It was all supposed to be so different. In the dying embers of the Wenger era it did not matter which side of the fence you were on – and let’s face it, there were very few, if any, who were actually sat on the fence.
When the new man did eventually come in there would need to be changes. Changes for the better. Changes from the division in the stands, in the inability to address weaknesses in the squad and, most importantly, a halt to the drift of the club away from being a top two or even a top-four side. Remarkably or not, depending on your view of the board, a whole other debate in itself, things seem to have carried on where Wenger left off. Seamless transitions are usually a good thing, but not when almost everyone was in agreement that things needed changing, and someone was apparently brought in with just that task.
So, will it ever work with Emery, or has he shown that he is just not up to the job? If that is the case, then isn’t the club better off deciding now before the situation gets worse and they find themselves on the real verge of being just another top eight-team, eyeing those in the top four with a mix of misty-eyed nostalgia and outright jealousy?
Long Term Plan
Unless you have the money of the likes of Manchester City, the key to success in the EPL is through a measured long term plan, one where everyone, top to bottom, buys into the same philosophy, and the manager is given funds and time to turn that philosophy into performances, points and ultimately silverware. Manchester United did it under Ferguson and, of course, Arsenal did very much the same under Arsène Wenger. This also appears to be the strategy that is being put in place at Liverpool.
The best route to success, albeit not over night success, is to follow those examples. Take the situation at Anfield. Success there certainly did not happen overnight, but Klopp’s team now sit in pole position to win the league, according to the main sportsbooks, and are among the favourites to retain the Champions League. Just read that sentence back and imagine how this statement would feel if it was about Arsenal. In order for that to happen, things need to be put into place now. Decisions need to be made as to whether we have the right man at the helm to carry out that long term plan.
Worrying Signs
Don’t get me wrong. I like Emery and think he is a good, even very good coach. But therein lies the problem. He is very much more of a coach than a manager, and it is his management where he is struggling, on and off the pitch. The captaincy debacle was a perfect example of this in several ways. Everyone has known for years the side lacks a real leader or leaders, on the pitch and in the dressing room. That should have been one of the new man’s top priorities. It is something that has not been addressed in any of his transfer windows, something that was highlighted with his choice of five captains, the majority of which simply were not captaincy material. Mesut Özil is another case in point. It would not be Emery’s fault if he could not squeeze performance after performance out of the German, but the lack of decisiveness in his handling of the situation is symptomatic of everything else under his tenure at the present time.
The most telling issue for how long Emery will last is when the supporters turn against him. That has already started to happen, and the board will be determined not to have a repeat of what happened in the last two or more years under Wenger. That went on for far too long before it was resolved, but the difference now is that last time this came at the end of a manager’s tenure at the club – one that covered the most successful period of the club’s history. What is happening now, is at the beginning of his tenure.
