The Arsene Wenger era at Arsenal was all about the style of play, often at the expense of tactical flexibility. Unai Emery has been the exact opposite.
2. Poor fitness and poor form
Arsenal had Aubameyang, Sokratis, Bellerin, Holding, Özil, Lichtsteiner, Xhaka, and Welbeck all out for various reasons at Huddersfield. That’s almost a full XI and a lot of attacking talent left in London.
Both right backs in the squad being out also put Arsenal in a bind with defensive options.
Sokratis being out meant that Mustafi—maybe the most criticized player in recent Arsenal memory—had to play unless Emery wanted to field only one true central defender (Koscielny) or a young player who has not played first team minutes all season (Mavrapanos).
Arsenal had no true right back, a central defender that is a comedy of errors, and a left back that is much better going forward than in defending (Sead Kolasinac). Not exactly a back line that strikes fear into the hearts of Premier League opponents, however low on the table they might be.
So what was Emery to do?
Plough ahead, pretending a team this far short of first choice still had the quality to impose their will in the style of Arsene and end up dropping points at the worst team in the league?
