Rodgers is the man if Arsenal are Gunner be title challengers again

IT doesn’t surprise me Brendan Rodgers has been linked with the Arsenal job. I’d be dumbfounded if he wasn’t.

But then, nothing should amaze me about football right now.

I’m not exactly shocked that Unai Emery has been sacked – given the impatience in the modern game, it was coming from weeks ago.

Yet I can’t get my head around how he’s taken every single bit of criticism, when there’s been so much aimed from every angle. What about the players?

What about the board?

How the hell have they got off so lightly?

All the players need to take a long, hard look at themselves.

This team is so far away from those great Arsenal teams of the past, that it almost feels like an insult.

Where’s the character of Patrick Vieira, the class of Thierry Henry?

Where is the collective responsibility? It’s like they’ve constructed a team who hide at the first setback, and can’t make a decision of their own.

It’s something I’ve noticed in recent years – players don’t seem to be able to sort things out themselves any more. They’re so used to taking instructions, to following plans and tactics, that if it goes wrong, they’re lost.

How many times have you seen players looking to the dugout when it’s gone wrong? I genuinely don’t want to play that ‘in my day’ card, but honestly, I don’t remember us being so lacking in backbone.

When things went wrong, we’d be able to identify it, and put it right ourselves at times.

Maybe that’s where the board must take the blame too.

For far too long at Arsenal, they put all their eggs in the basket of a new stadium, and didn’t invest in the right kind of player, who could match the past and take them forward.

It was short-sighted. Yes they needed a new stadium, but you can’t ignore the playing side. They did, and look where they are – the stadium isn’t new any more and the team is miles away from being a top-four side. It’s a team without identity.

So was it worth it? It’s always the manager who takes the blame. But can he really be responsible for a squad that doesn’t have leaders? A squad that needs to ask themselves some really tough questions. They won’t of course, but Arsenal as a club need to ask themselves some serious questions too.

What do they think they are? Do they really still believe they are a top-four club by right? Because if they do, I’ve got some really bad news… you really are not. I believe they need to take a step back and understand where they are.

There are a few clubs in that position. Everton, even Spurs.

West Ham. They all have different delusions of grandeur, when their reality is very different. For Arsenal, they are a club rebuilding, a club starting from a low base. And it will take years to sort out.

With that reality, I’m not entirely sure Emery should have been sacked. He has to take serious blame himself of course. What the hell was having FIVE captains all about? And the mess with Granit Xhaka was inexcusable.

And no matter how lacking in character his squad is, you still have to get the best out of them, and Emery hasn’t.

But he had one of the best reputations in Europe as a manager, and he had a record of developing players, even if he seemed to fail at PSG.

And that’s what Arsenal still need. A manager who can build a squad over a number of years, and take them to a stronger position. Like Jurgen Klopp has done at Liverpool. Like Rodgers did there for a time, and he’s doing at Leicester. Which is why I think he’s a natural to be linked with Arsenal now.

They could go for a quick fix, the likes of Carlo Ancelotti, a top-class manager and brilliant tactician who could sort out this team. But he’s not longterm, he’d be there a couple of years max. And I think he’s a continental manager, not a Premier League one, with the personality required.

Rodgers has that personality, the enthusiasm, and ability to build in the longer term.

And that’s why he’d be the best choice for them.

I FEEL for Marco Silva. His press conference before the Leicester game was a car crash, because he had to admit he wasn’t the person to be answering the questions. It seems unfair to the point of cruelty to send a manager out to face the media, knowing his job is on the line and the board have not uttered one word in support of him. In fact, they’ve been deafening in their silence. That says only one thing, and he knows it. He knows they are leaving him to dangle. He knows the prospects of getting the results he needs away to Leicester today and Liverpool on Wednesday night are remote to the point of laughable. I don’t envy him that. Management is a lonely job. I’m experiencing it myself now in Australia, and I’m loving it. But I can see how tiny things can turn against a team and you don’t get the results you deserve, and then the pressure’s on. Silva (above) is in a difficult situation. I think the spending at Everton in the past few years has raised expectations beyond the point of logic. Yes, they’ve spent a lot of money, but enough to smash into the top four? Do me a favour. But that creates pressure. And of course, they are far too good to be in the relegation zone, which is a real possibility by Christmas. Managers always live and die by results and Silva knows that. But he also knows he deserves a bit of dignity, and I don’t think the press conference and the situation at Goodison over the past week has offered him that. Rodgers could do job for Arsenal like Klopp at Anfield

BLAME GAME Emery (top was axed, but Gunners exec Sanllehi (above left) stays