Arsenal legend Merson slams Unai Emery and questions progress under the Spaniard
Paul Merson has launched a scathing attack on Unai Emery’s Arsenal after their 1-0 loss at Sheffield United on Monday.
Arsenal struggled to break down the hosts and was left ruing a missed chance by Nicolas Pepe after Sheffield United scored in the 30th minute.
Most fans now believe that nothing has changed at the Emirates since the departure of Arsene Wenger. Monday’s game came as no surprise to most of them including Merson.
Wenger was forced out of the driving seat at the Emirates in the summer of 2018. Emery was seen as a better replacement from a pool of several candidates. But he hasn’t done enough and he seems to be running out of time to achieve success with the Gunners.
They failed to qualify for the Champions League last season and also lost the Europa League final to Chelsea.
While speaking to Skysports after the game, Merson claimed :
“This is Arsenal now”
‘It was normal, wasn’t it? I don’t know what anybody expected. This is Arsenal now. It’s just lacklustre. There’s no urgency. ‘People say they wouldn’t know if this was Arsene Wenger’s team, I don’t know about that because defensively they looked comfortable. David Luiz just played in first gear.
‘But going forward, they’ve got no guile. It looked like Chris Wilder knew exactly what he wanted from his side. But with Arsenal and Unai Emery, it was almost like: “See you at half-time and full-time.” ‘I kept thinking: “What would this Arsenal side look like if Chris Wilder was in charge?” ‘It’s accepted. Nobody is going to work this morning and saying: “Oh my God, did you see Arsenal getting beat by Sheffield United?”
Arsenal seem to still be missing the fear factor that left them in the latter years of Arsene Wenger’s tenure and that may take more time than expected to get it back.
The lack of leadership in this Arsenal side is also very obvious and many fans do not believe that Granit Xhaka has what it takes to lead them up the league table.