Mikel Arteta took the initiative to congratulate his predecessor Unai Emery on becoming the new head coach of Villarreal
Unai Emery was appointed as Villarreal new head coach on Thursday and his successor in London Mikel Artera alluded to him and wished him good luck in his new job with the Spanish Club. It’s not the first time he takes over as a head coach of a team of La Liga as the 48-year old coach has been granted the position for numerous teams, such as with Almeria (2006–2008), Valencia (2008–2012) and Sevilla (2013–2016).
The Spaniard coach has recorded many historical moments with his former clubs (to add Paris Saint Germain to the teams he has coached) and has led them to the conquest of multiple titles, but he didn’t do so with Arsenal. After Arsene Wenger’s departure from London back in 2018, having spent 22 years as Arsenal’s coach and writing history with three Premier League titles, seven FA Cups and the domestic Double in 1998 and 2002 — it was time for a change. In May 2018, Emery was designated as Wenger’s successor but his residence in London endured only 18 months. It was a huge challenge that the Spaniard had to take but the painful losing streaks and the fact that some issues regarding the quality of team’s game remained unaddressed (or his inability to get his messages across the players) throughout his time there, led him out of London in the first couple of months of the season 2019/2020.
Mikel Arteta was the successor of Emery and under his invigilation the team changed drastically. His communication style with the players, his perspective around different areas of the game have flabbergasted the players and the first thing he earned was their respect. Players love him, listen to him, enjoy playing for him and they are committed to executing his plan in every game. That’s all a coach can ask for. Even if he is a new coach and makes his first steps on this field, he seems to do well as Arsenal plays efficient football and they are really close to winning their first title of the season on August 1st when they will encounter Chelsea and the other new coach Frank Lampard for the FA Cup.
After pointing out an abbreviated amount of significant information, let’s go back and cite what Arteta stated about Emeri’s return to LaLiga and also the challenge that he left behind earlier this season, shall we? Once Emeri was sacked, one month later Arteta replaced him and not only lifted all the burden but he led the team to the FA Cup Final, where in case they win, then despite the fact that they are low in the standings, Arsenal will secure a spot in one of the groups of Europa League next season.
Nevertheless, Arsenal’s new coach desired to send a message to Emeri ahead of Sunday’s final Premier League match versus Watford. This is what he said in the conference: “Congratulations for the new job, he is going back to Spain. He is a manager who has a lot of experience there and has been very successful there. We wish him all the best from our side. There are a lot of people from our side who like him a lot and have huge respect for him.
Thanks from my side as well for what he did here with the players, trying to improve the team and the squad,” he continued. “We will miss him, all the best and hopefully things will go well for him.”
He also acknowledged that Arsenal hasn’t found the way to the Champions League, however, he aspires to set this goal for next season, but for now there is only one thing that matters and he desires to focus on, and that is, as it was mentioned earlier, the predominance against Chelsea in FA Cup Final on August 1st.
“I don’t think the league table lies at the end of 10 months and with 38 games gone, he clarified. “Hopefully, next season will be very different.”
“We have a beautiful challenge, a demanding challenge but a beautiful challenge ahead of us. We have to put this club back where it belongs, which is with the top clubs in this country and Europe. In order to do that we have to make a lot of good decisions.”
Arsenal seems to struggle but some gleams of light loomed recently after a 2–1 victory over the Premier League champions Liverpool and an eminent triumph against Manchester City with 2–0 in the FA Cup Semifinals.
“It hurts so much, (but) it’s a beautiful challenge to bring the club into that position again. I know how difficult it is going to be, because we can see what other clubs have been doing over the last few seasons. But I am very positive that we are going to be able to do it,” he said.