Pep Guardiola, Jurgen Klopp and Brendan Rodgers are leading the way in the Premier League at the moment, all of them basing their management on severe coaching abilities and the belief in details never overlooked.
Those three are technically and tactically setting a new standard on how to build a winning football team, building everything on clever thinking and massive amount of work. Leeds United manager Marcelo Bielsa might be “too much”, but the basics are all seen as the attention to details are keys in the development of their teams.
They trio being described above are good at man management as well, seeing the out on the pitch hugging players and really showing “love” as they use their body language as another key to their full attention strategy. Sometimes you would think that it might be a bit too much at times, but it works well as players knows their manager cares.
Arsene Wenger and Unai Emery are probably not seen as the most “loving” characters, but they both knows football in and out. To see Arsenal starting to chase Brendan Rodgers is no surprise, but why didn’t they offer him the job after Arsene Wenger instead of hiring a Spanish manager with language problems. Pep and Jurgen Klopp speak almost fluently English and they are not seen as persons with language barriers.
If you hire a coach from a foreign country, not speaking too much English, you will always have a bit of struggle to find the right balance. if you then can’t get your football style through to the players and you start to shift and change too much the struggle will be even heavier.
The problems at Arsenal is a bit of big mix of things. There are of course talent, but the young players are at the moment not ready, and some have been tried and seen struggling. The fact that you add a player like David Luiz to your squad must be part of a plan as his presence will always be a bit odd as he is a player not really easy to adapt to.
He is a player that would suit a tree men defense best, or just in front of two central defenders, you might also have him alongside another defender in the center, but that needs to a be a clever guy. Mustafi and Sokrates are not “leaders” in the back, and without Koscielny you don’t really have a good partner alongside Luiz.
The way Arsenal have mocked around with Mesut Ozil is another riddle not easy to understand. At his best, used wide in midfield, he is a master of his class, but the way he has been treated is a bit odd as well. Aaron Ramsey is another chapter, not really replaced and his presence was massive and not easy to find a perfect solution. Matteo Guendouzi is only 20 years of age, struggling at times being exposed in his role where his lack of pace is so easily seen. Talented on the ball but also one player difficult to adjust to a certain role as he might struggle with his movement, especially defensively.
The Arsenal squad is a like a big bag of “all sorts” not really fitting together, and to find those players who could put this correctly might be a tall order for any manager to solve, and recruitment techniques and strategies looks a bit outdated. You also have Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, a player that most of the time operates on his own and not really a team player, and again getting a mix of players that needs a bit of special treatment to get the best out of their ability.
Then you have Granit Xhaka, full of energy and hot headed at times, not really one that can lead this group into a battle, and seldom keeping his calmness. There are a lot of questions marks, and leadership on the field is missing, and that cannot be solved with the players at the club at the moment, and those who are possible to buy are not possible to buy.
Arsenal will need a manager who speak fluently English, have a bright future in front of him and is a manager that knows how to bring a team forward playing with possession and being bold. To bring in the Ancelotti’s, Allegri’s or any other foreign bloke with a glorious past looks totally idiotic.
Fans have a certain idea of what they like and dislike and as Manchester United fans now are experiencing, the way forward might be to be more patient, something Arsenal fans should even understand. Arsenal haven’t won a PL title since 2003/04, but been spoiled with CL qualifications year in and year out.
There are a number of names flying and to go “Spanish” looks like to obvious for Arsenal, and it’s a bit like following what “newspapers” say. The board of this club looks totally out of contact with the life of football and has no real idea on how to take this club forward.
The obvious solution could be to just appoint Mauricio Pochettino, but he is probably waiting for a “big fish” to hook. Arsenal might not be the right club to join. We have drawn up a list of candidates, but what would be the ideal man.
Not easy to find that “ideal man”, the problem might not be the manager but to get the big picture, the way forward and what the board really thinks about it, in our view, they don’t have a clue.
Manchester United and Arsenal were the two major clubs in English football early in this century and when everyone believed they would never be able to compete against them, they are back struggling as they did in the mid 70’s, when The Midlands and The North had the best teams, with QPR the only London based club to be able to compete, strangely enough. Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United struggled, so did Chelsea and Arsenal.
The team of 70/71 had been teared apart and new youngsters such as Liam Brady, Frank Stapleton and David O’Leary had not yet been able to fill the gap after other more experienced players. Given time those three managed to set a bit of momentum, but they never close to winning the league again, something that didn’t happen before 1988/89.
Arsenal must be patient and a new way forward would be to act with cleverness in the transfer market and have patience enough with a new manager that will be given time to build a team that can challenge for the title again.
Pepè and Martinelli are two new players that looks exciting, and with Willock and Maitland-Niles also in there you have a future that could be bright. Recent rumours about Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang moving to Real Madrid might stop the short term progress, but in a way make sense long term.
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