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Two winnable matches against inferior opponents. Two draws. Four points dropped. No goals scored from open play since the 36th minute against West Ham—324 minutes not counting stoppage time that might amount to another 30 minutes or more across three and a half matches. We now trail Chelsea by four and Liverpool by six. Clearly, the only sane response is to sack Arteta. He went through that “dark arts” phase. He’s enjoyed the “set-piece dominance” phase. However, neither of those nor that which came before have been good enough to elevate this squad to the levels we need to contend for much less in the Prem.
Well, hold on just a minute. Last I checked, we’re still contenders to win the League Cup, FA Cup, the Prem, and the Champions League. On recent Prem form, we’re the third-hottest side from our last six, trailing (wait for it) Liverpool and Chelsea. I’d previously written about how just how Arsenal-esque it would be to go into this Prem season as putative favourites to win the Prem, watch as Man City implode like some kind of colossal supernova folding in on itself, and stand gob-smacked as not one but two other squads leap-frogged us to the top of the table.
The challenge for Arteta is clear: he has to figure out how to adapt. Five seasons in, he’s finally assembled a squad capable of going toe-to-toe with Man City and with Chelsea. Still, for all of the quality and potential in this squad, we still that one essential intangible: experience. Very few of our players have meaningful experience in the cauldron of a title-tilt, but Man City and Liverpool’s squads are chock-a-block with world-class players who know how to handle that pressure cooker. Who among our players can boast of the same? Partey, Jorginho, Jesus, Sterling, maybe Zinchenko, maybe Havertz? Of that roster, only Partey and Havertz are nailed-on starters. Of the rest, it might only be Jorginho whose experience makes him more valuable than his on-pitch performance.
There are many among us who are ready to sack Arteta unless we win significant silverware (and the League Cup wouldn’t count. For many of us, the FA Cup wouldn’t count unless we draw and defeat Man City, Liverpool, Chelsea, and maybe Aston Villa or Nottingham Forest. That’s harsh. Arteta, like almost every other player in the squad whom I haven’t already named, is learning on the fly, building a plane while flying it, as it were. We’re up against two of the finest sides in Prem history. We’re David against two Goliaths.
By pointing this out, am I guilty of being Panglossian, naïve, Pollyanna-ish? an Arteta-stan? It’s possible. Maybe even probably. That said, remind yourself of how many vital players have signed due to his role, influence, and vision, and how many of them have renewed their contracts due to the same. Yes, we’ve thrown some money around. However, we didn’t sign Jesus or Havertz or Rice or anyone else simply because we waved money under their noses. Other clubs in superior competitive positions surely made similar, perhaps richer offers, but those players joined or renewed anyway. Sack Arteta, and you risk losing those players. You risk losing the draw that Arteta so clearly offers. Good players want to join this club. They’re seeing how the likes of Saka and Saliba and Magalhães and Ødegaard are plumbing the depths of their potential and becoming world-class players. How much of that draw would dissipate should we sack Arteta?
Along similar lines, whom would we hire to replace him? There’s Potter, Löw, Xavi, ten Hag, Allegri, Moyes, Allardyce, Pulis, and, I’m sure, a few others. I hope I’m not alone in suggesting that few among them except maybe Potter quickens the blood. Would any of these managers convince possible want-aways to re-commit? Would any of them convince the next Saliba, Saka, or Ødegaard to commit his future to the club? Would any of them finally propel us to that long-elusive Prem title? Anyone who offers quick, easy answers to any one of those questions might also have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you.
I’m hardly insisting that we blindly commit this club’s future to Arteta. If you’ve read this far and believe to be my position, you haven’t actually been reading or thinking. Arteta does seem to have what it takes to become a great manager. He’s still learning, but his learning curve has already proven to be exceedingly steep, much like the learning curves of Jover and Saka and Ødegaard and so many others in the squad that Arteta has assembled.
We’re still scratching the surface of our vast potential, and that includes Arteta. Let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater.