The dawn of a new era at Arsenal is almost upon us, as Unai Emery kicks off his tenure when his side face Manchester City on Sunday afternoon.
To call the coming months a period of change and transition would be an understatement, but that will by no means be an excuse for potential shortcomings on the competitive front.
After all, Emery has laid out £70m on new players – and given how quickly Arsenal seemed to get the business done, he surely has a mastermind plan up his sleeve.
That’s not to say that Arsenal are ready to go toe-to-toe with runaway champions City, or even the likes of Manchester United and Liverpool, now they’ve FINALLY got rid of that Arsene bloke.
But Arsenal will either play out a successful or unsuccessful season, and if and when the penny drops that the latter is again occurring, the same old fans will get up from their armchairs, probably call for the manager’s head against their better judgment and find a suitable media platform near the stadium to vent their frustrations, probably on the back of a morale-boosting victory – not that it will stop them.
So what are we looking for? Finding a consensus between Arsenal fans is hardly likely (until this Stan Kroenke news came along, perhaps), and opinion will undoubtedly be divided right up until the start of next season, when impartial positivity reigns supreme as always.
Without wanting to proclaim that I speak for the majority, the bare minimum must be a return to the Champions League. Feel-good factors are all well and good, and the race will surely be tighter than it was last year – but even a slight improvement in results probably won’t be good enough to worry our rivals.
Taking advantage of the Europa League could be a blessing in disguise for Arsenal if done properly – especially up until February while the competition is just full of dross – and the Premier League campaign could benefit from that. And if there’s a guy who knows a thing or two about taking care of the Europa League, it’s Emery.
Cups would be nice but fans’ happiness will most likely be determined by the league standing. Obviously, the fact that I’ve subconsciously referred to cups as being ‘nice’ suggests that maybe we just all need a little perspective.
That said, none of this “it’s only a game”, or “better luck next year” type of bull will be tolerated on these pages, or indeed by myself in person. If you ever have the undeniable misfortune of witnessing yours truly during an Arsenal game, you’ll realise I’m a get involved or get lost kind of guy. After the World Cup, I can’t bring myself to talk any more about bloody rules and regulations to people who won’t see another football match within this decade. Anyway, rant over.
The act of replacing Arsene Wenger was never going to equal success on its own, it was merely a step in the right direction. Arsenal aren’t going to become title challengers just because some Spanish guy’s mate has come in and shouted at the players in his native tongue during training drills.
Wenger’s departure has released a sense of freedom. Either that, or Arsenal’s PR team have done a great job focussing on the team spirit – which is either always there or not talked about – and from whatever way you look at it, you realise that we, as onlookers, will understandably tie squad apathy and Arsene Wenger together, regardless of whether he instilled that spirit we see now in the first place.
But the departure of big names can have positive effects. It always hurts to bring it up, but the year that Thierry Henry left for Barcelona in 2007/08, we should’ve won the league. Changes like this allow new people and new ideas to come to the fore, and Arsenal should embrace all of these to breed success.
Emery has three years to get his Arsenal project on the right track. It would be some achievement to hit the ground running and deliver instant success with this squad, but it would be arguably a far more difficult feat to take a step backwards. Good times are coming as long as the fans, staff and the board all pull together to make it work.
What’s that? Ivan Gazidis is off to Milan and Stan Kroenke is preparing a full takeover and Emery is sending a defender out on loan for no reason? Bloody hell. It’s going to be another long season, folks.
Kroenke Out. Come On You Reds!
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