Ozil kerap mendapatkan kritik selama waktunya di Emirates Stadium, namun Emery selaku manajer baru Arsenal mengaku sebagai pengagumnya. Mesut Ozil bisa menjadi pemain penting untuk Arsenal di bawah arahan Unai Emery, yang mengaku sebagai pengagum dari talenta bintang asal Jerman tersebut.
Ozil secara reguler menunjukkan sisi kreatifnya sejak bergabung dari Real Madrid pada 2013 silam, namun performanya yang buruk dalam beberapa tahun terakhir juga membuatnya kerap dikritik.
Emery sendiri diperkenalkan kepada media sebagai manajer baru Arsenal pada Rabu (23/5) kemarin, dan ia mengindikasikan bahwa Ozil akan menjadi sentral dalam permainannya. Terkait
“Dia [Ozil] adalah salah satu talenta terbesar di sini di Arsenal dan saya menginginkan pemain-pemain bertalenta di sini,” kata Emery, yang di musim 2017/18 kemarin sukses mempersembahkan treble untuk PSG.
“Saya ingin menghabiskan waktu dengan dia dan juga semua pemain. Saya ingin berbicara dengan dia. Saya ingin berbicara dengan dia mengenai betapa senangnya saya berada di sini.
“Saya juga ingin semua pemain merasakan itu. Ini adalah proyek menarik dan kami semua harus mengerahkan 100 persen," Emery menambahkan. Artikel dilanjutkan di bawah ini
Fittingly Unai Emery’s overture as Arsenal’s head coach was high tempo and demanding. A whirlwind first day began on a transatlantic flight and flipped straight from the red eye into a burst of meeting, greeting and looking the part in the newly fitted club suit. For the Spaniard first impressions played a big part in his successful audition for the job and he set about making new ones as he introduced himself. The energy he likes to transmit was on show.
Unai Emery says he wants to make Arsenal ‘the best team in the world’ Read more
Upstairs in the directors’ box lounge at the Emirates Stadium he tried to expand on what makes him tick. It was evident that the way he will communicate with his players is full on. From the way he spoke – making a determined effort to explain himself in English in his clear, booming voice – to the way he amplified his points with expressive gestures, his eyes darting briskly around the room to try not to miss anything, Emery will be an altogether different kind of presence around the squad. Arsène Wenger tended to be more cerebral, more observant, more about guiding someone than pushing him.Emery’s brand of charisma comes across as animated, spirited and direct.
“I think the most important thing is to connect with people and have those personal relationships,” Emery said. “Heart to heart, head to head. The heart transmits emotion, the head transmits the intelligence. So it’s really important to have that connection both on a personal and collective level. What you are looking for is a shared experience. It’s true that you get the famous egos in football but that is true of top players and players who are not so good. I’m a coach that has come from second division, gone through to the first division, coached at PSG and now at Arsenal. And really the essence of it all is people.”
Emery has begun to study the personalities he will begin to work with over the summer. Arsenal are not overly represented at the World Cup, so he will soon be trying to make those connections with a large proportion of the squad, the vehicle through which he will introduce his philosophy. While paying due respect to the “love for possession” he saw as part of the club’s heritage, he also stresses how his football ideal is also about intensity and pressing.
That is another departure from Wenger’s focus on expression with the ball and it will be interesting to see how quickly Emery can effect a stylistic transformation. “I like to win the ball back as quickly as possible,” he said. “It’s about two things: possession and pressing.
Unai Emery’s in-tray: what is waiting for Arsenal’s new manager? | Amy Lawrence Read more
“Football is a demanding and difficult sport. What we want to do is not fear any team, either here in the Premier League or in Europe, and our objective is to be among the best and to beat the best. I’m the type of coach who has always worked really hard – not because I do it better than anyone else but because that is what I believe the most important thing is.” He talked about “that desire to be better” like a kind of compulsion, adding: “I’ve never seen anything handed out for free in football.”
The 46-year-old looked effortlessly relaxed and confident in himself. He had that air of being comfortable in his own skin that comes with having the balance of experience and motivation to feel sure he can do this job well. When Wenger started at Arsenal (at the same age Emery is now) he described himself as “full of hope, full of belief as well” and Emery emits the same vibes.
For all the revolution that began when Arsenal last appointed a new manager 22 years ago, a rarity in bringing a foreign manager into the English game, this announcement was a snapshot of how the football landscape has changed. It was an entirely international affair. In London Arsenal were introduced to a man from the Basque country who had been interviewed by a panel of football executives from South Africa, Germany and Spain, having impressed an American owner, to be shown around a stadium named after a Middle Eastern airline on the day the club unveiled record-breaking shirt sleeve sponsors from Rwanda.
