Is Unai Emery really a better manager than Arteta?

The Basques face off again this weekend. So let's talk about it.

The Premier League season is off and running, with Arsenal putting in a solid but short of amazing shift to beat Wolves. That can only mean one thing: It’s time to compare Unai Emery and Mikel Arteta again.

Like a self-destructive lover, some Arsenal fans found themselves wondering “What if?” about Unai just one game into the first season after setting new modern goals and wins records for the club, with some even saying Unai could be doing what Arteta has done.

“It didn’t work out last time, but he’s changed! He just needs another chance!”

That of course inspired Elonworld engagement farmer accounts to get involved and pose the question of who’s actually better, with the majority of football Twitter taking Unai’s side, and inspired many commentators, reputable or no, to offer their two pence on the pointless question of the day.

It’s probably no coincidence that the two Spaniards face off this weekend, with Arsenal’s entire season already on the line heading to Villa Park (wink). There is very likely not a result that can convince certain individuals out there that Arteta is the “better” manager, but why don’t we just delve into this question anyway? What’s the point of anything anymore, am I right?

Unai’s Arsenal and Arteta

It’s actually pretty rare that you get a comparison where the two combatants have done the same job. And of course, Arteta has outperformed Emery at Arsenal, with 1.97 points per game to Unai’s 1.85. That seems small, and it sort of is - the difference between about 75 points in a season vs 70.

Of course, Arteta salvaged a pretty rudderless ship in 2019, taking over a side that had 18 points from 13 games (1.38 ppg). Arteta managed the final 20 games of that league campaign, earning 33 points (1.65 ppg).

Arteta also has, by far, the two best point totals in a season at Arsenal between the two, 89 and 84. He’s averaging about 2.3 ppg the past two seasons, actually.

But those who take Emery’s side tend not to find any of that as a satisfactory line of reasoning. Context, as always, is key, and Emery wasn’t afforded the luxury of patience that Arteta was. And that’s something I’ve said myself before: Arteta very understandably could have been sacked after Burnley away, prior to the Boxing Day when it all changed for good.

But (and this is an opinion-based statement coming) I think the second part of this same tweet is very, very important. When KSE decided that the Willian project, as I will be referring to it, wasn’t working, they didn’t throw out the guy who recruited Willian. And I would imagine (I wasn’t in the room) that Arteta’s ability to articulate an alternative vision for the club, when faced with a crossroads, is something that Unai Emery simply couldn’t do.

Anyone who’s ever had to report to a supervisor should know that this ability, which I’m referring to here as “managing up,” is really important to success in any position which requires creativity and strategy. Inspiring leadership confidence in your ability to deliver is sometimes as key to your job security as your actual performance is. And Arteta’s performance since that crossroads has been very good.

These are the intangibles that get completely lost in the shuffle of attempted dunk tweets. Some managers are simply more suited for the biggest clubs, and that’s because the job isn’t only about tactics: It’s about communication, leadership, talent ID, morale, and so much more. Emery is a gifted tactician, but he’s better as the guy you’ve counted out, the guy who punches above his weight, not the frequent favorite. And I’m confident PSG fans would back me here.

Accomplishment vs quality

And that leads me to the next point that I think really needs to be discussed more: Is being more accomplished really the same as being better? Emery is absolutely more accomplished, but I’m here to tell you that is not identical to “better”, and the logic that says so is very easily rebutted.

When Arteta and Emery are compared, it’s usually Unai’s multiple Europa Leagues, his Ligue 1 and more against Arteta’s second place finishes, lack of European titles, single FA Cup “with Emery’s team” and his non-trophy Community Shields.

I’d guess that a good chunk of those comparisons come from folk who wanted a “proven winner” in the first place back when Arteta was hired. But, if you’ll indulge me, let’s expand this debate beyond Unai vs Mikel for just a moment.

Imagine, if you will, Arteta moves on from Arsenal right this very second. And I’d like you to be exceedingly honest with yourself here. Who are you going for in the market today? Because if the measure of a good manager is their trophy collection, surely you’ve answered someone like Antonio Conte, or Jose Mourinho (before he moved to Turkey) or Max Allegri, or maybe even Thomas Tuchel.

