Unai Emery made a huge claim in the Europa League final press conference after managing Arsenal for one entire season.
The Spanish boss, who succeeded into Arsene Wenger’s spot at North London stated that the team had lost their fighting spirit under the former boss.
The Gunners are due to face off against Chelsea in what seems to be their only chance of qualifying for the Champions League next season and also to win some silverware this term.
“When I arrived here, we changed some things,” said Emery, who led his team to a fifth-place Premier League finish in the 2018/19 campaign. “Before Arsene Wenger, Arsenal were very competitive.
“With Wenger, it was very competitive and also he gave the team quality players, with a competitive spirit, who created the best moments in Arsenal. But in the last years, they lost being competitive, keeping only the quality.
“I learned with other coaches and also listening and watching, that here you need to be competitive with physical players and quality players. You need both. If you only have quality players it is difficult to catch up to the others. It is the same if you only have physical players, with no quality. So my idea is to share the two, to create a team with both.
“Above all, the idea is to be competitive [again] and we are doing this, getting competitive little by little with this team. We need more, yes. We can’t do it all in one year. But we have reduced the distance, we have started to compete with some other teams.”
“[Arsenal lacking fighting spirit] This was the first information I received when I arrived here,” Emery added. “The team is, step by step, showing more character.”
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