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Unai Emery has been sacked as Arsenal head coach 18 months after taking charge. The Spaniard, who made a name for himself at Sevilla after leading the Andalusian club to 3 Europa League titles, went on to join Paris Saint-Germain where he gave them domestic success and was subsequently appointed as the Gunners boss in May 2018.
His time at The Emirates was never a smooth one and things took a turn for the worse in recent times. Arsenal went for 7 games without a victory after having lost 1-2 to Eintracht Frankfurt at home in the Europa League. This was their worst run of form since February 1992 when the streak lasted for 8 games under George Graham. The Europa League defeat was enough to put a nail in the coffin for Emery’s time at The Emirates. Former Arsenal midfielder Freddie Ljungberg who worked as an assistant at the club has taken over on an interim basis.
There are many names being discussed as who can take over at the Emirates on a long term basis. Wolverhampton Wanderers coach Nuno Espirito Santo is one of the favourites to take over the job. Here are 3 reasons as to why the Portuguese coach will be a success at the Emirates.
1. Good in setting up backlines
As seen from his stints at Valencia and Wolverhampton Wanderers, Nuno pays specific attention to the backline and usually favours a 3 man backline which can be converted to 5 man defense when they are facing opposition attacks. He has also fielded a conservative 5 man backline against teams with huge firepower upfront and implements these formations with pretty compact on-field player positions. This helps the team to defend in numbers and chase the ball when they are not in possession.
The number of defenders at the back helps in building the game from the back. All said and done, he’s tactically versatile and used to prefer a 4-3-3 or a 4-2-3-1 in his Valencia days and relied on a great amount of pressing by the players to help the team dispossess opposition sides. At Porto, he preferred a 4-4-2 which implies he relies on the strengths of the teams to implement formations on the field and Arsenal could greatly benefit from this.
2. His counter-attacking prowess could work wonders at the Emirates
A typical aspect of Nuno Espirito Santo’s team is counter attacks. They generally attack through the middle and this helps in the creation of many turnovers. The midfielders always look to put in diagonal balls for the wingers or wingbacks to exploit the space created by the opposition.
Arsenal have a tremendous amount of pace, physicality and goal-scoring threat upfront in the form of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Alexandre Lacazette and Nicolas Pepe. They’ve also got promising youngsters like Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka. Plus the likes of Hector Bellerin and Kieran Tierney provide a lot of width and pace as fullbacks.
The likes of Xhaka, Guendouzi, Ceballos, and Torreira will give him enough choices to pick up and form a stable midfield. All of these players make Nuno the perfect person to take over the reins at the Emirates. He will get the required pace and technicality upfront to exploit opposition defences and score goals.
3. Connection with Jorge Mendes helps in building a good squad
Portuguese super-agent Jorge Mendes and Nuno Espirito Santo are old friends. The 45-year-old Portuguese manager was Mendes’s first-ever client. Arsenal have Raul Sanllehi at their decision-making levels and he was brought in due to his contacts in the world of football. The Gunners are through a transition and Nuno’s connection with Mendes might turn out to be very crucial as Arsenal look to build for the long term.
Mendes’s influence was visible at Valencia as he was instrumental in the signings of Goncalo Guedes and Rodrigo. The combination of Mendes and Sanllehi might turn out to be a huge boost for the Gunners in the transfer market and give them the players of their choice in their pursuit of a rebuild.
The coming days and weeks will make the picture clearer as to who’ll be in charge of Arsenal in the long run.
