As Unai Emery has completed his first 50 matches as Arsenal coach it has been revealed that he has the best record, by some distance, of any other manager in our history. Here are the figures….
Most wins in their first 50 games with Arsenal…
32 – Unai Emery
28 – George Allison
27 – George Graham
27 – Herbert Chapman
25 – Jack Crayston
24- Tom Whittaker
24 – George Swindin
23 – Arsène Wenger
23 – Don Howe
Emery is very happy with his record, but as he points out, the season is far from over and we still have a lot to achieve and he is still yet to achieve his target of returning the Gunners to the Champions League. He told Arsenal.com: “I am proud of the players, of the club, of the supporters, of our situation now with the possibility in the Europa League semi-final and in the Premier League to fight for third and fourth position, to play next year in the Champions League. But we know that every day is going to be difficult and in the key moments we need to be focused 100 per cent on the next match and everybody is concentrated to do the best and all we can to take and to give our supporters a good moment.
“Our achievements come with progress. This is a process with the players, the new coaches and new staff. I was respecting a lot before Arsene was done because he worked here for a long time, improving a lot and helping this club to become bigger. I’m here now to continue this process. It’s something different, with my personality, my ideas and style, but above all I’ve kept a lot of positives that he worked here. After a new spirit and a new energy, I can give this club. But above all it’s a big responsibility with big ambition, because we want to play Champions league again, and we want to be closer to the possibility of taking a title.
“Also, with each match we can show our supporters our quality, work, spirit and energy, playing with intensity, aggressiveness and scoring a lot. Each match can give us a different situation we can enjoy with our supporters, playing and watching intense matches with a good result, but above all doing it in a good way.”
We have to admit that it hasn’t always been pretty and Emery has had to put up with a horrendous injury list at certain times of the season, but the consensus is that he has actually come through with flying colours so far given the tools he had to work with.
May he carry on winning until the end of the season and prove all his naysayers wrong….
Sam P
Well done Unai, credit where it’s due, let’s finish the season on a high.
Well said boss, to all the naysayers bye bye
Say what you want about Arsene Wenger though, I think Emery is benefiting from all the job Arsene did with the club. He might’ve lost his footballing and winning touch towards the end but like I used to say he left us with good players. I laugh whenever I read stuffs like “Emery’s doing a miracle with the DROSS Wenger left behind” and all sorts of búllshít.
Most just like to criticize what we have, it’s even a shame that most fans see us being in the level of Everton and the rest. Wenger might’ve left a team without motivation to play, a team with flaws,but he didn’t leave us with a mess like most of you normally point out
hes has inherit a very good squad apart from defence….
laca and auba are 2 top top strikers
It’s NOT ” a Very good squad”
It’s an average to slightly above average squad
And certainly no way near good enough to win the premier league
Lacazette, Aubameyang, Leno, Torreira and Guendouzi are the only ones who should be in the starting line-up to compete with the top teams.
Wenger would never have signed Torreira. He hated defensive midfielders. And probably not guendouzi either
He got Aubameyang and Lacazette only because his job was in danger
They were fantastic signings though
Also Emery got the best out of an average squad. He did better at it then Wenger. We finished 6th with Wenger
lacazette was always wanted but the board refuse to pay
aubameyang was a Gazadis signing just like Perez
cant say if Torriera was wanted…..but Mr Wenger did wanted Mbappe and Bakayoko but he chose to join Chelsea
There is no doubt Wenger was unable to attract the quality of players we needed WHERE THEY WERE NEEDED towards the end of his reign as manager.
Was Mustafi a good buy for £35m?
Was Xhaka value for £35m?
He allowed Giroud far too much playing time as a CF who did not score enough goals.
He continually played players out of position just to get them into his starting eleven.
We had no natural width with the sales of Suarez and Ox other than from full backs who did not defend.
He inexplicably allowed Gnarby to leave when it was obvious to everyone we had a player here (LOANED TO WBA MANAGED BY PULIS FFS)
It was a blessing when he was finally sacked.
Yes we have a good squad of players.But sovto do Wolves and this is the level Wenger was taking us to with his obscene mis-Management.
Spot on about all you wrote. Your players would be the only ones I would keep from those presently fit, save AM-N, Holding, and several other fringe players not yet established, such as ES-R and the returning NELSON. ALL THE REST ARE NOT GOOD ENOUGH OR NOT RELIABLY FIT OR MOTIVATED ENOUGH.
You could be right and in one way or another wrong! Wenger did a good job at Arsenal and made the team competing with big teams. Towards his end times the team was going down the trench, this situation is normal to many teams. Therefore Arsenal needed a change in a positive way. Why wrong….. Check big teams that have had their managers replaced, Man U, Chelsea, PSG, Madrid etc not all enjoyed good results wth new managers, it is too early to make any conclusions but the good signs show we are going to have a winning team in the near future under Unai. I can imagine we qualify for Champions League and manager to secure signatures of top class players in areas we are suffering I am sure you among many fans will say YES this is what we have missed a long time
Despite the cries of the ‘anti Arsenal’ fans section and every anti Arsenal member of the media, pundit and blogger that Arsenal were useless under Wenger the new manager inherited a good squad of players.
