Unai Emery says that Arsenal fans need to remember the state of the team when he took over in May 2018, and insists he has made the team more competitive.
Although he failed to secure a top four finish last season from a very strong position, and lost the Europa League final badly to Chelsea, the Gunners boss has suggested that memories are short.
Ahead of Thursday night’s Europa League clash against Vitoria, he said, “Sometimes we forget the memory and we need to remember.
“When I arrived, this team needed to be more competitive. Arsenal, in their history, were winning 1-0 and being very competitive, but it was not enough.
“Then the process of being competitive and with improved creativity. When I arrived here, the creativity was more or less good, but being competitive was worse.
“It was not enough. I think last year I started to improve being competitive, also with some very good matches playing with creativity.
“This year we are in that process, but also with patience because our strategy as a club has some new players and young players.
“We are being competitive. With our creativity, maybe we have lost a little, but I know we are going to recover that.
“I want to show our supporters our energy and our intensity because I think that is something we improved last year and this year.
“There are a lot of supporters with different opinions. Some want more creativity, some want maybe more intensity, more energy.
“I want both. My way is both.
“My idea is to be competitive, with creativity. Our creativity sometimes is good, sometimes very good and sometimes worse.
“We have time and we have very young players, who we are giving confidence, minutes in the Premier League to adapt to the rhythm we want. We are in a process. Here, the most important is the club, the strategy of the club, the team, the group.
“Our job is finding how we can improve and get better in our way, and one is creativity.
“We are winning at home, but I think we can win and we can also be more clear in our style, improving maybe that creativity.”
Arsenal lost their last outing 1-0 to newly promoted Sheffield United.
Oh dear…
The facts just don’t back up his points. Competitive last season in the run in against Brighton and Watford and Wolves? This season against Sheffield United? WTF is this guy smoking….I want some!
Weed laced with opium
I need some of that to get through these ramblings
I really don’t think we should be taking whatever he’s taking……we might decide that he should stay at the club.
Notice to our board.
Even nightclub custodians act when people are overintoxicated.
LOL
To be fair, I also felt we were getting competitive against the top 6 last season, but then got spanked by Chelsea in the cup final…
I am 80% inside the “Emery out” bus/plane/boat, just want to see how the team performs when Bellerin/Tierney back in the team.
EMERY IS DOING A GREAT JOB, HIS RECRUITMENT IS PERFECT AND HIS VISION FOR YOUTH IS EXCELLENT. SALIBA,TIERNEY,TORREIRA,PEPE,MATTEO,MARTINELLI, THIS CAN WIN ANY TITLE IN TWO YEARS.SUPPORT EMERY WITH THE ENERGY YOU WASTE FIGHTING HIM. HE IS GOING NO WHERE AND HE WILL NOT DO WHAT FANS THINK IS RIGHT
Everything you mentioned is not due to Emery.
Foshnaishyshayshin naaaayn
They do, last season we finished with 70 points, the season before we finished with 63, thats a clear improvement.
Wenger’s last season we finished closer to relegation than the title, last season we finished closer to the title than relegation.
This is a clear improvement, just people forget just how far down Wenger dragged us. Anyone with a brain could see this was going to be a several season project
Hahahahahahahaha!
Fucking imbecile.
New strain Bob?
Why be abusive?
Thank you Sherlock! You’ve successfully identified all political correctness violations in the comment section while adding no value whatsoever to the conversation.
…thats insulting to imbeciles mate
That’s the kind of delusion and denial that got Wenger sacked and nearly destroyed his legacy.
This is worse. He’s a nobody, he came to Arsenal in order to be in the same sentence as Arsene… and failed.
He almost said he’s a better manager than Wenger. Maybe just me.
He’s getting fired. He knows and it and came out publicly to defend himself yet he insulted Wenger I think at the same time. Seems desperate.
I hope your right David but making quick decisions is not exactly our clubs forte
This isn’t good. My dislike for him has increased multifold in an instant… He is not Arsenal material. We have always oozed class and I’ve taken immense pride in it. This guy is going to turn us into Manchester United.
Wee can help…
El Perdiz strikes again
We are being Trolled by the manager.
This article should have a trigger warning
We need to boot Emery as soon as possible.He thinks like a midtable club manager and manages us like one of them.He is not capable of managing a top club.His comments say it all…Ffs does he know he is
managing one of the biggest club in the world.
Harsh, some of the managers mid table I’d take over this clown.
To think we poo-pood the idea of Brendan Rogers and he’s taken Leicester back above us. This is exactly where we were with Arsene that year LCFC won the league.
