Arsenal needed to strengthen defensively but spent £72million on Pepe – and Emery paid the price

Danny Higginbotham

Published: 23:44, 29 Nov 2019
Updated: 23:45, 29 Nov 2019

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UNAI EMERY has been axed by Arsenal — but it’s hardly a surprise.

The Spaniard did not help himself. It stemmed from last season.

Nicolas Pepe has struggled to make an impact at Arsenal

Arsenal finished fifth. In terms of goalscoring, it was a successful campaign with 73 — only Liverpool (89) and Manchester City (95) scored more.

But defensively, they conceded 51 goals.

Surely then as a club and as a manager, your thought process should be: We have the third best attack in the league, let’s go out and buy a top defender.

Not spend £8million on a David Luiz-type player but £60m-£70m on a world-class centre-back.

But this is what baffles me about Arsenal, they go into the summer and write off what happened the season before as if it is a clean slate.

Let’s forget we shipped a ton of goals and kept eight clean sheets.

Arsenal spent £72m on striker Nicolas Pepe, as well as £15m on a loan deal for midfielder Dani Ceballos.

Were they players the team needed? No.

By not solving the glar- ingly obvious problem, they seriously struggled.

Arsenal have conceded 19 goals in 13 games. Only seven sides have conceded more than them. And by conceding two or more goals seven times in the league this season, Emery put huge pressure on a team lacking in confidence to score three or more goals a game just to get a win.

I’ve never understood why some bosses throw defensive duties out the window when they are nearing the sack.

Surely by getting basics right at the back and sacrificing attacking intent, you have a better chance of keeping your job.

Manuel Pellegrini at West Ham and Marco Silva at Everton have fallen into a similar trap. A summer spree full of attacking intent with little consideration for their backline. Only the bottom three have conceded more than Everton (20) and West Ham (23).