Although Arsenal didn’t beat Liverpool at the weekend, they certainly had control for long periods of the match and looked like a team that knew what they were doing. We have won lots of games where we didn’t really have that control, but according to Shkrodan Mustafi, all Emery’s training finally came to fruition. He told Arsenal.com: “For me personally, the biggest thing was that he’s someone who really knows what he wants from each player.”
“He tells you exactly what he wants you to do, but gives you freedom to expose your talent. When we don’t have the ball, he tells you where to stand and how to get it back, when we have it, he gives you options you can use. You can decide which option you choose. For me it’s a good mix between freedom and discipline, and having the same plan in the whole team. I think that’s what we saw against Liverpool. That was the first game where I felt like we came out from the first minute and were everywhere until the 90th minute. I feel like there’s a good mix between discipline and freedom.”
So Mustafi thinks this was the best game we have played this season. Would you agree?
One thing is for sure is that Emery demands more from his players every week, as the boss said after the Liverpool game:
“Each match gives us more information for how we can improve,”
“Against Liverpool we played a good match, but it isn’t enough – we need more. If we can continue improving we will be closer to beating Liverpool and other teams like that.”
If the players really do now believe that they have mastered the managers tactics, then surely there is only one way we can go?
Onwards and Upwards!
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