Arsenal: Edu, Raul Sanllehi must show their mettle

Under directors Raul Sanllehi and Edu, Arsenal were run with ruthless efficiency this summer. Now, they must show their mettle once more regarding the future of head coach Unai Emery.

Arsenal’s season is spiralling out of control. That may seem like an overstatement, a little dramatic for the state of the campaign thus far. After all, it is only just November. But given the present form of the team and their depreciating standing in the table, it is beginning to look a little precarious, to say the least.

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And there is only one man to blame. Unai Emery has not navigated a smart campaign thus far. Poor selections, tactical confusion, a lack of clarity, definition and focus, at present, the Gunners are a good team, poorly coached, playing badly, and that is the responsibility of the coach.

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After the latest underwhelming performance and result, Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Wolves, squandering yet another lead at the Emirates Stadium, Emery revealed his inept coaching perspectives. When asked to assess his side’s display, he was curiously positive:

"“We worked on different tactical situations well today. We didn’t concede a lot of chances on the transition. We created some chances to score the second but we needed to be more efficient in those actions. When we were winning 1-0 we knew in one moment they could score and they did. But we controlled the match a lot like we prepared <…> The result is a bad result, but tactically I think we worked how we wanted.”"

It was an odd analysis of a game in which his team was outshot 25 to ten, but that is Emery’s perspective, and it is an extremely concerning one indeed.

In the same post-match press conference, Emery was asked about his future. He swerved past the question rather emphatically:

"“I am very demanding of myself. I feel every time my responsibility to work and to come back from the result with the next matches.”"

But as the season unravels and the ultimate goal of a top-four finish seeps away, Arsenal must take the responsibility into their own hands. While Emery may be in charge of the team, the club, specifically head of football Raul Sanllehi and technical director Edu Gaspar, is in charge of Emery and they will make the decision on whether he continues as the head coach. It is a decision that is surely now looming — at the very least, it should be looming.

If Leicester City win their game-in-hand on Sunday, Arsenal will slip to six points off the top-four pace. They then travel to Leicester next weekend. They will be underdogs. If they lose, they could well fall to nine points behind with a best possible goal difference of 0. Suddenly, the season is on the line.

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The time to sack Emery might not yet be here. That is still up for debate. But if results continue to worsen, it is not long around the corner. And when it comes, Edu and Sanllehi must not hesitate. They must be willing to make the difficult decision. They will have to show their mettle. A top-four finish could well depend on it, and you do not need me to tell you how important that is.

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