Klaus wrote:
I think we're going to struggle for top four too; not so much because of the players but because of Emery.
All things considered, I don't think there's any reason to believe Emery will produce worse results than late era Wenger did—for footballing reasons.
We looked good for top four for a very long time last season. Our late collapse is what screwed us. Four losses in our last ten matches, to Wolves, Everton, Palace and Leicester. We had been affected by a defensive injury crisis.
At some point during the season, we were probably a bit fortunate or ahead of where we deserved to be. Our long unbeaten run was a fluke, for sure.
We may give the appearance of tactical incoherence, "lacking an identity" etc (I would tend to agree, though I think these descriptions are highly subjective) but despite that we were one win away from 3rd place and a completely different spin on our season.
Emery seems to have failed to contain the issues with morale in the squad during that late period of the season. The falling out with Koscielny, which happened over Champions League qualification, sums up the distress experienced by our players. We have a squad of top flight talents who want to be there and it's vital for our future that we give them those opportunities.
The subsequent capitulation in the Europa League final was saddening, and hammered home that we had a fractured and demoralised first team.
It's those failures of man management (you could compare, with limited information, his relationships with Özil and Ramsey respectively) that worry me more.
