We all saw Arsenal trying to put Unai Emery’s tactics into force last week by trying to retain possession against one of the best teams in Europe last week. The Spaniard has been concentrating on playing out from the back when in possession and playing the pressing game when we lose the ball. We can’t say it was totally successful as Man City are the masters of that tactic but we did see some improvement towards the end.
Emery has now said that the short ball is not a hard and fast rule in every situation, but he wants the team to stick at it and keep improving in every game. He told Arsenal.com: “Goalkeepers can play like a player, to start short with the centre back or the right or left back. It is not compulsory to start each action that way. Maybe if the opposition is doing high pressing against us, then we need also to find another option and to play the ball long in the second action.
“We are training for each situation. I want in each moment to know what is our best action to do in the match. This is our creative style and idea. We need with security, with confidence, to build in each match and training session. We are in this process.
“We didn’t lose [against Manchester City] because of our personality, our idea, our style. We didn’t lose for that. We lost on other things, we can improve on other things, tactics, improve for our learning on the next match. But also, we are building our style because we think it’s the best way, to have the control on each match, to find the best way to win.
“It’s clear that when you lose, it’s a bad result. When you win, it’s a good result. For me, this is the resilience I am explaining. It makes me resilient, when you win, when you lose, it must be consistent, you must stay regulated, keep thinking positively every day. You need to take the positive things out of the game to build our identity.”
We all saw how Arsenal’s head dropped after a bad result, especially the two games in a row last season when Man City made us look like schoolboys, so it is good that Emery is trying to instill some positivity in the team and getting them to stick to the game plan even if we are losing. He is also saying that even if we don’t get it right tomorrow then with practise and confidence, we will improve every day and every week.
So, Keep your heads up and Keep The Faith!
Admin