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Adios Arsene: Embracing the Emery era

Arsene Wenger has departed Arsenal. (AP Photo/Jon Super)
Roar Rookie
29th May, 2018
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With Arsene Wenger’s departure from Arsenal, the last ‘old school’ manager has left the English Premier League.

The legendary Frenchman, who managed Arsenal for over 20 years, is regarded as one of the greatest in football’s history. He revolutionised the game, brought the Gunners to the top of English football, and delivered the only ‘invincible’ season in Premier League history.

While his rivalry with Sir Alex Ferguson was legendary, they became friends in later years and Wenger was the first manager to better the legendary Scot.

After their unbeaten season, Wenger’s highest point came in 2006, the club finishing runners up to Barcelona in the UEFA Champions League. While fans expected the Londoners to continue their momentum and challenge for Europe in coming seasons, Wenger failed to deliver.

Poor transfer business, an inability to reinvent his style of management (unlike Sir Alex), preference to finesse over trying to win at every cost, and consistent improvement of their rivals were reasons Arsenal failed to keep the pace.

With Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United getting better, fans expected the same of Arsenal. However, failure to replace stars such as Kolo Toure, Ashley Cole, Patrick Vieira, Bacary Sagna, Cesc Fabregas, Thierry Henry, Samir Nasri and Robin Van Persie cost them dearly. In fact, except Henry, everyone among them joined either Chelsea or the Manchester clubs.

As their rivals strengthened, splashed the clash and attained their targets, Arsenal’s conservative approach in the transfer market came back to haunt the club.

In 2016-17, Arsenal missed out on UEFA Champions League qualification for the first time in 20 seasons under Wenger. Another failure this season, a paltry sixth placed finish, bolstered the ‘Wenger Out’ movement. Three FA Cups in the last four years wasn’t enough, and on April 20, Wenger announced that he was leaving the club.

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A lower-than-expected finish and defeat in the final of the Carabao Cup rightly sums up Arsene Wenger’s last few years – a good manager with a talented squad getting outclassed and outwitted by those who have surpassed him.

Arsene Wenger is again under pressure to deliver.

Arsene Wenger. (Source: Wikicommons)

Just over a month after Wenger’s announcement, the club named former Sevilla and Paris Saint-Germain manager Unai Emery to take over. A fine young manager, Emery is one from the new generation who comes to the Emirates following two successful domestic seasons in France.

While failure to win the Champions League costed him his job at PSG, Unai galvanised Sevilla in continental tournaments.

The Spaniard will work on a limited £70 million budget in the transfer market, and won’t have the final say on transfer business. Wholesale changes, as many as five in Arsenal’s backroom staff, are expected.

Wenger’s assistant manager, Steve Bould, may make way for Juan Carlos Carcedo, who has always followed Emery. Reportedly, Carcedo was disliked by PSG players for ‘lacking warmth’. Arsenal’s players need not fancy such a strict custodian.

Jens Lehmann may be replaced too, and while both Bould and Lehmann have been told that they will have a role at the club, they may prefer to leave rather than accept a demotion.

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While Arsenal plan to run themselves on a limited budget, 34-year-old Stephan Lichtsteiner can be Unai’s first signing. According to reports in England, Arsenal are planning to sign the Swiss as a cover for Spaniard Hector Bellerin.

With Laurent Koscielny being injury prone and Shkodran Mustafi unable to find consistency, centre back has been a cause of concern and Unai is close to signing Borussia Dortmund’s Sokratis Papastathopoulos.

With these two signings, the manager appears to be addressing Arsenal’s defensive issues.

While intent in the transfer market is being shown, Emery’s arrival may bring about some changes that fans have been demanding for years.

Allowing finesse through too much freedom with lack of a proper system was believed as one of the reasons for Wenger’s baron period. By contrast, Emery’s video analyses of his opponents and his own players led Joaquin, who played under him at Valencia, to say, “I ran out of popcorn while watching his videos.”

