Former Arsenal star Paul Merson on the job Mikel Arteta faces.
Paul Merson has given his verdict on why Mikel Arteta could do well given the low expectations at Arsenal at the moment.
The inexperienced Spanish tactician replaced Unai Emery back in December and has made a promising start at the Emirates Stadium, even if we’re still a long way from being where we want to be.
Still, Merson feels Arteta could do well in these circumstances, as it gives him the time to overhaul this struggling squad and put together his own team without too much pressure on him to get it right immediately.
“Every manager is different. I’ve worked under some great coaches who weren’t good managers, and I’ve worked under some great managers who weren’t good coaches,” he told Sky Sports. “You need the team around you, the coaches around you to challenge you. When you have a coaching staff around you who don’t, and are just yes men, that can be a problem.
“But I think this situation helps someone like Mikel Arteta. Arsenal need such an overhaul of players that it’s actually almost impossible to get that many players in. There’s now an opportunity for him to work with the current crop, and I think it actually takes the pressure off of Arteta, and now anything is a bonus.
“Arsenal’s expectations will be nowhere near as high as they were a few months ago. I think he’ll now be given loads and loads of time to build. He’s young, he’s enthusiastic, and he’ll want to work with younger players.
“He’s not a Mourinho or Pep Guardiola, who I’d call your Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroys, they’re just dealing in majors, nothing else! Arteta is the type who might work from the ground up with lesser players.”
There’s no doubt Arsenal fans will need to be patient and that we are playing the long game by gambling on rookie coach Arteta.
The 38-year-old should have a bright future in management, and we’ll have to hope he is allowed to really find his feet with the setup at Arsenal.