Arsenal may have gone 22 games without losing, but with the current competition in the Premier League, that has still only left us in 5th position, even if it is only by a whisker.
It makes you wonder just how good you have to be to make the Top Four, but that is exactly what Unai Emery is aiming for. “I think we need more.” he told Arsenal.com. “I think our beginning is good, but at the moment in the table we are fifth and our mind is focused on being in the first four positions. I think we are doing our way and in one process improving, but the reality is that we need more.
The fact is that we used to complain about Wenger’s target always being Top Four, but we now know that it is not such an easy target to attain consistently, and it’s getting harder every season, but the boss believes we are still improving every day. “I think first our ideas and work with the players is to learn together.” Emery continued. “All of us can give everybody new ideas. I think the players are open to listening to us about our new tactical work with our analysis in videos. We need to do this work quickly, but we also need patience. I think at the moment we are doing that with good results, but as I said to you, we need more. We are improving step by step – and I think the players are also showing very, very good commitment and behaviour every day.”
We certainly can’t knock his philosophy and his desire to get the Gunners to improve in every single training session and every single game. He made his thoughts clear when he was asked about our 22-game unbeaten run, and he emphasised that the past is irrelevant, we just need to win the next game! “There is no secret. The only thing is the next match. We’ve used the last matches to help us improve through our analysis. We can improve things individually and collectively, and also tactically and some things with the mentality. There is no secret in our way. We think only about the next match and prepare with our focus being very clear that we can progress and we can improve in the next matches. This development with us is clear with the players. We don’t want to think about the past, the most important thing is the present and the near future.”
And the near future is tomorrows game at Southampton. I have so much faith that he will have his team gagging at the bit and raring to go.
Onwards and Upwards. Fifth is simply not good enough!
Admin