But…would you really want any of those four at Arsenal right now? Be honest. And if you said yes, please come find me in the comments or on Twitter and explain the argument behind hiring one of those names at Arsenal, using recent examples, because I don’t see it. And that’s why I’m not sure Emery winning a Europa League in 2021 or three from 2014 to 2016 means as much as some would have you think today (not that Arteta winning the Europa League would satisfy his critics anyway).

It’s no different than saying that someone like Raheem Sterling is a better player than Pedro Neto. Maybe on the right day, he is. But by and large, his brightest days (and biggest accomplishments) are behind him. And most, unless they were serving an agenda against Neto, would take the Portuguese moving forward.

Of course, none of this is meant as a slight on Emery, and the analogy probably isn’t completely fair to him. I think he’s doing a very good job at Aston Villa, and I’d even say a really big club with an opening wouldn’t be completely wacky to give him a shot. I personally wouldn’t give him another shot at Arsenal, though, and that’s without factoring in the (very, very good) job Arteta has done, and continues to do.

Trophy or bust?

That brings me to a bit of a tangential point in this conversation that I think is good to address as the season starts: If Arteta fails to win a “major trophy” this season (think: the league or the Champions League), is it time to “have a serious conversation” about whether he’s the right guy for Arsenal’s ambitions? That’s the other rhetorical I’m starting to see thrown around, and frankly have been since May.

One thing I feel the need to say right up front, because there will be someone who interprets this the wrong way: I would absolutely love to win the league this season, and/or the Champions League, and/or both domestic cups. I am not averse to winning any of those in any way, shape or form. In fact, you might call winning those things my main goal.

But, is that the bare minimum? That’s a far more pertinent question. And it’s a deep one.

This weekend I was having a friendly conversation with an unattached third party who insisted that absolutely should be the standard, using Inter’s Simone Inzaghi as an example. Inzaghi, the man reasoned, was considered in trouble if he didn’t win the league with Inter last season. That’s the way an elite club thinks, he said. And so Arsenal should be no different.

That’s certainly an interesting parallel to draw, but it doesn’t work for me. Inzaghi’s Inter were coming into the season as one of the main favorites to win the league, which had seen four different winners in four seasons. Each of the other four - Napoli, AC Milan and Juventus - had big questions coming in. And, well, it’s Serie A. We can argue amongst ourselves where someone like Aston Villa or Fulham would finish in Italy, but there should be little doubt where a club who’s won six of seven Premier Leagues would finish there over 38 games.

That, to me, is as valid a reason as any to count Arteta’s quest for the Premier League as a highly unique one. Jurgen Klopp’s one league title in nine years in any other era might be considered paltry, but many consider him one of the best the league has ever seen. And the answer why is pretty clear: It’s the Manchester City era.

Klopp, of course, did win a Champions League as well. And that’s a huge accomplishment that Arteta would do well to replicate. But if he doesn’t do it this season, in his second try, has he failed?

Klopp did do that in his second try at Liverpool, although it was his sixth crack at the Champions League overall. Guardiola won his first attempt at the CL, but that Barcelona side was pretty darn special. It wasn’t until his seventh attempt at City that he lifted that particular cup again.

And that’s kind of where I’m headed here: While the hope should certainly be to lift whatever trophy he can get his hands on, the question for me is whether that’s the expectation, or whether that’s something you can reasonably say another manager would certainly do with Arsenal this season. You may not agree, but I’d find such an argument disingenuous at worst and illogical at best.

Bottom line: Arteta not winning one of these honors would be disappointing. Would it be dereliction of duty? Most likely not.

There are certainly scenarios where Arteta could be deserving of a dismissal. A healthy side flailing its way into the middle of the table might fall on Arteta’s head. Maybe a side that struggles in the league stage in the Champions League would be the same. But the degree to which the manager has failed and should be replaced immediately will lie in the eye of the beholder, and the beholder who signs his paychecks would probably give him one more chance at the least.

Arteta hasn’t done everything perfectly as Arsenal manager. Maybe there are personnel decisions he gets wrong sometimes, individual gameplans that don’t come off and he’s even got a tough head-to-head record against Unai Emery. But at this point, Arteta is as responsible for the club’s lofty status as any other. And until he becomes the reason the club can’t move forward, rather than the reason they’re where they are, any discussion of moving on, or any comparison to Emery, rings hollow.