Video – Who is the best manager to solve Arsenal’s problems?

Arsenal needs to find the best manager to turn their season around.

It is the big question that everyone is asking, from the fans to pundits. Which manager can sort out the mess at the Emirates?

ESPN FC Pundits, Adrian Healey, Craig Burley and Gab Marcotti discuss this very question. They run through the potential candidates and each pundit analyses who is the best bet for Arsenal.

They also highlight the sort of issues that any incoming manager will have to deal with.

It is a medium length but the Arsenal part is only over the first four minutes, then they wander off into discussing Italian football.

Watch more Arsenal videos here

40 Comments

  1. What Arsenal really needs is to become more realistic.
    The League is stronger than it has ever been.
    For years it was just Man U Man City Chelsea and Arsenal.
    Now Liverpool Spurs Leicester and Wolves are in the mix.
    Any one can beat any one.
    “Top” teams are getting beat every week.
    Newcastle won at Sheffield.
    Lowly Everton just beat Chelsea.
    Man U is leading 2-0 at Man City.
    Arsenal could finish any where between 4th and 14th its that sort of League now.
    Just go with the flow and try and enjoy the season

  2. So the club fires UE but had no actual plans for his replacement like what we saw with the Spuds,right? Shows just how clueless the leaders of our club actually are. SMH

    1. The Arsenal problems and the biggest problem is Kroenke even if you Pep / Klopp they won’t make it at Arsenal as long as Kroenke owns this club whom he have turned it into an academy

  3. In my opinion…. Ten Hag or Pochettino…. since Rodgers has signed a new deal, I don’t think he’s an option any longer

    1. Today is the worst day!!
      Spurs flying high, pool winning again and now MU leading City.
      To me….Pool = great but C*cky.
      Mu = horrible gold clad fanbase totally arrogant.
      Spurs = well spurs!!

      Do you know I’d take Rafa at least hed get us organised.

      Also did anyone watch the Everton game? All we hope for atm is a little manager bounce from Freddie and midweek it seemed to get worse.
      You see Duncan Ferguson today he had he squad pumped and goodison rocking.

      1. 👍 Was so glad about Chelsea losing, then it went downhill fast!!
        Pool (& their fans) are very cocky 👍
        Yeah Big Dunc had Goodison rocking and rightly so! Was a good game.. typical that they find form not long before we head there 🙄

  4. You are all blabbering fools if you you think any coach can sort out the biohazard that is called Arsenal we should go all out on convincing Dwayne “the rock” Johnson to be our coach and Jimmy Fallon to be his assistant then we will be crushing the likes of city,pool no problemo

  5. Go all out and get Pochettino and get a bit of organisation and stability in the club, we are like a rudderless ship at the moment.

  6. Agree with Agu. The epl has become more competitive. There are no easy games which is good for all fans.
    As for Arsenal whoever comes in will have to improve the defence. There are still 5/6 months to go.
    The gunners cant get worse than this. Of course they could get sucked into the relegation zone.
    Better get a new guy ASAP

  7. Kronke doesn’t see problems, only sees when money starts to dry up. Had no backup plan if Emery struggled.

    Absolute disgrace NO ONE at the club felt a need to address the defense FOR YEARS. Tierney is the first LB that excites me since Cole.

    I have been raging over all the missed opportunities to do their jobs and get defenders.

    As Kos and Mert were aging and losing pace club showed no urgency to groom replacements. Chambers (who was RB at Southampton), Holding for £4 million, and 1st panic buy with Mustafi.

    Next try was aged Sokratis past his best, Wasted £18 million, and now wasted another £8 million on a washed up Luiz.

    Lets add that up, £16 million Chambers and £4 million for Holding, add £35 million for Mustafi; £55 million. Add £18 million for Sokratis and £8 for Luiz and it’s a total of £73 million before wages added.

    When we need a quality CB club spends £72 million on Pepe.

    If Wenger or Emery actually had CB’s worth a damn who knows where we would be.

    Wenger still managing? Emery getting us back to top 4 and CL?

    Maybe an actual title chase in there somewhere?

    No manager anywhere can fix Arsenal until club get serious and get CB’s and build the club up from the back, period.

