Paul Merson has urged Arsenal to sack Unai Emery and try to appoint Mauricio Pochettino as their new manager after the Argentine was sacked by Tottenham in the international break.
Arsenal are sliding down the Premier League table and after drawing with relegation-threatened Southampton at the Emirates on Saturday, they find themselves in eighth place – below Wolves, Sheffield United and Burnley.
There is huge pressure on Emery and it seems as though a good majority of Arsenal fans now want to see the back of the former Paris Saint-Germain manager, who has overseen next to no improvement since replacing Arsene Wenger in charge of the North London club.
Ex-Gunners star Merson has called on his old club to turn to the available Pochettino, should they decide to part company with Emery.
“Arsenal should go for Mauricio Pochettino. He’s not won anything, but he improved Tottenham over five years, tenfold. He’s a top manager and he is about at the moment,” Merson said on the Sky Sports website.
“I know he managed at Tottenham, but George Graham had been at Arsenal when he went the other way. You’ve got to get past that sort of stuff. These top managers don’t come along too often, where you don’t even have to pay anything for them.
“Can I see it happening? No. Should it happen? Yes. But it won’t happen. The days of the rivalry between Arsenal and Tottenham are not what they were. When I was growing up, it was the big football match.
“For some of these players, that’s no longer the case. It’s probably Chelsea or Manchester City or Liverpool. It’s not the highlighted fixture anymore as there’s not a lot of home-grown players in the teams.
“You don’t have to pay compensation for him, and if you are going to bring someone in, he’s got to be better than the manager you’ve got. I still see Emery being there for a while. They had a chance to get rid of him before the international break.”
What do we think?
Forget that Pochettino was in charge of Tottenham – he is the best option for Arsenal right now.
As Merson pointed out – and as every Arsenal fan knows very well – the Argentine did not win anything in his time at Spurs but he still managed to turn them into a regular top-four side and Champions League finalists.
Pochettino does not guarantee silverware but he would guarantee a major improvement and at least some consistency that Arsenal have been gagging for over the last three or four seasons.
Players want to play for Pochettino. He’s a great manager and a likeable person who the Gunners need to turn to if Emery is sacked.
