Former Arsenal striker Alan Smith has admitted that most people in the media were happy that Arsene Wenger decided to end his 22-year reign as Gunners boss at the end of last season.
Wenger enjoyed an excellent first decade in charge of the North London club winning three Premier League titles.
However, during the second period of his tenure Arsenal fell behind their rivals, with the glaring weaknesses in Wenger’s team not being addressed.
Fans began to grow frustrated with the same issues causing problems every season and Smith has now admitted that the constant repetition of the same errors made it difficult for those in the media to ever add any type of a new spin when discussing the Gunners.
“Anybody in the media connected to Arsenal had grown fed up of trying to find different ways to say the same thing,” Smith told the London Evening Standard.
“Organisation, work off the ball, leaders, more steel in the side, all of this stuff had been a broken record for five years or so. Now we can give thanks to Arsene and move on to see how Emery will change things and have an impact. It’s a blank canvas.”