Dear Unai Emery: 13:08:18
- L. Thomas
- 13. Aug. 2018
- 3 Min. Lesezeit
Dear Mr Unai Emery,
It's the first time in a long time that not only have I been excited for the start of the season but optimistic too. Don't get me wrong, you've got big boots to fill. Your predecessor made sure of that but it's a new season, it's a new start and I was looking forward to this new era.
Out of all of the other teams in the Premier League, the boys got to start their campaign again the title holders. When I saw the fixture list, I felt positive and then last week happened: Manchester City showed the world, against Chelsea in the Community Shield, that it may be a new season but they're quite possibly the same strong team as last year.
There are some good take-away points from the game against Manchester City but there are also some that Arsenal clearly need to work on.
After the first city goal, the Arsenal team didn’t let the game run away from them. They held on and showed promise. Héctor Bellerín’s chance during the 20th minute and Petr Cech’s save from a Manchester City free-kick at the 27th minute made it look like Arsenal still had a chance. I, like a few other fans, was not expecting a win but I was expecting the team to at least grind out a draw from the game.
When the whistle for half-time blew, the team had not managed to win a single corner and only had two shots on target, but the score was still 0 – 1. It seemed like the team could get back into the game in the second-half.
At the beginning of the second-half, Arsenal started to build momentum. The boys in red were starting to make better defensive decisions and tried to counter-attack once they had stolen the ball from City. Unfortunately, City seemed to anticipate every move the boys made.
I kept the hope alive which was fuelled by the amazing save by Cech in the 62 minute. The composure from him in the one-on-one situation against Sergio Agüero made me understand why you picked Cech over the newbie Bernd Leno.
Sadly, the amazing ballet antics from Cech was not enough as just over a minute later Bernardo Silva was served the ball in the box and scored a cracker. I think we all knew, at that point, that it was game over for Arsenal.
Manchester City does not seem to have a hang-over from the last season or even from the fact that eleven of the squad played a part in the quarter-finals of the World Cup this year. However, if this is what the scariest team in the Premier League looks like, Arsenal can definitely get into the top four.
This target will be achievable if the key players stay in form. During the game against City, Ramsey was the main source of creativity for the team. Lichtsteiner brought strength to the defence and according to DAZN, he can apparently play anywhere on the pitch. (I’ll take that.) When Aubameyang manages to stay onside, he’s an obvious goal threat. Not too mention the fluidity the team has when Lacazette, Aubameyang and Mkhitaryan play together. I am looking forward to seeing how you bring the squad together in this 2018/19 campaign.
From
L. Thomas
P.S. I’ve noticed that in the past two seasons, a lot of the strong English talent like Oxlade-Chamberlain, Wilshere and Walcott have left the club. This became more apparent to me during the World Cup. Not having an Arsenal player in the England team’s starting eleven was hard for me to take. In light of this, every now and then I’ll mention a few English players that could be on the Arsenal Watch List for the next transfer window.
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