‘I don’t think he’s been much of a success’ - ESPN FC's Shaka Hislop weighs in on Arsenal’s Victor Gyökeres and a week that saw Enzo Maresca, Ruben Amorim and Wilfried Nancy sacked | Goal.com Malaysia

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ON THE PREMIER LEAGUE SO FAR

GOAL: I wanted to start with the Premier League. What have you made of the season so far?

HISLOP: Arsenal have been really interesting. They have been the best and most consistent team in the league, but even with that, it's only a six point gap between themselves and Manchester City. With City, I don't think they've hit the highs that we saw two or three years ago. They're better than they were last season, no question. But I still feel, defensively, they have issues, and at times, I don't think they play fully to Erling Haaland's strengths.

I'm fully aware of Haaland's numbers, which says a lot about him, but I just don't know if City can continue to rely on the goalscoring when defensively, they've had issues. I know this January, there's a lot of talk about them addressing that. So we see how that comes along. Outside of that it really is anybody's game. Villa had a poor start to the season, but certainly they have been the story of the of the last few months. And then the ups and downs of Liverpool, of Chelsea, of Manchester United. It's difficult to make a prediction on as to who finishes where right now. Arsenal are the best team in the league, whether they have the squad depth to go in and finish first, time will tell. But outside of that, it's nearly impossible to see who finishes fourth, fifth, sixth.

GOAL: What do you make of Arsenal this year? It kind of seems like this is it?

HISLOP: They are the strongest team without question. They have proven so far to be the strongest team. Even though they try to address that striker position and bring Victor Gyokeres. I don't think he's been much of a success. But there's a credible argument to be made that Mikel Merino is more active, more mobile in those positions, and make Arsenal play a whole lot better. I believe they will go on and win the league. And I think that's more despite of Gyokeres, as opposed to thanks to Gyokeres. It's thanks to, you know, a number of other players, including Rice, who has to be one of the best midfielders out there. There's Odegaard, who continues to excel in terms of the creativity that he brings. They've got Eze who can come on and change games almost single-handedly.

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ON RUBEN AMORIM

GOAL: With Ruben Amorim, was it the right time to sack him? A few months ago, we were hearing he would get a few years. Where do you stand?

HISLOP: I was caught off guard. It feels like a disappointing season. There's still so much to play for in terms of, at the very least, Champions League qualification. And I felt in the team's final statement, it kind of echoed a lot of what you felt Enzo Maresca was dealing with. There was a lot of input and influence from upstairs, and, you know, football managers or head coaches, however you want to phrase it, don't like to wait. They don't want to feel that their formation is being dictated to them or certain tactics are being dictated to them, and their only responsibility is to go out and kind of do whatever.

GOAL: Did you ever see that as a player? The guys above making the decisions?

HISLOP: No. Back in my day, the manager was in charge of everything. He was chief cook, water bottle washer. He's responsible for signings. You know, a director would take care of transfer fees and salaries, but the manager would be fully responsible for identifying players that he needs, identifying tactics, and every single thing. One perspective is that the game has moved on, and there's so much more about the game with sports science and everything else that comes with it. But I think there has to be a hard line when, especially when it comes to, as I say, footballing affairs, as to managers' input or lack of it. I think that's the line that was crossed within both Chelsea and Manchester United.

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ON ENZO MARESCA

GOAL: It seems Maresca was caught in a similar spot, with the hierarchy losing trust a bit...

HISLOP: It thought it was even harsher on Maresca. When he was brought in, the dressing room was in an absolute mess, with far too many signings. You had some players on big money who were underperforming, and he was tasked with somehow getting them on track. And had to be very harsh in his first few days, if not months, in terms of leaving players out and not involving them in training and moving them on. I think he got control of it by building a team.

And maybe some of the things he said, you know, Chelsea fans don't want to hear. Like last Christmas, when they were top, and he was saying, 'I still don't think we can win it, even earlier this season,' questioning how high they can finish. But that, for me, is more PR. For these fans, the work that he was doing, sitting in, getting that just from under control and producing winning teams. I thought he was doing well, and all of a sudden, you know, he was sacked. And I thought that was harsh.

GOAL: It seems more difficult with the league so packed together, too? You're a couple wins away from Europe, even if you're in the bottom half of the table...

HISLOP: You have one outstanding team [in Arsenal]. A second [in Man City] who continues to push them, who have incredible talent and incredible coaching, and continue to push them. You've got [Aston Villa's] Unai Emery, who's proving to be the best pound-for-pound manager in the league, so to speak, given Villa's lack of resources and PSR restrictions and everything else. But he's still managing to win games and do so, you know, with consistency. And then after that, everybody's just kind of one good run away from being in the top four.

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ON WILFRIED NANCY

GOAL: Does Wilfried Nancy's sacking seem harsh to you? And did the fact that he came from MLS make it harder for him?

HISLOP: He deserved more than 33 days, but given the results, I wasn't surprised. In all honesty, I think the disparity between Celtic and Rangers, and Rangers have had a tougher time of late, is pretty much the same as Real Madrid and Barcelona with La Liga. And if anybody goes into Real Madrid and loses six of eight, including the eighth being to Barcelona, they won't last.

But of course, there's always this uphill kind of climb in terms of American players and managers [from MLS] making that step up to European football, and the perception as to whether they're good enough, whether they understand the nuances of the game well enough, that will always be an uphill battle.

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