Arsenal Debate – A plea for more patience with Mikel Arteta

In defence of Mikel Arteta by Goonerboy

Hello, most patient fans in the world! I hope we all are getting better as the dust settles on yet another frustrating weekend for us. I never ever saw this coming… but it happened.

It is increasingly becoming more difficult to defend Arteta because the way and manner in which we are going down is a massive concern, and you can’t blame anyone for wanting him out at the moment.
However, if you can take your emotions and allow a bit more perspective you would agree that while Arteta deserves some of the blame he is getting, the bulk does not stop with him.

I hate a lot of things about modern football, I hate what the game is turning out to be – the way it is these days, the coach is responsible for everything, we all forget the coach is only as good as the players.

Secondly, greed has become the order of the day in this era, corruption, lack of loyalty from club management to coaches and from players to the club – it is all about the result, glory and the money.

It won’t be long before the game loses its appeal if it continues this way…

Speaking of Arsenal, our decline crept up on us and caught most of us unawares. It was becoming more evident in the last two years of Wenger, where I think we won just 3 away games all season in his ultimate season (I stand to be corrected) I remember during that time, one of the persistent criticism against Wenger’s Arsenal was that we were too soft and we pamper players too much, we were not even playing “sexy” football again so what’s the point?

Emery came in and immediately told Wilshere to find a new club, released Cazorla, (players Wenger would have given new contracts) and everyone was happy with the ruthlessness and “a breath of fresh air”.

Emery did not get enough support as he was not given the players he wanted. The decision makers felt they know better than the coach, bringing in players they think is best which has contributed more to our decline. The same players let Emery down and cost him his job.

Now here comes Arteta, the one who is tasked with correcting past mistakes BUT without money. In football these days, when you invest wrongly, you still have to invest to correct the wrong investment or accept you don’t want to compete at the top, that is the only way- “Okay Arteta, sell some players and use the proceeds to improve the team” oh! The players are on fat contracts and will be difficult to shift, we also have the homegrown rule to consider, alas! we can’t do much, another thing is the uncertainties caused by Covid.

Arteta has to find a way to improve the team somehow, Willian was free, and he decided to sign him up (Willian was used to replace Mkhitaryan who was another flop) – Although it is proving to be a mistake so far, show me a manager or a club that has not made wrong decisions in player recruitment. Willian is the only attacking player that he has signed; he wanted a creative midfielder but there was no money. Partey, Gabriel, Cedric are good additions, but he does not get the credit.

We said we needed to be ruthless but when players are being disciplined, we still blame the manager. What do we really want? I see people now blaming him for Guendouzi’s treatment because we are not doing well, forgetting he has had two disciplinary issues and refused to apologise, what would you do if you were the manager, beg Guendouzi? So much for being ruthless!

We said we needed a change in culture and mentality but when the managers are trying to implement it, we turn our backs against them and back the useless, lazy prima donnas we call players.

Some say, “but he persuaded Xhaka to stay” what was he supposed to do? He was just coming in as a new manager and no better player to replace him and even if there were, how would he know when he is just coming in? Pep, Klopp, Wenger, You and me all make mistakes, so Arteta should not make mistakes?

Did I hear you say he keeps on playing the same players that are letting him down? Willian, Nelson and Pepe are all rubbish, there is no game changer in the squad asides Partey, they are all mediocre players. Nelson has done nothing to suggest he is good enough; he is always injured anyway. We need goals and we bring on Nketiah, please compare that to our rivals.

Before you sack Arteta, what manager do you want to bring in? When we wanted to replace Wenger, we approached Enrique and he demanded 200m war chest at a go. The top managers need huge investments to perform, there is no miracle manager anywhere. Pep was asked the secret of his success, he answered simply; “Great players” Would you see Klopp or Pep managing a club like Wolves or Leicester? Maybe towards the end of their careers like Hodgson. I am super confident that if Arteta has a good team, he is good enough for Arsenal, we need to show him love and support for accepting to take on this burden, it is huge! A new manager without investment would be counter-productive, good for some months and back to being rubbish.

I write this way because I don’t want this to be a long thing, but I hope the I have been able to pass a message. It is always easier to destroy than to build, while I believe our team is not good enough for the top 4, I know we are better than 15th, and hopefully we can start moving up the table.

I look forward to the summer with great optimism, as a lot of fringe players will be gone, more fans will be at the stadium and we will strengthen our team more, I am willing to give Arteta that time. We may even start seeing drastic changes from January as far as strengthening the team is concerned, I plead for a little more patience gooners.

Onwards and Upwards!

Goonerboy