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It turned out to be perhaps the worst start Unai Emery could have asked for. Some said the new Arsenal boss was facing all-conquering champions Manchester City last weekend at the right time but Pep Guardiola’s men made a mockery of that theory with a performance full of their typical energy and penetration and, worryingly for their rivals, some tactical evolution.
It seemed to be more about revolution for Emery upon taking charge of his first Premier League match, despite fielding only two of his new signings. The rest of his side was rather more recognisable from the previous era, though how Arsene Wenger’s players were instructed to play was more unfamiliar.
Against City, the Premier League kings of the high press, Emery instructed his goalkeeper and defence to take on Guardiola’s men at their own game. Perhaps taking his tactical inspiration from a children’s classic, the new Gunners boss evidently decided: ‘We can’t go over it, we can’t go under it. We’ve got to go through it.’
With the ball at his feet, Petr Cech stumble-tripped his way through much of the afternoon as he stuck willfully to his instructions. “It is a pleasant change for me,” he protested after the game when asked how he felt about playing out from the back, and you cannot blame the veteran keeper for attempting to offer the illusion of comfort when his job is under threat from Emery’s recruit, Bernd Leno. But his performance told a different story.
Others were rather less impressed than Cech with Emery’s insistence on building play from the very back. The performance left Tony Adams “deflated and disappointed”, while Sam Allardyce went in two-footed.
“This is the manager’s fault,” he told talkSPORT. “It’s his fault. Don’t ask somebody to do against Manchester City what you shouldn’t do, and you should not play out like that against Manchester City.
“What do Manchester City do?” he continued. “Press, press, press. So why do you try and play out when they press, press, press? Even the Arsenal crowd cheered when they dropped one in the opposition half.”
Emery bore the brunt of Allardyce’s ire and though the delivery could be queried, the question was entirely valid. The Arsenal boss might offer reasonable mitigation – it was a statement of intent at the start of a project rather than the safest route to victory – but he certainly had a case to answer.
Emery, though, was merely the straw that broke the dinosaur’s back.
“You cannot just force ‘the only way to play is this way’ in this country,” Allardyce continued. “We are getting obsessed with this stupid ‘let’s play out from the back, split the centre halves, either side of the 18-yard box and go and play from there’… it’s utter rubbish to play like that all of the time.”
Allardyce’s frustration has been bubbling for a considerable while. In his mind, he should be preparing his Everton side to face Southampton rather than chewing the fat with Alan Brazil on breakfast radio but the 63-year-old finds himself out of a job despite achieving the objectives he was given when handed the Goodison Park reins. Winning – or rather, not losing – was not enough for Evertonians. Like most supporters, they wanted it done in style, or at least with a semblance of fun involved. And, as Allardyce bemoaned, one particular style is very much in vogue.
You can blame Guardiola for that. He has revolutionised English football – even Allardyce would probably admit that, albeit begrudgingly. The Manchester City boss took an underwhelming season to suss out the Premier League and spent a fortune while doing so, but he has shifted the tactical goalposts. Playing Pep’s way, City have demonstrated the kind of football rarely seen on these shores. It was a privilege to watch his team sweep aside the rest of the division last season.
The revolution gathers pace once the copycats follow the lone genius, which is what we are seeing now. Mauricio Pochettino and Jurgen Klopp will argue that their projects pre-date Guardiola’s arrival but Maurizio Sarri was appointed at Chelsea having followed Pep’s lead at Napoli and Emery appears keen to give Arsenal a similar identity.
‘Attractive, attacking football’. It is what all supporters want to be promised when a new manager is appointed – Everton fans certainly lapped it up when Marco Silva was appointed to bring his brand of pressing and possession in place of Allardyce’s pragmatism. They have seen Klopp play that way across the park and, understandably, want a piece of the action.
Allardyce was fair to describe the fascination as an obsession. Fans have become fixated with ‘attractive football’ now that Guardiola has stepped up with a definition which seems to have been widely adopted. It’s become a black and white issue. If you’re not playing out from the back with a gloved Franz Beckenbauer in the sticks, if you’re not pressing relentlessly with the force of a thousand suns, and your full-backs are not weaving pretty patterns in the half-spaces, then you’re playing anti-football.
In football, as in life, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. To some, watching Burnley defend under Sean Dyche, with the back five persistently shifting in tandem to deny quality shooting opportunities, is as enthralling as any Gegenpress. To others, Route One can be more thrilling and effective than going from point A to points C, D and E, just to take the scenic route to point B. And that’s fine.
When contrasting styles clash, it often leads to the most fascinating battles. Plus, in any case, not every side can play the City way as well as City. Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery but having conceded a two-year headstart, it may not be the wisest way to rein in the champions, as the Community Shield and opening weekend suggested.
Allardyce has a vested interest in registering his concern with the ‘obsession’. He would never get another job if the craze continues to spread at its present rate of growth. But Big Sam is right – not everyone can play Pep-ball, and nor should we want everyone to.
