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What’s the story?
Former Arsenal player Lee Dixon has blasted his former side after their collapse against Chelsea in the UEFA Europa League final as they lost 4-1 in a completely one-sided affair. He implied that even putting Virgil Van Dijk in Arsenal's back four would not resolve their issues.
In case you didn’t know...
Arsenal had a chance to secure a spot in next year's UEFA Champions League had they won the Europa League but they could not take the opportunity. Unai Emery's men finished fifth in the Premier League meanwhile Chelsea had already secured a berth in Europe's premier competition for next season coming into the match having finished third.
The heart of the matter
Lee Dixon while analyzing Gunners loss to the Blues in Baku on BBC's Radio show 5 live sport said
“I’m telling you, you could put Van Dijk in that back four at the moment, the way that the team is set up without the ball - he wouldn’t make much difference.
“It’s about the mentality of changing that around, they’ve not been good without the ball for years now.
“That takes more than one player. It takes more than five minutes.
“It takes a lot of work and effort on the training pitch. He’s got to be given time to do that but he also needs the quality of player to do that.
“It’s alright saying, ‘Well you can learn off one guy…’ It takes time.”
The Arsenal legend who spent 14 years donning the Arsenal jersey clearly believes that the problem has no quick fix and Emery has some serious issue to address. Dixon implied putting in best of defenders in the back four would not solve the crisis as the team lacks requires a lot of effort on and off the field if they wish to return to winning ways.
What's next?
Unai Emery would have to look to sign a few players in the summer to strengthen the squad. However, Arsenal transfer plans may have been dented as they failed to qualify for Champions League and might find it tough to attract their top targets.
