The
sacking of Unai Emery by Arsenal just 18 months into his contract was a move that went against
history. This was a team that resisted calls to remove Arsene Wenger for years
as the club stayed in the top six without promising much. The decision to make
Freddie Ljungberg as interim coach has surprised many.
I’ve been an Arsenal fan for as long as I can remember and so
for me, this rapid change in managers is a strange feeling. However, I feel
that Unai ran his course at Arsenal and has nothing more to offer. I’m quietly
confident in Freddie and Per taking over and hopefully we can turn things
around before the end of the season. Once a Gunner, Always a Gunner!
SULLIVAN NORONHA, Journalist
I think Emery wasn’t the right fit at Arsenal. The club didn’t
grow with him at the helm. I think Freddie can make a difference , the players
look up to him and will definitely want to prove their worth. However, I do see
Arsenal bringing an experienced manager in to steady the ship. No transition is
easy. Manchester United fans know that first hand. After 22 years of Arsene
Wenger, any manager would find it difficult to step into such big shoes.
KURT BENTO ,writer and consultant
Despite having a great start with Arsenal, Unai lost it all
towards the end of last season and the start of this season. Taking into
account the last 15-20 games, we were not even mediocre and in latest fixtures,
we were showing relegation form. It is not the results that was worrying but
the way we played that was unappealing too. These things considered it had to
be done. And to sum it up for the quote “ Emery’s rocket took up pretty fast
but it was crash landing and it had to be done to avoid a major accident”
NILESH HEGDE, Law student, Arsenal Fan
It was always going to be difficult replacing Wenger, Emery
tried his best but ultimately he wasn’t that great enough to players as well as
to fans. The fans feel that the decision taken by management is good enough but
it all depends on how Freddie lungberg will cope up with the situation
– AMEYA ALLEHOLKAR Arsenal Supporters Group Goa
No win in 7 games, killed arsenal football, lost fan support,.
There were no tactics and lost players. This led to empty stadiums.The sacking
was inevitable. Missing out on a Champions league spot last year was major
setback for Unai and there was no improvement this year after spending more
than £100m on new signings. Unai was not even the favourite to take over
arsenal when he was appointed as Arsenal manager. However It was great to see
Freddie was made as interim head coach as he has that potential to become a
successful manager. He has done well as u-23 coach. I expect things to turn in
the following weeks.
CHAITANYA
PRABHUGOANKAR, Arsenalites Social media group
Filling
for Wenger was a huge pair of shoes to fill for Unai Emery. He had a very decent start though. Somewhere between his
tactics and man management, he lost the plot. I heard he had a fallout with
Ozil too. By appointing Freddie one thing is clear, the Arsenal board are
clearly not sure of what they want.
CONRAD BARRETO, Administrator, The Football Dug Out, Goa’s biggest football
community on Facebook
