Arsenal lost 1-0 at Sheffield United in yet another limp performance that simply must have the Arsenal board questioning Unai Emery’s future.

SHEFFIELD, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 21: Unai Emery, Manager of Arsenal inspects the pitch ahead of the Premier League match between Sheffield United and Arsenal FC at Bramall Lane on October 21, 2019 in Sheffield, United Kingdom. (Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)
SHEFFIELD, ENGLAND – OCTOBER 21: Unai Emery, Manager of Arsenal inspects the pitch ahead of the Premier League match between Sheffield United and Arsenal FC at Bramall Lane on October 21, 2019 in Sheffield, United Kingdom. (Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)

‘Shut up complaining,’ a lot of Arsenal fans were told. The side were getting the results and were third in the table, what did it matter how they played?

This is why it mattered.

We saw against Sheffield United on Monday night that how the side were playing was a ticking timebomb and, as expected, it exploded in their faces.

Make no mistake, unlike under Arsene Wenger with alarming regularity, this was not an attitude problem or a problem with the personnel on the pitch, this was all Unai Emery.

From his negative tactics, refusal to start proper creative players, his ostracising of the player who creates more chances than any other despite hardly ever playing, bringing on players at halftime he should have started and looking like he’s trying to protect a 1-0 defeat away from home because it’s not a bad result, this is all on him.

Arsenal's Spanish head coach Unai Emery gestures on the touchline during the English Premier League football match between Sheffield United and Arsenal at Bramall Lane in Sheffield, northern England on October 21, 2019. (Photo by Oli SCARFF / AFP)
Arsenal’s Spanish head coach Unai Emery gestures on the touchline during the English Premier League football match between Sheffield United and Arsenal at Bramall Lane in Sheffield, northern England on October 21, 2019. (Photo by Oli SCARFF / AFP)

He’s had 15 months and nothing has changed.

Mesut Ozil is being punished for what he’s not doing in training but what are the rest doing? There’s no attacking intent, no midfield to speak off and Granit Xhaka’s brain is so slow you really have to question how it keeps him alive.

Unai Emery doesn’t have a break clause at the end of this season but the club, if they really want to get back into the Champions League, need to let him go sooner rather than later. Let Freddie have the job, could he really set them up to play worse than what we saw at Bramall Lane?

Patience is all well and good, but when you can point to absolutely no evidence of anything changing, you have to come to the conclusion it’s the manager that should.