Oh boy. Captaining Xhaka, playing Kolasinac over Tierney and now saying this nonsense – I’m starting to think this guy is glutton.
When a coach starts clutching at straws, it means one thing: His feet is dangling under the water; he is feeling the pressure.
Unai can’t possibly come back from this – no matter how it takes.
His EL form is irrelevant at the moment.
I was deeply gutted by the fact Kolasinac was chosen ahead of Tierney. I suspect that he viewed the match to be a very physical away encounter and chose Kolasinac because of this. Kolasinac had a pretty decent game to be fair, the question is would Tierney have done better? Arguable. What’s clear though, is that Emery is conservative. He’s not a risk-taking manager. It makes me sad because I thought he did reasonably well in his first season, but it feels like our creative flourishes last season were more a residue of Wenger’s playing style. We are all still… Read more »
We need to learn a lesson from Barca. They rely on their Academy to produce talent and so, it is imperative that any new manager builds on the club’s playing philosophy and not try to change it altogether because that’s what the kids learn for years before making it to the first team. Europa league is dominated by our youngsters who have learnt the Arsenal way of playing. Yes, we have forgotten that we always play fast, fluid, creative football (that’s how our youngsters play, that’s how our women’s team play) – not the type of conservative game we are… Read more »
Secret agent Emery forced United and Spurs to sign shit players, forced UEFA to hand Chelsea a transfer ban thus making Arsenal more competitive. Like a boss.
What’s he been smoking?
Get out
Could he come out with anything worse at this stage… Putting ever a nails into his own coffin here.
Putting several*
Sorry!
Even God can make auto correct mistakes!
At least he’s aware the fans aren’t happy!!
Mate if you can get the creativity up, and get some results, we’ll get back behind you. But it just doesn’t seem likely.
Absolutely anything is possible which is why all the negativity is quite jarring to me. Also the abuse of the manager is unacceptable. You can not think he’s the right person to take us forward without stooping to being abusive and yet so many in our “classy” fan base think it’s acceptable. Shame on them is what I say.
Anything is possible yeah right. Let’s breakdown what he has just said. More competitive and also creative. Last season Hammered by the chavs in last years final after after a shocking run of defeats against bottom end sides in the premier league allowing the spuds a champions league place. This season erm competitive and creative went to anfield and stuck everyone behind the ball for 90 minutes on a damage limitation exercise went to Old Trafford with the same mentality against arguably the worst Manchester United side in 30 years. Got a pounding off Watford and hung on for dear… Read more »
“Last season Hammered by the chavs in last years final after after a shocking run of defeats against bottom end sides in the premier league allowing the spuds a champions league place.”
This perfectly sums up what happened in april and may last season.
Reminds me of Andre Villa-Boas formerly of Chelsea/Spurds more and more. Loads of cocky talk with nothing to show for it!
Aaaaah Unai leave my Arsenal already.
Hey bro this isnt shakespear.. weve been watching some dreadful scenes here.. i mean dreadful
Ony in Europa with the kids.
NOW I’m worried.
He’s starting to sound senile.
Didn’t take long….
Shame on the 35 people who think it’s acceptable to call someone senile because they don’t play the style of football you want. I mean people thought it acceptable to say the same about Wenger, our greatest manager. I have family that have senile dementia so I find it offensive for this word to be bandied around in this way. Use proper articulate criticism of the manager.
Based on all the statistics and a lot of performances now, Emery doesn’t seem to remember the things that he’s said in the past, doesn’t seem to articulate himself or his tactics well in the present, and he neither seems to know where Arsenal are right now in terms of quality and competitiveness nor the direction in which to take the club forward. “Senile” is just a more concise way to put it.
I think articulation is a good point. I’d like to hear his views via an interpreter, but if the same nonsense came out – gotta go.
I appreciate the sentiment and I don’t like the way people think it’s appropriate to speak to each other through the internet .. but you’re really pissing in the wind here mate. Not worth it.
Into the wind…I mean if your outdoors and it’s windy, you should really piss. You could give yourself some health issues if you hold it too long (I mean George Costanza told us that). But it’s recommended to face away from the direction the wind is originating from. Of course this is all based on the assumption you are referring to men. As for women needing to pee outdoors in windy conditions the recommendation would be facing into the direction the wind is originating from.
The proper way way is to squat.. empties it all out with no dirt!.. or just do it at home?
Yeah the correct way is to call Unai Emery a fraud and nothing else.
Are you a sours fan by any chance?
You can’t hijack the word senile. Get over yourself.
“He’s starting to sound senile,” is not exactly “calling someone senile.”
That “you sound like Donald Trump,” for example, doesn’t make you Donald Trump. Does it?
