Mikel Arteta was under serious pressure at the start of this season when his Arsenal team lost their opening three league matches.
After spending money on the likes of Ben White and Albert Sambi Lokonga in the summer, the Gunners had expected a much better start to the campaign.
Arteta had been facing significant pressure from the end of last season after the Gunners finished outside the European places.
He needed a good start to this season to show that he can affect the necessary changes.
However, after three losses from the same number of league matches, some fans turned on him.
The unpredictability of when managers get sacked in the Premier League made him one of the odds-on favourite to be booted out of his current club.
However, he remained at the helm at the Emirates and has since guided the Gunners to a return to form.
ESPN says while most people expected him to get the sack, the Arsenal hierarchy understood that the poor start to this season was a necessary step to the club becoming a stronger one.
They were ready to be patient while he reconstructs the squad that he inherited at the Emirates.
Now that Arsenal is in top form, the club will hope they can finish inside the top four sooner rather than later.
Even I never expected Arteta to face the axe at the start of the season, regardless of the piss-poor results…although it’s kind of sad to say, even we aren’t dumb enough, organizationally-speaking, to offer up a King’s ransom to the manager then send him packing a month or two into the season
that said, I firmly believed that Arteta/Edu had committed enough managerial mistakes, of a sackable nature, prior to season’s end, to justify their respective dismissals…instead, this club not only failed to clean house, they actually doubled-down on what appeared to be a bit if a sh** show
of course, I only want what’s best for this club, which makes for some incredibly frustrating times as it appears as if the owner cares infinitely less than myself about the ultimate fortunes of this franchise, so I hope that Arteta ultimately proves me wrong, as I will have no problems whatsoever eating my words if it means that we beat the odds and came good
unfortunately, from everything I’ve witnessed thus far, minus a few reasonably-priced additions and a couple “watchable” performances, I still believe that this undertaking is simply too complicated for someone who’s actually learning on the job, especially when they haven’t even surrounded him with the requisite amount of learned individuals
that hurts deeply Weeble, as how can I possibly argue with such a mature and well-reasoned response…it must be nice going through life knowing that even if you wobble, you won’t fall down
Initially I was an Artetaout fella as he was stubborn to play Ozil, but then I realised as a coach then he had to be fair to all players by giving all equal opertunities and gracefully take the blame with a pinch of salt. The day he binned Ozil, I reaised he was destined for greatness (I hope it will be with us). Then came the bizarre signings – Cedric, Marri, Willian,Luiz all Edu/Raul signings and some blind fellas blamed it on Mikel. Lucky we have the ownership who cannot be hoodwinked. Look at Mikel’s signings – Ramsdale, Tomiyasu, Ben, Gabriel, Nuno, Sambi. Then consider the revitalised AMN, ESR well trained and given the opertunity by binning Ozil, Saka -trained perfectly. Once Mikel signs a lethal striker and another CDM, we will target the EPL and UCL. Today I’m excited at a top four finish, to participate in the UCL – not as a filler for some group and be a whipping boy for the Bayerns and Barcas but to go shoulder to shoulder with them and compete. Win or loss is secondary as long as we rub shoulders with the big boys and not be there to be whipped.