Unai Emery must be given time to thrive at Arsenal

WE ARE TOLD that Unai Emery secured the manager’s job at Arsenal with his deep knowledge of the squad.

Detailed understanding of every single player complete with precise dossiers and a carbon paper memory of recent performances won over chief executive Ivan Gazidis in a secret meeting.

How clever do you have to be to recognise that Arsenal are a load of rubbish. That there are expensive players in that dressing room who are woefully underachieving in relation to their pay packets?

That up front they are ok but in midfield and defence they have been letting themselves and the fans down season after season? It’s not rocket science.

Alaxandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Abameyang are good strikers but there is a deep rooted issue with Mezut Ozil and everyone in the world can see that.

That Granit Xhaka is wildly inconsistent, that inside Jack Wilshere is a brilliant player waiting to emerge from those glass knees and ankles; that Aaron Ramsey is a bit of a let down.

That the supporters close their eyes and cross their fingers whenever Shkodran Mustafi is put under pressure in the box; that Arsenal need to buy a centre half this summer to stop the back four collapsing.

Emery has got a tough job on his hands trying to plug the gaps in Arsenal’s team. Whatever the rhetoric, the club will not suddenly throw tradition out of the window and give the manager £200 million to spend. That would cause more problems in the dressing room than it would solve.

One thing Gazidis, majority shareholder Stan Kroenke and the rest don’t need to just chuck cash around, they need to give Emery time.

It’s the one commodity more precious than platinum and more rare than a four leaf clover in the Premier League these days.

 New Arsenal boss Unai Emery thanks Arsene Wenger for his legacy, speaks of his honour at landing the job, reveals he's done his homework on the club, & then targets the Premier League title!#AFC pic.twitter.com/YTjuAVnZ72

— The Sack Race (@thesackrace) May 23, 2018

When you take a look around at the current managerial cull going on, it’s hard to imagine any coach being given a long lead to go out and build a proper team with appropriate and considered signings over a couple of seasons at least before everything really starts to click.

The manta in the modern day is that to stay alive coaches have to keep on winning while they construct a lasting dynasty for the ‘brand’.

Just a year ago, potless Pep Guardiola was being talked about as a failure in the English game because he hadn’t won a trophy. Had he not built up such a head of steam at the start of last season he may have done so again and there would be serious doubts about his survival.

Jose Mourinho is not under immediate pressure at Manchester United but give it a year and he will be mark my words.

Chelsea are ready for the next bloodletting - because as one insider told me ‘it’s what we do’.

It may be hard for Arsenal fans to swallow but what their club needs to do is follow the example of Tottenham. Manager Mauricio Pochettino hasn’t won a bean in five years there but is now looking down at the ink drying on a brand new five year contract.

It’s refreshingly old school to see Spurs behave this way after relative disappointment in the cups. Pochettino has delivered Champions League football again and for now that seems enough to keep chairman Daniel Levy content and convinced he still has the right man in place.

Liverpool are giving Jurgen Klopp time to put a proper philosophy together but it helps that his team will be contesting a shock Champions League final tomorrow night against Real Madrid.

Arsenal must not buckle now and follow the fashion for rapid turnover of managers.

Arsene Wenger was given 22 years and he didn’t always get it right.

Arsenal is one of England’s most traditional clubs and that has often been a criticism. But what they need to do now is stick to that and give Emery time to get it right and wrong.

The Premier League may not be the best league in the world.

But manager wise it’s stunning:

 Pep Guardiola
 José Mourinho
 Jurgen Klopp
 Mauricio Pochettino
 Unai Emery
 Antonio Conte (or Maurizio Sarri)
 Rafa Benitez
 Nuno Espírito Santo
 Manuel Pellegrini pic.twitter.com/WmaxtJaV1R

— The Sack Race (@thesackrace) May 23, 2018