Unai Emery lifted the UEFA Europa League for the fourth time in his career, as Villareal triumphed over Manchester United in a penalty shootout on Wednesday.
Coquelin’s spot-kick right into the top corner was brilliant to see. Kudos to Villareal, the victory must be so sweet against opposition that was far superior in terms of quality, in the semis and now the final. This trophy truly belongs to Unai and he wins it everywhere, except for Arsenal of course.
After his win last night, it seems appropriate to assess just how far the north Londoners have come since sacking him at the end of 2019. In his first season in charge, Unai guided the club to a fifth-place finish just a point off Tottenham who finished in the fourth spot.
The Gunners made a meal of getting into the top 4 that season by managing to win only one of their last five games, dropping 11 points in that period. All hope wasn’t lost as there was a looming Europa League final against Chelsea. However, the 4-1 battering resigned their fate to UEL.
In the season that followed Emery was sacked on the 29th of November 2019 after a winless run of 7 games. This however doesn’t capture the whole picture. About a month prior to his dismissal there was some turbulence in the team. The Spanish boss stripped Xhaka of the captaincy after an angry confrontation with home fans during their 2-2 draw with Crystal Palace at Emirates Stadium.
The turbulence was caused by the boss himself, as he opted to go for a blind vote among the players to elect a captain instead of taking charge and stamping his authority by selecting a captain. The vote resulted in handing the armband to a player who has never been a fans’ favorite and has had an inconstant career at the club.
Since Emery’s fifth position finish in his debut season, Arsenal have finished eighth in consecutive seasons. They’ve lifted the FA Cup and reached the UEFA Europa League semifinal. Ingloriously being knocked out by would-be champions Villareal. So, has there been any real progress since Arteta took over? In the league, no. There’s been no improvement. In Europe no there’s been no improvement.
However, it’s not all doom and gloom, the north London club have conceded less under Mikel Arteta so it can be argued that bar the occasional mishap or lapse in concentration leading to a goal, they are more secure defensively. Another improvement they made is that they’ve been better against the top six sides in the league.
The million-dollar question is whether the club were right in letting go of Emery? Should they have given him more time? There’s no forthright answer to this question. First and foremost, it was always going to be difficult for the manager/head coach who came in after Wenger, regardless of who it was. However, the Arsenal board and the fans seem to have a lot more patience, understanding, hope faith and belief in what Arteta is trying to achieve than they ever afforded Emery.
Maybe this is due to the fact that Arteta has a history with the club, or that he’s more likable or he’s a better communicator. It could be anything really. But Emery wasn’t hired because of his personality, communication skills or enjoyable style of football. He was hired to get Arsenal into the Champions League via the Europa League.
Ultimately Emery seemed to have lost. Lost the dressing room, lost too many games, lost support from the fans and eventually from the board. He simply had to go. It may seem harsh or ruthless but it is simply a matter of the situation all parties involved found themselves in. It is only human to ruminate over the past, but the fact is that Arteta is the captain of this ship. And the only thing anyone invested in Arsenal can do now is rally behind him in the hopes that he can steer this ship to glory.
