5 upgrades at Arsenal under Unai Emery

#2 Made playing from the back more effective

Teams like Barcelona and Arsenal prefer to build up play and playing from the back is a prerequisite for it. Involvement of center halves and goalkeeper in build-up play invites opposition’s attacking players to press high up the pitch. This provides more space and time for the midfielders to pick key forward passes.

In the past under Wenger, Arsenal suffered a lot when defenders were often caught on the ball. Cech, who was once the best in the world, also struggled to adopt the buildup play. He often took the option to clear the ball when under pressure. This not only cost Arsenal possession but also drained out a lot of energy of team members who had to immediately fall back in order to defend.

Bernd Leno is the key figure in making Arsenal’s playing from the back more enterprising

The newly recruited German, Bernd Leno was not able to show his skills until Cech's injury. But when he was provided an opportunity, he grabbed it with both hands. Now, Leno is a key figure in making Arsenal’s playing from the back more enterprising. In the game against Liverpool, Arsenal was able to maintain a huge chunk of ball possession due to Leno’s effectiveness with the ball at his feet.

Leno attempted only 7 long balls in the entire match and was able to register a passing accuracy of 85.2%. Not only this, but he also nullified gegenpress by his accurate chip passes over Salah, Mane, and Fermino. If compared with Cech, Cech’s passing accuracy was mere 48.3% and he attempted 22 long balls when Arsenal faced Liverpool at the Emirates last season.

In the same fixture, Leno’s save percentage was 75 which was almost 9% more than Cech’s last season percentage of 66.66. Arsenal’s center back pairing of Mustafi and Holding also had the passing accuracy of 92.6% and 91.4% respectively against arguably the best pressing team in Europe. The passing stats of the Arsenal backline clearly complement Unai’s efforts in this department.