This was coming for a long time. I personally think he should have gone a few weeks earlier, and the damage may already be too severe to overturn, but at least the club did what was needed in the end. I wanted Emery to succeed at the club. Despite his well-documented fallouts with players from PSG, and his overtly pragmatic style, I wanted to reflect more on his time at Valencia and Sevilla, where he enjoyed a lot more success as a coach. Unfortunately, he was incapable of being decisive. The constant rotation of players, the ultra defensive approach when under pressure, the baffling substitutions, the lack of pressing or any fluidity/movement, over-reliance on fullbacks, misusing players, being too one-dimensional, unable to inspire and control the dressing room - whatever it is you shouldn't do as a coach, Emery was guilty of it. Emery would be a fantastic analyst, but it is very clear he overthought things far too much. The large quantity of personnel and formation changes are testament to this. Hence why the players lost faith in his ideas. Eventually, it got to a point where there was no coherent direction in his words, with players publicly admitting they needed to gain instructions from Ljunberg to decipher what Emery had said. This general confusion translated to the pitch where it was hard to see what style of football he wanted to incorporate. Not only this, but his lack of ambition in press-conferences really sent alarm bells ringing. Teams in the lower half of the table were dominating possession and having 20+ shots against us, yet he'd come out and say we were 'improving tactically'. We've conceded 225 shots in 13 Premier League games. We are conceding, on average, 2 goals per game. We are currently 8th in the table, 9 points off 4th place, with a heavy fixture schedule coming up. The football was turgid. We were stifled of creativity, attacking players inhibited, midfield porous and a defence as useful as a chocolate teapot. It was also our worst run of form since 1992. This firing was inevitable. However, that was the easy part. The not-so-easy part is now hiring the right man...
Probably EL or bust for you, with Freddie doing a di Matteo / Benitez impersonation for the remainder of the season. As I said earlier, Spurs are in a similar plight, but that CL KO stage dividend at least pays the bills (while Jose attempts the PL top 4 comeback) .
The Athletic have to sell that **** somehow, I guess. Watched AFTV and saw a gullibl... er, I mean good audience!
The Athletic: killing local press by poaching all their writers and then just copy/pasting any ****e they read in the Daily Wail's sports pages That's worth the subscription fee...
Now now, The Athletic have recruited a lot of well-renowned football journalists and Ornstein is seen as being very reliable! To be honest, I don't think it'll happen for obvious reasons, but if it did, it would be quite hilarious. Especially after so many Spurs fans have been adamant he'd never think twice about joining us. Jokes aside, the other names being mentioned all have pros and cons. There's no 'obvious' choice out there. Allegri - serial winner, but had a plethora of resources at his disposal and very little competition in a weak Italian league. Did get to two Champions League finals though, which isn't easy. His football also isn't good and I don't know whether he is capable of a rebuild job that he'd have at Arsenal, in a league where the competition is more intense. Ancelotti - won pretty much everything there is to win, but his stock as manager has fallen in the last few years. Currently managing a Napoli side who sit 7th and have dressing room unrest. Not sure he's the best candidate despite his remarkable CV. Nuno Espirito Santo - done very well at Wolves, but has shades of Emery about him in the sense that I don't know whether he's capable of the step-up to a club with loftier ambitions and fans/media who will scrutinise him every week. I wouldn't be against it. However, doesn't seem like a capable fit. Arteta - worked under one of the best minds in football. Regarded as a very intelligent footballing man with flexibility and progressive football in his philosophy. However, he has never managed before. Taking over Arsenal, to get us out of the mess we are in, would be a huge risk as a first job. Rodgers - he's no doubt got Leicester playing some excellent football, with results to match, but I still question his ability to manage a top level side after his misgivings at Liverpool. He was very young then though and maybe has learned his lesson. Could be worth a punt? Surprised managers like Julian Nagelsmann or Marco Rose haven't entered the discussion.
Allegri supposedly doesn't want to take another job until next season. Negelsmann and Rose only recently started with new clubs, so I'd say that they're unlikely for anyone. Ljungberg may hang onto the job for a while, if he gets a good start.
If he does, and I expect him to, I don't want us to make the mistake Utd did with OGS. What do you think about the other names I mentioned?
Ancelotti's a good, experienced manager who did well with Chelsea and was harshly sacked. Espirito Santo's done well with Wolves, but his connections with their owners have a lot to do with it. I'm not sure he'd move. Rodgers has started well with Leicester and it would look bad if he left so quickly. I don't think he'd do it. Arteta's unproven at any level and I don't think he'd be given it yet. I'm quite surprised that van Bronckhorst hasn't been linked with it yet. Seems like a balanced choice between the others that have been suggested. Ex-Arsenal, still pretty young, but he's got some experience and some success.
I wonder if Pochettino wouldn't be a great appointment for your lot. I looked at this paragraph... ...and it's pretty much exactly why we sacked him. The guy's looked completely burned out for a while and I doubt he'll take any job this season. He would probably do well to start afresh in another league before coming back to the PL...but if you want him....
There's a few reports going around saying that Poch'll sit out the season...although there is a suggestion that part of the settlement says he gets £12m if he doesn't take a job before the end of the season
There's suggestions that PSG aren't wholly enamoured with Tuchel, so that's an option that's been overlooked almost as much as Erling Haaland signing for Leipzig next summer
That is no great surprise. United would do well to give him some recovery time. At the end, he really didn't look too far off Mourinho, when he left you.
