Former Gunner turned pundit Paul Dickov believes Mikel Arteta is a victim of his own success at Arsenal, as he does not appear to be receiving the appreciation he deserves for the work he has done at the club.
Arteta has not won a major trophy for Arsenal since lifting the FA Cup in 2020, but the former midfielder has completely transformed the team since taking over. Under his guidance, the Gunners have grown into one of the most consistent sides in England and Europe, and they now regularly compete for major honours.
Despite the progress, there is increasing pressure on Arteta to deliver silverware. The recent success of Arne Slot, who won the Premier League title in his first season in charge of Liverpool, has only intensified that pressure.
Arteta’s progress often goes unnoticed
Arteta has led Arsenal to three consecutive second-place finishes in the Premier League and took the club to the semifinals of both the Champions League and the Carabao Cup last season. These are major achievements for a side that was struggling to even qualify for Europe before his arrival.
However, many fans and pundits now feel that anything less than a trophy in his sixth full season at the helm will not be acceptable. There are even growing calls for the club to consider a change in management if tangible success does not arrive soon.
Despite this, Arteta continues to work hard and is determined to bring trophies back to the Emirates. He has instilled a winning mentality within the squad and has built a young, dynamic team that is capable of competing with the very best.
Dickov defends Arsenal boss
Former Arsenal man Dickov believes the criticism of Arteta is harsh and feels that the Spaniard is being judged unfairly. Speaking to Goal.com, he said:
“I think Mikel has been the victim of his own success. If you look at where the club were when he took over, with the amount of players, it is virtually a brand new team. The biggest thing is, he has changed the mentality of the club as well. I know they have not won anything, but they are up there competing. They were nowhere near when Mikel took over.”
Although finishing second is not the ultimate goal at a club like Arsenal, Arteta’s impact has been significant. Now, the challenge is to convert that progress into trophies.
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Yes the Spaniard is a victim of his own success, but that’s a tricky question.
Success comes in several forms and though he can be considered successful in how he has made Arsenal competitive, critics will hurry to shows the empty cabinet
But he has raised the bar even by his standards
Arteta is currently one of the world’s top managers. However, full validation of his ability and methods will only come with major trophies.
Most fans can see that Arsenal have made significant improvements over the last few years and are getting closer.
I would disagree about Arteta being “one of the world’s top managers”. Who knows? There’s scant evidence at present, compared to other coaches around in that category.
I can tell you that when F C Barcelona were looking for a coach to replace Xavi last summer, although Arteta is Spanish and also played for them as a youngster, he simply wasn’t in the frame. The club wanted a “proven winner” and went for the former Bayern coach Hansi Flick (who subsequently won every domestic trophy last season). I think the “Yes, but what’s he won” question comes into a lot of discussions at big clubs looking for a new coach.
Over the past three seasons, I wonder if we as Arsenal fans aren’t increasingly in danger of confusing the “journey” (improvements etc.) with the “destination” (winning a trophy) though? If the posts were still available, I’m certain fans would have been saying exactly the same thing about “getting closer” in summer 2024, and 2023. The old expression “jam tomorrow” comes to mind.
I think only one thing will do now: a trophy. If he doesn’t get it in 2025-26 then Arteta will have become one of the longest serving, but least successful, Arsenal coaches in the last 50 years or so. I doubt the Kroenke’s will retain him in that scenario.
So by your logic Bayern Munich wouldn’t have appointments appointed Vincent Kompany then. BTW Mikel was never leaving the club for Barça then and up until now. Mere speculation all it was.
*appointed.
I’m saying that you can’t class Arteta as “world class” on his record.
Of course, clubs can/do appoint inexperienced managers (as in Kompany’s case, and Arteta’s) but it doesn’t invalidate the importance of a winning record in CVs in most cases. Also, Kompany did win the title in his first season at Bayern, which puts him one up straightaway, doesn’t it.
Finally, your Arteta “never leaving for Bayern” comment is obviously moot because he was never asked! However, if he was/is “world class” as was suggested, I’m pretty sure he would have been on Barcelona’s shortlist even if nothing happened at the end. Too good to overlook.
* Barca (too many “Bs”)
I think we can acknowledge that he’s improved us and made us a lot more competitive during his time here without going overboard – I think he would say he would have wanted to have won at least a title by now, and he has had backing in terms of signings and money spent on releasing players. I’ve always said, even if he ultimately fails to bring a title, he has turned us around and deserves respect for that (it was a mammoth task that many highly accomplished managers wouldn’t have been able to do imo). My worry is that if he doesn’t win a major title very soon, and remains too long in stagnation, things will start to reverse.
Now I’m not Arteta’s biggest fan, (now there’s a shock😂). But I will acknowledge the job he’s done regarding getting the team back competing better than they were.
He’s got the crowd back on side to a large extent, the connection seems to be back. He’s been a bit hit and miss regarding his signings, but I guess that all managers can have that claim thrown at them. It’s just the best managers get more right than wrong.
But now going into his sixth full season, now is the time for him to produce something tangible🏆, along with addressing the well talked about positions that need sorting. Failure to do these two things should be the end of all these phases, and the final phase should then be to thank him for his service, and politely show him the door.
Only time will tell which way the cookie will crumble.👍
It depends on what you mean by “success”.
Whether we like it or not, “success” at the very top level of professional football is measured, ultimately, by trophies – what you win. This is why the great coaches, the likes of, say, Pep, Ancelotti, Ferguson etc. are considered great by most.
On that measure, Arteta hasn’t been a success (so far, anyway), although he has obviously done a lot of good work at the club. As someone else has posted, “he has raised the bar”, unfortunately, the team hasn’t managed to get over it yet.
Like Derek point out the best manager mostly get their signing right than wrong that the different between good manager and the best. most of his signing are based on emotion, statistics doesn’t back it up havert and Jesus are prime example