Unai Emery: Arsenal job made me suffer

Former Arsenal boss Unai Emery has said that the role at the club made him ‘suffer’ in the final months of his stint.

Emery was sacked from his position last month following a prolonged run of bad form, despite taking the Gunners to last season’s Europa League final.

The Spaniard was speaking for the first time since his dismissal from the North London club, who have now appointed Mikel Arteta – their former midfielder who had been an assistant to Pep Guardiola at Manchester City.

Freddie Ljungberg had been in interim charge of the North London club since Emery’s dismissal but he had failed to bring about a change in fortunes on the pitch.

“I had friends or people at my side who would say to me, "I can see you're suffering," and I said "naturally",” Emery told an interview with the BBC, as cited by Marca.

“When a Coach doesn't win, he suffers. And when he doesn't win two, or three or four he suffers more. We had to win to regain our emotional equilibrium, to get rid of that frustration and we couldn't.

“And what is true is the social mass of Arsenal, which is very big, couldn't see it, couldn't connect with what was happening and it is true that in this situation, as happens in every country and with every team, the coach finds himself targeted.

“I spoke to the players three or four weeks before the process began to tell them that things were not going well and that I couldn't see the team I pictured on the field of play, I couldn't identify what I was looking for. We looked for solutions but results still didn't come.

“The club made its decision and that was passed on to me by Raul Sanllehi with much regret because he also felt his share of the responsibility and we were very united… but the situation had become unsustainable as regards to the protests of a section of the fans.

“That said, I believe there was another important section who believed we could have been shown more patience and carried on with the project. I think we could have turned things around but I also understand those at the top have to take decisions and take responsibility.”

The Spanish boss has accumulated ten trophies in five years and has played in six European finals and he has coached in more than 600 games across La Liga, Ligue 1 and the Premier League.

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