Arsenal have certainly been extremely busy in the transfer market this summer, and it looks like the Kroenkes have decideded to seriously back Mikel Arteta’s rebuild project, even though the Gunners have finished in 8th position under the Spaniard last season.
But now it is time for Arteta to walk the walk and make a success of his squad, which he admits is very different to when he arrived, but he also cannot guarantee instant results.
The Arsenal boss has had a long and frank interview with SkySports where he has discussed our transfer dealings and what his aims are for the future. “We have to be sustainable,” says Arteta. “We have to perform now and we also need a plan for the medium and the long term.
“A lot of the decisions we have made over the last 18 months are because we had a big imbalance in certain areas that was putting the club in a difficult position.
“Then, we wanted to recruit talent, specificity, and players with a big capacity to interact with the players who already exist here and who could develop into potential starters and increase the level of the team and the squad.”
“I’ve been in constant contact with the hierarchy of the club, with Eddy [Edu], with Richard [Garlick] and with our coaching team, trying to find the players we want to recruit and trying to be on top of every deal to make it happen in conditions we can afford.
“I think we have created a really strong team who really enjoy working together. Hopefully you will see the fruits of this.”
In Arteta’s 18 months in the job, he has always made it clear that it is a long term strategy and there will be no quick fix, but now that there have been so many changes, the fans are expecting better results on the pitch rather quickly. But it is not always easy to integrate so many youngsters in one go so the boss is asking us to be patient a little bit longer.
“We have had seven departures from the side that we had last year, maybe eight,” Arteta continued. “With five coming in, we are talking already about a turnaround of 13 players, so it’s huge.
“We are just trying to have the best quality and balance that we possibly can. It’s about increasing the quality and having a healthy squad, which is really important as well.”
“We want to be really competitive from the beginning but in some cases it will take a little bit more time than with others, so we need to get from the senior players what they can give,”
At the very least, fans will be wanting to see improvement from last season, when we never even pretended to be challenging for top four spot, but Arteta is hoping all the negativity from last year is now just a part of his history. “Last season, in certain moments, the team didn’t perform to the right level. We had other issues that I’m not going to discuss right now but we need to get the best out of everybody.
“That is our job and that is my job in particular.”
We all know that it is now time for Arteta to prove that he can do the job, and every defeat will add more pressure on him, but I think the fans will be happy for now to see the players fighting for the shirt against Chelsea today to give us hope for the future.
And Arteta will be looking to see a full crowd of Gooners getting behind the players to make them play even better…
Well I hope so AdminPat
He speaks very well and I sincerely hope that this carries over into how the team performs. Clearly the view on Arteta is long term by the club if his words are anything to go by. Sustainable and not a quick fix.
I’ll go along with it as long as the last 18 months of mixed fortunes have brought the club to a better place as of now Not expecting a miracle today or against City – just a bit of fight and some flowing football 🙄. The next few weeks will show if Arteta is at least on the right path. I’ll be more patient with that if there is something tangible to see for the future, but not otherwise
Sue P My position too and PRECISELY. In the first place I would far have preferred a world class proven name to Artata as manager. I still would IF we had an ideal world. But we do not!
However, being pragmatic and living in the Arsenal world as it IS and rejecting fantasy wishes while accepting pragmatic possibilities,( hence MA, instead of say Allegri Nagelsman, Conte, none of whom would have accepted THIS job under Kroenke), I have decided to back MA while he stays.
I firmly agree with you that IF he is to stay for the long term, he HAS to show distinct improvement over last season and has to show it before this calendar year is out, preferably much sooner.
As a pragmatist and realist, if we have even one point from our first three matches I WILL BE PLEASANTLY SURPRISED. But my position, either way, will be as now , after the City game is over.
YOU AND I are of course mature supporters, not merely self entitled “fans”, which explains our shared outlook!
I hope the fans can be a bit patient.
