Two Sky Sports pundits last night moved to question the Arsenal squad and their attitude towards the club making an appointment like Chris Wilder.
Darren Bent and Danny Murphy were in the studio for The Debate yesterday evening. One of the hot topics up for discussion was the future of Arsenal manager, Unai Emery.
Emery is under increasing pressure at The Emirates. His team have, so far, underperformed and sit eighth in the Premier League table.
And following the dismissal of Mauricio Pochettino from North London rivals, Spurs, there’s now talk of Arsenal potentially taking similar action with Emery.
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However, former England striker Darren Bent questioned whether the Arsenal squad would accept someone like Chris Wilder or Sean Dyche.
“I still think some of the players in that dressing room, wouldn’t give someone like that the respect he deserves,” Bent said.
“Depends on the individual. But there’ll be big players in there who won’t want to listen. For example, David Luiz or Mesut Ozil, he might say ‘what can you tell me after all I’ve done in the game?’.
While Bent insisted some players might not like it, Murphy did in fact take a slightly different approach.
“It’s about perception,” Murphy added.
“Arsenal fans, would they be happy with a Sean Dyche or Chris Wilder?I don’t think they’d be happy. But three months in if they’re sitting in third and hard to beat, perception changes. “
“Wilder for example, what he’s done at Sheffield United, there’s no reason why they couldn’t go in and do the same job at a club like Arsenal,” Murphy added.
Would Arsenal actually make a move for Chris Wilder?
The short answer here in all probability, is no. They are a massive club with some big players with equally big egos.
Darren Bent has a point in his comments. Some of the Arsenal players, based on what we see on a weekly basis, wouldn’t enjoy Wilder getting stuck into them and demanding hard graft.
Of course, there’s so much more to Wilder’s management than demanding hard work. But it is what he demands as a given and he’s not one to suffer fools.
Murphy and Bent both made excellent points around Chris Wilder and Arsenal. The perception thing was a good observation. Only as a club can Arsenal change that from the top down.
Sheffield United will just continue to enjoy the ride Wilder is taking them on. Speculation will be inevitable if the Blades continue to play well. It’s just a case of business as usual for Wilder and his coaching staff and players.
Arsenal won’t be the last club to be linked with Chris Wilder. Indeed, West Ham have already reportedly shown an interest in him this season.