Unai said we “forgot the memory”, and we “don’t remember”. This he said towards us.
…I’ve calmed down now.
I’m in two minds about this. Our performances at the end of last season were shocking and I’d argue sackable. And despite our results we haven’t played much better this season. Additionally we have a manager that appears to dither over every decision whether it’s players, the formation, or even just the captaincy (which has gone to a much maligned player). And his track record doesn’t suggest he’s necessarily worth keeping around like Pep or Klopp. But but but…. I just can’t accept we’d part ways with him so early in his second season. Wasn’t this meant to be a… Read more »
I get that, but why doesn’t he play the fullbacks. There’s a serious possibility that we loose Laca and Auba because they know they can do better at a club with a manager that has a vision. Emery doesn’t have one. He’s not good enough
I get your point but perspective goes both ways. Yes the points have been good bit the overall direction, style of play, defence are all over the place. I see no improvement in any area of the pitch and he puts our worst culprit of errors and unsuitability as captain. Nice guy, out of his depth. Ljunberg as temp boss and see what happens until the summer.
Arsenal FC have given Emery nearly 17 months in charge of the team, and he’s not showing any comforting signs of improvement, despite what he might believe. I think if we could see glimpses of what he was after, most of us would be really, really patient; but we’ve been watching, intently, hopefully, desperately, and the signs are not there. The voices on here defending his vision for the club are but a handful at this point, which tells you a lot. Most of us were tearing each other apart when Wenger was in decline, but the situation with Emery… Read more »
While I agree with your assessment, we also must realize that its ludicrous to imagine your simple plan is all it takes to turn this team around. “Take control of the game”? That is nebulous nonsense, if you tell players that they’ll laugh. Who doesn’t want to be in control of a game or use their skill? I understand the sentiment but this requires a clear and powerful philosophy, defined roles and effective training, and players who understand and are capable of performing within those roles. Tactically it’s gone from giving up 32 shots to Watford to then adapting and… Read more »
Well, yeah, I would hope that a manager doesn’t just utter platitudes to his players, but actually drills and trains and instructs them; but I’ll stand by my statement, which is intended to be somewhere between a simple plan and ripping up everything — develop tactics and strategies that bring out the best in our squad and emphasize attacking football (not just route 1 and 2 with the wide players crossing it into the box). As you say, Emery doesn’t appear to have a tactical philosophy; so wouldn’t any tactical philosophy be an improvement? Give them a plan that they… Read more »
on point.. fundamental is front to back fluidity? but we get to watch back and forth shuttling of players
You know why people are acting like we are 15th because we should be third not because Emery is a great manager but because United and Tots are going through a mini meltdown, Chelsea are rediscovering themselves and this is an awesome attacking team with players like Laca, Auba, Özil etc. we are realistic in our demands and not saying we should be 1st. One more thing Arsenal never deserves to be 5th or 6th so forget 15. We are meant to be top 4 team always. This manager is a fraud and you don’t do long term projects with… Read more »
This is the mistake Arsenal fans made with Wenger. Arsenal haven’t been entitled to expect top 4 since Manchester City arrived on the scene in 2008/09. Since then we’ve been up against three clubs with vastly greater resources and one with greater resources (Liverpool). That we still maintained top 4 every year for 8 years straight was a triumph, but fans were too spoilt to notice.
We should aim for top 4 (and more), and put everything we can in place to achieve it, not feel entitled to it.
No, it was a two year project with a very definite expectation at the end of it. That means May 2020. As long as we fart about playing with fear and confusion he will fail to reach his target, our best players will leave, and we will already be well down the slippery slope to the Championship. We are beating relegation fodder with difficulty. We are getting desperately lucky draws or losing against Midtable teams. We are being led by a man who basically tells us we should fear the top teams just before we face them (read his comments… Read more »
Norwich have already soundly beaten us, recently.
When?
Last season was a flop, considering the manner in which we lost out on top 4. But it was the correct decision to back the manager with the summer transfer window to give him a proper chance in forming his own team.
He has no excuses now. The lacklustre performances have continued this season and theres no distinct playing style or identity.
His *only* saviour now is the defence. I am willing to back him until December and see what he does with Tierney, Bellerin and Holding.
Yeah. we’re only two points off 4th place but we TIED the mighty Watford (who was at the bottom), we LOST to Shef. U (who just got promoted), TIED a struggling Man U (who are terrible this year) and finally were really lucky to beat Aston Villa ( who despite their place in the table we should easily beat). We could easily be in second place and make Liverpool sweat if we played better and had a manger who know what the hell he was doing. Unai sucks
It’s not about results, it’s about performance.
