Unai Emery Says Arsenal 'Want to Continue to Be an Offensive Team'

Unai Emery has sought to reassure Arsenal fans he is intent on building an attacking team, even though the manager is still concerned about achieving some balance defensively.

The Gunners have been criticised for a lack of creativity and forward-thinking intent, particularly after Monday's 1-0 defeat away to Sheffield United in the Premier League.

However, the 47-year-old says he's still committed to attacking, per Omnisport (h/t Yahoo Sport UK): "Above all, I want to continue to be an offensive team, but improve defensively. Our mentality is to be offensive. I am going to get that balance little by little."

Many will be left unmoved by Emery's words since performances don't match their import. The Gunners were pedestrian and unimaginative in the final third against the Blades.

Rather than just being an isolated incident, the drab performance was merely part of a worrying trend since the Spaniard succeeded Arsene Wenger in 2018. Since then, there has been a shift from the expansive game of the Frenchman's teams to a more scattershot and cautious approach.

It's hardly a surprise the quality of football has suffered since Emery replaced Wenger. While the latter favoured players defined by technique and flair, Emery has tended to shun those types.

Playmakers Santi Cazorla, Jack Wilshere and Aaron Ramsey have all left the club on free transfers since the start of last season. Creative forward Henrikh Mkhitaryan was also loaned to AS Roma during the summer.

The biggest impact on Arsenal's play has been Emery freezing out gifted No. 10 Mesut Ozil. He is the club's highest earner, but Ozil has only made a single start in the league this season and been omitted from the squad altogether in the last four matches, per BBC Sport.

The same source noted how Ozil has created more chances in the league than any other Arsenal player since 2013 (522), yet he still can't get in the team. It's an issue with no end in sight, while Ozil is prepared to play a waiting game.

Emery has questioned Ozil's physicality and with his work rate in training. While the 30-year-old is mercurial and languid, the German is also the best passer of the ball in Emery's squad and the one with the vision to see even the most obscure gaps in a defence.

Emphasising industry over artistry has rendered Arsenal a drab watch during Emery's tenure. Some believe the decline is even beginning to impact the few remaining technical players in the squad:

Perhaps the cruelest irony is Emery overseeing a regression in the style Wenger made a club trademark is that he has failed to fix the main deficiencies evident during the 70-year-old's final years.

Emery inherited a squad loaded with guile and craft, but one lacking solid foundations in defence. Wenger's fidelity to attractive football made Arsenal easy on the eye, but not enough attention had been paid to preventing goals.

Fixing the defence was Emery's chief remit, but despite major investment in players such as goalkeeper Bernd Leno and centre-backs David Luiz and Sokratis Papastathopoulos, the numbers are trending in the wrong direction:

So much for balance in defensive areas. In fact, a statistical comparison of the Gunners pre- and post-Emery only offers an indictment of his tenure so far:

Emery's bar when he took the job was to better the worst run of Wenger's 22-year reign. Instead, by removing the strength of the team, namely its creative players, Emery has made the job harder than it needed to be.

Wenger engineered a stylistic revolution at a club traditionally known for defensive excellence to becoming admired for its swashbuckling forward endeavour. It was the one thing worth retaining from the Wenger era, but it's already getting lost.

Now Emery has a tougher job winning over supporters and making Arsenal a fixture in the UEFA Champions League again. The man who won three UEFA Europa League trophies with Sevilla needs to expand his tactics for a club with ultimately bigger ambitions.