Jose Mourinho’s woes at Manchester United have given Unai Emery time to find his feet at Arsenal
Gunners supporters have every reason to be giving the thumbs up to the Manchester United boss
ARSENAL fans have not had too much to thank Jose Mourinho for over the years.
But for once, they have every reason to be giving the thumbs up to the Manchester United boss.
And while they are at it, Manchester City chief Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool have done the Gunners a bit of a favour as well.
OK, it has hardly been through choice — certainly in the case of Portuguese Mourinho.
But between them, those three allowed Unai Emery to stay in the shadows for the start of his Arsenal reign.
All the spotlight for the past month has been on Mourinho. Before that it was very much on how Guardiola and Klopp were going to battle it out for the Premier League title.
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And that meant Emery could largely get on with it at the Emirates without the glare of the spotlight on his every move.
Yes, I know he copped a bit when he lost his first two games as Arsenal manager, but against Manchester City and Chelsea it was hardly the greatest surprise.
Since then he has gone about his business meticulously and methodically — and chalked up a very impressive NINE wins on the bounce.
I know, as plenty will be quick to point out, they haven’t all been against the toughest of opponents, on paper at least.
But there is also that old adage about only being able to beat what is in front of you.
And whether you are expected to win or not, you still have to do so.
Weren’t United expected to beat Brighton and West Ham?
Weren’t Tottenham expected to put a hatful past Cardiff on Saturday? The Premier League doesn’t work like that. So don’t let anyone talk down what Spaniard Emery has achieved over the past couple of months at the Emirates.
I’m not getting carried away and suggesting all of a sudden Arsenal are champions in waiting.
But I am certainly enjoying the ride at the moment — and every Gunners supporter should be doing the same.
Look, not being under the microscope might not have made the slightest difference to how things have gone but it has certainly not done any harm.
What Unai is doing is trying to change the whole philosophy going forward, and he is doing it very, very well indeed.
I know other clubs looked at taking him in the past and chose not to for various reasons. I heard the suggestion that his English wasn’t the best as one of those reasons, but that is just nonsensical these days.
Don’t get me wrong, though, I’m delighted the rest chose not to take a punt, or he wouldn’t have ended up managing the club I love.
To be honest, I’d be surprised if Emery himself isn’t glad, in hindsight, to have had to wait for his chance in the Premier League because he is at a massive, massive club now.
Yes, the expectations are higher than they would be at most others, too.
But as a player or a boss, you’d sooner have the pressure of trying to win things than be battling at the other end.
We all know that a decent percentage of football fans are either feast or famine. It has to be either brilliant or terrible, there’s no middle ground.
People will look at the opponents Arsenal have beaten — like Newcastle, Cardiff, Brentford in the Carabao Cup and a couple of European minnows — and say ‘so what?’.
But putting five past Fulham on their own patch is no mean feat. Nineteen goals in eight league games isn’t too shabby either — only City have more.
Throw in the Carabao Cup and Europa League and the Gunners are actually the top-scoring team in the top flight, so they have not been short of excitement.
Tougher tests lie ahead, naturally, and the next couple of months in which they play Liverpool, Wolves, Spurs and United will tell us lots.
Past experience shows that if they lose a couple of them, the critics will be on Arsenal like a ton of bricks.
But it is easier to go into a run like that with the confidence and momentum that winning brings.
So I wouldd tell everyone to enjoy the ride and hope it does not slow down just yet.