Unai Emery blamed the Arsenal players for not having the right attitude prior to his sacking at the Emirates.
Arsenal fans were greatly disappointed by how things started off this season despite the manager being heavily backed in the transfer window.
Emery, however, plead innocent to the club’s consistent poor displays, stating that he needed more time to implement his philosophies.
“Arsenal was a club on the downward slope for two years when I arrived,” Emery told France Football. “We stopped this fall and even started to straighten the club with a Europa League final and a fifth place in the championship, only one place behind Tottenham while we only took a point in the last five days.
“We had the qualification for the Champions League in hand and it went wrong in the final. But it was a good season and we had the idea to continue this progression. But we lost our four captains: (Laurent) Koscielny, (Petr) Cech, (Aaron) Ramsey and (Nacho) Monreal.
“We have missed personalities this season to stay on track. And some stars did not have the right attitude and asked for more than they gave. Given all that, it would have taken more time to successfully transition to the new Arsenal that I wanted.”
“At Arsenal, there was a process in place this year that took longer than planned with our leaders’ departures and individual underperformance,” he continued. “Of course, I am partly responsible, but you can see the team isn’t necessarily doing better since my departure.”
Since Mikel Arteta took over, Arsenal has lost just once and have significantly tightened up their defensive performances. As the club takes shape midway through a campaign, fans are much happier to see improvements in performances and team morale on the pitch.
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