After Wenger’s 21-year reign, Arsenal is now faced with the challenge of having an easy managerial transition. Unai Emery is now at the helm, after the club supposedly interviewed 10 candidates before landing on the former PSG manager. An impressive pre-season run leaves Arsenal fans hopeful but what exactly is Emery’s strategy for the Gunners?
Speaking to Sky Sports, Emery revealed what he is planning for the club.
“Our style with the ball is to be protagonists, to do things with combinations, to control the match with the positioning of the ball. And then when we have the space, to be aggressive going forward.Defensively: first it is to be organised, recover the ball quickly. But in these two moments in the match we need to work. To say it here is easier than doing it on the pitch. We also need time, but now I am happy because I think the players are improving. We need two things: quality players, which we have, and then organisation. Together I think we can improve, to win in our way. I repeat: organised, then play.”
During Arsene Wenger’s reign, Arsenal was heavily slammed for neglecting the defensive side of their game. This, more often than not, landed them in trouble when they faced fast attacking teams. Emery however, wants defenders to think like attackers, and attackers to think like defenders, and for the chasm in the middle of the pitch to be filled with agile, hard-working players.
He insisted that balance is most important thing in the team.
“When we are thinking in an attacking moment, I want the goalkeeper thinking for that, he is the first. The same when we are thinking defensively, I want our strikers to be thinking: ‘We need to protect the goalkeepers’. I want those two moments to feel the same for all players. Each player has this quality, this characteristic to help the team as a collective. For me, that is very important.”
“It’s clear, the aim for the club is to arrive as champions, play for titles. But for me, I want to enjoy the way [we do it]. I want the players and supporters to feel that together, and also enjoy each match, each moment in our stadium, and in this way the team transmits to the supporters the passion.”
Judging by pre-season, the blueprint has been laid down firmly. Now, it comes down to results.
After a modest playing career, which was spent mostly in Spain’s Segunda División, Emery transitioned into coaching after retiring in 2004. He began at Lorca Deportiva CF, where he achieved promotion into Segunda División in his first season, and was awarded the Miguel Muñoz Trophy. He then departed to join intermittent La Liga club Almería, and his four years at the club was characterized by achieving promotion for the first time in the club’s history. This garnered him a move to league heavyweights Valencia, and regularly lead the team within the top three, but departed after developing untenable relationships with the club’s hierarchy. He then left Spain to coach Spartak Moscow for six months, before moving to Sevilla in 2013.
At Sevilla, Emery gained several plaudits for his style of football, and shrewdness in the transfer market alongside Monchi. He achieved an unprecedented three consecutive Europa League victories, which gained him a move to French club Paris Saint-Germain in 2016. Despite achieving limited European success at the club, he won Coupe de France, Coupe de la Ligue and Trophée des Champions in his first year.[3] He won all four domestic trophies in his second season, including Ligue 1, Coupe de France, Coupe de la Ligue and Trophée des Champions. After the expiry of his contract, he moved to English side Arsenal in 2018.