Unai Emery starts the long, arduous task of rolling Arsenal back up the hill

After 22 years of the same voice and the same message, Emery is ushering in a new chapter for Arsenal and its fans

Unai Emery began his long slow task of pushing Arsenal back up the hill on Wednesday afternoon. Back towards being competitive, being relevant, back towards Champions League football, and, eventually, back towards challenging for the biggest trophies, the trophies that Arsenal have not even got close to for the last 10 years. All the while trying to define himself through the standards, the memories and the shadow of Arsene Wenger – the man who built this club but has now left it.

It will be a huge effort and will surely take all of the three-year deal Emery has signed as head coach here. Even Ivan Gazidis, sat alongside Emery at his Emirates unveiling this afternoon, admitted that success will not be “instant”. All they want for now is to get “a little bit better every day”. That work has already started this week: Emery and Gazidis flew to Atlanta on Monday, will continue meetings on Wednesday night, Thursday night and again on Friday.

At the start of the press conference, downstairs in front of the cameras, Emery spoke mostly in his sturdy but limited English. He started by thanking the Kroenke family, he thanked Wenger for his legacy, hailed him as a “reference for all coaches”, promised to work hard on this “big project”, and said that he would rather speak “globally”, than about his individual players.

There was nothing surprising about it but it was certainly different from a Wenger press conference and his digressions about the state of the world, social trends, politics and economics. There were no sentences that started “we live in a world of” or “sometimes in life”. But then Wenger was the exception rather than rule in these terms and in appointing Emery, Arsenal have effectively moved back into line with the rest of the game. And this was the start of the post-Wenger era at Arsenal and there is no going back.

Later this afternoon upstairs Emery spoke Spanish with an interpreter, and conveyed through him more of his personality and his experience about what he wants to do at Arsenal. He is certainly aiming high, and said that he wants Arsenal not to fear Manchester City in their pursuit of Guardiola’s side, even though last year they finished 37 points behind them.

“That is our objective,” Emery said. “Arsenal is a club with fantastic personality and identity and I believe and the club has shown me that they believe, it is about showing that personality and showing the stature of this football club. What we want to do is not fear any team, either here in the Premier League or in Europe. Our objective is to be among the best and to beat the best.”

To get there Emery wants his Arsenal team to play aggressive football, being the “protagonists”, dominating possession and pressing hard without the ball. He made plenty of noises about Wenger’s legacy but in truth Emery is not a purist or idealist in the same way. Although his methods, more detail-driven, more demanding of his players, and far more intense on the touchline, may be exactly what Arsenal need right now. Gazidis talked up the power of Emery’s new “energy” at the club.

“I’ve always been a coach who plays with the ball and wants possession,” explained Emery. “But there is something I would like to add to my philosophy, that I like to win the ball back as quickly possible. So it is about two things: possession and pressing. Football is a demanding and difficult sport. But what I want is for Arsenal to transmit energy and emotion to the fans.”

Unai Emery during his first walk-out on the Emirates Stadium pitch (Getty)

Emery’s Sevilla team were exhilarating at times – physical and stylish – although the reality is that his PSG team barely bore his imprint at all. That is a players’ club and Emery’s attempts to get Neymar, Thiago Silva, Angel Di Maria and the rest to play his way often fell on deaf ears. At least at Arsenal there are no £200m players with the ear of the president, and he can expect more in terms of receptiveness to his ideas.

Asked about his difficult time at PSG, and taking over here, Emery talked up his personal skills. “I think the most important thing is to connect with people and have those personal relationships,” he said. “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.”

That shared experience has now begun, and Emery will return in pre-season in late June to meet his players, speak to them, and start trying to get his ideas across. It will be as unfamiliar for them as it is for him, but after 22 years of the same voice and the same message, this was never going to be easy.