Former Arsenal manager Unai Emery who departed the club not too long ago has finally opened up on his tenure at the Emirates.
The Spaniard’s 18-month reign came to and end when he was sacked by the club in November after a run of seven games without a win.
Unai Emery feels that he was turning things around at the North London club before being sacked. Speaking to France Football, he said:
“Arsenal was a club on a downward slope for two years before I arrived. We stopped this fall and even began to rebuild the club with the Europa League final and fifth place in the league
“But we lost our four captains: [Laurent] Koscielny, [Petr] Cech, [Aaron] Ramsey and [Nacho] Monreal. They were personalities that we missed this season to stay on the right track, and some stars did not have a good attitude and asked for more than what they were giving back.
“Taking all of that into account, we needed time to succeed with our transition to a new Arsenal, which is what I wanted.”
The first campaign under Emery showed a lot of promise but it fizzled out right at the business end of the season. Losing 4-1 to Chelsea in the Europa League final was a crushing blow that prevented the Emirates club from reaching the Champions League.
They lost their way in the final weeks of the Premier League and after a string of disappointing results, ended the season in 5th place. The 2019/20 season did not go to plan for Emery despite the club bringing in some quality players.
And based on his comments, it seems he would have liked more time with the squad to bring the Gunners back to their former glory. But the Spaniard wasn’t afforded that opportunity, so it’s time to look ahead.
The team have become defensively more solid which is good sign and it seems players trust the new man in charge as can be seen by the comments made by Mesut Ozil and Alexandre Lacazette.
Now, the hope of the fans will be that the club can finish the season by challenging for a Champions League spot. Arsenal are also in the hunt for a trophy with FA Cup and Europa League campaigns still alive. It remains to be seen if Arteta will be able to claim a trophy in his first season as a manager.