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Emery took it all in his steady stride. He had been in contact with the Arsenal hierarchy while in charge of Paris Saint-Germain, attending the first interview two days after the French Cup final and with two Ligue 1 games remaining (nothing untoward as his departure from the Parc des Princes had been sealed and made public). The three big meetings he had with Arsenal went from strength to strength, making him the unanimous choice. His blend of personality and pedigree, and a willingness to work collaboratively with the head honchos, shone through. Emery has a load more meetings in the diary for the rest of this week where backroom staff and aims for the transfer window are on the agenda.
For all Ivan Gazidis’s talk of a new structure with shared responsibility Emery undoubtedly carries the status of Arsenal’s new figurehead. Out with hashtag MerciArsène and in with WelcomeUnai. There were sudden changes made around the place, making sure the lifesize cutout of Wenger that had been in the tunnel was taken down in time for this unveiling and Emery’s brushed steel nameplate erected outside the head coach’s office. Over to the new man in town to show what he is made of.
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Fans fear Mesut Ozil will not suit Unai Emery’s ‘intense’ playing style at Arsenal. (Getty Images)
Arsenal fans are fearing the worst for Mesut Ozil after Unai Emery explained the ‘intense’ playing style he wants to implement at the club.
The 46-year-old was officially unveiled as Arsene Wenger’s successor on Wednesday and made it clear that he plans to turn the team back into Premier League title challengers.
A key part of Emery’s plan to improve on Arsenal’s lacklustre season is to change the team’s approach in games, and the Spaniard has insisted that he always wants to see his side on the front foot.
‘My idea is to be a protagonist for all of the match, we will play against all the teams with this personality,’ said Emery.
‘I think the history here is a team who loves playing with possession of the ball.
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‘I like this personality, I like playing with the ball, if you don’t have possession, I want a squad who are very, very intensive with pressing.
Unai Emery says Arsenal will always be a ‘protagonist’ during games. (Getty Images)
Ozil has been criticised by Arsenal fans for his efforts during games. (Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)
‘Two things very important to be protagonist: possession and pressing when you don’t have the ball.’
Ozil has been widely accused of being lazy by Arsenal fans, while former Gunners defender Martin Keown tore the midfielder to shreds after the club’s Europa League exit to Atletico Madrid earlier this month.
And hearing Emery mention ‘intense’ and ‘pressing’ sent alarm bells ringing for some Arsenal supporters who believe Ozil will not suit the Spaniard’s playing style.
Emery convincing Ozil to keep pressing past the 36th minute. https://t.co/8WAua885iW —
Empy J (@CapableOfFlight) May 23, 2018
Ozil when he heard Unai Emery wants to play a pressing game https://t.co/kEVBvcDzXh —
EmanDaGoon (@EmanDaGoonn) May 23, 2018
Emery tryna get Ozil to play intensive football @WolfCake95 https://t.co/ygPJqyvK4l —
Lil Ziko Vert (@DrTownsendV) May 23, 2018
Finally going to see Arsenal ‘pressing’ 👏🏼👏🏼 Ozil’s In for a shock twitter.com/arsenal/status… —
Griffs_Ere (@Liam_van_groff) May 23, 2018
We gonna start pressing? 🤣😂 Ozil will throw up during matches twitter.com/Arsenal/status… —
The Enemy (@Tshxpo) May 23, 2018
@ArsenalFanTV Good luck to Mesut Ozil with that pressing game 🤔😂😂😂 —
Valentin Salumu (@ValentinSalumu) May 23, 2018
@henrywinter Ozil rings his agent asking for a move on the first hearing of the word “Pressing” —
Jason 🐔⚽️ (@ryantegan) May 23, 2018
@gunnerblog Exactly what I wanted to hear!! Interesting to see how Ozil adapts to this very very intense pressing! —
Simon Salter (@SaltySays) May 23, 2018
Uno ozil started shaking when he heard emery talking about intense pressing😂 —
Fly dem (@Jimmyconwayy19) May 23, 2018
Unai emery the way he wants football to be played I am scared for ozil —
Nyama kala (@Kala24406967) May 23, 2018
@joeyriot8 The way he was talking about pressing yesterday ozil will be gone lol —
PAUL 'REGGIE' HUNT (@paulhunt87) May 24, 2018
@PatrickTimmons1 Lol pressing with lazy Ozil, I want to see that! 😂😂 —
Nkosi Msimanga (@nathiandries) May 23, 2018
"I want possession and very intensive pressing." Lmaoooo! Ozil will request a transfer in no time. —
Kay Cee (@Bambo_Kanthu) May 23, 2018
@MesutOzil1088 we doing this pressing thing or nah? —
ًThe Emery Era (@Errzil) May 23, 2018
Sky Sports' Ian Bolton reflects on Unai Emery's first media conference as Arsenal's new head coach Sky Sports' Ian Bolton reflects on Unai Emery's first media conference as Arsenal's new head coach
How did Unai Emery perform on his first day as Arsenal head coach? Sky Sports News reporter Ian Bolton analyses the Spaniard's first news conference at the Emirates Stadium...
