Unai Emery is very keen to get his Arsenal players working to his high pressure attacking game plan, and he has no qualms about telling his opponents his tactics before every game. So yet again he has explained how he expects his team to perform against Cardiff. When asked about how his training was progressing, he told Arsenal.com: “It’s a lot [to take in] but it’s usually the things we need because we’ve only played three games,” he said. “The pre-season is important but we didn’t have every player. After, we need to know the combinations with the players.
“We want to do the high pressing against the opposition. Then after this game I analysed it with the players. We started the match well but then we lost the control for moments in the game. Then we finished the last 20 minutes really well.
“I am very, very happy firstly with the three points but then also how the team worked to win this match and how we finished the last few minutes. I want to continue that in the next match this Sunday against Cardiff, a different game, but just to continue our momentum.”
We did end up attacking well at the end against the Hammers, but we could so easily have conceded many more goals too. As Paul Merson said: “I watch Arsenal play and I seriously think it’s a charity match,”
“It’s so open, end to end, there’s no tackling and it’s like watching ex-professionals playing.
“I’ve not seen anything like it, the West Ham game was just unreal.”
We have already conceded six goals in our first three games, and it is obvious that our defensive game has not improved in the slightest so far. So can we expect high scoring affairs every single week while Emery keeps pushing for more goals rather than to defend?
Darren N