I think many of us would prefer a lower position in the league, if we saw a clear path and a plan for progression.
Yes we have a project of young players, but withouth a direction there’s little to be optimistic about.
Whatever he is smoking, must be very potent
Great minds!
Great minds – smoke potent stuff?
surely a jeffrey.
Yes mate we now play shit football and NO we are not more competative as we miles off the top and still play on thursdays mid week.
Deluded! look at the stats of Emery 1st 47 games v Wenger last 47 games, we are not more competitive, scored less goals, conceded more goals, got less points, Deluded!
and those where the worst 47 games Wenger had in 22 years.
And I believe Emery has a fair bit of cash to spend/players coming in, plus inherited some pretty good youth players and big signings from Wenger.
I keep hearing the word ‘Identity’ these days in football. City & Liverpool have it, even Sheff Utd have it in there own way. Under Emery Arsenal have none.
I have limits and patience. This man has tested those limits. I’ll start this now.
#EmeryOut
I think we’re on the right path, we’re a club in transition, and makeup and balance of our squad is in a much healthier position, we now need continuity, and to build relationships and cohesion. I seem to be in a minority, but I think Emery knows what he’s doing. We’re no longer looking for a revolution, we just need to evolve our squad, develop our youngsters, give the new players time to settle, and over the next 2 windows we’re now looking for quality over quantity Looking forward to the game tomorrow, judging by Ozil’s social media, the Ozil… Read more »
LOL You are definitely in the minority, Unai is clueless and has no idea what he is doing
You see I actually agree with everything you have said. The problem is that we are playing truly awful football. It makes it very hard for me to come to a definite opinion on Unai. We know he is responsible for the on pitch stuff, but how much of a driving force was he behind what happened in the summer? I.d be inclined to give him a few more weeks before really calling for his head if performances don t improve
“There are a lot of supporters with different opinions. Some want more creativity, some want maybe more intensity, more energy.”
Either would be nice tbh.
Rather we don have both….kkk
Three! U know what that means?! Yes, we lost points in three matches out of five but it also means i also won three europa cups, more than any other manager in the premiere league and have zero awareness of whats going on! Respect man, respect!
Spin. Just a matter of time now. It’s over.
Exactly. He’ll be sacked soon I believe, what we are and what we play as is as clear as day not just for us fans but also for every team in the PL that is ready to give it their best because they know we’ll bend over easy, all thanks to this lovely man who is like another Michael G. Scott – clueless and embarrassing
I hope you’re right. However, I fear that the management will give him the whole season to prove himself, giving us another wasted season.
I think KSE will want to prove they are the guys who follow the Arsenal way. They got some respect back by spending unexpectedly in the summer, but they may fear that a snap decision to sack him would upset the fanbase because its un-Arsenal. So they’ll keep him until May because they have a contract with him, despite all the damage he does every single f***ing day he stays in charge.
Are we supposed to be grateful that we only lost by a one-goal margin on Monday night? Is that what he means by competitive?
This is true. Matches we used to trounce the underdog opponent in are now extremely competitive for the club, even at home.
You don’t send your team out to play a Sheffield United team that hasn’t won at home since Aug 18 with these words…. “The coach, really his career with that team is amazing and how they are playing is the same as they played in the Championship, with big confidence, good players and their style is to be offensive. “Also they are defensively very strong and we are analysing the best possible game plan, but really it is going to be difficult. “For us we need to respect first and then we need to prepare, we need to use our… Read more »
Wow. Okay. I’m done with him. If he truly believes the things he’s saying, then it just shows how poorly he analyzes the game. I wanted to give him time, but I just can’t get behind him.
I’d rather see what Freddie can do with these players.
After spending 200million!!
I’d say these comments are just further evidence of Emery’s poor judgement.
That’s quite the spin on the current situation. I think Unai has a great career in politics ahead of him. Football perhaps not so much.
Ok. This has to be it, right? The last straw? How can it not be?
(PS: check Ozil’s twitter if you haven’t yet)
No way! 🙂
Impossible not to love this.
Blather … at best.
Have seen how competetive he made us in Baku in May. Man, have we been competetive. Chelsea still don’t know how they’ve managed to win that game against such a competetive opponent. People were laughing at me when I said I’d take Arteta over Emery all day of the week. He isn’t experienced enough, they said. Emery is the safe option, they said. Look at Chelsea and how they’re playing under a very unexperienced manager. Get this clown out of this club. It’s becoming embarrassing.
