Craig Burley: I Was Shocked By Emery’s Substitutions At Brighton

By The Editor
on 27th December 2018

ESPN pundit Craig Burley couldn’t understand some of Unai Emery’s changes…

ESPN pundit Craig Burley questioned the thinking behind some of Unai Emery’s substitutions in our 1-1 draw at Brighton as the Spaniard comes under scrutiny for the first time in his Gunners career.

Our Boxing Day clash at the Amex stadium got off to the best start as, leading goalscorer, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang found the net for the 13th time in the league this season.

The 29-year-old saw another two attempts thwarted by the keeper and it seemed the players were intent on ending the contest rather quickly.

However, a lapse in concentration at the back saw Stephan Lichsteiner miss-time a header and Jürgen Locadia tapped the ball home.

It was yet another frustrating piece of defending and it saw us go into the break level, but it didn’t seem like we needed to change much in personnel to win the game.

Emery didn’t hesitate, Mesut Ozil was hooked off for Alex Iwobi, and Alexandre Lacazette was withdrawn midway through the second-half for Aaron Ramsey.

For Burley, it’s the latter change which needs explaining.

“Emery said it was a tactical decision to take Mesut Ozil off, so if you can’t shoehorn your most talented player and your highest paid player into any system that you want to operate against one of the less financed teams in the Premier League against Brighton and Hove Albion, then it’s clearly only saying one thing,” the former Chelsea man explained.

“’I need to get Mesut Ozil out of this club sooner rather than later because I’m going in a different direction.’

“I had more of a problem with Lacazette coming off, even if you’re changing the shape of the team.

“Because between Lacazette and [Pierre-Emerick] Aubameyang, they’re getting a good bunch of goals for Arsenal and I was more shocked by that than I was taking Mesut Ozil off,” he concluded.

This season was always billed as an experimental one for Emery, but he’s taking that literally and is almost indulging in some good, old-fashioned trial and error method in terms of our formation and philosophy.