Unai Emery Reveals The One Thing Arsenal Lacked Under Arsene Wenger

Unai Emery seems to have revived Arsenal from the malaise that had set in under Arsene Wenger and now the Gunners' boss has fired shots at his predecessor about where the problems were with Wenger's team.

22 years of Arsene Wenger came to an end in June this year when the Frenchman left the Emirates, despite not really wanting to go, after more than two decades at the helm.

Despite a heroic exit from the Emirates with fans paying tribute to their departing manager it had been a difficult last period of his managerial spell with the north London club.

After having a huge amount of success in the early part of his spell the Gunners failed to win the Premier League from 2004 until he left, winning three FA Cups in four years after nine years without a trophy.

Since Wenger has left things are already looking up for his heir Unai Emery with the Gunners looking at times back to their best and undefeated in 16 games in all competitions in a row.

Speaking to Marca Emery has claimed there wasn't a defensive structure under Wenger, saying:

"Before coming Wenger, Arsenal celebrated the 1-0 and was based on defensive solidity. With Arsène, joy was turned into attack, with players of good standing. And the perfect combination was The Invincibles [the 03-04 Arsenal that won the undefeated Premier].

"But over time, only technical quality and offensive freedom were taken care of, losing the defensive structure. What I want is to unite both essences and be more competitive. The Arsenal was in decline. We had to stop it and start climbing."

Things are going well for Emery so far. Image: PA Images

Emery also said the players had a long way to go, despite the good start, and any information Wenger had given him wasn't used, adding, "I met once with him, and little else. I respect him a lot, but no matter how much info he gave me, I had to change things. I told the players: 'We started at kilometer zero'. Even now, four months later, I still say it: 'We are in the beginning!'."

Wenger was subjected to a campaign to get rid of him in the last four years of his tenure. Image: PA Images

Arsenal lost to Manchester City and Chelsea in their opening two league games of the season and haven't lost since but face Spurs and Manchester United back-to-back at the beginning of December in their biggest tests since the opening games.

Emery has already improved Arsenal but he's got a long way to go yet.

Topics: Football News, Unai Emery, Arsene Wenger, Premier League, Arsenal

Ryan Sidle

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