Arsenal, at the moment, are following a path that’s all too familiar.
Six years ago, Sir Alex Ferguson famously left Manchester United, and since then, the Red Devils have not been the same. They’ve gone through four different managers throughout the post-Fergie era, and, well, the results speak for themselves.
Arsenal appear to be following the same path Manchester United followed when they relieved David Moyes of his duties back in 2014 – having just recently sacked Arsene Wenger’s successor, Unai Emery after 18 months at the club.
Emery’s sacking is justifiable, considering Arsenal’s incredibly poor form since the start of the season, even stretching as far back as last season’s Europa League final when they lost 4-1 to Chelsea, a fierce rival, in the final of a major competition.
Despite Arsenal’s poor form, though, Emery, based on Arsenal’s identity as a club, should’ve had at least one last transfer window to try to turn things around and salvage Arsenal’s Premier League campaign.
One important question must be raised, and that question is, can Emery’s successor guarantee a decent level of success with Arsenal’s current group of players?
Unai Emery might have had his flaws, but often times, nearly half of the Arsenal squad didn’t look like they’re good enough to represent a club of the Gunners’ stature. Going forward, with the same group of players in Arsenal’s ranks, there’s a high chance that, ‘the Emery season’ will repeat itself when a new manager takes over.
Sure, there will be the usual winning streak and upturn in form, as there usually is these days when a new manager takes over at a club, but when the initial hype settles down following the arrival of a new manager at the Emirates, Arsenal fans might be in for a whole new wave of footballing disappointment.
Unai Emery’s sacking, while celebrated as a joyous occasion by tons of Arsenal fans around the world, could mark the beginning of perpetual mediocrity at the club, a phenomenon which silently began to creep into the club following Arsene Wenger’s exit.
Arsenal are at risk of slowly falling down the pecking order in the Premier League and undoing the success that Arsene Wenger worked so hard to achieve.
These are troubling times at the club considering the emergence of Leicester City as a contender for a spot in the top four, thus potentially giving Arsenal one more rival to have to worry about amid their process of trying to fix things at the club.
In terms of options, the only managers Arsenal can realistically appoint at the moment are Nuno Espirito Santo, interim head coach Freddie Ljungberg, and perhaps with a bit of luck Mauricio Pochettino with Poch being the best option out of the three, but also the most unlikely candidate.
Regardless of who Arsenal appoints going into the second half of the season, the January transfer window will play the most important role in determining Arsenal’s fate over the next six months and potentially stretching into the second half of the season.
