Arsenal decimated by injuries and lack of funds, but Unai Emery has disappointed in his debut season
AS Unai Emery looks back on his first season of Premier League football he will do so with a sense of frustration at the way the campaign has ended.
The Spanish tactician was given the explicit target of getting Arsenal back into the Champions League when he replaced Arsene Wenger last summer.
Emery could still achieve that target with victory in the Europa League final against Chelsea.
But failure to secure a top four finish must still be regarded as a major disappointment.
A disastrous run of results against Everton, Crystal Palace, Wolves, Leicester and Brighton sparked a dramatic collapse in the run-in.
In turn, it raised all the old questions about the players’ strength of character.
True, there has been a marginal improvement on last season’s points tally.
But that is not much consolation for the supporters when their team remains light years behind the Champions.
Emery’s Emirates reign got off to the worst-possible start when they lost their first two games of the season against Manchester City and Chelsea.
FALSE DAWN
But a subsequent 22-match unbeaten run in all competitions suggested that the new manager’s methods were having an instant effect.
Unfortunately for Emery, it proved to be yet another Emirates false dawn as a surprise defeat at Southampton in mid-December was quickly followed by more poor results.
They were not helped by a debilitating series of defensive injuries which deprived them of Hector Bellerin, Rob Holding and, for the first half of the season, captain Laurent Koscielny.
Emery has tried to hide his team’s defensive shortcomings by constantly changing switching formations and changing his starting line-up.
Yet he only succeeded in confusing his players who struggled to cope with the complicated tactical demands.
And no-one has disappointed more than Mesut Ozil, whose fitful performances have rarely justified his startling £18million-a-year contract.
Wenger was regularly accused of indulging Ozil and selecting him every week no matter how he was playing.
Aubameyang and Lacazette have developed into one of the most effective attacking partnerships in football.
Mark Irwin on Arsenal's season
Emery immediately made it clear that no-one would be getting into his team on reputation alone and shocked the dressing-room when he axed the German superstar three games into the season.
But if he was hoping to spark a reaction from Ozil, he would have been sorely disappointed.
For the player has continued to cry off at the last minute with a series of minor niggles and ailments, often coinciding with difficult away games.
At least the manager can have no complaints about the contributions of strikers Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette.
They have developed into one of the most effective attacking partnerships in football.
The duo have scored a staggering two-thirds of all Arsenal’s Premier League goals this season while no other player has come close to getting into double figures.
That lack of threat from midfield will be exacerbated by Emery’s curious decision to allow Aaron Ramsey to leave as a free agent.
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And with Petr Cech also retiring this summer, there is a disturbing leadership vacuum developing in the Arsenal dressing-room.
Emery has had a year to look at what he inherited from Wenger and now knows exactly what is needed to take Arsenal forward.
He has already led to them a European final and made them competitive in the fight for the top four.
But the real time to judge his work will come next summer…
Then, his contract will come under review and the club must decide if he is going to be a long-term occupant of the manager’s office.