What the hell this deluded clown is still doing here? Sack the bastard in the morning. #EmeryOut
OUT….RIGHT NOW
Unai is coward clueless coach. His creativity is only good ebening. He created Chronic case of impotence. Arsenal must sack him at the end of this season even if we qualify for champions league.
I feel quite embarrassed reading this. I think he’s either delusional or has a very different understanding of what those words actually mean. Ultimately I think that’s all they are, empty words. Not backed up with anything I am watching. I don’t like the idea of sacking our manager. I think we have the players that an average manager would usually finish 3rd with thus season. That may happen but I think it’ll be in spite of the fact he’s in charge. In the end I have no faith in this guys ability to play a creative exciting brand of… Read more »
Hahaha…
classic fraud manager statement ever!!
who signed this guy.for arsenal? …Dany levy ..may be
Sorry what the actual fuck is he on about???
I’d really love to have some of what he’s been smoking
Some concoction outta this world. I am his supplier. Contact me
Obviuosly, the man’s lost it (even though I don’t now if he ever had it with Arsenal). But however, this is a very bad indicator for a manager (even for an ordinary man, not in a public job). Let the fans of the club judge, let your achievements talk. I don’t say it is early for him to say that but I say no one should say that for himself. I remember Mourinho at one press conference (can’t rembember the exact date) raised his fingers to the journalists (saying how many times he won the PL) which was at the… Read more »
Total agreement. I do wonder if we have a few too many weak and hapless players that have attributed to his failures. But it’s his fault he never detected Xhaka was out of his depth. A player who isnt shoring up defensively, is slowing the attack and not ever involved in attacking passes or runs is doing nothing to achieve a tactical philosophy. Numerous others are the same. Torreira as an attacking mid? Kolasinac incapable of a decent cross being a main cog of our attacking system? Endless problems. And he never seems to get it right or fix it.… Read more »
I hear Arsene Wenger would like to coach a team again, and he’d do wonders with some of the skilful players that Emery has emasculated by having no idea how to use them.
“Wenger Out” was always a stupid campaign when KSE and Gazidis were the people who’d be choosing his successor.
Yes, everything going on is his responsibility. He had some decent transfers and more or less has a good player for cover in every position.
Yes, Xhaka is a problem but not the only one. Using Torreira as you said also, keeping Mustafi in the team for so long (but as we see, seems like he’s not the central problem), the relations with Ozil, the turning off of Niles, the sterile attacking play and so on and so on and so on.
Nice. Accomplish nothing and throw Wenger under the double decker.
Classless shit. Its like he is trying to revise history that he picked us up near relegation and now we are competing again. We were worse than we wanted to be, but not as bad as he has made us. He is out of his depth and on borrowed time here.
Emery probably thought he took over Graham.
Didn’t know that our manager is also a stand up comedian
Competitive? Seriously??? This guy is obviously delusional. I honestly dont know how he defines competitive. Being 5th last season is competitive? Losing 4 nil against chelsea in europa final being competitive? He doesnt even know his best eleven at all.
Is he taking the piss?
Where has he made us more competitive? Does he not remember the final of this competition last season ?
We fold more often than the world origami champion.
Oh, my God.
It’s the new Baghdad Bob.
Someone needs to explain this metric of “competitiveness” to me. How is he measuring it? PL record? The man who was in his position was sacked for having a similar record (or marginally better. Someone correct me) in the last 47 games of his tenure. Defensive record? We are worse. Offensive record? We are similar (or worse. Someone check me) and very reliant on one player to deliver. The eye test? He fails miserably. Better in big games? I’ll give him that one…big games at home that is. One season is not a trend you can use to knock a… Read more »
I almost vomited in my mouth. I had to stop reading! We are equally competitive, but also now sloppy and tedious. I want my vengy back. Well maybe not Wenger.
I recommend you watch the video. Yes I feel we are fighting more on the pitch but yes the results are not there and it definitely feels the team is not connected (yet). Emery feels the fire and he seems feisty. Let see if he manages to implement some time of cohesion to the fighting spirit. COYG
Josh, we know it’s you.
What fighting spirit? When was the last time our game could be called “gutsy” or even “adequate”.
This is it, everyone! The beginning of the end!
Absolute drivel..
Sometimes we forget the memory and we need to remember. ..that was how he started that pathetic interview. He just seems utterly clueless about everything now. I’d just love Arsenal as classy as we always have been just be ruthless for once. Just this once and…sack him in the morning. This interview following that result and that performance the other night is shocking. Arsenal fan 30 years In April. First time commenter. But I’m totally pissed off with him now
Aston Villa have scored more than us and have a better goal difference. Is that the level of competition we are aspiring to now?
Heard his comments and almost crashed my car