The pressure is on Emery, so let’s look at potential replacements…

Leicester away should be the final nail in Emery’s coffin. by Konstantin Mitov

Well ladies and gentlemen, here we are again. The pressure is on, the rumours keep on coming in, and despite some being ridiculous and obvious click baits, you cannot deny the Arsenal manager has messed things up and the pressure is on and mounting.

Sure we do not have a reputation of sacking managers, but where has that led us to hey? Emery was a poor choice, we have to admit that. Mistakes were made, but what is important is learning a lesson. We took too many years to learn one with Wenger, but Unai has nothing to hold onto. He failed our top 4 chances, which all started with that defeat to Palace. Then he lost the EL final, which was his speciality.

Now the handling of the Ozil situation created distress within the squad, and even though Mesut was back, we still failed to create enough chances and still threw away our lead. We did it at Watford, Crystal Palace, Liverpool in the league cup and now again against Wolves. We dropped Xhaka, added Tierny, what is the problem?

You can say the rumours are exaggerated but where there is smoke, there is fire. The board dining with Mourinho may be fake news but the news Emery has problems communicating with the team due to his bad English, seem to have some truth to it. The way Xhaka and Ozil are handled is also not great, and the results only pile pressure on top of that as excuses run dry, but results are set in stone. Sometimes in life people just need a fresh start. Sometimes, no matter how much you try, you just need something to change. A new face maybe and mid-season this can only be the manager. Let’s look at potential replacements.

Jose Mourinho, the elephant in the room. Ironically as it may sound, I would love to have Jose. People forget that his spat was with Wenger not Arsenal, although for a long period of time people thought it was the same thing. Mourinho would absolutely LOVE to manage Arsenal. He knows the league, he knows London, he’ll get some good players, some of which he knows (Ozil and Luiz) and the opportunity for him to win trophies with us is something he’ll take at a heartbeat. One major benefit I see is that he will definitely demand the best from the board and he’ll play to win, that’s certain.

Could it be an expensive mistake though? Sure it can, I can easily see him blaming everybody else if things don’t go his way. In a hypothetical world, where he becomes our manager, he’ll have a free first season, but then the pressure is on and expectations will be very high, and it’s not like Jose lasts too long at a football club, before ruining his relationship with everybody, but to hell with it, it might be exactly what we need.

Those players have for far too long been treated with cotton wool! Perhaps it’s time to have a character up front. Someone who has lifted the important silverware over his head. Someone who has delivered multiple times. Jose may be everything, but his record is one of the best. Whether he is past it and on the decline, I would say, Man Utd is not the best place to judge. Unfortunately, Arsenal have become the same toxic environment, and a contradicting figure like Mourinho could be a problem, or as I say again, it might be exactly what we need. It will be the complete opposite of everything you associate Arsenal with and I love that prospect.

Other candidates could be Max Allegri, who would be an excellent choice, but I find it more difficult to get him on board now. The language barrier could again be a problem here, but he is out of work and could be looking for a new challenge. Regardless, what he did with Juventus before they started spending like mad on Ronaldo’s and such was impressive, taking them to two champions league finals and winning multiple titles and cups in a row. I think it’s more possible for him to go to Bayern sadly as they’ve sacked Kovac.

Those two would be the “safe” bets. Opting for experience and a big name, but there is also the chance of going fresh with a young manager. Trying to emulate Poch, Zidane and so on and the Mikel Arteta rumours will be back. He studies under Guardiola, which is a major plus, but being a good assistant and being a good manager is two different things. It would be a bold decision, but again, it could be a stupid one.

Vieira will be mentioned surely, as Lampard and Ole have also taken on Chelsea and Man Utd in a similar fashion, but it’s another wildcard option. Has he really impressed as a manager in France? Sure he’ll have something Arsenal players can only dream of these days, which is actual league titles won with the club, but former glory is not the same thing as being a successful manager today.

Options like Ten Hag and Julian Nagelsmann could also pop-up again, but do you honestly see them happening? I feel like they are more eye candy than anything else. I’ve learned over the years of supporting Arsenal, that we can be linked with anyone, but that doesn’t mean anything, and getting rid of the manager first is a far bigger issue but just take one thing into account.

We are going away to Leicester next, who are already 6 points ahead of us in the table and we’ve lost there in recent years. If we lose again, which is in my mind certain (I hope I am wrong, but seeing the football we and they play, we are doomed before the game starts) it’ll be 9 points. It’s November and we’ll be looking at the top 4 from afar. It’s ugly people, and the board face the prospect of Auba and Lacca leaving if we continue to not move forward.

Sticking with a bad manager for the sake of just sticking with one for long is not a good strategy, not that that has ever prevented us from doing it, but Unai has achieved nothing so far and our negative and resultless style of football is getting on one or two nerves. There is a positive thing to negative results.

Actions will have to be taken.

Konstantin