Nine consecutive victories across three competitions represents an impressive turnaround for Arsenal given the early season defeats to Manchester City and Chelsea, however, Unai Emery insists his side can get better.
Citing the attacking threat posed by Watford, who could easily have won at the Emirates had they taken their chances, and Fulham, who were dangerous in the first half at Craven Cottage, in our last two league fixtures, the Spaniard made clear that his players must tighten up defensively in the future.
“I think we need to improve a lot,” he said ahead of Monday’s clash with Leicester.
“I think we have to continue doing a lot of the things to get better. Our demands need to be very high. The supporters can enjoy it with us but also we’re speaking with our reality every day.
“We need to improve because for example the match against Fulham was a very good result and a very good game for 90 minutes. But in the first 45 minutes I thought we needed to do better.
“If we are remembering the last match at the Emirates [against Watford], we won but not playing like we want, with the control against the opposition. For me now, the most important thing is not to rush.
“The next game against Leicester is very big, very difficult. Leicester are a very good team and play with a clear identity under Claude Puel. They are very competitive, have very good players and we need every single player, and our mentality together to be stronger than in the last match.”
Several Arsenal players have talked up a change in mentality in the dressing room since the summer. Emery doesn’t believe his players can lay claim to a ‘winning’ mentality just yet, he just wants them to keep proving their mettle in both training and matches.
“This is one process: to work every day and not the possibility to say now we have a winning mentality,” he said.
“We need to continue improving, continue creating in our way. The strong mentality is [to show] each minute, each ball, each moment of the 90 minutes to show every supporter we are deciding to win with our example on the pitch. We need to give every action with that mentality.
“This process is very hard, very long and this is the way to do it together. Also with the supporters, we are stronger with them helping us, like for example against Fulham and in every match at the Emirates.”
Like that he is driving the players onwards even when things seem to be going well eg on the back of a winning streak.
At times that drive seemed to be missing under Arsene, great manager though he was.
Agreed. Our ugly wins under AW were met with an ode to ‘our fantastic spirit’ or something similar, while Emery seems not particularly afraid to call his team out when they’ve gotten away with it. The former method is probably aimed at boosting confidence, while Emery’s approach seems aimed at not letting the players rest on their laurels. I don’t know enough about sports psychology to have a real opinion on which method is better, and this comment is in no way a dig at AW – a man whom I have great respect for. But I am making a… Read more »
Well, let me weigh in.
Emery’s method may not boost confidence when the chips are down, but it sure eradicates complacency that we became famous for in the last few years under Arsene.
I am sure Arsene knew this too and his emphasis on starting games on the front foot with aggression went to deaf ears, but Emery drilling them in certainly looks like its working so far.
Love Arsene but he had his flaws and being complacent sometimes was certainly one.
Great words from the new boss!
Unrelated, but head over to the NY Times to read this sombre article:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/17/sports/soccer/arsenal-shares-kroenke.html?smtyp=cur&smid=tw-nytsports
Thanks for a good read. The quote below is worth sharing:
“The takeover epitomizes that situation. It upsets me that one man can decide the destiny of the Arsenal, can accrue all the benefits of ownership himself, especially given that he does not regularly attend games. Does he have the interests of the Arsenal at heart? If he does, he has never demonstrated that to me.” – Jeffrey Freeman
Thanks for this link. This is an extraordinary article that every Arsenal supporter should read.
Blogs, I don’t know how it works legally, but I think you should provide a prominent place for this link as well.
Right. Good call. I mean, why not stage open revolt against the owner of the club that just spent 197M pounds on players over the last two xsfer windows. (Player sales offset that number, but spend isn’t the problem.) After all, he’s a yank. After all, he’s neither a “football” man, nor an “Arsenal” man — because ya know, that’s how it works in world football now. Just like Chelsea, Liverpool, Manyoo – oh, wait … not like them it all. There exists some perceived bias against him due to following the club bylaws and picking up the remaining shares.… Read more »
It has nothing to do with his being American. (I cannot imagine a worse owner than the very English wrecker of Newcastle United.) Kronke has exercised his legal right (but, who does write the laws about corporate ownership?) to force the sale/purchase of the tiny percentage of shares he does not already own. Why? To destroy the last bit of transparency, of supporter participation, however limited, in governing the club.
Makes a welcome change from “We have great mental strength and we are a great side because we won 9 games in a row.” I like this refusal to be complacent and insistence on addressing the obvious weaknesses everyone can see.
Reading this reminds me how exciting it is learning a new language, and the boss is doing very well with his English. A whole lotta efforts he’s putting in this team and on and off the pitch and I’m very much appreciative.
His English gets distinctly better by each press conference.
I wish my Spanish could improve at that rate.
It’s nice that he is playing down the winning mentality thing. In the past, we have beaten teams out of the top 6 regularly. Last year was the worst possible blip. We have to keep this run going, not let teams slice through us so easily, and most importantly, win against the top teams in the weeks to come.
There have been a number of improvements already this season albeit still too early to tell. Four in particular I’d highlight : 1) Bellerin has been concentrating on the defensive side more (at some expense at times going forward) BUT he is learning to ‘weather’ the (first half) storm and pick his moments later second half when indeed he has turned in a number of assists. 2) Iwobi has been improving already even in last ten games under Wenger. People as usual want to see what they want to see. He was offering more maturity and solidity last season so… Read more »
Santori sometimes you say lovely things
Santori says a lot of truths. Sometimes it hurts. but still theres truth is what he said.. Thats why he got thumbs down a lot :\
But I hope he keeps it up, its a better read then 100% fatgunner ever posted.
Not to mention Iwobi looks huge now. I believe the kids might say he’s “swole.” Granted, not as huge as Cech got this summer, but the fact that he didn’t seem to lose any of his pace, he looks like some massive old-school running back–like an Ironhead Heyward or Christian Okoye in their primes–with would-be tacklers just bouncing off him and flailing to the ground. It’s awfully fun to watch.
Top, top comment.
I’d give 100 thumbs up if I could.
To be honest I’ve got no time for Kroenke either, but at least he’s finally done something good for the club by bringing in Emery.
Stan represents everything that’s wrong with football but he’s hardly unique. Right across English football people like him exist. Football has lost its soul; that’s why I don’t go anymore.
I doubt Kroenke had anything to do with bringing Emery in.
and so you should, but you cant make a silk purse out of a sows ear