EPL: Emery reveals how Aubameyang, Lacazette, Ozil failed to save his job at Arsenal

EPL: Emery reveals how Aubameyang, Lacazette, Ozil failed to save his job at Arsenal

Unai Emery has opened up on how his time at Arsenal ended with him getting sacked earlier this month.

The Spaniard was appointed last season to succeed Arsene Wenger.

Emery failed to finish in the top four and lost the Europa League final to Chelsea in May.

He was eventually dismissed after taking only three points from a run of five top-flight games, despite the firepower up front of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Mesut Ozil and Alexandre Lacazette.

"This season, theoretically, we began well and I had the feeling - and so did the club - that the achievements of the previous season were valued," Emery told BBC Sport.

"We were now looking to how we could develop together even to the point where they were looking to offer a renewed contract.

"Then I remember we had one month that the frustrations from bad results were beginning to make us worse for the following matches.

"We were losing confidence and a bit of stability. The game against Sheffield United was a bit of a turning point. In one month, everything got broken.

"We were incapable of winning a game in seven and the tension based on the question we were asking 'what's happening to us?' was like a rolling ball that was just getting bigger and bigger.

"The truth is that the coach is the first person to come into the spotlight. I've had it at other clubs and managed to conquer it by getting the team back on track, but at Arsenal that month was terrible. We had to win to regain our emotional equilibrium, to get rid of that frustration, and we couldn't.

"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

"We looked for solutions. At times defensively we had to be stronger, so we went with three central defenders. We were trying to find a way to tactically synergise Auba, Ozil and Lacazette so that everyone could play the best possible in their position and the results still didn't come."

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