Unai Emery revisionism at Arsenal has to stop

As if the mood around Arsenal couldn’t be any gloomier, those tuning in to the midweek Champions League action saw Dani Ceballos and one Unai Emery advance to the semi-finals of the competition.

At a point where Mikel Arteta has come under severe criticism for the tactical plan he put in place in the demoralising 2-1 defeat to Brighton last time out, the man he replaced has guided Villarreal to the last four of the competition for just the second time in their history.

Securing a shock 1-0 home win over European titans Bayern Munich in the first leg, the Spanish side then went one better as they stunned their hosts with Samuel Chukwueze’s late strike cancelling out Robert Lewandowski’s opener to secure their progression.

It was another remarkable night in continental competitions for Emery, whose unparalleled success in the Europa League has been built on to book a semi-final clash with one of Liverpool or Benfica.

Unai Emery revisionism at Arsenal has to stop as Villarreal reach Champions League semi-finals with historic win over Bayern Munich

And so begins the revisionism. It’s inevitable. In the same vein of #ArtetaOut trending after every single defeat, previously dormant opinions on how Arsenal were wrong to sack Emery when they did bubble to the surface.

There is truth in the statement that Arsenal were wrong to sack Emery when they did: they should have sacked him sooner.

Arsenal were heading nowhere under the Spaniard. There was no direction, nor a tactical plan that was sustainable or in any way cohesive. A total lack of clarity in how he projected his ideas onto the players was borne out of weekly changing formations and personnel. He completely lost the dressing room. When a manager does that there is no turning back.

From around this time of the year in 2019 it was all going downhill. The signs were there. While it’s important to reference mitigating factors such as his transfers being overruled and the unfavourable situations surrounding Granit Xhaka and Mesut Ozil, the point very strongly remains.

The bottom line is that it wasn’t the right fit, for either party. Much in the way Romelu Lukaku has the capacity to be one of the best strikers in Europe, that won’t be the case at Chelsea. It’s not a difficult concept to grasp.

Emery is someone who when he has the buy-in from the players can achieve great things. He’s won four out of five Europa League final appearances, which is a truly tremendous achievement, and perhaps the fact his only defeat in those instances came at a side where he was outside his native Spain played a part. He is a man perfectly aligned with clubs like Sevilla and Villarreal. They are the perfect fit for him.

But to be revisionist as so many have in the wake of a Champions League quarter-final tie where Villarreal scored two goals with their only two shots on target across 180 minutes is being disingenuous. Also, so much of the discourse casually glosses over that Villarreal are seventh in La Liga and eight points adrift of the European places with eight matches left to play. They finished seventh last season, too.

A rip-roaring success in Europe and off the pace domestically? That sounds familiar.

For his and the Spanish club’s sake, it’s brilliant to see him and his side topple a giant on the biggest stage and create more history. Nobody should have doubted him; he’s an excellent coach.

What he wasn’t, as if this need reminding for the hundredth time, was the right coach for Arsenal. It’s really that simple.