Eddie Howe? Five managers who would be a better fit to replace Arsene Wenger
On Wednesday evening, links emerged amongst the media that Arsenal were lining up Bournemouth boss Eddie Howe to take over from Arsene Wenger at the end of next season.
With the Frenchman having just 12 months remaining on his current contract, a number of names have been thrown around as to who could take over the managerial reigns from the longest serving manager in the club’s history.
Having been linked to both the Arsenal and England job in the last couple of months and on the back of a fantastic season which saw Howe keep Bournemouth in the Premier League, many have expressed their delight over the news that he could become the Gunners’ next permanent manager.
But is he the man Arsenal should consider for the role?
Here are five alternative options.
Slaven Bilic (West Ham United)
Bilic has a footballing brain. West Ham supporters were happy with Sam Allardyce as manager because he stabilised them in the Premier League but he didn’t play the brand of football that made them happy.
So, they got Bilic in – and a shrewd move it proved. He made West Ham play some fantastic football while being tactically astute in their first season and has made them into the sort of team that others are scared to play against – a side that can genuinely put in a challenge on the top four.
Bilic isn’t just a ‘one trick pony’, he has had success from club level all the way up to managing Croatia at the 2008 European Championships, losing out in the quarter-finals to Turkey.
Joachim Low (Germany)
The Germany boss has a record that speaks for itself.
He has relationships with players that speak for themselves.
Low is amongst the best managers in the world and is a World Cup winner, is young enough to take the Arsenal job and stay in it for the long-term and would be able to get the best out of the likes of Mesut Ozil and Serge Gnabry.
He seems the natural successor to Arsene.
Diego Simeone (Atletico Madrid)
Simeone has recently expressed a genuine interest in managing a Premier League side and while he recently signed a new, long-term deal with Atletico, Arsenal could certainly convince him to manage them.
While he would introduce a completely different brand of football, he’s quite clearly a fantastic manager and has achieved amazing things during his time in charge of the club – winning La Liga and taking his side to two UEFA Champions League finals in two seasons.
Thomas Tuchel (Borussia Dortmund)
The 42-year-old has been hugely impressive during his time at Dortmund and despite losing some of his best players, he has managed to replace them fantastically and has got the best out of the likes of Julian Weigl, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Henrikh Mkhitaryan.
What is so impressive about Tuchel is his ruthlessness in the transfer window – if a player wants to leave, they can leave. He just makes sure they’re replaced immediately, the German doesn’t allow his players to have any sort of mindset other than they are going to give their all for Dortmund.
Tuchel is a boss who doesn’t shy away from the tactical side of things and has shown that he can develop players to be their best and most effective.
Steve Bould (Arsenal)
Bould, on the Betfair mobile app, appears to be amongst the leading favourites to become Arsenal manager after Wenger leaves and that’s because he has been his assistant manager for quite a while now.
He seems to be a man with a lot of passion and understanding of the game, having featured in arguably the club’s greatest ever defence alongside Tony Adams.
The experienced Arsenal legend is just 53-years-old, understands the club better than anyone and has already established relationships with players, staff and everyone involved with the north London side.
I think you have made a sensible list of managers to replace Wenger. Bilic, Law, Simone, and Tuchel I really like. I am not sure that Boulder has shown enough as assistant; I didn’t think our defence improved while he has been around. It could just be zonal defending that is the problem in set pieces, but our defence in general has been always suspect. I would say the jury is out on Bould. The case against Simone is different: his pragmatic approach is a little alien to Arsenal; It would be a would be a departure; that may not be a bad thing after all.
I disagree with you on Eddie Howe, though. I think he thoroughly deserves to be on the list simply by the fact that he steered a Bournemouth through the very choppy waters of the Premier League extremely well, on a tiny budget with limited fan base and stadium, playing very attractive football (probably more so than us) which received huge accolades from lots of people in the know. So, in my book he is streets ahead of Bould who has never managed (possibly too entangled with Wenger mediocracy – if that is not too strong).
I would rank the list as: Tuchel, Bilic=Simone=Howe, Law.
I would place Law last because his lack of experience at club level, and rate Howe on par with Bilic (EPL experience as player and manager and attractive football and passion) and Simone (his motivating ability, doggedness, aggression, ruthlessness). Tuchel top, because he has all of the abilities mentioned above that we would call ideal fit for Arsenal; a dream appointment for a very successful and enjoyable period in our history. To me, he is like Klopp (who we missed out on) but with less hype. Arsenal will need total overhaul once Wenger leaves (as he really neglected refreshing the squad and concentrated mainly French but also some Spanish tiki-taka players). We are left with a lot of dead wood and injury prone and ridden players kept on board probable out of misgivings loyalty. I would be perfectly happy with any of the first four and think we would become very proud once again at Arsenal. This is my view.
Sorry about the typos, damn these predictive text facility, of course it is Bould not Boulder!