It’s time for Emery to go, the players have given up on him – Manu Petit

The time is now

I believe it’s time for Unai Emery to leave Arsenal. The results are not good at all. I don’t recognise this team any more and I don’t recognise this club any more.

Arsene Wenger built this club for 20 years and there was concern as generation after generation came and went. But now they look like an average team without any inspiration or creativity – and I don’t think that’s solely down to the players.

My opinion is that most of the players have given up on Emery, so it’s time for him to go.

In order to save his job he’ll need to be given until some time around Boxing Day. But he’ll need great results and a huge difference in the style of the team on the pitch. There needs to be anger on the pitch, spirit.

I watched the game against Leicester and Arsenal looked terrible. They had no spirit, no hunger, nothing at all. I wondered to myself, “What is going on at this club? What is happening to this club?”

The club are not being truthful about Emery’s job

What the club came out and said about Emery’s job being safe is not true at all. Everyone knows this the typical official language clubs send out to the press and fans when things are not going well, when they sense tension.

This is a political answer and most of the time when I hear officials or shareholders talk like this it’s proof for me that they’re already thinking about sacking the manager. It’s the opposite of what they’re saying that might be true.

Arsenal greats could replace Emery

People may laugh at me but I wouldn’t mind seeing a former player on the bench. Is there a former Arsenal great you can call, like Thierry Henry or Patrick Vieira? Pick one: there are so many. You even have Freddie Ljungberg already in the dugout.

Patrick has done a very good job over two years at Nice, though you don’t know what’s going to happen at that club as they’ve just been bought out by Ineos and Jim Ratcliffe. So we’ll need to wait a few months to see what’s going on there.

I’m also watching closely what’s happening at Napoli with Carlo Ancelotti. I think he would be a very good manager for Arsenal.

But Arsenal needs a great leader now. Someone who can bring back the passion, someone respected by the players, someone who can fill the team with energy and the winning mentality. Steven Gerrard, for example, is like this.

I want to see passion, emotion. Someone who, when he takes your hand, you can feel the electricity. I want someone who can bring that to the Arsenal dressing room, because they need to wake up.