For a long time, Unai Emery was at the top of my list to replace Arsene Wenger.
I had him down as a bright young manager who had taken a starless Sevilla to success time and time again in the mid 2010’s, and someone who looked like he had what it needed to make the step up and become the next superstar manager.
At the time, I saw him as someone who could challenge the likes of Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola as one of the great thinkers in our game.
Even after his PSG “struggles”, I was not put off by him – he still has the highest win ratio of any PSG manager in history and won 7 out of 8 domestic trophies with them.
I was buzzing when he joined The Arsenal. It felt like the right decision. We had avoided mimicking Manchester United and going for a David Moyes-esque manager. Emery was the man to take us back to the top.
But it did not work out for Unai, and after 18 months he was replaced by Mikel Arteta.
There had been rumblings when he was at PSG that he struggled to manage big ego’s, and that this was a key reason for his departure.
Emery came into an Arsenal dressing room that was probably at its most toxic in history.
We had the ego’s of the likes of Mesut Ozil and Pirre-Emerick Aubameyang, both of whom believed they were bigger than the club and more important than the manager. Their behaviour under Emery was nothing short of a disgrace and, as senior players, influenced junior counterparts.
His struggle to speak English fluently led players to mock and undermine him at every opportunity and, following 7 games without a win and having lost the dressing room, he was sacked.
No one was upset when Emery departed. It was probably the first time in 15-years that all Arsenal fans had agreed. It was the right time for him to go.
Aston Villa have had a fantastic start to this season. That has led the likes of Tony Adams to say “Emery could have won the Premier League with Arsenal last season“, and fans who celebrated his departure to now claim the club should have never got rid of him.
As above, I think Emery is a fantastic manager, but that does not mean that I think he was the right man to take us forward.
One thing Arteta did when he joined was “clear the decks” of the bad eggs. Within 2 years of joining, Ozil, Aubameyang, Guendouzi, Mustafi, Sokratis and Kolašinac all found themselves either sold, released or loaned out.
Arteta and Edu worked as one, removing a lot of overpaid, ageing players that were dragging us down. They replaced them with young, hungry talent. Players that would listen to Arteta, but into his methods and follow him to hell and back.
Due to the language barrier and lack of self-confidence, I am not sure Emery would have been able to ship out what we had and bring new players in under his spell. You could not picture Emery doing what Arteta did during the All or Nothing documentary.
That is not to say that I do not think Emery is an excellent coach. He clearly is. But sometimes managers work better in different environments.
Aston Villa is not to different a place to Valencia or Sevilla.
The expectation is not high. They do not have fans that demand the club to be challenging for the title each year. And they do not have the big ego players. Villa Park is an environment that suits Emery better.
4-years since departing The Arsenal, Emery has also improved his English massively, and this makes a huge difference in the dressing room.
I do not think it can be underestimated how bad a position Arsenal were in off the pitch prior to Arteta and Edu coming in. They have basically ripped up the entire club on and off the pitch and rebuit it. New players, new coaching methods, new training facilities.
We are now reaping the benefits of that on the field, whilst the likes of Manchester United continue to struggle on and off the pitch with the same problems we had.
Arteta is a bit like Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger. He is more than a coach. He sees the bigger picture beyond what the first team are doing. I am not sure Emery has that foresight.
As for Tony Adams, he is an Arsenal legend. Mr Arsenal. But he has also not shown himself as being the most guided speaker since his retirement. This is not the first time he has wrongly criticised the club.
By saying “Emery could have won the title at Arsenal” is a dig at the club. Probably a bit of bitterness still sits within him that Arsenal have continually (and rightly) rejected his offers to work as a coach for us.
The word “could” is actually an interesting turn of phrase, because it means that no one can say what Adams said is wrong.
Emery could have won the league with Arsenal last season. But he did not.
Arteta could have won the league with Arsenal last season. But he did not.
Ljungberg could have won the league with Arsenal last season. But he did not.
Keenos could have won the league with Arsenal last season. But he did not.
You could have won the league with Arsenal last season. But you did not.
All of the above could also have taken us to second in the league, but only one person actually achieved that – Mikel Arteta. Talk of what others could have done is pointless. Emery could have got us relegated….
Emery is doing a great job at Villa. In 2023, only Arsenal and Manchester City have gained more points and he has a win ratio of 61.7%.
Villa’s home record this season reads played 6, won 6, with 23 goals scored. They have not lost at home in the league since 18 February – when The Arsenal beat them 4-2.
In that time they have beaten Tottenham and Newcastle. Villa Park is certainly not an easy place to go and take 3-points.
But Brentford was similar. They had only lost three times at home since the start of last season. Our 1-nil victory a couple of weeks ago means that we are responsible for 50% of their home league defeats in the last season and a half!
Emery is doing a great job with Villa, but was not the right man to take us forward. That man is Super Mik Arteta.
Keenos
She Wore A Yellow Ribbon 