Many things to talk about today.
David Ornstein dropped the bombshell yesterday that in the whole of world football, the best we could do for our next manager was Unai Emery. I know nothing is confirmed, but Orn-dawg rarely makes a hash of an exclusive.
Now, we can start with the positives. Unai an improvement on Arsene Wenger. He won 3 Europa League’s in a row under Sevilla, which is a monster achievement. He partnered with the legendary Monchi to turnover players whilst maintaining a semi-major trophy a season for 3 years. He took Almeria to 8th. He took Valencia to 3rd 3 years running before getting fired for not being able to find the next level. He also managed to convince the vain hierarchy at PSG that he had what it took to oversee the most expensive squad in history. Apparently he has a plan…
Outside the above, he fits the brief. He can work in a crappy environment, he can deal with high impact shocks to his squads, he’s very organised, and his mind is obviously valued in Europe.
However, I’m finding it very difficult to accept this was a; to quote Ivan, ‘a brave and bold decision.’
It’s a safe choice. Our CEO flirted with the idea of Arteta, but at the last minute, he bottled it and went for experience. But not exciting experience, no, he wimped out and brought in someone fairly cheap, and fairly middle of the road in the grand scheme of 46-year-old managers.
Say what you want about Arteta, but if you’re going for an exciting young coach, he was your chance to do something bold and brave. I totally understand why Ivan lost his nerve. He probably saw Henry Winter on The Sunday Supplement, he probably worried that Areta hadn’t managed a club, and he maybe read some fan boycott tweets.
Ivan being a weak decision maker shouldn’t surprise us, he’s spent the last 10 years being the lapdog of Arsene Wenger.
However, I was foolish enough to think that if we were going for a tier 2 or 1 manager, we’d at least opt for the best money could buy.
How does Emery fit that bill?
At Sevilla, in his last season, he didn’t win a single away game.
He never made the top 4 for the Spanish club.
He went to PSG and in his first season, he lost a one-horse race to a Monaco that took a chance on kids.
He botched a 4 goal lead in the Champions League to Barcelona in an utterly humiliating defeat.
This year, he was knocked out of the Champions League by Madrid, getting beaten 5-1 in the last 16. This is a manager who has the best squad in the world. This is a man with Neymar, M’Bappe, and Cavani as a front three. This is a club with the sublime Veratti in the midfield with Thiago. This is fucking PSG dripping in oil.
Here’s the real kicker, his English is bad. He’s learning a new league, a new club, and a new language all on the fly.
Our thorough search for a new manager deduced that all of the above issues didn’t matter.
Gazidis and our fancy backroom team totally bottled the chance to do something exciting.
In a world that had Jardim and Sarri available, we opted for a person who was moved on from Paris because the players didn’t listen to his ideas, and he gave up trying to discipline them.
What is wrong with the club?
What is the Emery superpower?
Ivan Gazidis will say that he just won the treble. Sure, but only after Monaco were raped of their best players. Only after PSG spent so much money they’re under investigation for FFP violations.
Chelsea are literally about to fire Conte. Why not hire him if we wanted experience? Why not sign Carlo, at least he’s won the Champions League!
I cannot understand why we’ve played the experience card, and blown the biggest opportunity of the last 20 years on a guy who has 3 Europa Leagues under his belt. Wenger nearly won that trophy playing unmotivated second stringers, losing to Koln and Ostersunds along the way.
There are 10 managers I’d have gone for before Emery.
Gazidis is weak. The leak that the board voted against Arteta isn’t cover either. Who on the board do we trust? The same guys that have let Klopp, Guardiola and Tuchel pass us by swearing allegiance to a failing Wenger? Please. The board are an embarrassment to the club.
I cannot believe I was duped into thinking Arsenal would do something interesting.
I genuinely think the fans are all united under the WTF HAVE WE DONE right now.
We just signed a manager who was fired because he couldn’t take the best squad in the world past the CL last 16. Let that sink in.
THE CLUB JUST GAVE CECH THE #1 SHIRT!
Emery is a dull signing from a CEO who just proved the banter era didn’t die with Wenger.
What a fucking moment.
Also, massive shout out to all the frauds on Twitter who said Arteta had signed. I told you it wasn’t done. Grown men desperate to appear like they’re ITK. Pathetic.
Anyway, rage over.
I’m not going to run an Emery out campaign if that’s what you’re worried about, it is what it is. I’ll rally around him and hope he wins the Champions League so you can all laugh at me.
Still, we got the experience the fans wanted. Let’s see how that pans out.
Pete x
P.S. Something actually important
This is my niece. Retweet’s appreciated. https://t.co/Pr0GnjvYbp
— Raj Patel (@rajpatel1809) May 21, 2018
