Photo from Freepik
Morning all.
Today marks five years for Mikel Arteta as Arsenal manager. He arrived when Arsenal were pretty much in the gutter. The fans had been boycotting The Emirates, the players on the pitch looked like loss souls and the mood around the blog world was somber. The club lacked direction, imagination and purpose with a board at odds with the manager over which players to sign. Or at least that’s how the story goes. Unai Emery wanted Zaha, he got Pepe, he wanted N’Zonzi, he got Torreira but at least someone had the vision to snap up William Saliba and Gabriel Martinelli.
Arteta had seen Arsenal in action just a few days before he made the move from Man City but that day, he was of course sat alongside Guardiola as City breezed to a 3-0 victory. After being confirmed as the new head coach at Arsenal, he watched on from the stands as Arsenal played Everton. A boring 0-0 draw was the final game before Arteta took over the following week. His first match was away against Bournemouth which again, ended in a draw.
That first season, well, half of it with Arteta in charge ended with an FA Cup trophy. More to the point though, it was the beginning of the end of a number of players. It could so easily been the end of Arteta’s Arsenal career too when just seven months after winning the FA Cup, Arsenal were flirting with relegation just one win in the previous ten games.
Covid and empty stadiums kept any potential fan disgruntlement away from the pitch. We’d been beaten by Leicester City, Aston Villa, Wolves, Totts Everton and Burnley. We’d drawn against Southampton and Leeds.
Then on Boxing Day, we faced Chelsea at home.
Arsenal defeated Chelsea 3-1 and then things started to improve. We ended up missing out on a European competition place for the first time in many many years but at least we’d strung together a run of form and good results. After finishing in 5th place the following season and another busy summer in the transfer window, exits as well as new arrivals, Arteta’s Arsenal finished the season runners up to Man City, something the team/squad repeated last season. So close and yet so far.
During the five years of steady Arsenal improvement, the only thing missing really has been a piece or two of silverware. We could win both domestic cups this season but it still wouldn’t satisfy every fan and certainly not the media. After all, Arsenal have never won the Champions League and haven’t won the Premier League for twenty years. They forget though that many other clubs who’ve been a constant in the Premier League haven’t won it either.
Despite the signings and the money spent, I don’t think Arteta has the squad he’d truly like. This is a man who learned from Guardiola, a manager who has pretty much gone through his managerial career being able to sign who he wants without really worrying about finances. He’s never really walked into a club and had to build from the bottom, in fact I think this current period in his career is the toughest he’s faced. As far as management goes, Guardiola has pretty much gone through clubs with a silver spoon in his mouth. Arteta a squad of players which no other club were willing to part with cash for, especially through the Covid period. We’ve seen players which Arsenal spent big on, leave for nothing. I think only Xhaka, Nketiah, Ramsdale and Smith Rowe left for a reasonable fee.
On paper, Arteta’s time at Arsenal is already long but his first few years were tough because of what he inherited. He didn’t even have one of the best back five’s in the world to help his career kick off or a level financial playing field.
Perhaps he’s not doing so bad after all. Lol
Catch up in the comments.