Blind Arteta worship at its finest.
I was happy to see Emery sacked by Arssnal because he wasn’t ready for the role, at the time, due to the language barrier. No one could understand what he was saying. He was better known for his “good ebening” press conferences.
However, he’s turned his managerial career around and done more than just redeemed himself after what he’s managed to accomplish with Villa in 23/24.
He has turned nothing around. His managerial career has gone backwards. He went from PSG to Arsenal to Villa. That’s called going backwards because he proved that he doesn’t have the chops for a big job.
Emery is perfect for clubs like Villa, Sevilla, Villarreal etc. where he is under no pressure to compete for the league title or do well in the UCL, because a top 6 finish and a decent run in second and third tier European competitions is what they are aiming for, and that is his level as a manager.
PSG brought him because they hoped he’d use his Europa League success to help them win the UCL. He ended up bottling the French league to Monaco and surrendered a 4-0 lead to Barcelona in the UCL.
When PSG kicked him out, Arsenal brought him because they hoped he’d us his experience to rebuild Arsenal into title challengers after AW, and he stank up the place and left Arsenal in a worse position than they were when AW left.
Emery will only turn his career around if he signs for a big club that is fighting to win the league and the UCL and proves his mettle. He needs to prove himself at a club like PSG and Arsenal after failing at both clubs.
Jobs like Sevilla, Villarreal and Villa are right up his street and he’s perfect for the expectations and demands that they have.
Arteta is rated way higher than him and for good reason. He has transformed Arsenal into title challengers and City’s main rivals while spending less money than City, Chelsea and United in the same period and this is his first managerial job, look around and see what guys like Lampard and Gerrard have done as managers and what Emery did at PSG and Arsenal after so much experience.
If Arteta decides to leave Arsenal now, you’ll have plenty of European powerhouses lining up for him and if these clubs really wanted Emery, he wouldn’t have been at Villa this season. Clubs like Chelsea, United, Liverpool, Juventus, Bayern, Barcelona would have prized him away from Villa but as I said, no big club rates him anymore after he got exposed at PSG and Arsenal.
Emery did better than Arteta last season. This isn’t even up for debate.
They are not even competing at the same level. Emery is managing a club that threw a party for finishing top 4 while Arsenal were deeply disappointed after missing out on winning the league by 2 points.
The question of doing better doesn’t even arise when you are not competing for the same objectives. Arteta is doing the job that Emery was asked to do at Arsenal but was not good enough to do so. End of story.
Emery overachieved with Aston Villa after leading them to a place in the top 4 and subsequently a spot in the UCL for this season.
He did not. He did well but he did not perform a miracle. Outside the top 3, the other teams were not in good shape and he took advantage of that. United and Chelsea were out of sorts and Spurs had a new manager who just lost Kane.
It is funny how you and others claimed last season that their home form made them title contenders and we saw how that title contention went through. He did very well to finish above Newcastle though, who had no reason to finish below considering their financial muscle and the fact that they had a better squad in 2022-23.
Part of the reason for this is because he beat Arteta home and away.
So what? It happens in football. Nuno Santo did the double over Pep with Wolves in 2019-20. It doesn’t mean I need to rate him higher than Pep.
You can mock Emery all you like but you can’t run away from the fact that he is the single biggest reason why Arsenal lost out to City in the title race last season. If I’m not mistaken they were the only team to beat Arsenal home and away.
Single biggest reason?. Arsenal missed out on the 9 title by 2 points, and these 2 points can be attributed to any of the following as well: Losing to West Ham at home, not winning at Chelsea, 1 point out of 6 vs Fulham. That’s 10 lost points, and you change any of these results and Arsenal win the league, so how did losing to Aston Villa become the
single biggest reason why Arsenal didn’t win the league?
Another reason why Arteta didn’t perform as well as Emery last season is because he had everything in his favour during the title race but yet again fell short.
Emery is not even good enough to be at club where he is fighting for the title. Life gave him two opportunities and he failed both times.
As I mentioned yesterday, City won the league in spite of:
- Losing Mahrez and Gundogen
- KDB being injured for half the season
- Haaland performing well below his best
- They were up against an Arsenal team that very rarely had issues with absentees in respect of their first XI. Saliba and Rice played all 38 games. Gabriel, Ben White, Saka and Odegaard missed less than 10 games combined
You can mention it every day, it won’t make it any credible. Both City and Arsenal had to deal with their own unique problems and challenges that hampered their respective seasons in different ways.
City had to cope with all of the above that you mentioned, but it wasn’t all smooth sailing for Arsenal either:
Martinelli and Jesus performed well below what they were required to, Timber suffered a season ending injury in the very first match, Partey missed more than half of the season, Havertz took half a season to acclimatize as expected. All of these factors played a role in hampering Arsenal’s season as well all.
Also Arsenal were very fortunate to get 3 points at Villa Park a few weeks ago. Watkins missed two sitters before Arsenal scored. Villa should’ve won that game as Emery clearly won the tactical battle.
So Arteta/Arsenal were fortunate to get 3 points at Villa because Watkins missed easy chances, but Emery/Aston Villa weren’t fortunate to get 3 points at the Emirates last season when Trossard missed from point blank range?
Not sure what “tactical battle” you are referring too. It was a competitive game with Arsenal having more possession, interceptions and created equal number of big chances.
in face rating this transfer window 8s and 9s out of 10, will be someone's saying the squad lacks depth later.
