Emery’s constant ostracising of Mesut Ozil needs some immediate attention, particularly after Dani Ceballos was injured in the soggy affair against Vitoria on foreign soil. Soggy not in terms of just the weather but in terms of the performance, which saw the Gunners eventually concede after threatening to do so on several occasions.
They had the capable hands of Martinez to thank for that, who was determined, almost on his own to keep Vitoria at bay. Even the woodwork was the visitor’s saviour on the occasion that Martinez was beaten.
Perhaps Emery has always been this lucky in this competition and this would explain why he has won this cup for three consecutive seasons.
Yet again, Arsenal managed a draw which they didn’t really deserve and the creativity of which an Arsenal side was renown for deserted them yet again. For long periods, twitchy Arsenal fans had lots of head holding to do, peppered with lots of hiding behind hands and turning away.
Rob Holding was made captain for the Europa League contest against Vitoria, which will delight fans and there was another surprise with the much maligned Mustafi scoring in the 80th minute with a perfectly timed and powerful header.
Once again, the lead was surrendered with ease, something that doesn’t bode well against a rampant Leicester. Arsenal travel to the King Power Stadium this weekend for the Premier League fixture against Leicester City.
If Arsenal fail to create and defend, then it may well be the final nail in the coffin for Unai Emery, who seems incapable of solving the gunners long standing issues. He has managed to make an attractive, attacking side more fragile from front to back and despite having a dearth of attacking talent, they aren’t winning games.
The frustration of fans is entirely understandable because Arsenal aren’t compact and aren’t functioning as a team. Patience was called for when Emery was appointed but after Bruno Duarte’s acrobatic equaliser (90+), even the board must be on edge.
It was a decidedly drab affair from an Arsenal perspective and begs the question, will they ever play with swagger and style again ?
Yes, its that bad and only someone on high levels of medication will find any positives from the game against Vitoria S.C. A draw was the minimum Vitoria deserved for playing the Arsenal way, with the North London club looking totally lost and disjointed.
Another draw, another poor performance. There’s no rest or no miracle cure and Emery faces a tough two months, possibly holding on by his finger nails.
Vitoria manager, Ivo Vieira, said that his side had:
“more goal chances and more attacking volume”
He wasn’t lying but Unai Emery must have been watching another game or perhaps it was so poor he went for a pre half time piss after saying:
“I’m disappointed we didn’t win, but the point continued our way to first in the group,”
Denial , denial, denial !
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He then said of the only team that tried to entertain:
“They are a very defensive team, with a big structure defensively, and it is not easy because they were defending very deep and also together,”
Something Arsenal are incapable of and he added:
“To create small spaces was not easy against that team.”
It’s just waffle, meaningless waffle, trying to put a shine on an otherwise inept performance. I’d heard and seen enough, like many others I suspect.