    1. Whoever decided to go big on a winger instead of CB’s should have gone with Emery. Even if Pepe did turn out to be amazing, the defensive recruiting has still been horrendous and we wouldn’t be that much higher in the table.

      1. As well as the CB issue, Arsenal has neglected having a decent DM since Gilberto Silva departed.
        Arsene Wenger is responsible for moving away from the physical and mentally strong players that made he and the Club successful, neglecting defense and recruiting small technical players in midfield who were constantly bullied off the ball. Even with the best strikers, you cannot win in the EPL if you lose the midfield battle and ship goals.

    1. Nope, Man utd have actually defended in first half. We are incapable of keeping old ladies from crossing streets, or keeping babies in their cribs.

      We would struggle finding a way to keep water wet.

        1. Utd struggles with consistency; if they could overcome that they would push the top 6.

          We have the counterattack potential like them, we just can’t stay compact and organized at the back.

  8. As usual Gab Marcotti gives the best answer. Kroenke’s have to first give a damn about the club in order for us to see change. Right now, we are just doing exactly what United is doing. Desperately trying to plug up holes and hope a magical manager changes everything. Has to start higher up. What is the long term plan for Arsenal? Couldn’t tell you. And I don’t think anybody higher up has a single clue as to who the next manager should be.

  9. @wes
    Took Mourinho?
    Like we could have picked him off the shelf at the supermarket!
    I dont know this but I suspect he didn’t want to come to us as our business model doesnt fit a manager who has one mission to win.
    We dont spend enough, we dont give full autonomy to the manager, (spurs arent muddied by a sporting director).
    In fact the reason we picked Emery is he was a grateful but semi successful manager who has fallen in his luck a but since the PSG Barca situation.
    We will always recruit someone we can tell what to do and these managers are not strong enough to be relentless winners.

    My dad said Pullis or pardew today whilst laughing….I almost lamped him

    1. Hard to argue with this. Also don’t see Mou coming here even if we did want him. Even Daniel Levy had to give Mourinho promises on investment. Something Kroenke would NEVER do. Arsenal hierarchy dont care about winning and aren’t as invested in the club like Spurs manager is. Hard pill to swallow but when was the last time Stan was at Emirates Stadium???

  10. Whoever the manager the problem of playing from the back creates mistakes. Worse a gradual build up gives time for the enemy team to organize their defense.

    Even worse is the forgotten long range strike that Arsenal almost never takes. Xhaka can shoot. Kolasanic can shoot. Pepe can do this brilliantly. None of them do it regularly. It important to have a long range strike to create space. Arsenal are too reliant on the cute pass goals only thus easy to defense with a robust tackle.

    Meanwhile, Arsenal’s wide attack is predictable on the ground, as the header has gone AWOL after the departure of Giroud. In fact Arsenal is missing Giroud as the tall Frenchmen’s presence forced attention not just on him, but also for enemy defenders to go out to stop the cross.

    Both these enemy defense moves opened space for tiki-taka possession based football.

    The simplistic game is what has happened under Emery. Thus when Arsenal is mired too deep in enemy territory with no reward or even no shot on goals it not only destroys the spirit, but also creates multiple opportunities to attack on the counter as norm–the shots on the Arsenal goal is indicative of this. Emery ball is so one dimensional that even bottom Premiership teams can beat Arsenal.

    To remedy all is not difficult, but we need a Manager (not a coach) with the authority to move players.

    For example:

    1a)Play L’pool attacks on occasion. Kolasnic and Pepe with orders to cut in and take long shots some times. Xhaka can at times take that long shot we have seen. Arsenal should try to take about 30% of their shots from outside the box. That would force the enemy defense to come forward and open space behind the enemy defense for the option of tiki-taka (our boys are good at with Ozil, Laca and Auba).

    1b)Taking long shots from outside the box has a plus side for the Arsenal defense: the ball is in front of them and our team should not lose shape, and if penetrated, there is enough time to man mark a break way attacker stop their shots, something Arsenal’s defense has not done well lately.