You can imagine how these anties would be here and everywhere if we were lower down in the league and how they will howl if we finish 5th and lose the semi final.
Whatever the final outcome of the season the new manager has proved he was a good choice. He has successfully combined what he inherited with what he brought to the club and as the writer has pointed out overcome the loss to injury of key players. He has also beaten off the PGMOL who run English football.
When his appointment was announced I was confident he was a good choice I see no reason to be otherwise.
exactly what the new manager need was to focus and strengthen the defence…. we could not get a quality centreback in Jan then in the summe, in came skortis and Torreira and we benefited….
Emery has done enough for him to stay on as manager. He has improved the performance of average players. He has brought in an fantastic player in Torreira. If we finish 4th and win EL he will have been a huge improvement over Wenger. It would be a fabulous first season for Emery.
COYG
If wenger had the very same squad as emery has now ,
I would safely say we would not be third in the league if we win today and semi final of eurpoa …..
we finish 4th, 3rd and 2nd before with all the deadwoods in the squad…its hard to judge
Haha, I wouldn’t say flying colours, seeing that picking up away points has still proven to be as difficult as nailing jelly to a wall. Nonetheless, that weak, loser mentality of the previous regime has certainly been extinguished. We fight and do not give up the result in a wimpy, pathetic manner LIKE THAT SICKENING CARABAO FINAL VS CITY!
I salute Emery for this hardening and transformation in mentality. We have managed to bring down the embarrassing 5 goal losses to just 1 this season and hopefully no more humiliations will be experienced in the near future. I think Emery has that fighting spirit that can turn us into the new Liverpool, someday.
Well done UE… considering we were completely written off at the start of the season, by all & sundry & now if we win today, we’ll go above the spuds – it’s bloody fantastic!!
Yes there have been a few lows, but definitely outnumbered by the highs!
Take a bow, Sir ?
?Unai Emery is a class act and realizes that Arsenal’s effort and commitment must be maintained through to the end of the season.
Until we are competitive most games. We are going to finish above Sp*ds but those enemies gave Man City a run for their money in the their last three games. For the neutrals ( not me because I was happy yesterday) those games were worth watching.
Yes Emery is doing a fine job especially in tactical area of the play. That took us to semi over Napoli. We beat them purely on Emery tactical ingenuity. However his problem is overthinking and tinkering which responsible for us not locking down the 3rd place by now. He has already surpassed Wenger last season and what is left for him to make history is finishing 3rd and clinching Europa League.
Whoa!, surpassed wenger?!….. take it easy dude…. Emery is doing a fine…. dare I say great job so far….. but to surpass wenger, that’s going to take years…. a lot of years…. but Emery has started well though…. here’s to hoping we add the europa league, then the champions league trophies to our trophy cabinet under Emery.
Did you read what I said or you intentionally ignored the last season I made reference to. Perhaps you are not on planet earth last season. Because the only way anyone will miss that significant difference is only if he or she is not on this planet or on induced coma. We got knocked out of el at this stage last season, finished the season on 63 points in 6th position. Lost 6 points to manu, won 2 against Chelsea, won 3 against spurs, was in 6th position at this stage in epl on 50+ point, do I need to go on AY. I know what I’m talking about
Ya….. it was a misinterpretation …… pardon me……. but we were knocked out in the semis last season….. i feel it’s still too early to start comparing both managers anyways
What Mobella actually wrote, as opposed to what you misinterpreted, is that Emery has already surpassed Wenger LAST SEASON. He did not mention Wengers whole tenure. FACT!
I think emery has done a brilliant job,the squad has improved & so have are results when he starts signing players of his choice we will improve even further but only if the board gives him plenty of cash to make the signings he requires, not very confident on that front wenger had the same problem tight fisted owner who only takes from the club & gives nothing back.
Emery 1st season has been a success, the pros outweigh the cons by some margins. huge improvement on the mental side with more fighting spirit, resilient and solidarity. even fans who don’t like emery will have to accept that we saw some games where we didn’t play well but the team fought together like in the trenches at war to help and protect each other. It is that kind of attitude that encourage the fans at home or away to push the team on.
Emery saw that the slow sideways passing was not adapted to this set of players and used a more direct playing style which suited the team better. Yes emery changes the tactics and sometime it backfires on us but every good coach has to be flexible and sometime the opponent coach will win the tactical battle.
Finally Emery is no wenger who pampered and protected this squad which made them mentally weak and unaccountable when they didn’t show up vs small teams and got the asses handed to them. You see some players whining like aubameyang and lacazette or players like ozil who fought to reenter emery 1st team. Its good no more starting position guaranteed just because you are a star.