Arsenal ‘playing testimonial football’ with ‘no difference’ between Unai Emery and Arsene Wenger, blasts Paul Merson
Merson has stuck the boot into his old side and can't see the Gunners improving on last season's sixth-place finish under the Spanish coach this term
ARSENAL have not changed under Unai Emery and are playing “testimonial” football, according to Paul Merson.
The-50-year-old who won the league twice with Arsenal has seen no improvement under the Spaniard and reckons the lack of intensity in games makes it look like Arsene Wenger is still in charge.
Emery’s side have bounced back from defeats to Manchester City and Chelsea with back-to-back wins over West Ham and Cardiff.
But Merson thinks it will take time for the Arsenal squad to break out of the habits instilled in them during the Wenger era.
Merson told : “I’ve watched Arsenal and if you didn’t know, you would still think Arsene Wenger was the manager.
“I watch Arsenal play and it’s like watching a testimonial or a charity match. The game’s open, no one’s really tackling anybody, it’s like, ‘you have a shot, we have a shot’.
“I thought the week before they did well to beat West Ham because I thought when it was 1-1 West Ham were going to be the team that nicked the game.
“So they’ve done well to win that game but there’s got to be a lot of improvement.
“But it will take time, managers don’t just come in and change it like that.
“This has been embedded in these players for a long time, they’ve been at the club a long time some of these players.”
Arsenal added Lucas Torreira, Bernd Leno, Matteo Guendouzi, Stefan Lichtsteiner and Socratis Papastathopoulos, but Merson can’t see his old side improving on last term.
He added: “I looked at Arsenal at being sixth in the league this season if I’m being honest.
“He’s a good manager like Arsene Wenger was, but it is going to take time.
“He wants to play a squeezing game and he hasn’t got players to do that at the moment. So as this year goes on and the next year comes along, I think there will be improvement.
“To think it was going to change that quickly would have been mad.”
Arsenal go to Newcastle after the international break followed by the start of their Europa League campaign against Ukrainian side Vorskla Poltava.