Unai Emery has been trying to get his Arsenal squad to learn his pressing game, and how to control matches by playing out from the back. Admittedly it was always going to be hard against Man City and Chelsea in our first two games but it should be easier in tomorrows game against West Ham. Emery explained what he wanted his players to do in tomorrow’s match: “My idea is first control, but the opposition want the same.” he said.
“With this control, you can be near to win and then know when you need to change the rhythm. I know we need intensity in every moment in the games. This control is to not let the opposition play. For example in the two first matches, we didn’t have the control [enough – only in some moments, but not like what we need to find to win. Saturday is another match, tactically it will be different. It will be demanding and I want to have more control to find the win in this match.
“We are working on different situations tactically. In the first we are playing with four at the back, then we have two and one, and one and two. With two and one, it is like a 4-2-3-1 and one, two, is for a 4-1-4-1 or a 4-3-3. We have players who train in this system. The moment on the pitch is different. If we need to improve in this mobility, the quality is very important, but also how the player is moving on the pitch. I think with two systems, we can continue to progress and think about winning the next match.”
Emery is certainly not averse to telling his opponents his tactics before the game starts. In fact he seems to relish in it. I guess he is at all times trying to get his plans into the players heads so it must come naturally to him.
Well now we know what he wants the players to do, now let’s see if they can put his plan into action!
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