5 dark horse candidates to replace Arsene Wenger
By James Dudko
The five best dark horse candidates to replace Arsene Wenger as Arsenal manager, including Manuel Pellegrini.
Luis Enrique, Thomas Tuchel, Massimiliano Allegri, Leonardo Jardim, Carlo Ancelotti and Joachim Low. Everybody has these names on their lips when considering who will replace Arsene Wenger once he steps down as Arsenal manager this summer.
If you’re tired of reading the same names, then it’s time to consider some dark horse candidates. How about a Premier League title-winner with Manchester City? Or a double winner with Arsenal?
What about a Spaniard with a fondness for a good, old-fashioned 4-4-2 formation? Then there’s a Frenchman and an ex-Barcelona midfielder who believe the beautiful game needs to be played beautifully.
These five managers are true outsiders, but all worthy and capable of continuing the work Wenger did to transform both the image and standing of Arsenal during over two decades at the helm.
5. Rudi Garcia, Marseille
It says a lot managerial heavyweights such as Marcelo Bielsa and Didier Deschamps struggled to revive Marseille, but Rudi Garcia has had no such problems.
The 54-year-old has brought the swagger back to Les Olympiens. He has the club in the Europa League semifinal and well-placed to qualify for next season’s Champions League.
All of this has been achieved playing a brand of swashbuckling and stylish soccer Garcia has made his trademark. A progressive manager, the Frenchman front-loads his teams with an enviable array of attacking talent.
At Marseille, he has Dimitri Payet, Konstantinos Mitroglou and Lucas Ocampos forming a feared front three. They are supplied by Florian Thauvin, an outrageously gifted playmaker who didn’t show his best form for Newcastle, but whose mercurial brain has been indulged in Garcia’s expansive tactics.
The Europa League has detailed Thauvin’s immense contributions this season:
https://twitter.com/EuropaLeague/status/988337789946290176
Those tactics usually involve playing a 4-3-3 or 4-2-4 formation and overwhelming defenders with pace and flair. The combination has made Marseille the fourth-highest scorers in France, while they’ve scored 10 goals in their last four Europa League matches, including putting five past RB Leipzig in the quarterfinal second leg.
It’s tantalizing to think what Garcia would achieve with Gunners attackers Alexandre Lacazette, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Mesut Ozil.
Garcia’s credentials beyond Marseille extend to winning the Ligue 1 and Coupe de France double with Lille in 2011. The side were built around the artistry of Eden Hazard, the goals of Moussa Sow and the pace of a certain Gervinho, whom Wenger would sign the same summer.
Yohan Cabaye supplied this gifted trio in a team devastating going forward.
Garcia couldn’t replicate the same magic at Roma, although he did take the club back into the Champions League and secured consecutive second-place finishes in Serie A.
Wenger imprinted a pass-heavy, free-flowing style of play at Arsenal, a style Garcia would faithfully maintain.