There is one thing that is certain from Arsene Wenger’s time at Arsenal, and that was that we played free-flowing attacking, entertaining football, and everyone knew exactly the environment they were coming into if they made it into his squad.
It looked under Unai Emery that nobody even knew what their jobs were or how they were supposed to interact with their team-mates. But, now with Arteta in charge, it looks like things are starting to knit back together, and the Spaniard explained that this is all due to having a solid identity again. “Without an identity, you cannot plan and you cannot convince a player to do what you want,” he told Sky.
“How do you recruit a player if you don’t really know what it is that you are trying to do? How do you convince a player of the way you want to play if you don’t have clarity yourself over why you want to do it?
“That is the first thing, I think. You have to say, ‘This is the direction and this is what we want to do.’ Then you have to convince the players and get them on board with what you are doing, and after that you can start to build. But the identity is the foundation for everything.”
But the Boss was also at pains to make it clear there is still a long way to go and a lot of work needed before we can go back to expecting to win every week, but at least he has a plan. “It has to be a long-term project,” he added. “In the short-term we cannot achieve all the things that this club needs. It wants to fight now with the top teams in this country and in Europe, but it is not possible. We are very far behind at the moment and everything shows how far behind we are.
“We need to make that gap shorter and shorter. But it’s going to take a lot of right decisions and a great amount of energy and commitment.”
The message is clear, Arsenal fans. Arteta knows his exact vision that he sees for Arsenal, but he is very well aware that we have a very long way to go to realise those visions.
So let us be patient and leave him to do his job shall we?
I think we do have to wait
If the fan base can see what Arteta is working towards and can see the right response from the players then he must get patience from us. I can only hope that the top brass support him fully
I’m not expecting to roar up the league- it’s too late to expect the teams above us to all slip
How City respond to their crisis may affect results from them but Arsenal can’t rely on that. Not many teams left who could get a win off Liverpool ☹️
I wouldn’t say Arteta is restoring our identity/DNA. Instead he is creating an identity in his own vision of how he wants us to perform.
For about a decade, our identity had been care free, free flowing, possession based ultra attacking football…with disastrous consequences (because it was care free). Emery never created an identity, which became a big problem, but our identity now, is far reaching from what we saw under Wenger.
It’s clear we’re now more of a defensive minded counter-attacking side. Which I like! We FINALLY have a pragmatic manager that is focused on our weakest area…defending. Our attack has always been fine, it’s our defending that has cost us dearly every year for as long as I can remember.
Our attack may not look good at the moment, but one has to remember that Arteta is still learning the ropes, but the signs are promising. I am very impressed that he is doing it his way, because I was worried he may have been overly influenced by the style of football employed by Pep and Wenger.
People forget that except for working under Pep and Arsene, Arteta played under Moyes for many years.
I could be wrong, but I see a bit of all of the 3 in his approach – the pragmatism you mention is possibly a Moyes influence (considering Pep and Arsene are not really known for that).
Actually that is a very good point. I never thought about the Moyes influence.
Under emery we played and won in scrappy way without any clear style which was simply unsustainable on the long term. Everyone can see the approach and style that arteta is trying to play with the team.
You cannot succeed on a long term without a clear plan. E.g man city and liverpool have a clear style which makes it easier to target potential player and progress while utd and tott have no clear play style and struggling.