The new Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has had a tough start to his managerial career by being thrown in at the deep end to try and steady a sinking ship, but steady it he has, and the Gunners were the only unbeaten top team in Europe before the coronavirus struck.
Although he has had a lot of draws, he has still managed a 40% win percentage in his time so far, but he still has a long way to go to persuade people that Arsenal are back in the big time. Manuel Almunia, who played alongside Arteta at Arsenal for a couple of years, believes that his old team-mate is doing a good job, but he could do with a trophy to “break the ice”.
“With Arsenal, as the big club that they are, it’s a shame to see them like this,” Almunia, who now works as a goalkeeping coach for Al Jazeera FC, said in the Standard. “For the history, infrastructure, British and global fans and the attraction in general, they should be in the Champions League and higher up in the league.”
“Sooner or later, they’ll be among the best again and I’m sure Mikel will help with that. He was a player not long ago.”
“He’s shared the dressing room with some of the players he coaches now and he knows what modern football is like and he’ll know what the best thing for them is. He has to be given time.”
“With trophies, I imagine it’s a question of eras and a big title can break the ice. From there, the players will believe that they can win more and that’s momentum.”
Obviously, Arteta has been taught by a man that thrives on winning things in Pep Giardiola, but surely he will only emerge from under his shadow if he starts to win trophies in his own right. Do we believe that Arteta can do that at Arsenal and start off a new era?