Unai Emery’s first task as Arsenal manager should be to end the “nice” culture in the dressing room, according to former Gunners defender Bacary Sagna.

Emery replaced Arsene Wenger last month with the intention of ending Arsenal’s two-year absence from the Champions League and establishing the Gunners as a major force in the Premier League and on the continent.

To do so Emery will need to improve a group of players who have flattered to deceive over the past two seasons, a state of affairs Sagna is all too familiar with.

The former France international, who last played for Benevento, played 284 times for Arsenal over seven years but it was not until his final appearance, the 2014 FA Cup Final, that he lifted any silverware. There had been several near-misses in a period where Arsene Wenger’s side became defined by their inability to consistently rise to the occasion.

“The team is and was too nice,” Sagna tells Standard Sport. “They never liked to argue. We were just too nice to each other, we were like friends.

“To be successful you need to be bad sometimes, to have a go at each other. It’s like any other business: if you run a company and expect more from someone you need to wake that person up.

"It wasn’t happening at Arsenal. We were enjoying giving everything for each other but if someone wasn’t doing the job 100 per cent we didn’t blame them.”

He added: “They definitely need some leadership. Every single team has players with good influence. I’m not talking about quality and skills, I’m talking about behaviour and attitude. When you have winners in your team it’s really important: they’re the ones talking when you’re in trouble, waking players up. You need some players like this.

“Emery asks a lot, he’s very demanding but he can get what he wants. Some of that team are young, they want to learn and be successful. He will bring some discipline to Arsenal.”

Sagna acknowledges that he was as guilty of allowing that climate to develop as any other player.

“I’m a winner on the pitch but I don’t speak much [off it]. I’m a bit laid-back.

“If I had to change something I’d change this. I’d speak a bit more and try to have more impact on the team by talking more. I was too, not shy, but not assertive.”

In Pictures | Arsenal away kit for the 2018-19 season 10 show all In Pictures | Arsenal away kit for the 2018-19 season 1/10 Mesut Ozil, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Aaron Ramsey model the new navy kit Arsenal/Puma 2/10 Hector Bellerin poses in the new 2018/19 away strip 3/10 The kit is the final shirt of Arsenal's five-year deal with puma 4/10 Change is good! The Gunners had limited success in their pale blue away kit last season 5/10 The red design across the middle of the shirt extends to the sleeves 6/10 Arsenal are expected to debut the new kit during their pre-season tour of Singapore 7/10 Nacho Monreal poses in the new kit 8/10 Mesut Ozil, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Aaron Ramsey, Hector Bellerin and Alex Iwobi are dressed to impress 9/10 Nacho Monreal shows off the red strip along the middle of the shirt 10/10 How the new away kit compares to Arsenal's home jersey for the 2018/19 campaign 1/10 Mesut Ozil, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Aaron Ramsey model the new navy kit Arsenal/Puma 2/10 Hector Bellerin poses in the new 2018/19 away strip 3/10 The kit is the final shirt of Arsenal's five-year deal with puma 4/10 Change is good! The Gunners had limited success in their pale blue away kit last season 5/10 The red design across the middle of the shirt extends to the sleeves 6/10 Arsenal are expected to debut the new kit during their pre-season tour of Singapore 7/10 Nacho Monreal poses in the new kit 8/10 Mesut Ozil, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Aaron Ramsey, Hector Bellerin and Alex Iwobi are dressed to impress 9/10 Nacho Monreal shows off the red strip along the middle of the shirt 10/10 How the new away kit compares to Arsenal's home jersey for the 2018/19 campaign

The Gunners have acknowledged the shortage of leaders in their current squad and have already moved to address the problem in the transfer market.

Experienced centre-back Sokratis Papastathopoulos is set to sign from Borussia Dortmund imminently whilst 34-year-old right-back and Switzerland captain Stephan Lichtsteiner has already joined on a free transfer.

“He’s a hard worker and always hassles the midfield and wingers,” Sagna says of Lichtsteiner, having lined up against him for Benevento in Serie A this season.

“He has a fighting mentality and that’s what was missing at Arsenal over the past years.

There will be competition between [him and Bellerin] and that is always good to have someone pushing behind you.

“If you know someone is ready to take your position you give more on the pitch and you are more focused. You have to keep fighting for your place.”

Even the competition and leadership Emery wants to bring in off the pitch may not be enough to instil hunger at London Colney.

“The problem is you live in London. If Arsenal were in Manchester or Newcastle they would have been champions. Living in a city like this, where most of the time you have things going on, where most of the players are single, you are tempted to forget about the importance of achieving your job and giving 200 per cent.

You need to give extra, before training and after training. Back in the day, we were not doing this. We missed a bit. Football changed. Pre-activation is part of every single team now. We didn’t really have it. The world changed.”

Despite the sense that the game moved on from Arsene Wenger, a man who “sleeps and breathes football”, Sagna has nothing but respect for the manager who brought him to English football in 2007.

“What amazed me is every single day, every morning he comes to the dressing room and shakes every player’s hand, to say hello and see how we were. You don’t see managers doing this. They say ‘hi everyone’.

“He’s just a generous, very humble person.”

Wenger leaves big shoes for Emery to fill, both on and off the pitch. But Sagna is convinced that if the new manager can make changes to the squad’s attitude he can reap the rewards.

Sagna was speaking at the launch of Primetag’s new player social media ranking tool ahead of the World Cup