The summer of 2018 saw Unai Emery replace Arsene Wenger as Arsenal manager and at the same time, there were some changes in the club’s academy too.
Marcel Lucassen and Lee Herron were added to the academy staff, with the former being appointed as head of coaching and player development and his role involves being responsible for all coaches and teams in all age groups, including the U23 side.
Voetbal International sat down for a lengthy conversation with Lucassen and asked about his initial period with the north London club.
“I started on 1 August 2018 and used my first month to talk to everyone. I have observed and analysed a lot,” he said.
Lucassen was surprised to know the standards that were at Arsenal and he didn’t take long to identify issues at the English side’s academy.
“Per Mertesacker started a month after me and asked me on his first day where we stood. They had told me at Arsenal beforehand that we had to build it from scratch. I told Mertesacker that this was incorrect. We didn’t start at zero, but at minus two,” Lucassen explained.
When VI quizzed why was it at minus two, Lucassen stressed: “Very simple: in the first month I asked twenty random people within the club what The Arsenal Way was.”
“I answered that I thought that was strange, because I went to unions and to clubs where they also just play the ball in the same style.
“So, what is that unique philosophy behind it at Arsenal? Nobody could make that concrete. There were all kinds of training plans, but not based on a football philosophy, playing method and principles.”
Unfortunately for Arsenal then, it wasn’t the only issue they were facing in their academy.
“Also, a lack of quality in some age categories. In the youngest youth I saw few players with the potential of the Champions League level. From my time with the German federation, I have a lot of comparison material and on that basis, I was shocked by what I found at Arsenal,” he added.
During his time with Arsenal, Lucassen also went through medical complications. This coincided with the Gunners appointing Freddie Ljungberg as interim manager after sacking Unai Emery in November.
“It’s actually a shame. He [Ljungberg] wanted me beside him as an assistant, but that didn’t work because I was sick with my illness. Internally, Mertesacker was the only alternative, so he was placed next to him. Partly because the players greatly respect him,” Lucassen said.
“Recently I spoke with Ljungberg for about four hours about that period. He indicated that he regretted that he had not listened to my advice in a number of situations.
“I don’t agree with him, because when you zoom out, that is part of his learning process as a trainer. Despite the difficult period with many matches and an unbalanced team without leaders where there was no clear playing method, he worked as well and as badly as possible on a playing method and dared to bring young players as well.”
