PAT ON THE BACK
Gunners legend Seaman backs Nice boss for Emirates job
ARSENAL need to go back to the past to sort out their present mess after the club sank to a 42-year low against Brighton on a dismal Thursday night at the Emirates.
That’s the view of former club great David Seaman, who won two Premier League titles under Arsene Wenger and spent five seasons playing alongside interim manager Freddie Ljungberg.
It’s another ex-Gunner, though, who Seaman believes could provide the answer to the club’s current woes. Nice boss Patrick Vieira is his No.1 choice as Arsenal scrabble around for answers to a winless run not seen since 1977.
“Everyone thought, when Arsene left, the standard would move on, but I always said, ‘You need to hang on a little bit’ because the standards he set were so high,” said Seaman.
“I know it tailed off a little at the end, but the standard was still very good. He was always going to be a tough act to follow and that’s been proved by what we’ve seen since.
“Arsenal have to learn lessons from what happened at Manchester United and they have to be very careful when it comes to choosing the kind of manager they pick this time.
“If they go down the same route as Unai Emery, I don’t know which way things will go.
“I want them to get a manager with a really strong personality. Either that or go the opposite way and get someone like Patrick Vieira or Mikel Arteta.
“If I had to choose between those two, then I would choose Patrick because he has had more experience as a manager.”
Vieira, who spent nine years at the club as a player, would be something of a PR coup for a club that finds itself dangerously close to the bottom half of the Premier League table.
It’s the kind of position that would have been unthinkable throughout Wenger’s time.
Appointing someone like Vieira, though, might serve to bring some self-belief back to a club in crisis.
“You’ve seen the reaction that the fans gave when Freddie was appointed caretaker manager,” said
Seaman. “That was great, but it needs to move on. Arsenal need to get better.
“We’re really struggling to get into the top four at the moment, maybe even the top five. That’s miles away from the Arsenal I used to play for.
“We see Manchester United in the same boat – that’s two massive clubs struggling to get into the Champions League.
“Two clubs who were once the kings of the Premier League.”
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