The Arsenal fans have finally returned to the Emirates as England tries to get back to some semblance of normality after the 18 months of lockdown caused by the Covid outbreak.
But the EPL computers could not have given Arteta a worse fixture to welcome the Arsenal fans back as we were paired with the European Champions Chelsea, who are very keen to add the Premier League to add to Thomas Tuchel’s haul this season.
Arteta was also hampered by Arsenal’s very own mini outbreak of Covid, and it was a very young Arsenal team that was fielded and it was little surprise that we lost.
But the crowd did show their displeasure at Arteta a few times, and some idiots confronted our manager in his car after the game, but Arteta wanted to send a message to the fans that he is building for the future with his young squad, and to ask them to be patient as his “project develops.
He gave this message to the Arsenal fans on Arsenal.com: “First of all, to say thank you because the atmosphere that we saw before the game when the team was getting the introduction of every member, it was so special, I had goose bumps and I was feeling like nothing before. Then I think they tried to support the team very much and I know they are disappointed when you lose at home, there has to be some reaction, but this is a project that is going to take some time.
“You can see and tell from the recruitment that we’ve done and the really young squad that we have at the moment and it cannot happen overnight. We all want to make it as quick as possible and we know that the responsibility for us it to fight with the top teams in every competition and that’s not going to change, and I think we really need them and this group of players really needs them and the club needs them now next to us because we need that confidence, that support and that energy.”
As he says, there is obviously going to be some disappointment from the fans that expect instant success and nothing less, but with our new arrivals, who are all under 23, plus our excellent young academy graduates, are now primed to grow together into a unit that can go places in the future.
Let’s just get behind the manager and the team and enjoy watching them grow. The fans also need to be behind the team for the “project” to succeed….