Unai Emery’s broken kaleidoscope was a small part of Arsenal’s problem | Jonathan Wilson

As so often when big clubs go bad, the manager carries the can for errors in recruitment and in the boardroom

A nd so the grumbling of the Emirates has claimed another victim. By the end, Unai Emery cut a hapless figure, mumbling incoherently after defeat to Eintracht Frankfurt as the world collapsed around him. He was a scapegoat, as managers always are, barely less a patsy in his role as Arsène Wenger’s successor than he had been as Neymar’s minder at Paris Saint-Germain. He certainly should not be immune from criticism, but equally nobody should think his replacement will bring about improvement merely by not being Emery.

Emery joined as a Europa League manager for a Europa League club; he will leave as somebody who has struggled in three jobs outside Spain, compromised, despite his best efforts to speak English, by an inability to communicate.

Related: Arsenal sack Unai Emery and appoint Freddie Ljungberg interim head coach

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