Asser Ghozlan
Courteous, ambitious, and driven, Unai Emery was typically assured in his first press assignment at his unveiling as Arsenal boss. He spoke calmly yet passionately, and, albeit with a few apparent linguistic glitches and having to resort to his mother tongue a number of times along the way (Ed’s note – when the journalists requested he did, in fairness to him), he had clearly wasted no time in absorbing all things Arsenal in the recent weeks leading up to this much-anticipated news.
The news somewhat shocked fans of the club and the media alike when rumours of Emery’s appointment broke out on Monday evening. Yet in truth, this is an appointment every bit as logical as it was surprising.
While the romantics amongst us were rooting for the likes of Patrick Vieira or Thierry Henry, before eventually settling down to the notion of Mikel Arteta, and others were enthusing over some of European football’s more seasoned campaigners, the man from the Basque Country ticks almost all the boxes to take us to the next level.
At 46, bizarrely the same age one Arsene Wenger was when appointed all those decades ago, Unai Emery already has a wealth of managerial experience in his home country, in continental football, and, most recently, in France, where he led Paris Saint-Germain to a domestic treble last season. And, whilst we are more than entitled to raise an eyebrow at his list of honours in the French capital, a list sugar-coated and funded by PSG’s Qatari billions that blew the rest of Ligue 1 out of the water, it is his previous work with Valencia, and more impressively, Sevilla, that has made him into the coach he is today.
Many of us will have witnessed at first-hand, an Emery-led Sevilla’s efficient second half dismantling of Liverpool in the 2016 Europa League final to complete a hat trick of consecutive European trophies under his guidance. The manner of the comeback that day typified a man who is not afraid to show flexibility in his tactical decision-making whilst making the bold changes when needed.
Emery may well have enjoyed the benefits of a limitless bankroll at Paris Saint Germain, but he was all about resource creativity and invention on a relatively limited budget when at Sevilla. Indeed, he has been credited for the reinvention of many of his former protégés, not least Steven N’Zonzi, once a merchant midfield man for Blackburn and Stoke, now a midfield general, and one of the stars of the aforementioned 2016 Europa League win. He is exactly the sort of player we have crying out for at Arsenal for years, and given Emery’s reputation for deploying an N’Zonzi or a Thiago Motta in the middle of the park, he will surely look to prioritise addressing this gaping hole in Arsenal’s midfield in the coming weeks and months.
Known for his meticulous preparation and studying the finer details of his opposition, Emery will develop new attributes and make new demands of his squad. It is this attention to detail that we have been often so bereft of in recent years, a quality that seemed to have sadly deserted Wenger (or Wenger deserted it) in his later days, and is a renowned trademark of the Premier League and European football’s greatest modern minds in coaching. A new, modern approach, and that is what Emery will look to provide.
An advocate of attractive possession-based football but also of a high pressing game and intensive fitness regimes, Emery’s coaching style will suit the now famed “Arsenal way” whilst also adding new facets to our game, again, based on the demands of an elite footballing side in the modern era.
Looking within, this Arsenal squad is one of the poorest mentally we have seen for many years. Emery has been known to use sports psychologists to maximum effect, where the focus was on individual goal-setting to maximise each player’s ability in bettering himself for the good of the team. True, this may not necessarily be enough in terms of some mere passengers in our current batch of players. But, this brings me onto a key factor which swayed me into being all for Emery as opposed to ex-Club Captain Arteta.
For days, possibly even weeks, Arteta was supposedly set to take the reins, and, as true as this may have been, I for one, am thankful it has not happened. A player at the Club as recently as 2016, Arteta was very much there when the rot had set in. In fact, he was very much part of it. How can the ex-teammate of many of these perennial underperformers, maybe even their friend, have the objective, or even ruthless drive to take this Club forward again? That is not to mention his lack of experience at this level. Emery is a totally fresh pair of eyes and, while it remains to be seen, he will surely look to correct many of the flaws in the personnel he has inherited, whether by development or disposal.
And while one cannot simply ignore criticisms aimed at the direction of our new manager, namely underachieving in the Champions League or seemingly struggling to handle the game’s biggest egos, with a well-publicised spat between Neymar and Edinson Cavani early last season fresh in the minds of many, the world has seen enough of Emery to suggest that he has commanded the respect of the vast majority of his staff and those in footballing circles as his stock continued to rise in the past decade.
The question of money to spend will undoubtedly be an issue as we head into this new era. This is a squad that needs a significant revamping, and we should not expect it to happen overnight. Whether we have significant funds or not to be back amongst the “elite” as promised by Emery remains to be seen, a notion side-stepped in trademark Gazidis fashion in Emery’s debut press conference, but the manager has adapted well to either situation in the past and will no doubt have received assurances with regards to investing in the team as he sees fit.
I, for one, desperately hope it works, and will welcome him with my full backing for 2018-2019. I invite us all to do so, as we look to forge a route back into the Champions League as well as to fight for honours in the cups to begin with.
At such a crucial time in Arsenal’s history, Unai Emery represents continuity for all the good that remains at Arsenal as well as hope for a better, brighter future in red and white.
