Sheffield United 1, Arsenal 0.
Poor poor Arsenal,poor Unai Emery, Sheffield United once again shows the tactical weaknesses of Unai Emery again as he failed once again to deployed a tactics capable of winning in the premier league. From the beginning to the end of the match it was so clear that the problem of Arsenal will resurfaced and was just a matter if time before Sheffield United put a nail on the coffin for Arsenal with another poor defensive judgment on the ball. Sometimes I just can imaging what Unai Emery has been telling his defenders during practice on how to deal with area ball and set pieces. Since the arrival of the manager it is becoming clearer that the defensive problems of Arsenal will not go away anytime soon as the team had conceded goals both at home and away in the league.
Arsenal pedigree can now be question as whether the team can make the top four this season or not, even though the league is just nine matches old, it is however getting clearer that Arsenal will need more than lucky to compete at the top of the league. With teams like Liverpool, Manchester City,Chelsea,Leicester and even Tottenham in the running for top four, the answers to the question may not be far fetch at all.
Assessing players individually based on the performance tonight, I will say categorically that most of the Arsenal players are under performing as a results of Unai Emery tactics. It was as if the players were restricted in going forward whenever they are in pole position of the ball, the transition of the ball from the goal keeper area to midfield was so slow that it allow for easy reorganization of their opponent. At the third half, many Arsenal players seems to lack the fight to go forward as this is unlike the Arsenal team we know under Arsene Wenger. For a team that was down by a goal at the thirty four minutes, the manager should have deployed is second striker up front earlier enough in the match and not waiting for the last quarter of the match before bringing in another striker.
For everything that went wrong today for Arsenal, I will put the blame solely on the manager tactical discipline and approach to the game. For whom much is given,much is expected. If only Arsene Wenger was given the kind of financial support Unai Emery is currently enjoying at arsenal today, then the Gunners would have been a better,stronger team than what Emery as assemble.
