Unai Emery: Arsenal Have Given Me Time To Build

Arsenal head coach Unai Emery is enjoying the freedom of a long-term job…

Arsenal head coach Unai Emery has expressed his gratitude towards the club as he drives a long-term project and has maintained that he will need time to build, he told Sky Sports.

Emery joined the club in May to replace our longest-serving manager in Arsene Wenger, and the plan was to get us back into Europe’s premier club competition.

After a fifth and sixth finish in Wenger’s last two seasons, fans have become disillusioned as to the direction the club is heading with every year adding to our Premier League drought.

It’s now 15 years since we last lifted the trophy and in that period, we’ve only enjoyed one realistic title challenge which came in the 2007/08 season.

Now, after acquiring a manager with a new ethos and way of working, the task of getting back to where we belong is on.

However, Emery has warned fans that this is a long-term project and that results shouldn’t necessarily be used as the only barometer for progress.

“After my experiences in Spain, in Russia and in France, I believe that here, people see football in a very distinct way,” Emery said about fans in England.

“As well as the teams being more competitive and tougher, I believe the fans feel football from the heart. The question of whether you win, lose or draw is very important, but there is always a respect towards football beyond just the result.

“That means you can do a more progressive job, a job based on building from the bottom without only thinking about results, because sometimes, a result can hide solid foundations.

“But at Arsenal, it’s maybe the first time I feel that I have the support to build up from the bottom in order to get where we want to be. It allows us to work more for the long-term – or at least, ‘long-term’ in football terms. It supports the kind of work we want to do at this club,” Emery added.

Emery deserves time though he may be underestimating the temperature among Arsenal fans if he feels he’ll be granted patience from the terraces irrespective of the result.

The only respite from discontent in the stands is if the football on the pitch is enjoyable, and we’ve been far from enjoyable this season.