Just what have we let ourselves in for?
IN THE blue corner, Carlo Ancelotti. Er, actually no, it’s Duncan Ferguson. And managing Arsenal today, please welcome Mikel Arteta. Wrong again. It’s Freddie Ljungberg.
The Premier League has never seen anything like it. One new manager sat up in the directors’ box watching the team he has taken over, yes. But two of them sat just yards apart? Very peculiar.
It used to be the case that a newly-appointed coach couldn’t wait to get to work.
To get out there on the touchline to give his team the ‘bounce’ that so often happens at football clubs when there is a change in the dugout. These days there seems to be a growing trend towards managers sitting out their first game and opting instead for the comfort zone of the directors’ box.
To be fair to Ancelotti, it may have been asking too much for the 60-year-old Italian to step straight in when he was only installed on a contract until 2024 a couple of hours before kick-off.
He didn’t meet the players for the first time until after the game.
It’s also worth considering that Duncan Ferguson’s record as Everton interim coach wasn’t too shabby: a win over Chelsea, a draw at Manchester United and a Carabao Cup exit to Leicester on penalties prior to this.
Best leave Ferguson in charge and let Ancelotti start afresh today after a goalless draw which was not just dreary, it was dire.
But what about Arteta? Arsenal have now won just once in six games since the sacking of Unai Emery last month, and stand-in Ljungberg has led the calls for an urgent appointment.
This is a team in need of leadership and the new leader wasn’t there. Arteta, 37, was only unveiled on Friday but his appointment had been widely expected throughout the week.
Surely the former Manchester City No2 could have taken charge. He was an Arsenal player as recently as 2016 who, unlike Ancelotti, knows his club inside out. It was, he acknowledged on Friday, like coming home.
‘I have been preparing for a few years for this challenge to come. I know the expectations, level and stature of this club and what it deserves. I am ready for that challenge,’ said Arteta, who also spoke of the need for an ‘immediate impact’.