Unai Emery says he’s happy to get a first win of the season under his belt but he admits that Arsenal still need to find a better balance between attack and defence.
After defeats to Manchester City and Chelsea, expectations were high that hard work on the training ground would result in a fluid performance from the Gunners. Unfortunately, that was far from the case although they still edged out a 3-1 win against West Ham at the Emirates.
Nacho Monreal cancelled out Marko Arnautovic’s smart finish to ensure parity at the break before subtitute Alex Lacazette’s cross was turned into his own net by Issa Diop with 20 minutes remaining. The visitors had enough chances on the break to grab a point but finally surrendered when Danny Welbeck, on as a late replacement for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyangm converted Hector Bellerin’s pull-back in stoppage time.
“We are happy because it is the first three points after two defeats,” Emery told the BBC after his first win as head coach.
“It was very important to win, and we showed in the match that in difficult periods we can win, after 1-0 in the first half.
“We suffered with the transition in the first half, but we improved in the second half and controlled more like we want. In the second half we wanted to find more balance on the pitch and we did.
“After the substitutes, they made the difference in the second half. Today I am happy and for the confidence it is good, for the consistency it is good also.
“We need to improve. To improve in this transition to get the balance, to get more control with the ball but also, West Ham are a good team, it was a difficult match, for that we are happy but there are things to improve.”
Mesut Ozil’s absence was a talking point on the terraces before the game. News broke this morning that the Germany international was likely to be ruled out due to illness, however, before the 90 minutes were up there were whispers, emanating from ESPN, of an angry training ground showdown with Emery that led to him being dropped.
Emery was quick to deny the story. “Yeah, he was ill and yesterday we decided with the doctor and with him that he would not play,” he explained.
“Today he is here and with the team also because he feels better today but he is not here now because he was sick yesterday.”
He added: “The information isn’t true. I don’t know who started telling people this information. He was sick yesterday. And decided not to play today.”
This whole Özil melarky is getting strange. If he is being a tw*t then he needs to jog on. We do not need another Gallas.
Good win today.
If he was being twat then why Emery would have defended him two days ago when he didn’t have to.
Well, hopefully he’s just a little ill and there’s nothing more to it. But if there was drama, I’m sure Emery would still say the same thing to put a positive front out there. So we can’t reach any conclusions from what he said. Time will tell.
I don’t think we missed Ozil much tbh. But when he’s at his best he’s obviously a world beater. Let’s hope Unai can get that out of him consistently.
He would have defended him today but probably he wouldn’t defended him against Hoeness because it is not his concern. At least in my opinion.
Do you really think we didn’t miss him? Ramsey played good only in the last 20 minutes. Before that he had many missplaced passes and didn’t find the players which Ozil would easily. We didn’t win as easily as the scoreline says.
We did miss Ozil today. Then again we missed him last week v Chelsea too..
The biggest reason why he couldn’t flourish going forward last week was because we didn’t have the ball. He had 15 passes. That tells more about the the team’s performance than him because when he has bad games he still has 40+ passes. Defensive wise he put a shift.
I have had enough of Ozil’s drama queen antics
Because playing up an incident (if the incident actually happened) isn’t what any sensible person would do.
Absolutely nothing good can come out of Emery saying ” yes we had a massive argument, he’s not performing to the standard I want, and when I told him this, he had a little girly temper tantrum and stormed off”
If we can get him off the wage bill before 31st? We should cut our losses.
I can see Welbeck becoming a mainstay for us on the left once his fitness is at the required level.
I really like Danny Welbeck, and he can help us more than he has when he is fit, but he will always be a notch below the best players. You are talking about him as if he were a youngster, whose real quality we don’t know because of recent injuries. But we have all seen him play for years, at Man United and for England, and I am as sure about him, both strengths and weaknesses, as about Giroud or Monreal.
Yeah, Emery is wrong, ESPN Brasil is right. I heard too that Mesut got angry as Emery has a more beautiful car than his. He then tried to damage her but the bodyguards of Wenger, still here this season, stopped him to do further harm. Diva!! Sell him !
There are a lot of strengths to our team and with better defensive organisation, which should come in time, we will be a lot stronger. COYR!
Thank God Welbeck was kept.
Ozil is fucking useless
hi, i’m useless. ozil isnt fucking me. adgonner lies.
You’re rugrat
Gone missing again, I didn’t even know he was on the pitch.
I didn’t see ozil any where near Felipe Anderson on that 60 yard run. Disgusting.
It was quite painful on the eye but 3 points are very welcome! Ozil’s tendency to get ill once every few weeks is strange to say the least. I was really hoping for a fresh start for him under Emery….
Ramesy almost caused 2 injuries for Monreal by sending short passes that caused him to challenge the Westham man, even tho he was in good positions both times.
Ramsey and Bellerin had a mini “Hospital Pass Competition” going on today
We need to manage Ozil to our strength….
He is under pressure no doubt but he needs the support of the team and the fans to thrive….
You can’t be betray by your country and expect to be happy…..
this guy needs encouragement and it must come first from the coaching staffs, the team and the fans
#YaGunnersYa?# #COYG
Happy for the win…..
let’s build on it
350k a week. fucking crazy. On more than de bruyne and hazard
Yes. And he’s missed 4 of our last 6 PL games, all due to “illness”. But he was fit enough to go to the World Cup. Is this what you should get for 350k a week?
My guess is that he’ll be gone in January.
Gone in January? Will have to a freebie or loan deal. Are these the same illnesses he had under Wenger? Even if he hadn’t retired from International football, doubt he would ever be picked again.
i wish you’d be gone by January
I hope he was dropped by Emery because, if this is a meritocracy under the new boss, then he deserved to be.
Emery must see how easy it has been for teams to create chances against us. The 2nd half was a better balance with Nacho sitting more.
Didn’t the Ozil-Emery bust-up story originate from a trolling Arsenal twitter account? I saw it yesterday and saw a lot of people falling for it.
Doesn’t Stewart Robson work for ESPN..?
Says it all really….
Did Emery shake hands with Pellegrini post match?
Last two games he just rushed in..
Yes, he did shake hands.