Unai Emery could land himself in even hotter water with Arsenal fans after he seemed to make a sly dig towards Arsene Wenger in a bid to defend his time in charge of the Gunners.
According to Goal’s Charles Watts, Unai Emery passionately defended his reign as Arsenal boss during his pre-match press conference ahead of tonight’s Europa League clash with Vitoria.
It appeared as though the Spaniard aimed a slight dig towards Arsene Wenger by stating that “sometimes we forget the memory and we need to remember.”
Emery added that the Gunners needed to be more “competitive” when he arrived. This gives off the vibe that our current boss was referring to the struggles we faced in Wenger’s final seasons in charge.
The pressure is mounting on the former PSG and Sevilla boss after our defeat to Sheffield United on Monday night.
We looked to be making real progress under the Spaniard until this week’s setback.
Fortunately I believe tonight’s Europa League tie couldn’t have come at a better time, we’ve been brilliant in Europe so far this season and we’ll be expected to making things right this evening.
Here’s what Emery had to say on his time as Arsenal boss so far:
“Sometimes we forget the memory and we need to remember, when I arrived here, this team needed to improve being more competitive.”
“This club, historically, was winning 1-0 and being very competitive, but it wasn’t enough.
“Then it was being competitive with improved creativity. When I arrived, the creativity was good, but being competitive was worse. It was not enough.
“I think last year I started to improve being competitive, with some very good matches playing with creativity.
“This year we are in a process, but we need patience because our strategy as a club is with some new players and some young players. We changed 10 players and are continuing being competitive. Creativity, maybe we lost a little, but I know we are going to recover that.”
With all respect to Portuguese outfit Vitoria, we’ll be expected to come through tonight’s test fairly comfortably.
Hopefully Emery uses this evening’s game to blood some of our players back into the starting eleven after their spells on the sidelines.
We can’t approach Sunday afternoon’s clash with Crystal Palace like we did with Sheffield otherwise Roy Hodgson’s men will punish us.
We’ve got the perfect chance to turn in a solid performance and also nail down our best lineup tonight.
COYG
I feel like laughing
No, what he said is at the time of his arrival, we are attractive but not getting any result. Then he tried to inject some pragmatism and there were creativity in some matches last season. He argued there are 10 new players so it will take time for them to gel.
To understand what he said is art. It isn’t a dig, he merely stated the fact that we had overabundance of creativity but lacked steel. The questionable parts about that interview are “competitive” and “creativity we lost a ‘little’, we are going to recover that”
350oz, I agree but you’re wasting your time. There are so many people, particularly in the media, with an agenda at the moment tbat anything Emery says will be twisted to support that agenda.
Hopefully, the Arsenal players and Emery, will respond to the criticism by performing on the field
Ozzie, you’re right, after reading your comment I come to realize they do have an agenda and this will happen for the foreseeable future.
Yes I trully hope they respond positively on the pitch.
We did have a number of good games last season, but ever since our home win against Man u last season, it’s been downhill since then. And so far this season, there’s been no improvement…. so, Emery shouldn’t bother trying to save face, most fans have had it with him
How is what he said having a dig at all? We did go from being solid (competitive) at the back with little creativity, to a balance and then to too much creativity and not enough solidity to the team. He has made the team a bit tougher in their mentality, he has made our defense a bit more robust, we have lost creativity as a result – far more this season than we did last season but there were changes between the two he has adapted to. He is settling new and young players in to the squad,and yes the whole thing is a process that takes time. And we have remained competitive whilst all this has happened – simple statement of facts with poor English imo.
Sounds more like an admittance to being aware of the teams imbalance and everything he is being criticised for, an explanation as to why its become unbalanced and letting us know he plans to address it when he feels its right 🤷♂️
Is it him just spouting empty bs or similar to what I’ve been saying all along – time will tell.