Arsenal sack Emery and name 'invincible' Ljungberg as interim boss

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Arsenal sack Emery and name 'invincible' Ljungberg as interim boss

 

Soccer Football - Europa League - Group F - Arsenal v Eintracht Frankfurt - Emirates Stadium, London, Britain - November 28, 2019 Arsenal manager Unai Emery looks dejected REUTERS/Eddie Keogh

 

LONDON (Reuters) - Arsenal have sacked manager Unai Emery after the Premier League club's worst run in more than a quarter of a century and appointed former player and fans' favourite Freddie Ljungberg as interim coach, the Premier League club announced on Friday.

 

Emery's final match in charge was Thursday's 2-1 Europa League home defeat by German side Eintracht Frankfurt which extended their winless run in all competitions to seven games, the worst streak since February 1992 under George Graham.

 

"It has been a year and a half full of emotions, of great moments and some other more bitter ones," Emery said in a letter to the fans published on the club's website https://www.arsenal.com/news/letter-thanks-arsenal.

 

"But not a single day has gone by without me stopping to think about how lucky I have been to work for this club with these players and their professional and personal qualities."

 

Spaniard Emery succeeded Arsene Wenger in May 2018 and took Arsenal to the Europa League final last year but frustration with their erratic league form this season has grown, with the team sitting eighth in the table with 18 points from 13 games.

 

"The decision has been taken due to results and performances not being at the level required," the club said in a statement https://www.arsenal.com/news/unai-emery-leaves-club.

 

"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."

 

Ljungberg, a member of Wenger's "Invincibles" team that went an entire season unbeaten en route to the 2003-04 Premier League title, was appointed assistant coach in June and will now take over while the club searches for a new head coach.

 

While Arsenal can still reach the Europa League knockout stages, supporters at a half-empty Emirates Stadium made their anger known on Thursday by booing the Spaniard, with a handful of them holding up cards saying "Emery Out".

 

Josh Kroenke, on behalf of the club's owners Kroenke Sports & Entertainment, 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 48-year-old Emery, who won the Europa League three times with Sevilla, failed to lead Arsenal back into the Champions League after finishing fifth in the league and missing out on qualifying by losing 4-1 in the Europa League final to Chelsea.

 

"To all of you who have supported us from every corner of the globe, all of you who have come to the Emirates, all of you who have waited in the rain and cold just to greet me after a game. I want to tell all of you that I have worked with passion, with commitment and with effort," Emery added in his letter.

 

(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar and Rohith Nair in Bengaluru; additional reporting by Karolos Grohmann; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Ken Ferris)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-11-30

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Arsenal ditch Emery: Who is next?

David Buckley

 

Poch and Unai are gone. Could Manuel Pellegrini be next? Pictures: Commons Wikimedia

 

Three former players and Poch are in the frame. Who would your money be on?

 

So, the moral of the current London football story seems to be … if you reach a European final, you’d better win it! Last week Spurs decided to ditch Mauricio Pochettino who had led them to the Champions League final the previous season. Now, Europa League finalists Arsenal have dumped Unai Emery. I don’t think we can draw a direct line between those Euro defeats and the departures of the two, but I think it’s fair to say that, had either of them triumphed, they would be bullet-proof this season pretty much whatever their results.

 

Instead, at the time of writing, Arsenal sit eighth in the Premiership with 18 points and Spurs are two places and one point behind them. Both in the top half of the table – hardly failure, or is it? The expectations and pressures placed on football managers are getting crazy. Last season the two north London teams finished fourth (Spurs) and fifth (the Gunners).

 

Ask the fans of Crystal Palace (currently 13th) and West Ham (17th) if they would take that sort of ‘failure’ and they would probably bite your hand off. Indeed, it would surprise no one if the Irons manager Manuel Pellegrini were next for the chop given that they sit just one slot above the relegation places. The prospect of the London Stadium hosting Championship matches next season sounds a footballing (and financial) disaster to me.

 

Pellegrini is 3-1 to be fired next with one bookmaker, just a short way behind Everton boss Marco Silva. Pellegrini has a decent CV including, of course, the trophies won while with Manchester City. For that matter, Emery was no slouch before he arrived at the Emirates (especially in the Europa League, winning it three years on the bounce). Poch, of course, hasn’t won anything.

 

What of the other London Premiership managers? I expect Roy Hodson to leave Palace when he has had enough and I feel Frank Lampard, thanks to Chelsea’s transfer ban, has a year “free from criticism” in which to experiment. He’s making a good job of it so far given Chelsea lie fourth.

 

Who will replace Emery? All sorts of names are being lobbed into the mix. Even Pochettino, though it is hard to imagine a former Spurs manager being made welcome. To the best of my knowledge only two managers have held the top job at both London clubs since the war. Terry Neill was one of them. He went straight from the Spurs to the Gunners. The other was George Graham who moved in the opposite direction, but spent a couple of seasons at Leeds in between.

 

Sportsmail columnist and former Arsenal centre-back Martin Keown last week said he believed Arsenal should consider appointing Pochettino.

 

Full story: https://londoninspire.co.uk/arsenal-ditch-emery-who-is-next/

 

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[Burma Bill]

Who is next? - possibly Marco Silva at Everton.

[owl sees all]

On 12/2/2019 at 11:36 AM, Burma Bill said:

Who is next? - possibly Marco Silva at Everton.

Bang on the money there Bill. 

 

At the beginning of the season I did five premier clubs on Sporting Index:

 

Chelsea

Leicester

Villa

Wolves

Everton

 

How a team like Everton, with the talent they have in their squad can do so badly is beyond me. Must have been something seriously wrong at the club.

 

Who is next Bill?