Top 10 Arsenal Manager Candidates

Top 10 Arsenal Manager Candidates

James Caughlin

Well that didn’t work out how anyone had hoped, Unai Emery has been sacked by Arsenal after less than a season and a half having been given the unenviable job of replacing club legend Arsene Wenger.

It’s a tough gig for whoever takes over next, with plenty of money tied up in the current squad making a much needed overhaul pretty difficult.

Of course, being the guy who replaces the guy who succeeded THE guy is a hell of a lot easier than being the guy who succeeded THE guy.

Whoever takes over will at least be able to say, “hey, I’m not Emery” to try and appease one of the most reactionary fanbases in Europe with “[insert manager’s name here] OUT” signs just waiting for the first slip up.

We’ve come up some potential candidates to replace the Spaniard at the Emirates as they try to return the Gunners to Premier League title contenders (Editor’s note: yeah, good luck with that).

1 – Mauricio Pochettino

PROS

  • Ex-Tottenham boss, took them to the Champions League Final last season
  • North London Derbies get even more interesting
  • Will come in with a clear approach in terms of playing style

CONS

  • Has become accustomed to playing in the Champions League over the last few seasons, not the Europa League
  • Didn’t actually win anything of note with Spurs
  • Do Arsenal really want to hire an ex-Spurs boss?
  • Then there’s this…

2 – Mikel Arteta

PROS

  • Former Arsenal player, still very popular with the fans
  • Current assistant to Pep Guardiola, not a bad mentor to have
  • Will always have perfect hair no matter what the weather

CONS

  • Would be his first ever top flight managerial gig
  • If you’re going with an ex-player, is he the best option? At least he doesn’t age

3 – Nuno Espirito Santo

PROS

  • Current manager of Wolves
  • One of the favourites in the betting markets
  • Brought Wolves up from the Championship

CONS

  • Would be the biggest club he’s managed
  • Wolves would argue he’s more likely to succeed in charge of them

4 – Freddie Ljungberg

PROS

  • Current interim manager
  • Coached the club’s under 23 side
  • Played under Wenger when the side won lots of trophies
  • Could bring back the old Arsenal style of trying to walk the ball into the net

CONS

  • Could bring back the old Arsenal style of trying to walk the ball into the net
  • Could be another edition of Ole at United if he gets the job after being an interim manager

5 – Erik Ten Hag

PROS

  • Masterminded Ajax’s run in the Champions League last season
  • Johann Cruyff disciple
  • Could totally pull off a Walter White costume at the Christmas party

CONS

  • Questionable in-game management not knowing when to sit on a lead
  • Might not be able to get him until June
  • Is not actually Walter White
  • Has some bad memories against English sides, most recently this one

6 – Brendan Rodgers

PROS

  • Can coach
  • Loves to put out attacking sides, might find a way to score 5 goals per game
  • Had a brief flash of success when at Liverpool

CONS

  • If you thought Arsenal struggled to defend now…
  • Probably sees this as a good step on the “Cesc Fabregas Path” to managing Barcelona or something
  • Staying at Leicester is probably more appealing right now

7 – Diego Simeone

PROS

  • Great manager to try and shore up the Gunners defence
  • Could play the underdog card

CONS

  • Arsenal are allergic to defending well
  • He may throttle Mustafi mid-match within a month of being hired

8 – Thomas Tuchel

PROS

  • Did a decent job succeeding Klopp at Dortmund
  • Already replaced Emery once at PSG

CONS

  • They hired the last guy off a spell at PSG & that didn’t go well
  • Already considered for Arsenal last time
  • Plenty of commentators would butcher his surname (get ready for “Too-chell”)

9 – Ange Postecoglou

PROS

  • Actually a pretty good coach
  • Would fit right in with the Arsenal style of play, remember the Roarcelona days?
  • Could bring the best out of Mesut Ozil
  • Arsene Wenger came to the Premier League from Japan
  • Would piss off Robbie Slater to no end

CONS

  • Highest club level coached is in the J-League
  • Might not appreciate the British press
  • South Melbourne will start demanding a place in the Premier League

10 – Piers Morgan

PROS

  • Arsenal fan
  • Well known name, albeit for being loud
  • … actually that’s about it

CONS

  • Kind of an idiot
  • Would be too busy tweeting how rubbish the players are mid-match instead of actually coaching
  • Would last a fortnight at most before saying something in a press conference that would get him fired

No we are not putting one of his tweets here, we have standards… plus we couldn’t decide which one was the funniest.

BONUS – Arsene Wenger

PROS

  • Maybe he wasn’t so bad after all
  • Knows the club
  • We haven’t seen enough “Wenger Out” memes

CONS

  • Have you ever gone back to an ex?
  • If you thought he was smug before…
  • AFTV will get even more unbearable