Under-achieving football clubs tend not to hang on to good players. Such analysis might be as rudimentary as most of Shkodran Mustafi's defensive efforts over recent seasons, but this is the simple reason why Unai Emery's time at Arsenal was up. The head coach appointed on the back of major honours won at Sevilla and Paris Saint-Germain was one of many problems at Emirates Stadium. His increasingly rudderless stewardship of the first team was simply the easiest to fix. Of course, his squad was not perfect. Death, taxes and Arsenal needing a reliable central defender are the three certainties of our times. That inevitably porous backline compromised all areas of the team, but the lack of...
Full Story »