Arsenal have sacked manager Unai Emery following the disastrous sequence of results that culminated in Thursday’s 2-1 home defeat to Eintracht Frankfurt in the Europa League in front of a largely empty Emirates Stadium.
The club’s board had publicly
backed their manager during the recent international break saying he was “the
right man for the job” but that “things need to improve”. However Saturday’s
toxic 2-2 draw with struggling Southampton and Thursday’s Europa League defeat
seem to have forced their hand and Freddie Ljungberg will take temporary charge
of the team.
Arsenal board member Josh Kroenke
said: “Our most sincere thanks go to Unai and his colleagues who were unrelenting
in their efforts to get the club back to competing at the level we all expect
and demand. We wish Unai and his team nothing but future success.
“The decision has been taken due
to results and performances not being at the level required,” said the son of
the majority shareholder, Stan Kroenke, speaking on behalf of the board. “We
have asked Freddie Ljungberg to take responsibility for the first team as
interim head coach. We have full confidence in Freddie to take us forward.
“The search for a new head coach
is under way and we will make a further announcement when that process is
complete.”
Emery’s dismissal would come as
no surprise to the Arsenal squad, a number of whom have made little effort to
hide their dissatisfaction with the regime in recent weeks. Communication
issues, rather than any personal animus with the head coach, are believed to be
the significant factor in that and Ljungberg’s clarity would be welcomed by a
team that has struggled to understand much of what Emery is demanding.
Emery lasted only 18 months in
the role, having been the club’s choice to succeed Arsène Wenger in May 2018
after the Frenchman’s 22-year tenure.
Emery’s first season saw Arsenal
finish sixth after seemingly having a top-four place within their grasp at
Easter, and also losing the Europa League final 4-1 to Chelsea in Baku.
That poor form from April and May
has carried on into the new campaign, with just four wins from 13 Premier
League games and a recent run of seven winless matches that has seen Emery’s
side slip to eighth, and eight points adrift of the top four.
There has been widespread
discontent among supporters, and the 48-year-old Spaniard’s handling of the
recent Granit Xhaka situation and that of the club captaincy have drawn plenty
of criticism, as had the long-term problem surrounding the management of Mesut
Özil.
Ljungberg, the former midfielder
who was part of Arsenal’s Premier League title-winning teams of 2002 and 2004,
only became part of the first-team setup in the summer, having returned to the
club as under-23s coach in the summer of 2018.
The 42-year-old Swede has no
previous managerial experience, having spent six months as assistant coach at
the German club Wolfsburg in 2017-18, but will take charge of the team for
Sunday’s game at Norwich, with a home game against Brighton to follow on
Thursday.
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