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Arteta the right man? The clear out, refresh, build, compete and ‘win’ model

Suburban Gooners Logo Suburban Gooners Logo I was asked an interesting question yesterday amidst a discussion yesterday about a project I might be involved in:

Is Mikel Arteta the right man to take Arsenal to the title next season?

It was one of those ‘agree/disagree’ things; you state your case thereafter, then debate with the fellow Arsenal fans that are in the room. It was a three-to-one in favour of agreeing with the statement that he is, but the fact that we had one person who wasn’t sure (a mate of mine actually) was interesting I thought. It also got me to thinking about the importance of next season, as well as the importance of this summer as a result, too, because it’s possibly one of the biggest we’ve ever had.

I certainly think it might be Mikel’s biggest summer in terms of getting the right players in. He’s now been at the club just over five-and-a-half years, we had that initial joy of the COVID FA Cup, but since then it feels like it’s been one thing after the other:

2020/21

We finished eighth, we got knocked out to Emery’s Vilarreal and some of our results were just turgid. That was the Christmas where it felt like Arteta might lose his job after w’d lost to Wolves, the Scum, Burnley and then drew at home to Southampton, before also losing to Everton. It was the Smith Rowe Chelsea game with Saka also shining that was a chink of light that we recovered from.

2021/22

That was the season where we kicked off with three losses after a really hard start, brought in the likes of White, Tomiyasu, Ramsdale et al and after that initial blip we went on a decent run, being unlucky just to finish outside the top four. But the signs were there as Arsenal fans. We could see a core of good players forming.

2022/23

When it all kicked off for us. We realised that “actually, we’re quite good”.

2023/24

The 89 point season. A continuation of this good team make steps in the right direction.

2024/25

The ‘cursed season. PGMOL decisions, injuries, the failed striker search for two windows – this felt like the first time we’d regressed, but there were mitigating circumstances.

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And I think for me, it’s those mitigating circumstances that lead me to be thinking “this is the right man for the job”. I think from a tactical perspective he has got the weapons in his – forgive the pun – ‘Arsenal’. I think he has the mentality. I think he has the unwavering support of the players. I think he’s also got the hunger. But we are now at the stage where there are enough people just ‘asking the question’ on whether he can get us over the line, for it to start to be a genuine question that is worth discussing. I don’t think anyone was really saying it last season; not vociferously enough and certainly not sensible people who just want to make money through misery through their fan channels. Most of us realised the effort and were excited for the season just gone. But having failed to truly make that attacking signing that we all craved last summer, I think people were starting to…not ‘turn’ so much, but perhaps think twice about being 100% sure that Arteta was the right man.

A quick aside – I’ve heard the phrase “I’d rather be a lucky manager than a great manager” and it strikes me that Arteta has been unlucky at times. COVID season as he took over, inheriting a pretty shaky team full of individuals on big wages, last season with all of the injuries – it’s felt like a fair bit has gone against him. Yet we’ve still elevated ourselves to the position of being in the discussion for the title.

So, back to whether he’s the right man, as well as this being an important summer. I think Arteta knows this. I think he knew the importance of what is needed to do back in January. I’ve repeatedly heard calls of people saying he didn’t want to sign somebody in the summer or January, but he’s literally on record saying we needed it in January. I don’t think Arteta is under any illusion about what we need, but it is up to the club to do the business for him. So with that in mind, I underline my belief that he is the right man for the job. My question is whether he is supplied with the resources to be able to get us over the line. IF we do what is needed – ‘keeper, midfielder, striker, left winger – minimum – then I think we are stocked up and we are in a good space to have a go at the big prizes. If he isn’t given the right tools to do his job, then I think he won’t be able to. But that won’t be on him.

Now, if he isgiven the tools this summer, I think he knows he needs to deliver. If we rewind to the beginning of him taking over (and partially the reason why I’ve listed out the season’s above) back in 2019/20, we all now know that there was a five stage ‘process’ that the club went through. Edu spoke about it a couple of times I think. We can’t be sure exactly what that process is, or the steps that were needed, but I think the club roughly broke it down into:

Clear out – removing the inflated and ageing players on big contracts. The Sokratis’, Mustafi’s, Ozil’s, etc. That was the 2020/21 season.

Refresh – get in younger, hungry, Prem-ready players. Buying from within the league so we have less risk, with a few external talents from overseas who could bed in. That was the 2021/22 season.

Build – keep adding, but start to rise up the table. This was the ‘get us in to the Champions League’ couple of seasons that we need to get ourselves back in the big competition with the big cash prizes. My guess was that the club had earmarked 2021/22 or 2022/23 for that.

Compete – this was the ‘compete for the league which, my best guess, was that it was supposed to be the 2023/24 campaign.

Win – I think this season coming up was always intended to be the one in which we would be winning. Or at least have had a trophy under our belt by now and be perennial challengers.

I think the challenge Arteta had was that stage three saw us jump straight to stage four and suddenly we competed with City until the final week’s of the season. That meant the expectations were ahead of schedule as well. So when we come back to last season, I think most of us had moved to phase five and were expecting the ‘win’ portion to come. So when we had as flat a campaign as we just did (Champions League run aside), it’s caused people to look back and start questioning. So for me I think this summer is Arteta’s most important, as well as next season, because we are at stage five of the ‘process’ and if it doesn’t result in the ‘win’ part, then the whole ‘trust the process’ stuff will start to fall on deaf ears.

Is Arteta the right man for the job? I think so. But he’s going to have to win something next season I think. And there ain’t a lot of wiggle room in terms of the big prizes.

Catch you all tomorrow.

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Gooner born in 1982 from Harlow, Essex, now living in Uxbridge. I say what I see - frequently wrong, but hey, it's just an opinion piece, right? Leave a comment and let me know what you think.