There is no more analysed coach in the Premier League this season than new Arsenal boss Unai Emery. After 22 years of Arsene Wenger, Arsenal fans have voraciously been searching for the Unai Emery Philosophy.
Game after game each player selection, formation and substitution by Unai Emery is analyzed to the nth degree.
It’s curious, then, after so much scrutiny, that Arsenal fans still have no idea what to make of him.
Arsenal fans as a whole are coming down from the predictability of Arsene Wenger. They are having to re-learn not just what to expect from their team, but what to expect from a coach.
After losing the first two games of the season, Arsenal are now 17 games unbeaten. Even this stellar run is a source of confusion, as the performances haven’t always been fantastic. An unbeaten run like this under Arsene Wenger would feature sexy attacking football with the team’s top attacking talent. And it would end with a naive and lacklustre performance against a team they should beat who outworked them.
The difference between Emery and Wenger is what they choose to focus on. Wenger was obsessed with performance and philosophy. To the point where he would be happier to play well and lose than to play poorly and win.
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Emery is a different animal. He is obsessed by results. Instead of playing each game with the same philosophy and having faith that this will result in consistency, he plans for each specific game.
This goes partly towards explaining why Arsenal have started slowly so often this season. The game plan is different for each opponent. Against Bournemouth on Sunday, Emery left out Mesut Ozil.
He explained afterwards that he expected a physically intense game and as such decided to leave Ozil on the bench.
He was justified, too, as his team ran out eventual 2 – 1 winners. When it comes to Ozil, it is tempting (and profitable for media organizations) to draw defining narratives from that decision.
Arsenal are different this season, though. It doesn’t mean Ozil is done for, or past it. It just means that Ozil wasn’t suitable for this particular game. This is totally different to Arsene Wenger, who stuck by his favorites often to his detriment.
Additionally, look at how Aaron Ramsey has been phased out and looks set to leave the club in the Summer. In Ramsey and Ozil, two of Wengers favourites have been isolated in favour of a more pragmatic approach.
As Arsenal fans try to make sense of Emery, they can be sure of one thing. He will do his best to win the game they are playing right now. It’s not the invincibles, it’s not total football and it’s not easy to predict. What it is is football that respects the game, the opposition, and gets results.
