n 2015, Jürgen Klopp arrived in Merseyside to put pen to paper and become Liverpool’s manager following seven years in charge at Borussia Dortmund.
In that season, he led the Reds to a Europa League final (which ended in a 1-3 defeat to Unai's Sevilla) and they finished eighth in the league, 21 points behind a Leicester team that pulled off a once in a lifetime Premier League triumph.
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Emery’s first season at Arsenal was not too dissimilar, he managed to finish fifth in the league and led the Gunners to a Europa League final, which also ended in defeat against Chelsea.
Although Klopp has been in charge at Liverpool for longer than Emery at Arsenal, Liverpool has progressively improved under the German’s watch, and Arsenal has progressively deteriorated under the Spaniard.
Arsenal has officially sacked Emery after being in charge of the club for 18 months.
How have these two manager’s careers taken such opposing directions? What did Klopp do differently to what Unai did?
Philosophy
Arsenal’s style of football has changed so many times since he took charge. From playing out the back to pressing high then being defensive, to a back four then a back three then back to a back four again.
This lack of a clear identity has really come back to haunt him and ultimately, has cost him his job. He just never knew what his best starting XI was, which makes it hard to implement a style of play when players are in the squad one week and out the next.
His use of many substitutes and changes in formations is amongst the highest in the league. The players were just not buying into him.
Singings
It’s been somewhat of a mixed bag of players that have been brought in by Emery but for the most part, they’ve really struggled to make an impact.
Arsenal’s record signing, Nicolas Pepe has had moments of quality, but for £72 million, Gunner’s fan would’ve hoped for much more from the Ivorian international.
Individually, these two players are probably decent but the David Luiz and Sokratis pairing has never been solid defensively.
Lucas Torreira once looked irreplaceable in Arsenal’s midfield and even drew comparisons to N’Golo Kante. That early hype has since died down and now he’s sharing bench space with out-of-favour, Mesut Ozil.
Bernd Leno, Matteo Guenduzi and Gabriel Martinelli are arguably his better signings but are hardly match winners and have not done much to save their manager from getting axed.
Replacements
Ultimately, these have been some of the major reasons why Klopp’s tenure at Liverpool has continued to grow stronger and in turn, why Arsenal and Emery find themselves in the position they’re in.
Freddie Ljunberg has been appointed as interim head coach however for the long term, names such as Mikel Arteta and Max Allegri have been thrown into the pot of potential replacements.
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