Ex-Arsenal Manager Unai Emery Speaks On Mikel Arteta Appointment

Unai Emery says Arsenal are making “a good decision” by appointing Mikel Arteta to replace him as manager.

Emery, 48, was sacked last month after an 18-month spell in charge ended with a seven-game winless run.

Manchester City assistant boss Arteta was announced as the new Gunners boss on Friday.

‘A move Arteta has prepared all his life for’ – Balague on return to Arsenal
“He really is prepared to make that next jump,” said Emery.

“He has been at Arsenal before, he’s been in the Premier League and he has been working with Pep Guardiola. I do believe this is a good decision and I would also like it to be a good decision.”

In his first broadcast interview since leaving Arsenal, Spaniard Emery spoke to BBC Sport’s Guillem Balague on a range of topics, including plans to give him a new contract earlier this season, the manner of his Emirates exit, his relationship with Mesut Ozil and interest from Everton.

The truth is that in the first year I was very pleased and the only thing left for me to do was to put the rubber stamp on the season with a win in the final of the Europa League. In the knockout stages we looked powerful.

And then we played in the final against Chelsea where we had a great first half in a tactical sense, and where, in my opinion, we could have taken control of the game. But Eden Hazard separated both sides in their favour and they won the match.

And in the league we swam right up to the shore and died on the beach.

We effectively lost a top-four finish at home in two games, a draw against Brighton and a loss to Crystal Palace. These happened at a time when we were heavily involved in the Europa League.

There were things that happened that impeded our chances of responding as well as we would have wanted, such as the injuries to Rob Holding, Hector Bellerin and Aaron Ramsey.

But it’s true that I was very satisfied with how things went because I believe we learned how to become a team, at times a team that shone, but a team that was effective and competitive, and a team that in general was showing why Arsenal signed me. I believe we achieved that and we just needed to make that final step.

From talk of a new contract to the sack in a matter of weeks
This season, theoretically, we also began well and I had the feeling – and so did the club – that the achievements of the previous season were valued and we were now looking to how we could develop together, even to the point where they were looking to offer a renewed contract.

Then I remember we had one month… At one of the international breaks we were third, and then in the first game after we came back, the frustrations from bad results were beginning to make us worse for the following matches. We were losing confidence, and it’s also true to say we were losing a bit of stability.

The game against Sheffield United [a 1-0 win for the Blades in October] was a turning point. In one month everything got broken, and we were incapable of winning a game in seven and the tension based on the question we were asking “What’s happening to us” was like a rolling ball that was just getting bigger and bigger.

When that happens the coach is the first person to come into the spotlight. I have lived this at other clubs but I have managed to conquer it by getting the team back on track, but at Arsenal that month was terrible.

‘People could see me suffering – my situation had become unsustainable’
I had friends or people at my side who would say to me, “I can see you’re suffering,” and I said “naturally”.

When a coach doesn’t win, he suffers. And when he doesn’t win two, or three or four he suffers more. We had to win to regain our emotional equilibrium, to get rid of that frustration and we couldn’t.

Source: BBC

Otunba T.J Abass

The Publisher, Ekohotblog.com