There is brewing trouble in Arsenal that was apparently caused by the man in charge. Team manager Unai Emery seemed to have lost the faith of the Gunners following a stretch of disappointments on the pitch. The prevailing sentiment among the players is they want a change of leadership the soonest.
The Gunners on the weekend could only afford a 2-2 draw against Southampton, and that game saw Arsenal sliding further down the Premier League table. Reports said players of the team have been getting the negative vibe. They are beginning to believe that the crisis popped out because of Emery.
The consensus among the players was that Emery appeared to be emerging as the main problem hobbling Arsenal and removing him soon will make this problem disappear, according to Metro, citing the information provided by a club insider.
"The problem is the coach. He still makes bad decisions and changes his tactics. There is no identity to the team, and the players do not see any progress," the same source was reported as saying.
It didn't help Emery's case that Tottenham has recently decided to sack Mauricio Pochettino and hire in his place Jose Mourinho. Immediately, the latter picked up a win and delivered what the Spurs had wanted - a clear path to victory.
Arsenal's series of setbacks under the Spanish boss only highlighted his shortcomings that he paled in comparison to other league managers, specifically versus the likes of Jurgen Klopp, Pep Guardiola, Frank Lampard, and Brendan Rodgers, all of whom have been leading their respective teams to possibly win the league title.
It seemed remote now that Emery can still lead Arsenal and climb back to contention in the Premier League and even gain a spot in the Champions League.
To illustrate how disappointed the players are, the same report suggested that top Gunners Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette may opt-out of extension from Arsenal as a sign of protest on how Emery is handling the team.
The duo seemed convinced that with the current coach, advance for Arsenal and their careers would be next to impossible.
Meanwhile, the Express reported that Arsenal is more likely to stick with Emery for the rest of the season. The possibility of Pochettino taking over from the Spaniard has been nixed by the Gunners board simply because the Argentine is just fresh from leading the Spurs.
Arsenal seemed uncomfortable that a new coach will come too soon from a rival team, the report added.
So in the event, Emery gets the boot mid-season, the best-case scenario for the Gunners is to let Freddie Ljungberg serve in an interim capacity and look for the permanent replacement during the summer break in 2020.
