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Release Date: Thursday, January 24, 2019 8:24 am
"We suffer a lot, but we have to adapt," said Unai Emery. "One always foresees problems, but not in this quantity – all these wounds and suspensions."
The Spaniard adds that Valencia's ever-growing list of absentees "can not be an excuse" for their upcoming match with Deportivo La Coruña. Miguel and Emiliano Moretti, two first-choice right-backers, and Raul Albiol, one of the main coaches four captains – banned, it was certainly the easiest option.
But Emery is no stranger to making ends meet. He joined the right-back of center-half Alexis, hailing the return of club legend Carlos Marchena to central reserve defender Maduro, and awarded Asier del Horno only his fifth of six starts in Liga of the season. Los Che had a 1-1 draw against a direct rival for the European qualification.
A decade later, little has changed. A team that has never been so fully physically challenged has felt a literal tension, but Emery knows she is only exacerbating the situation to complain. Most other leaders designate a naked wardrobe and insist that they can not do anything; The Spaniard has rummaged in the back, thrown some ingredients and still has the club looking for a return to the Champions League by two realistic routes.
The club, the players, the league and the circumstances can all be different, but the manager remains steadfast in his quest for existing solutions beyond tired excuses.
The victory over Chelsea allowed Arsenal to present its 14th different defensive combination in 23 Premier League matches. It was the first and last time that Hector Bellerin, Sokratis, Laurent Koscielny and Sead Kolasinac started side by side in a Premier League match this season. Bellerin's late-season injury almost guarantees a new bottom line against Arsenal in the Cup of England and Cardiff midweek.
Yet even though Bellerin was joining Danny Welbeck and Rob Holding all the way, Emery was insensitive. He would have been forgiven for telling his footsteps and wondering if he had crossed a ladder and broken a window while crossing a black cat, but he refuses to be the hostage of misfortune.
The fact that the three players are on their way Emery, everyone embracing and thriving in the new style of pressure, going on before being stopped so abruptly in their trajectory, only adds the insult to injury.
Welbeck scored or badisted at a pace of once every 100.6 minutes before his backhand, and was an extremely useful option. Holding has established itself as the best center of the club. Bellerin was finally in a system suited to him, unlike the opposite. No matter which team would fight with these excluded key players simultaneously.
But Emery is so chained by the mismanagement of his club and afterwards lack of funds that he was willing to propose Stephan Lichtsteiner as a viable replacement behind Ainsley Maitland-Niles to the question of how he would react.
"We have the players," said the Spanish, before delivering the most unexpected striker line of the year so far. "I do not forget Jenkinson who played a few games and who can be used if we need him."
In addition to Konstantinos Mavropanos, injured in the same way, Jenkinson's is perhaps the only box left unchecked in this Arsenal defensive crisis bingo game. The Gunners had more different starters on the left back than any club (5), and only Manchester United (8) used more players in the middle of the field (7). And three of them were more due to Jose Mourinho's demonstrations than to any selection problem.
Emery's refusal to bemoan the hand he has received and to try to find different ways to play it has masked the extent of Arsenal's fitness problems. He was serene in the midst of the injury storm, an unbalanced team, disruptions in the boardroom and an extremely difficult transition period. Two of the three personalities who named the Spaniard will have already left North London this month, but can do so knowing that they have made the right choice.
A season that started with Maitland-Niles on the left-back at the opening day will likely end with him on the right back the last weekend. Koscielny was not available until December, when the wounds of Holding, Sokratis and Mustafi meant that he was badociated with Lichtsteiner and Granit Xhaka in central defense. Nacho Monreal, Arsenal's best player last season, has been restricted to three Premier League games since the end of September.
Yet the only real talk about the crisis is not about injuries, but just two victories in six Premier League matches, before a decisive win over Chelsea. Arsenal are now three points off fourth place and remain in two other competitions despite a difficult battle. The adaptable Emery deserves more credit.
Matt Stead
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