Arsenal and Emery have an identity crisis while Ozil has still snubbed

Even old Arsenal.

No matter what Unai Emery does, he does not seem to be able to whistle the performances of his players by the minute.

Their form absent under Arsene Wenger last season was pathetic – only winning four – and they collapse again in this regard.

The last time they took three points outside the Emirates was back in Bournemouth in November. Since then, they have played six, shot two and lost the rest.

There was little surprise in the result against Manchester City, which was trying to remedy the disappointment caused by a defeat against Newcastle midweek.

Arsenal made the same mistake as Newcastle, allowing Sergio Aguero to score in less than a minute. And like Newcastle, Arsenal had a chance.

In the cold light of the day, they will realize that Shkodran Mustafi should have been whistled for a penalty against Aguero and that the head of Aymeric Laporte, excluded from the offside, should have remained.

But where Newcastle has learned his lessons, Arsenal has faded. EQ was one of the few occasions when they approached Ederson's goal, but they were then lukewarm.

Matteo Guendouzi was working in the midfield but Arsenal, meanwhile, had very little heart. There were injury problems – no Hector Bellerin, Sokratis Papastathopoulos or Granit Xhaka in the formation here proposed – but Emery did not solve the problem by giving up what might have been an offensive advantage.

It was hard to know in a flat four midfield where a threat was going to materialize. Alex Iwobi was the only recognized designer of the quartet and Emery based his hopes on combinations between Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre Emerick Aubameyang to carry out his work.

But neither saw enough of the ball and certainly not close enough to the goal.

In this respect, it was strange to see Emery do not immediately choose Aaron Ramsey or Mesut Ozil. Ozil was not trusted to start a game like this for a long time, but the fact that Ramsey did not play against Cardiff midweek might have suggested he would be about to start here .

That could have given Arsenal an extra dimension coming from midfield, but it was clear that Emery was terrified by the threat that Pep Guardiola's team would represent.

Ciy's manager chose to leave without a confirmed left-back, as Laporte found himself in this position after Arsenal had the ball. When City took possession, they dropped to three. And from the first 40 seconds, Arsenal did not know what to do with Laporte's spare man.

He created the first match for Aguero – who scored another devastating hat trick – and again recorded the Gunners with that dark feeling.

It's hard to know what Emery wants for Arsenal. Here, their shape and composition were unknown. There is little continuity in terms of style and staff between the biggest games they play.

Six months later, we are still trying to define how Emery wants to play. Are they a counterattack team? Dominant on the ball? Ailerons or rear? A midfielder or two? Is there room for a playmaker? Does he like playing with one or two players?

Yet these questions are asked. Emery and the players may be perfectly aware of what they are trying to achieve, but this is not evident in the way they do their job.

At this stage of their development, Arsenal fans would be content with something to hang on to. a promise of better days ahead. Those 22 games without defeat earlier in the season gave rise to a false hope that Emery and Arsenal were already present, but no such optimism has disappeared.

The fact that Ramsey and Denis Suarez were sent together to save the match – one about to leave the club, the other on loan – says a lot about the club's short-term thinking and the lack of direction.

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Things are not going to get any easier with the matches against Spurs and the wolves in shape on the horizon.

We were hoping for a place in the first four places at the start of the season, but Arsenal would seem to be far from the norm. Chelsea played well on Saturday, the Spurs are closer to the title than the battle for fourth place in the Champions League and Manchester United stands as a train.

The inability of other teams is an unreliable ally; Arsenal must manage.