After 22 years of the same manager, the immediate successor to Arsene Wenger was always going to have a tough time. As Gary Neville has perfectly explained, the culture ingrained in the club came from the Frenchman, and expecting an instant transformation under the guidance of Unai Emery was never realistic.

The Spaniard was heading into a club that was also going under a transformation at board level, with the likes of Raul Sanllehi and Edu being installed just before and during the first twelve months of his tenure. It’s a complete overhaul which meant there was guaranteed to be instability both on and off the pitch.

It must be said that Emery handled things pretty well initially. With Sven Mislintat’s departure midway through his first campaign, and lacking any real long term plan in the absence of anyone resembling a sporting director, his first season could have ended pretty well if he had secured the Europa League title.

The fact is, though, it didn’t and after failing to secure a top-four finish, the pressure was always going to be on him to deliver results in his second season in charge.

A big issue for Emery has been his poor English. His inability to communicate his ideas sufficiently has certainly played a role in his lack of connection with the players and the fans. However, the biggest concern for supporters is the lack of any real identity.

When you look at managers like Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp, you know what they stand for. They have a way of playing which reflects their personalities as managers. With Emery, that is not the case.

In his first season, he looked to be building a philosophy around a high tempo/high pressing game, but that has seemingly evaporated in recent months. According to the stats, the Gunners are 12th in the league for closing down opponents.

Under pressure to deliver results, and dealing with a fractious dressing room, Emery has chopped and changed players and has abandoned any real pretence about a set way of playing. That lack of identity is causing people to lose patience.

If fans could see why the Gunners boss was making certain decisions, they would be more open to him staying on board, but his decision making appears haphazard and contradictory.

Emery’s treatment of Mesut Ozil is a case in point. The German was seemingly frozen out but then reintroduced into the first team without any real reason given for why he was left out in the first place.

While, as Neville has said, Emery needs time to change the culture at the club, it’s very hard to do that when what you are trying to replace it with is so ill-defined. The Spaniard may have the faith of the Arsenal board but as things stand, there is very little faith in what he is doing among the fanbase. How tenable that situation is, remains to be seen.