Should Arsenal Boss Unai Emery Have Altered His Style Against Manchester City?

A lot has been made of Arsenal's stuttering start to the season. Arsenal opened their 2018/19 campaign against Pep Guardiola's Manchester City and the Cityzens inflicted a 2-0 defeat on Arsenal in Emery's first competitive game in charge.

It's true that there were many people whose expectations were a little over the top. So many fans were suffering from Arsene Wenger fatigue, so much so that they thought anyone who would come in would do a better job.

Maybe they had a point, but to think that Arsenal would blow Man City out of the water and triumph over them in the first post-Wenger game was foolhardy.

Arsenal are clearly a work in progress, a house under construction and at the foundation stage. City are a finished, refined article. The players have been with their manager for two seasons now and are into their third.

And we are talking about Pep Guardiola here - the best manager in the world and one of the greatest of all time. There is no shame in losing 2-0 to his City team that broke records last season.

City are the best team in the league by far. So the criticism Emery has received just after one game is irrational, unfair and unjustified. Speaking to Sky Sports' The Debate, pundit Steve McMahon launched a stinging attack of Emery's style against City.

"It's very naive at the moment; you've got to put it into practice first. It's the wrong time in the first game of the season, against Manchester City, the best team in the league. Pep had the best players when he was doing it - some of these couldn't kick a ball down a hill.

"It's not just about the goalkeeper, it's square pegs in round holes. Your style is only as good as the quality of your footballers." - Steve McMahon

Very wrong. He must have forgotten that Guardiola suffered the same way in his first season, was criticized the same way, but he never changed. In fact, he vowed to quit football than change what he thought was the right way to play football.

Guardiola did not have the best players to play his fluid style. He trained his players to do things the way he wanted them to play. Nicolas Otamendi, Vincent Kompany, Aleksandr Kolarov, Gael Clichy, Bacary Sagna, Pablo Zabaleta... all played under Guardiola in his first season at City.

City finished the season empty-handed. Fast forward to 2018, all those, bar Vincent Kompany and Otamendi, have since left the club and in came Benjamin Mendy, Kyle Walker, Danilo, and Aymeric Laporte.

Zabaleta was one of the players to leave City in Guardiola's second season

Claudio Bravo is still at the club, but despite playing the Guardiola way at Barca, he failed miserably at City and was replaced between the sticks by Ederson. Guardiola did not have the players he wanted at City, but remained glued to the philosophy that has served him so well throughout his managerial career.

He was urged to change but he laughed them off. The following season, he won in fascinating style.

Why then would Emery change? Just because he was going to face Man City? No! Besides, gold turns more valuable after it goes through fire.

By playing City, Unai Emery got the opportunity to put his philosophy to the ultimate test. He failed the test but the result of that could be exactly what he wanted.

Antonio Conte looked lost at the start of his career at Chelsea. A few defeats and he tweaked his tactics to go on a run that saw him win the title in his first season in charge.

Despite asking his team to press the opponent, it was clear that Emery's players were not at the same wavelength as their counterparts. Despite Emery's desire for his team to play out from the back in fluid fashion, it was Guardiola's side that led the way in doing so.

The Gunners had claimed to have been ready for the City challenge. Perhaps they thought they had mastered the new philosophy. They hadn't.

City put them to the sword and that must have been a very valuable lesson for them. Emery must have taken note of his team's failings that day. He must have noted how much discomfort Petr Cech was in when passing the ball to his defenders.

He must have taken note of how easily the City team was able to sail through his midfield that had no genuine defensive midfielder to break up play. He must have seen how the men he placed on the wings failed to stop the marauding runs of Benjamin Mendy and Kyle Walker.

He must have realised how shaky Shkodran Mustafi was in defence. He must, therefore, prepare better for Chelsea and other subsequent games.

Shkodran Mustafi struggled to cope with Emery's new style

The man needs time to put his act together. But to blast him the way Tony Adams and Sam Allardyce did was totally unjustified. There is no need to panic.

Emery is a hugely experienced manager and he knows what must be done. He may have made one or two mistakes in the team selection, but who doesn't? He's only human.

But to criticise his philosophy and claim that he ought to have played differently because the game was against Man City was totally misleading. It was a kick in the teeth to the experience of Emery.