Unai Emery rejects diamond talk; gives green light to Arsenal’s dynamic trio
Unai Emery has denied that Arsenal’s diamond formation was to blame for Sunday’s defeat to Liverpool.
Arsenal lost 3-1 at Anfield and they were on the back foot for large spells, with Emery’s narrow midfield drawing plenty of criticism from fans and pundits alike.
Danny Murphy claimed: “you can’t play against a top team and let them get so high up the pitch so easily in wide areas, especially with the full-backs they’ve got”.
Emery though was asked about the formation at his press conference ahead of Sunday’s north London derby clash with Tottenham.
Asked about the diamond, Emery said: “I understand (the question). We won with the diamond last year, and we lost with it. We can win and we can lose with the diamond. The consequence of the result on Sunday was not the diamond, but really we are ready to play with different tactical decisions.
“Last year we worked and used different formations with good performances because the players here have worked on different systems. Also, they have the habit of playing in different systems.
“We are more rich tactically with different formations and tactics and can change in each match and each moment in the 90 mins. On Sunday we will decide the best possible system for us, thinking of our gameplan and to adapt for Tottenham.”
Emery was also asked about Alexandre Lacazette, Nicolas Pepe and Pierre-Emerick Abuameyang playing together.
“Yes, but be calm. My decision in each moment is thinking about how we are,” said Emery.
“For example with Lacazette he had a problem with his ankle. This week is the best week of the last three weeks. He’s getting better and feeling better with his ankle, it’s very positive.
“With Pepe, he came here later than the others but he is getting and feeling better in each match. Aubameyang is very important for us, he scores two goals in the first two matches, he had two or three good actions in Liverpool.
“The most important thing for me is to have chances and after with players like Aubameyang, Lacazette, Pepe, Micki, Reiss, Ceballos and Mesut we can score with different players.”
Asked if the trio will play together on Sunday, he added: “I think they can start together and they can play also during the match as all three, it depends how we decide our gameplan.
“But I am very optimistic for that situation, but not also those three players, also Nelson, Mkhitaryan, Willock, Ozil. We need to be able to make the best decisions, but above all, to have different possibilities with the players.”