It was just over a year ago, as Fulham were being dismantled on their own turf by five goals to one, that a song went up from the travelling fans: “We’ve got our Arsenal back”.
How premature that turned out to be. Thirteen months on, those fans will feel they’ve got their Arsenal back again, wresting control of it from a coach who was threatening to run their season into the ground before the halfway point.
His oddities, such as refusing to discuss the Europa League final plans properly until the end of the league season, or allowing the club’s travel co-ordinator to deliver a cringeworthy team talk before a vital game, eventually grew too much. As he flitted between philosophies, he ultimately angered his leading players so much that by this week they had given up on him, as had an exasperated hierarchy, who discussed his future in the US and then concluded before Thursday’s game that he was to be sacked.
When Emery was unveiled in May 2018, there was considerable excitement among Arsenal fans. After 22 years of Arsene Wenger, there was a palpable readiness to embrace change. Emery immediately endeared himself to the supporters with talk of “protagonists” and “pressing”, but his inability to deliver that vision ultimately proved his undoing.
When Emery reflects on what has contributed to his sacking, his management of individual players will surely figure prominently. It’s something Arsenal ought to have been aware of after his spell at Paris Saint-Germain. Managing Neymar was obviously a unique and challenging proposition but the world’s most expensive player was not alone in falling out with Emery: Hatem Ben Arfa, Blaise Matuidi and Thiago Silva all had tempestuous relationships with the Spanish coach.
Aaron Ramsey was the first Arsenal player to raise the alarm after a pre-season meeting with Emery at London Colney in 2018. Ramsey and his agent, who were in the midst of crucial contract talks with the club, left the meeting without any improved understanding of Emery’s plans for the Welshman. Communication issues would become a key theme of Emery’s tenure in north London.
Problems with Mesut Ozil began to surface as soon as Arsenal’s third Premier League game of the 2018-19 season. The German was surprisingly absent from the squad to face West Ham, with Emery declaring him unwell with “catarrh”.
A telling exchange occurred in the post-match press conference. “When you spoke to him [Özil] on Thursday about what you wanted to see from him [against West Ham], did you plan to play him in a different position?”, Emery was asked. With a smile, Emery replied: “Maybe.” It was the first indication of a rift between the coach and his star player — a rift that would only widen over time.
The truth is that Emery and his staff were not impressed with Ozil’s attendance record or application in training. Data analysis also showed a significant difference in his physical performance in home and away games, particularly in the key measurement of “sprints when the opponent has possession of the ball”. Emery’s intention was to play a high-intensity style and, having been burned by the Neymar experience, he was determined to make Ozil bend to his will. For many Arsenal fans, Emery’s feud with Ozil became emblematic of the battle for Arsenal’s football identity. It was a tug of war between the creative midfielder and the pragmatic coach.
With Ramsey’s contract hurtling towards expiry, and Ozil out of favour, Emery set about building a team that was not reliant on their midfield talents. For a time, it seemed to be working: Arsenal embarked on a 22-match unbeaten run that included that glorious day out at Craven Cottage and a scintillating 4-2 win over Tottenham. The underlying metrics suggested Arsenal had been fortunate, relying on some excellent finishing and a hefty slice of luck, but fans were happy to go along for the ride. Results were good. Performances, it was hoped, would catch up.
Unfortunately, they didn’t. Arsenal’s unbeaten run came to an end in mid-December, after a 3-2 defeat at Southampton — a match that would have significant repercussions for Emery. An injury crisis prompted him to throw Laurent Koscielny in for his first Premier League start in seven months, just three days after his initial comeback against Qarabag. As soon as he was fit, Koscielny played four games in just 13 days.
Emery’s recklessness cost him the loyalty of his captain — and not for the last time.
That month, it emerged that Arsenal’s head of recruitment Sven Mislintat would be leaving the club. The German had been assured he would graduate to the role of technical director after Wenger’s departure, but with Raul Sanllehi staging something of an executive coup, Mislintat found himself sidelined.
That January transfer window proved costly for Emery. Rob Holding, Hector Bellerin and Danny Welbeck had all suffered season-ending injuries, yet the club were unwilling to invest substantially midway through the season. Sanllehi is openly sceptical about finding value in January, and was unwilling to embark on any significant spending without a technical director in place to coordinate squad-building.
Instead, Emery was told the club would be restricted to loan deals. He was desperate for a winger, but bids to sign Yannick Carrasco from Dalian Yifang and Ivan Perisic from Inter Milan proved fruitless. The one player Arsenal did sign in January was a personal recommendation from Emery: Denis Suarez.
