Former Arsenal star Paul Merson has claimed that he sees no true differences between Unai Emery’s style of play and former Gunners boss Arsene Wenger’s.
Merson discussed Arsenal’s start to the season on Sky Sports show The Debate on Monday evening and admitted that he is yet to see many distinct differences since Wenger’s departure from the club.
I would say no different at the moment. I’ve watched Arsenal and if you didn’t know, you would still think Arsene Wenger was the manager.
New Arsenal manager Emery has overseen a rather mixed start to his tenure at the Emirates. The Gunners lost their opening two fixtures against Manchester City and Chelsea but, most recently, secured wins against West Ham and newly-promoted Cardiff City.
Despite the recent improvements from Arsenal, Merson has been left unconvinced by their form under Emery, claiming that the team are playing as though they are in a ‘testimonial or a charity match’.
I watch Arsenal play and it’s like watching a testimonial or a charity match. The game’s open, no one’s really tackling anybody, it’s like, ‘you have a shot, we have a shot’. I thought the week before they did well to beat West Ham because I thought when it was 1-1 West Ham were going to be the team that nicked the game. So they’ve done well to win that game but there’s got to be a lot of improvement.
Emery’s Arsenal side currently sit in 9th place on the Premier League table and will be hoping to continue their recent winning form after the international break.
But it will take time, it will take time. Managers don’t just come in and change it like that. This has been embedded in these players for a long time, they’ve been at the club a long time some of these players.
