I disagree… AW was footballing purgatory… I want us to at least be in the conversation for Prem title and CL once every couple of years… top 4 is a good target, but we need to get closer to the gold chalice more often.
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We ain’t doing that any time soon
If the Arsenal decision makers can acknowledge that they’re not seeking another Wenger in Emery, then a 3 year spell can be very useful in the sense that the squad can aquatinted with pressing, tactical football and a post Wenger future.
Emery getting top 4 is a decent basis for the club to move forward, bigger question is will the club make a change of direction if the right manager becomes available
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I’m not even expecting a Premier League title or Champions League win. I don’t even see him making a contending team.
You’re saying yourself Klopp and Emery coached in different teams so how would that comparison be fair?
A direct comparison is never fair, but reasonable people can try to account somewhat for these - how else does anyone judge performance of managers?
FWIW I wanted Klopp and I I think Klopp is a fairer comparison - and you can certainly try to reasonably account for the differences… Klopp also watched a team get relegated and saw the Dortmund finish 5, 6th, 2nd, 2nd, 7th with two titles (which is really impressive). 2nd in Germany is about as impressive as 3/4 in Spain imho, etc.
Since he left, Dortmund has finished 2nd and 3rd, an average position of 2.5; where he had over 3, for context… obviously the two times he overtook Bayern are damn impressive.
At Mainz, he saw them promoted, then relegated, then fail to achieve promotion again.
At Pool, 8th then 4th and 4th (both impressive) with a high of 76 points.
Does that show someone who is obviously going to take a team in the Premier League to titles and CL consistently? I’d give him an edge b/c of his overtaking Bayern, but Premier league is MUCH harder and his record in CL isn’t all that other than the one year he made final (so did Arsene).
Reality is he has a much better squad than we do atm and they hit on a few transfers like gold - ability to sell a player for Coutinho money also gave them a short-term artificial advantage… hitting with Salah was genius, and other acquisitions have been very astute recently as well. Same can be said at Dortmund under his reign - so many really great players discovered there (does he deserve credit? not sure).
By the way, for comparison with Valencia and Sevilla against his period there:
2005: 3rd and 5th
2006: 4th and 3rd
2007: 10th and 5th
2008: 6th and 3rd
2009: 3rd and 4th
2010: 3rd and 5th
2011: 3rd and 9th
2012: 5th and 9th
2013: 8th and 5th
2014: 4th and 5th
2015: 12th and 7th
Bolded years Emery was in charge. Obviously not an exact science, but it does look like he elevated his teams against their pre-and-post positions, not even accounting for his main achievement, which is clearly 3 EL in a row.
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Only been 2 games.
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No manager in world football is taking this squad beyond top 4 with minimal investment.
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Except the tinker-man 
Who is talking about this squad? I don’t see it happening under Emery, period.
Klopp did all that whilst establishing a healthy foundation (together with Watzke and Zorc) and something to build upon for the future. Dortmund might have been a bigger mess than Valencia ever was. Like I said, I’m not expecting Emery to take this club to titles and CL win, but to create a contender.
Those three Europa League wins is what he got his jobs for at PSG and Arsenal. His League performances are really not that impressive.
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It’s a fair criticism. In the end, any manager for Arsenal will be up against a much bigger spender with the best manager in the world and a squad that is insane. Add to that two other big spenders with big assets and of course Pool and Spurs with good managers and great squads who are above us atm.
Just from a math perspective, at least 3 teams that all things being equal other than financial resources have better odds than us.
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So essentially if Emery gets 4th he has done a good to great job and maxed out?
Would you consider 4th this year a failure? Next year?
This year, not. Like I said I expect nothing from Emery, but the Europa League. If that is our ceiling in coming years I think that is a bit underwhelming, at least. But maybe I haven’t dialed down my expectations enough.
Best Case scenario: Earn a Champions League spot and win a trophy
Ideal Scenario: Top 6 and compete for a trophy
Worst Case Scenario:Fail to qualify to Europe at all next season
Personally, I think people haven’t got a clue what’s this year’s PL will be about. Next couple of games we have we need to gather as much points as possible. November-December period will probably be a huge turning point. Expect mad football with sides gelling better, Europe involved and the classic weather conditions.
Pretty positive this will finally be a year a team run away with it. Also, expect a team or two outside the Top 6 to climb very high.
I know he’d never own up to it but I’d bet that Ivan assumed the easiest way back into the Champions League was through winning the Europa League.
We know that Stan isn’t going to spend money to turn over the playing squad. Man City spent close to quarter of a billion pounds on their backline alone. That just isn’t going to happen here.
So it’s easier to beat up on (allegedly) lower tier European opposition, hope the draw goes our way in the knock out stages and get in through the back door.
Emery has previous winning that competition and was going to be available on the cheap. His reputation was definitely on the decline after PSG. He needed to rebuild his cred as a manager and we needed a manager willing to work within a structure. I don’t think it was anything more than pragmatism, or maybe cowardice if you believe that Arteta was the second coming of Pep.
I don’t know if I’d consider finishing 7th or 8th but winning the Europa League success but I think based on Emery’s appointment, the club certainly do.
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Don’t think that will cut it as ideal. Wenger was doing this already and bagging cups. Emery needs to be back in top 4 this season and take this “revolution” to title challenge times after…
CL must be a minimum or what was the point??
Makes great sense actually. Plus, he is quite young and he didn’t mind lowering his wages to sign.
I mean, it’s a transitional year. Have you seen our competition? Not only in the Premier League but in Europa League too. Half of the confirmed ain’t no joke. There are still teams to qualify and also the big teams that every year fail to capture the 1st or 2nd spot of their group Champions League.
Tough year imo.
The real question is what happens when someone like Napoli drop into the Europa League and dump us out during the knock out stage when we’re sitting in 7th place in the league?
Stan isn’t going to buy the players required to go from 6th-7th to 3rd-4th. I think we all knew the squad had some serious coaching problems but it looks like some of the players just don’t have the required intelligence or awareness to do what Emery wants.
Maybe it’s an issue of communication? But watching Mustafi get turned again is pretty disappointing. I was actually really jazzed when we signed him but he’s been so bad.
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