EMERY: I’ll put Gunners back on top
Wenger’s left a legacy says new Emirates chief... but I’ll do things my way
UNAI EMERY has outlined his Arsenal blueprint for success – and promised to bring the good times back to the Emirates.
The new boss has vowed to deliver entertaining football and is convinced that the Gunners can compete for trophies again next season.
The ex-sevilla and Paris Saint-germain chief paid a glowing tribute to Arsene Wenger’s “legacy” but knows after a season of stagnation that Arsenal need a shake-up.
The 46-year-old, who has signed a three-year contract, said: “The history of the club is very important to me.
“Arsenal play possession football and throughout my career I’ve always been a coach who wants possession.
“There is something I would like to add to my philosophy, that I like to win the ball back as quickly as possible. So it’s about two things – possession and pressing. What I want is for Arsenal to transmit energy and emotion to the fans.
“This stadium has everything we need to get feedback from the fans.
“This club’s history, under Arsene Wenger and before him, is very important.
“Wenger has left a very important legacy here, he did some fantastic things for this club. I want to continue with that and contribute something of my own as well.
“It is obviously important to start with the history and everything that comes from that.” Emery (below, left, with Wenger when PSG met Arsenal) gained a reputation at Sevilla for punching above his weight.
He won three Europa
League trophies in a row, beating Liverpool 3-1 two seasons ago after looking down and out at half-time, and competed in a Spanish league dominated by Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid.
Emery is renowned for using a 4-2-3-1 system and will look to coach and improve younger players like Hector Bellerin, get centre-back Shkodran Mustafi back on track, and use Mesut Ozil as a No.10.
But there may be room for only one striker under the new boss – bad news for Alexandre
Lacazette or Pierre-emerick Aubameyang.
A holding midfielder to play alongside Granit Xhaka and a left winger – with January signing Henrikh Mkhitaryan on the other flank – are likely to be his transfer priorities.
Emery conducted his TV press conference in English more fluent than expected but then addressed the written media, in greater detail, in Spanish, with the assistance of an interpreter.
Outlining how he will get Arsenal challenging again for
the title after a season that saw them finish a distant sixth, 37 points behind champions Manchester City, he said: “I think it is about having belief in the players.
“I’m very demanding of myself. I’m passionate and I really want to transmit that to the people around me – that we can, and must, improve in the future.
“I think the most important thing is to connect with people and have those personal relationships. Heart to heart, head to head. The heart
transmits emotion, the head transmits the intelligence. So it’s really important to have that connection both on a personal and collective level.
“What you are looking for is a shared experience. It’s true that you get the famous egos in football but that is true of top players and players who are not so good.
“I’m a coach who has come from the second division, gone through to the first division, coached at PSG, and now I’m at Arsenal. And really the essence of it all is people.”