The midfielder had played under Emery for Sevilla and was the subject of a concerted charm offensive from Arsenal. Emery and Sanllehi alternated calling Suarez almost daily for a period of weeks before his loan deal was completed. He arrived expecting to be a key part of Emery’s plans, but ultimately barely figured, making just six appearances in all competitions before returning to Barcelona. The deal is understood to have cost Arsenal more than €5 million.
After consultation with Emery, Sanllehi sought to replace Mislintat with Spanish recruitment specialist Monchi. Monchi and Emery had experienced great success at Sevilla, and the intention was for them to reprise their working relationship in north London. Monchi met with Arsenal twice but ultimately chose to return to his beloved Seville.
Emery will doubtless reflect on how different things might have been had Monchi come on board. Not only would Arsenal’s recruitment have been more aligned, but he would have gained an influential supporter in the boardroom. Ultimately, Arsenal appointed Edu — someone with a close friendship with Freddie Ljungberg, the man who now replaces Emery as caretaker.
Nevertheless, Arsenal remained on course to qualify for the Champions League, albeit with a very different team to the one Emery had set out to build at the start of the season. It was out with the back four and in with the back three. Ozil and Ramsey, both ostracised in Emery’s first few months, were called back into the team to cure a chronic lack of creativity.
It made Arsenal better, but it was a significant blow to Emery’s credibility. In October, Ramsey had revealed the club had withdrawn their contract offer. Now, just a few months later, Emery was utterly reliant on the Welshman. This kind of tactical volte-face became commonplace throughout Emery’s reign. If he had adhered to a singular vision, it might have earned him more credit with the Arsenal supporters. It is hard to believe in a manager who doesn’t believe in his own ideas.
A good deal of faith evaporated during Arsenal’s woeful run-in to the 2018-19 season. They limped over the line, winning just two of their final seven games — a series of results that cost them their place in the top four. The 3-2 home defeat by Crystal Palace was particularly damning. In a must-win match, Emery started with squad players including Carl Jenkinson and Mohamed Elneny. His continued faith in Shkodran Mustafi, guilty of gifting a goal to Wilfried Zaha, also proved costly.
The Palace match was notable for the fact that Emery allowed the club’s travel co-ordinator, Ameesh Manek, to give the pre-match team talk. Emery had granted various members of staff the opportunity to speak before games, as part of his belief in shared responsibility. Players and staff were said to be embarrassed, even laughing. It never happened again.
Emery had a potential “get out of jail free” card up his sleeve, in the form of the Europa League final. His expertise in that competition had been a significant factor in the decision to appoint him, and Arsenal’s semi-final triumph against Emery’s former club Valencia was one of the season’s major highlights.
Unfortunately, preparation for the final in Baku was beset with problems. Emery had refused to discuss the final with the performance team until the Premier League season was over, meaning the club was not able to plan in the requisite detail. Emery was also insistent on travelling to Baku early — two days before Chelsea. This was against the explicit wishes of several key medical personnel who felt facilities weren’t as good out in Azerbaijan.
Arsenal were comfortably beaten in Baku. Emery’s detailed preparation for games had largely enabled them to be more competitive in “big” games, but their dismal run-in had sapped the group of confidence.
After Arsenal’s failure to qualify for the Champions League, talks about a new contract were shelved. The club set about an aggressive transfer strategy, spending the money they had held back in January. Although Arsenal’s business was largely interpreted as a show of support for Emery, several decisions indicated that Emery’s priorities and those of the club were not necessarily aligned.
Emery eventually got his winger but, rather than his preferred choice of Zaha, it was Nicolas Pepe. Players who had become integral to Emery’s plans — Alex Iwobi, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Nacho Monreal — were allowed to leave, to facilitate the promotion of academy players.
Koscielny, disillusioned by being asked to play five matches between April 11 and April 24, forced his departure. When Arsenal finally splashed out on the centre-half Emery felt they desperately needed, it was for William Saliba —
a player who would be spending the next year away on loan. Arguably, Arsenal were laying the groundwork for the future rather than endorsing the current coach.
The signing Arsenal eventually made at centre-half, David Luiz, was a poor fit for Emery’s system, preferring to drop off rather than hold an aggressive high line. Luiz is also infamous for insurgence against his coaches, a trait that would rear its head just a few months into working with Emery.
