After Arsenal’s capitulation saw them throw away a two-goal lead against the side bottom of the table, Unai Emery’s Arsenal future came in to sharp focus, so should Arsenal trigger his break clause?
Unai Emery signed a three-year contract with Arsenal last summer but the club smartly inserted a two-year break clause meaning they could terminate the Spaniard’s deal a year early if they thought things weren’t working out.
Scoring fewer goals and conceding more, it certainly looks like Emery is struggling to make things better than what we saw under Wenger.
We're five games in having played Newcastle, Burnley, and Watford and have a 0 goal difference despite having Aubayemang, Lacazette, Ceballos, Ozil, and Pepe in the squad.
Zero.
— Daily Cannon (@DailyCannon) September 16, 2019
Matt Hughes, writing in a Times’ exclusive [£] back in June 2018, said, “Unai Emery’s contract at Arsenal contains a break clause that can be triggered after two seasons, enabling the club to dismiss him one year early.
“The Times has learnt that the club can invoke the clause without paying up the full value of his contract.”
While Arsenal were hoping that Emery could stay long-term and build yet another era at the club, they were realistic when they offered him a deal and that is a good thing. There was no David Moyes-style six-year deals handed out.
Thank goodness…
Since Unai Emery took charge, Arsenal have faced 115 shots on target away from home in the Premier League.
Burnley are the only team to have faced more (117).
— Jake Entwistle (@JakeEntwistle) September 15, 2019
Arsenal have faced 96 shots this season, more than any other side in the PL, Serie A, La Liga, Ligue 1 & the Bundesliga. Some effort that.
— Duncan Alexander (@oilysailor) September 15, 2019
Good question: Derby 2007-08 faced 82 shots in their first five games, so Arsenal are +14https://t.co/TMSKQnZcCh
— Duncan Alexander (@oilysailor) September 15, 2019
It would seem to me that, to fix this, Unai Emery needs to do something he has failed to do at all his clubs – change his ways.
If you’d like to know more about that, I heartily recommend this thread:
Let me explain this picture for the 13737373th time.
– Unai Emery had a 1-goal lead against 10 men.
– The 10 men equalized, then got another red.
– Against 9-men, Unai Emery’s 11 men went from 1-1 to 1-4.
– Then got a late goal to make it 2-4.Now, look at the players Unai had. https://t.co/5VaSlfmJ07
— Slake (@Cerebrone) September 15, 2019
Unai Emery had a team with Baraja, Silva, Mata, Joaquin and Villa but refused to try to keep the ball against NINE men. I’m not kidding. He told his players to hoof it.
They hoofed it randomly. And whenever Madrid picked up the ball, they funneled it to Robben.
— Slake (@Cerebrone) September 15, 2019
I was screaming “DON’T HOOF THE BALL BACK TO THEM FFS” every 20 seconds.
Bro, I nearly died. Just so you know, Unai Emery did this at my club for 4 years. This game was just his second game as Valencia manager. Imagine what I went through.
— Slake (@Cerebrone) September 15, 2019
But when I was saying things about this man, many were calling me bitter and throwing “he won 3 Europa League titles” in my face. I get it. He won stuff. I admit too that he’s a very good manager *on his day*. And he deserves credit for his trophies.
— Slake (@Cerebrone) September 15, 2019
Ah. One final detail. Unai used to park the bus from the 50th minute, with a 1 goal lead…against teams battling relegation…
At home.
— Slake (@Cerebrone) September 15, 2019