Some Premier League clubs unveil new managers on a fairly regular basis.
I have covered more than my fair share of new manager press conferences in my time at Sky Sports News, but for Arsenal it is their first for almost 22 years.
It seemed every TV screen in the stadium, certainly the ones in the press areas and even the ones high up in the stands overlooking the pitch, had a simple message: "Welcome Unai".
Emery was welcomed at the Emirates Stadium for the first time as Arsenal's new head coach
There was a quiet hush in the room, a sense of expectation as we waited for him to arrive.
Around 100 members of the national media gathered at the Emirates Stadium to meet Unai Emery, but no one knew what to expect from the man who will follow Arsene Wenger at Arsenal.
Would he speak in English? If so, how much? And then came his first words as Gunners boss.
Emery attended his first press conference as head coach of Arsenal
"Good afternoon. Thank you Kroenke family, for me it was a very good meeting, a very good conversation.
"Thank you also to the chairman, the board. We had a meeting Monday morning and I feel they feel, with their heart, Arsenal."
He walked in at 2.08pm with Arsenal chief executive Ivan Gazidis and the pair sat down to take the assembled media's questions.
Emery was shown around the Emirates Stadium by Gazidis
"I am really delighted and excited to announce the new head coach of Arsenal football club and it is Unai Emery," Gazidis said.
"I know that came as a bit of a surprise and perhaps one or two rewrites were necessary. But as I said at the beginning of the process - those who know, won't speak and those who speak, won't know."
Arsenal chief executive Ivan Gazidis reveals new head coach Unai Emery stood out in the recruitment process with his knowledge and personality Arsenal chief executive Ivan Gazidis reveals new head coach Unai Emery stood out in the recruitment process with his knowledge and personality
Emery and Gazidis didn't leave their seats for just over half and hour as the media put their questions to Arsenal's new head coach. He looked extremely comfortable in his surroundings, and was more than happy to talk about his plans for the future. However, he also gave a nod to the past.
"Thank you Arsene Wenger for your legacy - I learn with him, all the things in football. For all the coaches in the world, he is a reference."
Emery hailed Arsene Wenger's legacy
Emery added: "My English is not the very best now. I want to explain my idea and ambition. I am very excited for this opportunity."
It was impressive that he chose to speak English. It was a brave move and and great credit must go to him for the fact he was able to get his message across in a foreign language. In fact, the only times he spoke Spanish was when he was asked to by overseas broadcasters.
There were no questions about his ability to communicate with his players. In truth, there didn't need to be and I was told afterwards his English will be much improved by the time the season starts.
There are some unanswered questions, though.
Jack Wilshere's future at Arsenal is in doubt
Will he overhaul Arsenal's squad? Who are his transfer targets? Which players will be key figures at the Emirates under the Spaniard? Will Jack Wilshere have a future at the club?
These are the sorts of things that will become clearer in the days and weeks to come - but they were not issues for his first press conference.
Emery says he already knows his new Arsenal squad and will speak to each player individually before the new season Emery says he already knows his new Arsenal squad and will speak to each player individually before the new season
"I want to speak individually with all the players face to face. I don't want to speak about individual players today."
What about his style of play? He used some key words beginning with 'p'. He spoke about being proud, positive and passionate. He talked about possession and pressing in regards to the style of football his Arsenal team will play.
Emery looked comfortable on his first day in the job
"The history here is one thing, they love to play with possession of the ball. I like this personality and, when we don't have the ball, I want a squad to play with intensive pressure. Two important things are position of the ball and pressing when you haven't got it."
There's been plenty of criticism aimed Arsenal in recent seasons with many pundits saying the players are too comfortable at the Emirates Stadium. That could be a thing of the past with Emery in the hotseat because you get the sense that the Spaniard is going to be a coach who will demand absolutely everything from his players.
Emery says it is vital that Arsenal return to the Champions League but is also targeting being the best team in England and the world Emery says it is vital that Arsenal return to the Champions League but is also targeting being the best team in England and the world
"I don't promise today we will win but I can promise you we will work hard and we will work together. We will transmit our emotion and we will fight for the objectives."
Gazidis described Emery as the perfect fit for Arsenal and he may well be right. He might just be the coach Arsenal need to get back to the top.
