A GUEST POST BY PATRICK:
After nearly 22 years as Arsenal manager, Arsene Wenger finally called time on his illustrious Arsenal career. The Frenchman had become some sort of a divisive figure among the Arsenal supporters, especially after a recent run of poor results in the League and Cup competitions over close to 10 years.
While others were still sentimental given his achievements in the first 10 years of his Arsenal career that yielded 3 Premier League titles and 4 FA Cups. However, following two consecutive finishes outside the top four, Wenger, for the first time in his Arsenal career, was forced to end his tenure midway through a two-year contact he had signed in 2017.
After a rigorous search, the Arsenal hierarchy finally came to a decision to appoint current French Ligue 1 manager of the year and former PSG boss, Unai Emery. The moment news of his appointment broke, excitement grew among all Arsenal faithful, especially those of us who had followed the Spaniard’s illustrious managerial career.
Unai Emery is a master tactician, who had guided Sevilla to three successive Europa League titles, a feat that catapulted his appointment at PSG, in hope that his European mastery in Seville would transform into the Champions League success the Parisians so much crave. It wasn’t to be and the reasons for that will be a topic for another day, but as Arsene Wenger himself will testify, winning the second-tier European competition is no small feat and, it takes tactical acumen for one to achieve that.
In the past few years, Arsenal had become a laughing stock after countless humiliations at the hands of their rival both domestically and in Europe. The 8-2 mauling at Old Trafford, the 6-0 humbling at Stamford Bridge and the recent 10-2 aggregate humiliation at the hands of Bayern Munich will take long to be forgotten among the Arsenal supporters.
This pointed to one thing undeniable thing, inadequate preparations before games and a sheer lack of tactics to outwit opponents. Perhaps Wenger can be accused of either having had too much faith in his Arsenal teams or having been tactically naive, failing to foil the opponents’ tactical master plans and more often than not came out second best in most of the big games!
In contrast, Unai Emery is a meticulous coach, who takes several hours studying and analysing videos of his opponents to find ways of beating them. Little wonder, therefore, that Victor Manas, one of his confirmed backroom staff is a video analyst. Knowing Emery, I’m convinced that we are going to see a very tactical approach to games that I expect to transform Arsenal and propel them back to competitive levels once again!