    2a)Arsenal should have more quality crosses to arrive OUTSIDE the penalty box too in order to cause mayhem, and also let the ball lose in the box. In other words, the headers should ideally be pointed down, unless there is a point blank goal. The lose ball would allow poaching by Auba, et al. Here, Laca, Auba, Pepe, Ozil, can score. In the air our current threat is weak without Giroud, so having Kolasnic, Mustafi, and Holding able to heading can add to the potential targets for headers.

    2b) The reestablishment of an aerial attack creates a 3D problem for a defense. It further opens up space for tiki taka when the ball is lose in the immediate after math of an aerial attack, before the defense can get its shape back.

    3a) Keep attacking as now with another 30% of the possession, but more directly, giving less time for the enemy to re-organize.

    3b) Defensively, Arsenal will benefit from tiki taka as it is possession based, not allowing the other side to get the ball until the counter, but with 1 and 2 also in operation, the space created will allow a more successful tiki-taka.

    So: 3-4-1-2 or roughly a 3-4-3

    ———–Auba—Laca———–
    —————Ozil————–
    Kolasnic—Holding—Xhaka—Pepe
    —Chambers–Sokratis–Mustafi—
    ————–Leno—————

    Lots of excellent subs able to play these variations, but all of them needs a solid defense that is protected and does not have to over commit to being forward as with current attempts at playing too many passes.

  11. Spot On yet again Durand!

    It saddens me that there isnt ONE
    single person in the AFC hierarchy
    that seems to have any fundamental
    knowledge of how to take this club
    forward in both the short and long
    term. How the Powers That B reached
    a consensus over the summer that the
    existing stable of Arsenal CB’s was
    sufficient to seriously compete for
    the EPL title and Champions League
    futbol is beyond comprehension,
    deciding to spend that money on a one
    hit wonder Pepe bordered on criminal
    negligence of the highest order.

    I tend to chuckle when I see Arsenal
    fans clamoring about the prospects of
    losing both Auba and Laca in the next
    few windows. Both players, although
    they havent shown it consistently are
    proper, ambitious futbolers that
    understand the abomination that is
    AFC atm, and quite rightfully should
    be looking to take there talents to
    better clubs vying for CL silverware.

    I wouldnt questions the clubs
    decision to move on the likes of
    these two as well as Xhaka, Mustafi,
    Chambers, Ozil, El Neny, Socratis,
    etc and start the inevitable rebuild
    now, however sadly there doesnt seem
    to be one voice behind the scenes
    that has my confidence to hire and
    financially back the right man to
    oversee this massive project.

    1. Ace couldn’t have said it better. Not a single footballer among owners, board, or management save Edu. I’m disappointed he didn’t address the defense straight away.

      He knows better, having played with our best, the importance of a solid dependable defense.

    2. No wonder you are called Ace. Ace by name . Ace by comments! Brilliant analysis. Though desperately sad but the truth does hurt.

  12. Durand and Ace have summed it up very well.Whoever comes in will be aware that a massive clear out is needed before he can bring in better players which are essential if we are to turn this ship around.The trouble is how do you convince any Club to buy the likes of Sokratis,Luis etc?

    1. Grandad, I don’t see how you can sell those clowns and tripe players, save for peanuts. No team of the standard they should be playing at, Div 1/2, could afford their wages. Turning this sinking ship around will take quite a time. Which Prem club would seriously be interested in Sokratis, Luiz and Mustafi? Only suicidal ones in my view.

      A week ago I predicted Rodgers would be our next manager. Obviously that won’t now happen , so I would settle for Arteta and now think it will be him. He will sort out the clowns and even if he is unable to sell them, he will not pick them. We need to turf out all the non tryers and half tryers. That leaves ONLY both keepers, and about 6 others. THAT IS THE HOIPLESS STATE WE ARE LEFT IN! I predict two or three years including this one of finishing below half way. Anything better than that will be a huge bonus.

  13. Everyone talks about the need for a new CB which they think will partially solve the defensive problems. However, I can not see where we would get one of the quality that we need.The top class CB’s would all cost more than 70 million and all or most are key elements in their existing clubs. These clubs realize the value of these players, not just in monetary terms, but in the potential for success as a team. These clubs will not let them go until these players are past their best.Also none of these top class players would come to Arsenal as they can see that Arsenal are not good enough to get into the Champions League,challenge for any Silverware or likely to in the foreseeable future.

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