During the summer of 2018, Unai Emery took over the reins of London's Arsenal, facing an extremely difficult task - replacing long-time strategist Arsene Wenger.
The Spaniard's first season in London was not bad. Arsenal managed to reach the UEFA Europa League final, and in the Premier League they were just a step away from the top four.
However, U. Emery's second season in England started very unsuccessfully and by November he was forced to part ways with his job.
In an interview with France Football, the coach claimed that he had hoped for more time at the Arsenal helm and also blamed some players for their inappropriate work attitude.
“The London Arsenal was clearly going downhill for two seasons before my arrival. We managed to stop this decline and already in the first season we played in the Europa League final, and in the Premier League we were only one point behind the fourth place.
We were very close to qualifying for the Champions League, but we were not successful in the end. Despite that, the season was good and we wanted to continue to improve.
However, we lost very important personalities: Koscielny, Cech, Ramsey, and Monreal. We lacked such personalities this season in order to continue successfully with the work we had started. Some star players had an inappropriate attitude and demanded more from the team than they gave themselves.
To sum it all up, we needed time to create the new Arsenal. That's what I wanted," said U. Emery.