Emery’s grip on the dressing room slipped further when it came to replacing Koscielny as captain. Granit Xhaka was theoretically next in line, but Emery did not move swiftly to make the appointment. Instead, he prevaricated, even discussing the captaincy with another player in the squad. By the time he ultimately plumped for Xhaka, the player felt undermined and angry. When Xhaka and the Arsenal supporters fell out in spectacular fashion after another fateful fixture against Crystal Palace, the Swiss international was as frustrated with his coach as the fans. Another delay before stripping Xhaka of the captaincy eroded Emery’s authority further still.
This season has has been a continuation of Arsenal’s appalling end to 2018-19. It is now Arsenal’s worst start to a campaign since 1992 and Emery has shown no sign of being able to reverse the slump. His tendency to fold on his plans has been more apparent than ever.
Having played the vast majority of preseason with a back four, he then reverted to a back three in November. Ozil featured regularly across the summer, was excluded from the group once the season was under way, and was then hurriedly ushered back into the team after the Palace game.
Throughout Ozil’s tussle with Emery, there has been a sense the German believed he would outlast the coach. He was right.
After pleading for a winger, Emery proceeded not to play him: Pepe did not start any of Emery’s last three games as head coach. It was hoped he could form part of an exciting front three, but the Ivorian has started alongside Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette just twice.
As Emery chopped and changed, the faith of the players waned. In training, the strain was showing and dissent became increasingly frequent. After the Carabao Cup defeat against Liverpool, Xhaka had an angry exchange with a team-mate over the result of a small-sided game. In the same week, Luiz fell out of with one of Emery’s coaching staff in front of the whole group, apparently feeling demeaned that the coach was treating him like a child by trying to teach him how to defend.
When Ainsley Maitland-Niles publicly pleaded to be spared playing out of position at right-back, Calum Chambers was asked to step in. After impressing at full-back, Chambers expressed a desire to be given a chance at centre-half. Despite his good form, he was given short shrift by Emery.
The influx of a group of younger, English players didn’t help Emery.
This contingent felt a greater affinity to Ljungberg, both on account of having worked with him before and his superior communication skills.
Privately, many players complained of simply not understanding what Emery wanted from them. Language was of course, a factor, but as the pressure role Emery’s ideas seemed to become more muddled. An expanding vocabulary did not lead to an improvement in clarity. In recent weeks, even those players who Emery would have considered his lieutenants have deserted him. Within the squad, there has been an acceptance for some weeks that a change was inevitable.
The head of football Sanllehi was initially determined not to rush into a decision, but results have made the situation untenable. Like the supporters, the Arsenal hierarchy have harboured concerns for some time with the team’s results and performances.
There has been dialogue between, Sanllehi, Edu, managing director Vinai Venkatesham and the board of directors, in particular Stan and Josh Kroenke. Sanllehi and Venkatesham had a pre-planned visit to America earlier this week, following Saturday’s 2-2 home draw against Southampton, and the conversation continued there. After consultation between the Kroenkes and other board members, the decision was made prior to the Eintracht Frankfurt game last night. Nobody knew apart from this small group.
Emery and his coaches arrived at London Colney this morning and were preparing for training as normal, only for Sanllehi to call Emery for a meeting, where they were joined by Edu and Venkatesham. The news was delivered to Emery and then his coaching staff.
On arrival at Colney, the players and backroom staff were gathered in the dressing room, where Sanllehi explained what was happening. As technical director, Edu explained why it was happening and issued a rallying call. Venkatesham reinforced the message and then Ljungberg stepped up to address the squad briefly.
In the space of 10 minutes, it was over. The players said their goodbyes individually with Emery and his Spanish coaches, and Ljungberg took to the training field to run a delayed training session at 11am.
Ljungberg is in the process of finalising his coaching group, which should be named later today. Ryan Garry, the former Arsenal defender who worked alongside Ljungberg with the under-23s, is expected to be in contention for a role.
The search for a permanent successor is on, but the club have high confidence in Ljungberg. The Swede is fully qualified and has his UEFA Pro Licence. Arsenal want to find the best candidate to help them achieve their ambitions of returning to the Champions League and competing for trophies. That will mean being thorough and, given the faith in Ljungberg, there is no sense of panic.
It is not impossible that the Swede could take the job full-time but, regardless, he is viewed as a crucial part of the club. He was made assistant first-team coach for a reason and one of the reasons is because he was deemed capable of stepping in as head coach if that moment arrived.
Emery is said to have taken the news in a professional, respectful and understanding manner — the manner in which he has conducted himself throughout his time with the club. He has departed the training ground and he and the club will now go their separate ways. With a reign lasting just 18 months, Emery the “protagonist” has been relegated to a relatively minor role in the story of Arsenal football club.
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