The new Premier League season has begun, and the first
matchday was highlighted by a clash between Arsenal and Manchester City. City
registered a 2-0 win over the Gunners, with Raheem Sterling and Bernardo Silva
scoring the two goals for the reigning Premier League champions.
Last season, Arsenal endured a miserable campaign in what
proved to be Arsène Wenger’s final season at the helm of the Gunners. They
finished sixth in the league, their worst league campaign since 1995. They were
also knocked out in the Europa League semifinals, as well as the third round of
the FA Cup.
Realising that things were only getting worse for
Arsenal, Wenger made the long-overdue decision to step down. He was
subsequently replaced by Unai Emery, who joined Arsenal from PSG.
However, as evidenced by the game against City, the
appointment of Emery has done little, if anything at all, to improve Arsenal.
From the very beginning of the match, Arsenal were
completely outplayed, as everything they did seemed to be met by an answer from
City. The likes of Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, and Granit
Xhaka were nowhere near the levels they are capable of playing at.
While it is true that City were favoured to come out on
top comfortably, one would have thought that, with a new man in charge and a
new era at the Emirates beginning, Arsenal would have offered more resistance
than they did. However, as was frequently the case last season, Arsenal were
shown to be nowhere near the level that they need to be at in order to
challenge for titles.
One of the main problems facing the Gunners is, in fact,
the new coach himself.
Considering the large amount of resources that Emery had
at his disposal when he was at PSG, the team clearly underachieved during his
time there.
During his two seasons in Paris, PSG only won the Ligue 1
title once, an embarrassing statistic given the financial disparity between
them and the rest of the league. They also never made it beyond the round of 16
in the Champions League.
Over his four years at Valencia, once again, he never led
them beyond the Champions League’s round of 16.
The only period of his coaching career that could truly
be considered successful was his three-year stint at Sevilla, in which he led
the Andalusian club to three Europa League titles. However, even this must come
with a caveat: in those same three years, Sevilla never finished in the top
four in La Liga.
Another reason that Arsenal may face a tough season ahead
is the fact that, as has often been the case in past years, they have not
signed players who will make a difference.
Other than Stephan Lichtsteiner, in the
recently-concluded transfer window, Arsenal failed to make a single signing whom
I believe will have a significant positive impact on their team.
Besides Lichtsteiner, Arsenal signed Bernd Leno, Sokratis
Papasthopoulos, Mattéo Guendouzi, and Lucas Torreira.
Not a single one of these players, in my opinion, is or
will be an upgrade for Arsenal. Even though some are sold on Torreira, and
although he did have a solid World Cup campaign for Uruguay, it is not likely
that he will make the sort of impact that will lead Arsenal to greater heights
for years to come.
Furthermore, it could even be possible that Emery’s
tactics do not gel with Arsenal’s play style. After the game against City, even
though Emery said that it will take time for the players to properly execute
his tactics, it may have been a way to keep his team’s spirits up after a loss,
rather than an honest assessment of how things would necessarily go.
At the start of the season, many Arsenal fans were
hopeful that a new coach and the new tactics and ideas he would bring with him
would somehow bring back the glory days of the late 1990s and early 2000s.
However, although only one game has been played thus far,
based on this performance, the North Londoners are lightyears away from where
they dream of being. Arsenal fans may now have to brace themselves for another
long, difficult season which is likely to end without much success.
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