The four surprise managers that are right for Arsenal

By the Coach

Now that belatedly the Board got their finger out and sacked Emery everyone's attention has turned on who will be the next manager.

In my opinion the team is suffering from the ill advised acquisitions during the summer transfer window. It was so obvious that the team needed defensive reinforcements as a matter of urgency but a whopping 72 million was spent on a forward rather than a defender!

Now we are paying the price as I consider that 4th spot is already most probably out of reach.

The manager that this team needs is one who can communicate (in English), reinvigorate but most importantly organise the players to achieve the correct balance between attack and defence. Neither Emery nor his predecessor (in his latter years at the club) could manage this and they paid the price.

The new manager that the Board should pursue should be one of the following, in order of priority:

Pochettino

Doubtful if he would come to Arsenal especially so soon after leaving Spurs but he proved he has the attributes to take on the Arsenal project over a period of time and put it on a sound footing by good coaching, correct tactics and promoting the youth.

Ancelotti

He should have been appointed in the first place ahead of Emery and he was available at the time. He will have the respect of the players through his excellent experience and achievements. He is also a good tactician and organiser as his two games against Liverpool in the CL have proved (one win and a draw). Surprisingly his salary at Napoli is about the same as Emery's 5.27m!

Chis Wilder

I am very impressed with the work rate he gets out of his players, his tactical awareness and correct substitutions but most importantly how he managed to strike the most correct balance between attack and defence that I have witnessed in the many many years of watching PL football. 

Benitez

He is currently in China earning a lot of dough but he still is based in England so a return cannot be ruled out. He is an organiser and a tactician and combines conservatism and offensive play in equal measure. The way he managed to turn Chelsea's fortunes round when he took over mid season was impressive so was his achievement of keeping Newcastle in the PL with no significant investment by the owner and with mediocre players.


Anyone of these four will be right for Arsenal and I hope that the Board get their act together and pay the money that will attract a manager of the calibre that Arsenal and its supporters deserve.

Keep 3 at the back but tweak the rest of the formation

By 1970's Gooner

A lot has been written on this and a lot of other blogs with regard to Emery's ineptitude to take Arsenal forward and into the top 4. This coming run, of what is considered a set of relatively easier fixtures, against Southampton, Norwich, Brighton and West Ham should tell us and more importantly the Arsenal hierarchy whether Emery should be relieved of his duties.

We should all however get behind the team and give them all the encouragement they need to regain their confidence and begin to carve a way forward towards the top 4.

For the Soton game coming up I would keep the 3 at the back as this gives the team a much better defensive cover but I would certainly not play Aubameyang and Lacazette on the wings as Emery bizarrely chose to do against Leicester (with Ozil playing as a false number 9 on occasion).

The formation should be 3 4 1 2.

The 3 at the back should be Chambers on the right side, Luiz or Socratis ( I would choose Socratis) in the middle and Holding on the left.

Bellerin and Tierney would be my choice for the wing backs. 

Guendouzi and Torreira should be the cover in front of the back 3. Pray that Emery doesn't start Xhaka.

In the absence of any other creative midfielder I would start Ozil behind the two front players of Aubameyang and Lacazette. They should play close together as in an old fashioned pairing of twin centre forwards. This will bring the best out of them as they seem to be so in tune to each other but it will also allow our wing backs the room to roam forward.

Overall the philosophy of the game plan should be to take the game to Soton and play on the front foot higher up the pitch. There is no more room for conservativism as we have to make up the points we have fallen behind the teams in front of us. 


                  Leno

    Chambers  Socratis  Holding

Bellerin  Torreira  Guendouzi Tierney

                 Ozil

Lacazette   Aubameyang


Prediction: Arsenal 3 Southampton 1

To the Arsenal hierarchy: Sacrifice a few million to have a real chance of getting 60m.

By 1970's Gooner

Sacrifice a few million to have a real chance of getting 60m. That's the decision that the Arsenal hierarchy are now faced with. 

It's obvious now that Emery is not good enough to take this club forward. The dreadful form of the tail end of last season, which included a drubbing in the Europa League final, has predictably carried on this season. 

Emery himself has proved totally inept to manage the strong squad that has been assembled for him and has not established a style of play that we can identify with. Hell, he had around 15 months to sort out the defensive efficiency of the team but has achieved f... all. 

He has not shown strong leadership in the (non) selection of an inadequate captain (and player) and while declaring that his freezing of Ozil was an agreed action by all at the Arsenal implying that Ozil will be history, he makes a U turn and installs him in the starting 11!!!

This shows that he doesn't know what he is doing both off an on the field.

Take the game against Wolves as another example. A series of errors unfolded in front of us...

First the formation and starting 11.

What was it? Can you really understand what he had in mind? He played Torreira as a number 10!!!! And he had both Ceballos AND Ozil in midfield who are both creative players alongside Guenduzi who himself is not really a defensively minded player! 

This left no protection for the defence and allowed Wolves to boss the game in large parts of the encounter. They had 25 shots on goal to our 10. 25 shots on goal and we were playing at home.
This is criminal.

But the worse of it all his substitutions left everyone bewildered. 

At 60 min he brings off Lacazette who was having a good game and keeping them pegged back and brings on Martinelli. At 60 min! And we were comfortable up to then. There was no need to make that substitution but the result was that it further unbalanced and disoriented the team.

Then instead of bringing Torreira back to shield the defence he took him off! And put on Saka! who initially went in the number 10 position and then shifted to the left. What a pathetic substitution.

And when they equalised and we should have been looking to score the winner he takes off Tierney and brings on not Pepe but.....wait for it, Kolasinac...

Enough said the man has to go. And assuming he is on 6 m a year with a two year plus one contract then it will only cost Arsenal FC about 3m to get rid and say another extra 6m for the rest of the year if we are to get a top coach. Because Arsenal and its fans who pay top money to watch this rubbish deserve a top coach of this type of salary, not a mediocre one.

BUT THIS WILL BE MONEY WELL SPENT AS THE TEAM IS GOOD ENOUGH TO TAKE A TOP 4 SPOT AND GAIN A MONETARY RETURN OF AT LEAST 50 TO 60M.