It’s about time to admit Arsenal are no longer a top six club

Things are looking uglier than ever at the Emirates Stadium…

Everything at Arsenal right now is an unmitigated disaster. Saturday, the Gunners slumped to a 2-0 defeat at Leicester City in what felt like a seminal moment. They’re no longer in the upper echelons of the Premier League. Saturday was the day their time as a Big 6 club ended.

For three years now, the Gunners haven’t played in the Champions League and nothing right now indicates they’ll return to Europe’s elite competition anytime soon. Strike one.

In the Europa League last season, they had a shot to get into the UCL by winning the final. But what did they do instead? They got played off the park by Chelsea. And the season before that, they lost in the semifinals.

This year, they’re arguably a worse team with much bigger issues, Granit Xhaka for instance, and yet they’re going to win the Europa League this time around and get back to the Champions League? Highly unlikely.

Yes, only four teams from England qualify for the Champions League, so inevitably two teams will miss out. But it’s called the Big 6 because any of them can finish top four any year. However, Arsenal are on a consistent run of not finishing top four.

Who can realistically replace Unai Emery?

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After losing to Leicester, surely Unai Emery will get sacked during the international break, a move welcomed and appreciated by many fans. So, who will replace him? Brendan Rodgers, Max Allegri, Jose Mourinho, and Mauricio Pochettino have all seen their names featured in reports recently, but there’s no reason for any of them make that move.

For Rodgers, ditching Leicester for Arsenal right now would be the worst decision of his career. There’s no reason to leaving a large speedboat cruising on open waters for a sinking yacht. The former Liverpool manager definitely wants to return to managing a top club, but Arsenal would be a bad move.

If he finishes top four this year and takes Leicester on a deep European run next season, he’ll have all the leverage in the world to demand anything he wants at almost any super club in the world. Restoring a failing club isn’t what top managers do. They guide top clubs to continental glory. Rodgers shouldn’t move to north London and wait for a better gig in a year or two.

Is Allegri really up the challenge of rebuilding a team with young players and not a lot of money as opposed to putting his touch on a talented team vying for domestic and continental titles as he did at Juventus? Seems like he could do better than the mess in north London.

Mourinho and Arsenal don’t seem like a match made in heaven either with his constant complaining about money and players. Mourinho is not one for developing young players and prefers buying top tier talent. The problem is, though, Arsenal right now can’t secure top talent in the world.

So, while Mourinho might win a trophy or two, he won’t get to the root of the problems that run deep at the club. So, does that really improve the club or just put a bandaid over a full body third degree burn? Mourinho and fans will undoubtedly clash and he’ll end up leaving or getting fired during his third year. Where have we seen this before?

And finally, Pochettino is better off staying at Tottenham than moving across to the Emirates if he wants a rebuilding project. He has a better chance of winning trophies and restoring Spurs than he does Arsenal. And if he thinks he’s due for a better job than Tottenham, Arsenal is a marginal step up at best from his current position.

Arsenal cannot attract the big dogs anymore

Arsenal right now cannot attract the top managers in the world. Strike two. Regardless, they shouldn’t even try to. What’s needed now isn’t a top manager to fine tune a team. They need a manager who can rebuild without many resources.

Arsenal instead should go after someone like Sean Dyche, Eddie Howe, or Chris Wilder. They have built clubs in the Championship or bottom of the Premier League and gotten promoted or turned them into solidly mid table teams. Those guys have done what Arsenal need. The only difference being Arsenal starting at a higher position in the table.

Without the Champions League and the money it brings and without a top quality manager, it’s almost an insurmountable task to attract top tier talent. Sure, club record signing Nicolas Pepe joined this past summer, but did super clubs really fawn over his signature? No.

When needing to shore up the defense this season, who did Arsenal buy? David Luiz. The most terrifying defender to watch, not play against. They couldn’t get anyone better than a 32 year old kamikaze defender who frightens his own fans and manager every game.

That’s the red side of London right now, unable to bring in top quality players. No one world class player has Arsenal on their mind as a possible destination. Strike three.

Without top players, a top manager, and Champions League, Arsenal must take on the difficult task of rebuilding the club from the inside. And it will take time. Fans may find it a tough pill, albeit a necessary pill to swallow.

It’s about time the board swallowed their pride

Bringing in a manager is the first step. Edu, the technical director who started this past summer, has to find the right manager and then work on bringing in quality players on a budget that fit with the manager and the academy players breaking into the first team.

And if he and the rest of the board, including director of football Raul Sanllehi can do that, they can get the club back into Champions League contention. Of course, it’s a big ‘if’ and one that will take time. Will the fans and owners afford them that luxury?

Arsenal used to be a Big 6 club. They used to contend for trophies. In a previous time, Wenger ruled as one of the best managers in the world where now, the club can’t get one. And in a different era, the best players in the world like Thierry Henry featured for the Gunners.

Sadly, though, that time is in the past. Although Arsenal have a larger budget than most teams in the Premier League, that won’t last forever. Missing the Champions League money for the past three years has certainly hit their finances hard. And more years of that will only hold them back even more.

Saturday’s loss to Leicester was the inflection point in Arsenal’s history. They can no longer call themselves a Big 6 club. Big 6 clubs are by no means perfect. Neither is Arsenal. But Big 6 clubs compete for and with the best. And that is no longer the case for the Gunners. Arsenal is not a Big 6 club anymore.

What do you make of Arsenal’s current situation?