Mikel Arteta MUST stay on the Arsenal bench by DN
I have absolutely no doubt about Mikel Arteta’s previous ability and the contribution he has made to the team in the last few years, but due to the emergence of Francis Coquelin last season and his constant injuries have seen him drop to third choice Defensive Midfielder at this present time.
Without denigrating the Spaniard, I am hoping that he will now become fourth choice now that Mohamed Elneny has arrived as I am now worried about him coming on the pitch at all now. We all remember him coming on when Coquelin sustained his injury against West Brom, but we were treated to him having no action on the pitch except when he scored the own goal that gifted all three points to our opponents before he was taken off injured himself.
He is now fully recovered it seems, and Arsene Wenger took it upon himself to bring Arteta on in the 87th minute at Anfield on Wednesday to help shore up our defence, and what happened in that tiny space of time?
I would hate to brand him a jinx after his excellent career, but I do think it’s about time that Wenger stopped giving him chances to tarnish his excellent reputation any more, and should leave him coaching the youngsters until the end of the season.
Arteta still believes that he has a role to play. He even said yesterday: “I’m back now and I have been training hard.
“It’s not easy when you have to come from the bench but that’s the situation at the moment.”
Mikel, we love you but please accept that your time has gone now. Leave the game to the youngsters and concentrate on getting your coaching badge. You will surely be an excellent manager in the future, but right now you just need to face facts and take a step sideways for the good of the club.
Darren