Well, maybe former Arsenal manager Unai Emery isn’t so bad after all?
The Spaniard led Villarreal to a 1-0 victory over Bayern Munich in the first leg a Champions League quarter-final last night.
A draw at the Allianz Arena next week would see the sacked Arsenal boss take his troops into the semi-final of the competition.
Emery was dismissed as Gunners’ head coach in November of 2019 following a seven-match winless streak – their worst run without a victory since 1992 at the time [BBC Sport]
There’s no doubt that things were looking grim at Arsenal under the 50-year-old at the time.
Emery’s last game as Arsenal boss was a 2-1 home defeat by Eintracht Frankfurt in the Europa League and here’s how the Spaniard lined up on the night:
Arsenal XI in Emery last game
Martinez; Mustafi, Luiz, Sokratis; Chambers, Xhaka, Willock, Tierney; Martinelli, Saka, Aubameyang
Seven of those players are no longer at Arsenal, with most of them being culled by Emery’s successor Mikel Arteta.
Shkodran Mustafi, David Luiz, Calum Chambers, Sokratis Papastathopoulos and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang all left the North Londoners for free, with the club receiving transfer fees for Emilian Martinez and Joe Willock off Aston Villa and Newcastle United respectively.
The only players still at Arsenal from Emery’s final game is Granit Xhaka, Kieran Tierney, Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka.
Arteta receives a lot of credit for Martinelli and Saka’s form, but this XI is evidence that actually, both were well on their way to becoming Gunners stars prior to the 40-year-old’s appointment.
Emery, who won a Europa League with Villarreal last season, is clearly a very fine football manager.
And had Arsenal given him the patience that Arteta has received in North London then maybe, just maybe, they’ll have benefitted.
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