He has a theoretical approach to the game, with reports his detailed presentation about every Arsenal player and how he plans to improve them being one of the reasons the club appointed him.

Arsenal will be Emery’s seventh club, while he also has experience managing in three different countries before coming to England. He led Lorca Deportiva to Spanish B Division, then his heroics at Almeria led them to La Liga for the first time in 27 years. In his next appointment, at Valencia, Unai achieved three successive third-place finishes, which they have not achieved since his left.

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His next move, to Spartak Moscow, proved to be a disaster, as he got sacked within a few months. The highest points came in the next three seasons at Sevilla, where he achieved a hat-trick of Europa League titles.

His stint at PSG received mixed responses, however it’s clear his experience can help Arsenal become a challenger for the Premier League title again.

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Barring their match against Manchester United, where they tried to overcome a two-goal deficit, Arsenal have seemed lost on the pitch whenever asked to chase matches down. Unai expects intensity from his players. He wants his team to pressurise the opposition without ball, knock the ball around quickly, maintain their shape and inculcate a ‘never say die’ approach. He is always a livewire on the edge of the penalty area and maintains momentum.

He expects his team to be on top in practice as well as matches. Sevilla’s dominant comeback in 2016 Europa League finals to defeat Liverpool FC is what Arsenal will want under Emery.

Another feature of this young manager’s football is his capacity to revitalise stalled careers. Arsenal have many players whose growth stagnated under the old management. If Emery can repeat his work with Adil Rami and Ever Banega on Jack Wilshere, Mesut Ozil, Granit Xhaka and Callum Chambers, Arsenal fans will rally to award him an OBE.

One knock on the new manager is that Arsenal belong in the Champions League, but with Emery at helm, the club may have a different emphasis.

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Emery is an iconic Europa League manager, however he has struggled in the Champions League. Failure to challenge for Europe’s elite club competition cost the Spaniard his job with PSG.

His failure with the French champions can’t be ignored, as he struggled with Valencia and Sevilla in the Champions League in the past. With fans wanting Arsenal to re-join the European elites challenging for the Premier League title, Emery doesn’t really fit the bill. Very loosely, his appointment can be compared to that of Sam Allardyce by Everton.

He has tactically struggled in the past as well. One such instance was his choice of playing Marco Veratti, Thiago Motta and Adrien Rabiot in centre midfield. While these three are superb in their own capacity, their playing style is too similar. Unai must avoid such tactical debacles at Arsenal, none of whose centre midfielders can match Veratti. Emery needs to use his resources carefully to ensure Arsenal deliver performances befitting their potential.

While Emery failed to control the big egos at PSG, he won’t have to deal with such issues at Arsenal, following the departure of Alexis Sanchez.

Notably, advocates of Unai have said that his ‘relative failure’ at PSG was because he was never a good fit for the French champions. Arsenal seems a suited fit.

Arsenal are fighting against the big-budget clubs, and his achievements at Valencia suggest Emery likes such challenges.

In Andalucía, Unai galvanised the entire club and took Sevilla to the next level. Sevilla fans didn’t fancy him at the start of his stint there – like Arsenal fans – but with consistent results, European tournament victories and Champions League appearances, he won them over.

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Another notable feature to draw parallels between Sevilla and Arsenal are the similarities in the club functioning. Newly appointed head of football relations Raul Sanllehi and new head of recruitment Sven Mislintat will handle recruitment. At Sevilla, Monchi did the business and built the team to succeed in Europe.

This appointment shall change Arsenal’s tactics as well. To suit his high-pressing, counter-attacking style, Arsenal may line up 4-3-3 – the same formation with which he bettered Barcelona in 2015 while managing Sevilla.

To sum up, it will be intense, passionate, methodical and at times clinical, with the possibility of success in the near future. Fans of Arsenal’s finesse and fluency may hate him, but fans who want Arsenal to succeed, regardless of their eye-catchiness, will love him.

It’s going to be a split opinion.

Welcome to the Premier League, Unai Emery!

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