Am giving him 10games to show improvement, if by end of November we are not close to top 4 by points I’ll say let him go
In my job (construction) if I knock a wall down then I obviously rebuild it .
Is that what Arteta is trying to say because he had a hand in knocking us down in the first place or is he blaming the previous managers .
Time to stop the talking and excuses mr Arteta and show us what you have learned over the summer .
Obviously Chelsea are favourites today but let’s see some of this process everyone has been taking about .
Dan it’s time to walk the talk with a performance but there is no doubt a serious rebuilding is necessary at the club, even before Wenger left , it’s been patch up, paper over cracks and stuff.
Either MA has the capability for such huge job is another debate entirely but that doesn’t overruled the truth
Well said Dan 👍. Oh there is a process I thought you would have seen it by now lol! The process is dictatorship don’t question, don’t think bec that’s not your job and don’t deviate from my script. It’s a long term project this is what we will say after 5 years when are sitting at same place in table then some will be praising Arteta for consistency 😂😂
Who are the supposedly seven or eight players he’s talking about?
Excluding David Luiz and Dani C, none among Willock, Ryan, Guendo, Saliba, Mavropanos and Iliev played any noticeable role in the first team last season.
Ben White, Ramsdale and ASL are almost like for like replacements of Luiz, Ryan and Dani C respectively. Only Ben White, a PL experienced player, is expected to be a starter among the new signings.
Contrary to MA’s claims, this is not a huge turn around. This ain’t an excuse for not continuing in the same form the team finished last season.
ODE is also a first team player, Lokonga and Ramsdale are good contenders for the first team only Taveres has no chance with KT
Agree upon Odegaard’s position in the first team. I was simply considering only the players who weren’t with us last season.
Ramsdale – Probably.
Lokonga – With an uninjured Partey and “not suspended for the game” Xhaka, I seriously doubt his chances in the starting XI.
Tavares – Almost similar to Lokonga. But, might get lucky in the RB role.
So part of the process is to give Xhaka a new contract? when it’s obvious that the first player to be shown the exit door is him.
Xhaka decision baffled me also, I don’t know what is so special about a 28yo Xhaka.
I understand his physicality is second to none in our midfield but common we can do better tha Chaka, there are other DM out there with enough to offer, I hope that will be address next summer with striker position.
Hopefully we can still address Rb position this window
Adajim
I’m not sure that Xhaka is anything special either but I do understand the need for a successful team to have a team player not just a collection of brilliant individuals. He falls into that category I think
There are also other issues:
Whilst we are all aware of Xhaka’s weaknesses he can be relatively effective in providing protection if the team plays in a way that reduces the risk of rapid turnovers. The way he has been deployed in Arteta’s system reduces the risk of him being isolated. He is also reasonably accurate with short to medium range passes. Furthermore, he is quite durable. This latter should not be underestimated as the absence of key players for months at a time has long been an Arsenal problems.
To replace him will either be expensive or require a huge gamble as we do not have any other consistent MF who can replace him in the team.
This guy Tavares can an Azpiculata in Chelsea for us’ I like his passion
All talk but no Go..Arteta has nothing to offer man.His always talking about building a team for the future and all that has he built himself to start with or is he also building his self for the future also when we are now in the relegation battle right?..well done..For those fans calling for patience keep it up ok because over 10yrs you are still calling for patience and other smaller clubs are rising up every season.please my advise is that you should stop this mediocre believe on patience that has no future benefit ok
The way I see it Arteta’s time should be over by mid October, if he were truly rebuilding the team, we should have seen some obvious signs on the pitch, most have been off the pitch,
This proves Arteta is a well coordinated person but not ripe as an EPL coach ,
We have added 5 new players and none can make an immediate impact in the team, that’s terrible, while rebuilding for the future, the ship should also be made stable for the younger crew,
Instead we are sinking, we can’t confidently face west ham, Burnley, Aston Villa, Everton, Leicester, Spurs, man united, Liverpool e.t.c,
Please on what kind of deck is the rebuilding taking place?