Arsenal are a club steeped in history. From the ground-breaking tactics of Herbert Chapman, to Arsene Wenger’s dietary revolution, we have always been a club at the forefront of new development. But, in the last decade or so, we have very noticeably dropped off from the rest of the pack. Gone are the days of jostling at the top of the table with Liverpool and Manchester United (United who, by the way, are in a similar state of distress), and gone too are the days of swimming with the big fish in the Champions League. Now, we scrabble around 4th, 5th, 6th place, competing with the likes of Wolverhampton Wanderers, Crystal Palace and Bournemouth. And in Europe, we have been demoted to the small pond of the Europa League. So, where did it all go wrong?

Paris, 2006. Heartbreak for every Gooner around the globe. After going ahead in the Champions League final, despite Jens Lehmann being sent off, we had hope. But in the last 14 minutes of the game, Barcelona scored two goals to turn the game on its head. A crushing defeat for Arsenal. And from there, it started to go wrong.

With hundreds of millions spent on the shiny new Emirates Stadium, funds were running low. We were largely unable to sign the players we needed, From there, even though we were consistently in the top 4, a challenge for the title never seemed realistic. Then, in 2017, it got even worse. We dropped out of the top 4, and descended to the Underworld of Europa. Then, a year later, the great Arsene Wenger stepped down from his role as the most legendary manager we’ve ever had. Unai Emery took over, and led us to a Europa League final, in which we were battered 4-1 by Chelsea. The sad part is, that was one of our highlights.

Depressing reminiscence over, for now. So I’ll move on to a more hopeful topic of discussion – how can this be fixed?

We need a new manager. When Arsene Wenger left, everybody knew that it was going to be a very difficult task for whoever would replace him. And Unai Emery has proved them correct. In his first season, we finished in an underwhelming 5th place, and as previously mentioned, were slaughtered by Chelsea in our first European final since that fateful night in Paris. Excuses were made. Of course it would be difficult for him. He’s in a new league, with new players, no miracles could be expected from him. But going into his second season, the expectation rose.

Emery’s competence has not seemed to have risen with it thus far. We are no better off this season than we were last, if anything, we are worse. After an embarrassing defeat at the hands of Sheffield United, surrounded by dis-satisfactory draws with Crystal Palace, Wolves and Watford, fans are starting to question whether Emery is actually as good a manager as he first seemed to be. Even the draws against Manchester United and Tottenham, those are games which we should have won. and those are games that the Arsenal of old would have won. But we didn’t.

Something that a lot of fans have been noticing this season is the way that Emery has set us up in a very defensive manner, especially when we play away from home. For example, against Sheffield United, our three central midfielders were Joe Willock, Matteo Guendouzi, and Granit Xhaka. All three (yes, even Xhaka) are good players in their own right, but not one of them is an out and out attacking midfielder. Devoid of creativity, we slumped to a 1-0 defeat.

This is testament to Unai Emery’s mentality when it comes to matches. At Sevilla, yes, he did a good job. But it was good by Sevilla’s standards. I mean absolutely no disrespect to Sevilla, they are an excellent club, but it would be satisfactory for them to scrape draws against teams like Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid. Then, when he went to PSG, he may as well have not bothered to coach them. PSG are the sort of team that, domestically, will dominate whoever is head coach; even then, Monaco beat the Parisian giants to the league title in one of Emery’s two seasons in charge. But with all that aside, you can see that managing PSG isn’t really a true reflection of a manager’s skill.

Now he’s at Arsenal. Arsenal who, actually, are a bigger club than PSG, just without the financial muscle to land players such as Neymar and Mbappe. Arsenal, a club at which you have to work hard. A club at which, you cannot expect the fans to be satisfied with simply “holding their own” against the top 6. Arsenal have to be at the top of them all.

But with that midfield three of Willock, Guendouzi, Xhaka, you can see that his ambition is not at the level required to drive this club. Even against Manchester United, a winnable game, which would have brought credibility to Arsenal’s top 4 challenge, he set up with Guendouzi, Xhaka, and instead of Willock, Torreira. Again, all three are excellent players, but to play all of them at the same time portrays a lack of intent. And, due to this, we could only manage a 1-1 draw.

So, Emery is not the right man for the job. We have some excellent players, players who can, with the right manager, challenge the big two of Liverpool and Manchester City. But only when we do have that right manager, will they be unleashed to their full potential.

Joseph McDonnell