand tall and strong.wh
But when I watch them I am not sure they have enough at the top end. Who is going to get 15 or 20 goals? As good as Marcus Rashford (left) is, I look at Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Tammy Abraham and they get lots of scruffy goals, lots of tap-ins. Marcus doesn’t score many tap-ins. He epitomises United. He has quality, work-rate and the ability to go on and be world class. But in that central position I’m not sure he is the answer. I fear they might not score enough goals this season, and their inability to dictate games will cost them eventually.
Is Ole Gunnar Solskjaer settled there for the season? Well, United have had one of their worst ever starts and if that continues you can’t say the board will ignore it.
But the plan has to come from the top – it doesn’t matter who the manager is. If the aim is to go young, with the likes of Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Daniel James, that’s fine. But go out in January and find a couple more... like Jadon Sancho.
That could take them to a new level in two years’ time. They play in the Europa League this week, but they cannot afford to be out of the Champions League another season.
‘The sooner Arsenal go back to a back three the better.. there is no way David Luiz should play in a back four’