Arsenal: Unai Emery’s learning curve may not be so steep after all

Arsenal will undoubtedly have to be patient with Unai Emery as he learns his way about the club, but maybe it won’t be as long a wait as some think.

Whoever followed Arsene Wenger as the manager of Arsenal was always going to be up against it. Wenger casts a massive shadow, no matter your opinion of him, and it is a huge ask for anyone to carry on where he left off, after he did so much for the club and for the league in general.

The main goal was not to David Moyes it. Manchester United, when faced with the same task, turned to Moyes, and then a series of other managers, all expecting the glory to carry on right where it left off. But again, that is massively unrealistic.

As such, it’s pretty much an accepted fact that there is going to be a learning curve for Unai Emery to get his bearings at the club. Which is good, because he is going to need it. Arsenal is a massive club with hungry fans.

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That said, I’m not convinced that his learning curve is going to be as big as some thing. Many have cited Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp as examples of new, well-known managers that needed time to acclimate and make the team their own. Those are good examples, for sure, but there is a key difference between them and where Emery finds himself in terms of philosophy.

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Klopp and Guardiola both spent gobs of money filling the club with their own types of players. Emery is less inclined to do that.

By his own admission, Emery is keen on building around the players that Arsenal already have, and maximizing the talent inherent in those players.

Sources close to the interviewing process have also indicated that Emery knew more about the team and its players than personnel who have been at the club for years. So maybe the whole “getting to know the players” won’t take as long either.

The point is, it really does feel as though Emery is here to do one thing – motivate/light a fire. That is what has been highlighted as his main ability and that doesn’t take nearly as long to do as building from scratch.

After all, look at some of these players that are currently not in the Champions League. They won’t stand for that long. So either Emery motivates them to get back into the competition, or he will have to undergo a rebuilding down the road.

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The pieces are here. Very few additions need to be made. We don’t need to spend £200m on fullbacks. Just get the best out of the players we have. That shouldn’t take long, right?