Opinion: Unai Emery needs to tweak his tactics for Arsenal to be successful this season

When Arsenal unveiled Unai Emery as head coach, there was a wave of optimism which swept across the world amongst the Arsenal faithful. An optimism that stemmed from the belief that the change they had awaited for a long time had finally arrived.

All over the world, the Arsenal fans had been suffering from an Arsene Wenger fatigue, and were yearning for a change of guard.

When Arsenal opened their Premier League campaign against Manchester City, the stadium was filled to capacity as such was the glee with which the Arsenal supporters were waiting for the league to kick off.

The game ended 0-2 to the visitors. The Arsenal supporters were disappointed, but remained calm given that it was the first game under Unai Emery, and moreover, against record champions Manchester City. There was nothing much to worry about.

Yes, there had been notable changes from the way Arsenal used to play under Arsene Wenger. There was more commitment from the players, more energy, more pressing. And the new man in charge's new style - playing out from the back.

There were negatives as well. Shambolic defending, losing possession far too easily and a real lack of tactical organisation on the pitch.

But there was one extremely clear thing, Petr Cech was well and truly uncomfortable playing out from the back. Cech is a true Premier League legend. He is arguably the greatest gloves-man to grace the Premier League.

He holds the record for the highest number of clean sheets. But believe you me, playing out from the back just doesn't suit his game. He is a shot stopper, not a ball player. He is not Manuel Neuer or Ederson to play the sweeper keeper role Unai Emery wants him to play.

In that game alone, he made way too many errors for the coach to retain him for the next game. There remained two things for the coach, either to change that style or to drop Petr Cech.

But four games into the season, nothing has changed! Cech remains Arsenal's number 1 custodian and the system of playing out from the back has clearly come to stay! Unai Emery is right to stick to his desired style, but sticking with Cech as his first choice goalkeeper is wrong, especially after he has clearly struggled to adapt to the coach's tactics.

In the game against Man City, he nearly scored an own goal, and lost the ball on countless occasions. In the Chelsea game, Cech was forced to retake goal kicks several times after the ball failed to leave the penalty area.

That was an embarrassment for a keeper of his experience. The same mistakes continued coming in the West Ham game as well as the game against Cardiff City where the keeper passed the ball straight to an opponent, granting The Blue Birds a clear goal scoring opportunity, only for Cardiff to miss by a whisker.

Some of Petr Cech's goalkeeping antics have been comical this season

No one has ever managed to teach an old dog new tricks. Petr Cech is 36 years of age and is not getting any younger. All through his illustrious career, he has always taken long goal kicks and that is his game. Because of his age, he is too old to learn new things that require a straightforward shift from his normal game.

Moreover, with his age, he is getting slower by the day and doesn't have any pace to always come out of the blocks to hamper opposition attackers in one-on-one situations. Some think if he still had the same agility of old, he would have stopped Alvaro Morata from scoring Chelsea's second, or at least done better.

One of Arsene Wenger's biggest weaknesses was obstinacy, where when everyone thought one thing was right, he would go on to do the opposite. For instance, when everyone else thought Arsenal needed a defensive midfielder, Mr Wenger would go on to strengthen in other areas, leaving the jigsaw incomplete. That desire to prove everybody wrong earned him more critics as his plans fell apart every season.

In the same breath, Emery has done well to emulate his predecessor. There have been cries from almost every corner including his former side, Bayer Leverkusen, to play Bernd Leno who seems to be more acquainted to the sweeper keeper role, but Unai Emery has paid a deaf ear.

He has also vehemently refused to start Lucas Torreira, electing to stick with the Xhaka/Guendouzi partnership which is apparently not working as none is particularly adept to protecting the defense.

Xhaka in particular is not mobile enough to offer consistent protection in the anchorman role as time and again he is forced to move a little upfront to help do the pressing in a position meant for Ozil, whose defensive game is almost nonexistent.

This leaves a huge gap in midfield as he is not quick enough to come back and provide cover in his position. This is how he ends up committing fouls that result in unnecessary bookings. How he ends up starting ahead of Torreira is to everyone but Unai Emery a complete perplexity.

Granit Xhaka doesn't look suitable for Emery's style

Even in the away game against a Chelsea side Sarri has built on the basis of midfield solidity, a game in which Arsenal were expected to be very compact and disciplined, the Arsenal head coach decided to not play Torreira from the start and only brought him on at half time after a disastrous display from Granit Xhaka.

The Uruguayan steadied the ship, brought more discipline and more solidity to a midfield that had been domineered over by a rampant Chelsea midfield orchestrated by Jorginho.

Truth be told, there seems to be little in terms of significant change from Arsene Wenger to Unai Emery. The Spaniard talked of adapting to opponents and approaching every game as it comes. That hasn't been seen going into the first international break of the new season.

Arsenal have played a rigid 4-2-3-1 system in all four games. As far as I'm concerned, knowing that the defense is an absolute ramshackle, Arsenal must use their fearsome attacking force to good effect. In home games, why not employ a 4-4-2 diamond so that Lacazette and Aubameyang play in tandem rather than the latter playing as a winger?

Playing out wide and always hugging the touchline, running back to help out his full back, takes a lot out of Aubameyang's game. The Gabonese is a striker, and a central striker at that. He is Arsenal's best 9 and should be played in the middle, not as a winger. Unai Emery must not be poetic in his system.

At some point, Arsenal need to play opponents off the pack by scoring goals in abundance. Why play a lone striker against weaker opposition? If Edinson Cavani and Luis Suarez can play as twin strikers at the national team in a 4-4-2 diamond, why can't the Arsenal strikers do the same?

Aubameyang and Lacazette should play in tandem

Such a system would allow Arsenal to score more goals as the two strikers would get the chance to play centrally. It would also play to the strength of Lucas Torreira who would occupy the deepest slot in midfield and allow the attackers the freedom to move forward unrestricted, knowing that security at the back is guaranteed.

However, by continuing to play Petr Cech and deny Torreira the starting berth he deserves, Unai Emery will definitely lose points unnecessarily that could prove costly at the business end of the campaign. There's a definite need for change in tactics after a change of guard at Arsenal.