Mikel Arteta often divides opinion with his post-match interviews, and it is fair to question whether he truly believes everything he says. Is he deliberately putting on a performance for the cameras, trying to convince his players they are better than reality suggests? Is it a long-term strategy designed to build a siege mentality within the squad? Or simply the words of a man hurting after a painful week? Perhaps he just lacks humility and does not handle defeat well. Any of these possibilities are valid.
As supporters or members of the media, we are not entitled to know what he genuinely thinks or feels. If the Spaniard chooses to keep his thoughts private, that is entirely his prerogative. However, the concern arises if Arteta genuinely believes that Arsenal are 15 points behind Liverpool purely due to bad luck. That would be a damaging mindset for a club trying to progress.
Accountability, not conspiracy, must shape the summer
Arsenal are set to finish this Premier League campaign with 15 fewer points than last season. If Arteta heads off on his summer break without acknowledging where the team has fallen short, it becomes difficult to see how he reaches the heights he aims for in North London. For the future of the club, it is vital that he does not spend his time away stewing over conspiracy theories.
There remains the question of whether he is shielding his players by deflecting in public or whether he truly believes he has been unlucky for the past nine months. Arteta has regularly reminded the media of Arsenal’s red cards this season. Even after Sunday’s match, he held up six fingers to underline the total. But has the pressure clouded his judgement to the extent that he sees every red card as misfortune, rather than a result of poor play or decision making?
Red cards should not be an excuse
According to theguardian.com, Arteta’s insistence on using red cards as a focal point is beginning to influence how younger fans interpret the game. In an era where some expect immediate success, it is becoming common for supporters to feel entitled to wins and demand explanations when results do not go their way.
An example of that mindset was on show at the weekend at Anfield. Trent Alexander-Arnold was booed despite seeing out his contract professionally and choosing to pursue a new opportunity elsewhere. After dedicating nearly two decades to Liverpool and contributing to their trophy haul, the reaction from some fans reflected a worrying sense of entitlement.
In years gone by, failing to win the league would bring disappointment and reflection, before hope returned in pre-season. Today, there is a reluctance to accept shortcomings. Injuries and disciplinary records have become easy scapegoats.
While some of Arsenal’s six red cards have been contentious, others are straightforward. At the Vitality, Saliba made a deliberate choice to foul and was rightly punished. At the Emirates, Skelley denied a clear goalscoring opportunity by kicking an opponent, unaware of his goalkeeper’s position. At the weekend, Merino lunged in recklessly after miscontrolling a heavy pass. None of these are unfortunate events, they are examples of poor judgement.
Historically, each red card would be assessed on its own merits. Criticism of referees was reserved for clear mistakes, not just decisions that did not favour your team. Yet now, red cards are repackaged as injustices. That narrative, often encouraged by the manager, serves to distract from wider issues.
For instance, Arsenal’s display at home to West Ham was dire. The red card was not the cause of a poor performance, it was part of it. Similarly, on the south coast, Arsenal did not collapse because of a dismissal, the red card was the result of already being second best.
Increasingly, red cards have become a shield. A convenient explanation for underwhelming results. Almost as if a sending-off provides justification for failure. It is a manipulative narrative and the unsettling part is not knowing whether it is calculated or if Arteta truly believes it.
Your thoughts Gooners?
Dan Smith
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The red cards seem to come about and be a consequence of poor play; not a result of biased refs.
Sloppy play, daft decisions, poor positioning and coverage, not a grand conspiracy against Arsenal.
Only Arteta knows what he is thinking, or why he comments the way he does.
We have fallen short again this year; injuries, cards, the ball, whatever the reason. It is time for an honest assessment, hopefully Berta is already on this.
We can’t avoid the striker situation anymore; it is time for a traditional finisher up top, not some makeshift winger or 10 trying their best anymore.
My hope is Berta is a type of agent of change;
1. rebalance our unbalanced squad
2. Finally get a striker
3. Finally get cover for Saka
Well said Durand.With regardless d to your three hopes for the future, i feel young Nwaneri has done well as an understudy for Saka, but i do feel we need another top quality winger in addition to a central striker who must be our top priority .While i admire MA for ridding us of the toxicity which prevailed when he took over, i am not enamoured by his possession based tactics nor his failure to rotate his squad to prevent burn out and injuries.His aversion to interchanging his front three has disappointed me all season, yet against Liverpool at the weekend in the second half there were signs that the straightjacket had been taken off at long last.Long may this continue.
I think our style of football under Arteta is too rigid and controlled; we lack the individual creativity and freedom of play that can generate game-changing moments.
I think game management and tactics may be under the microscope more so next year than individual or team performances.
We have the same “scripted” tactics every match; possession based with little purpose at times, static positioning and little freedom of movement, and predictable patterns of play we see repeated over and over.
I hope to see Arteta trust his players a bit more, and take off the handbrake. Even to the point of trusting his bench more; earlier sub minutes and replacing underperforming starters who have dipped from exhaustion or lack of focus.
We should have all the proper ingredients next year for a title run; question is can our manager turn those ingredients into a title winning side.
Durand,
There have been matches that have been mind numbingly dull, but on the other hand, there is a team in there that can go forward with confidence. The City game at the Emirates showed how good we can be as did the 2 legs against RM
You mentioned using the bench more. In previous seasons, I agree with you that Arteta didn’t trust those on it enough to take the next step. This year, there haven’t been enough fit players to fill it a fair chunk of the time.
Sue P, if we consistently performed as we did against RM and PSG in the EPL we would have walked the league imo. Consistency is what gave Man City four straight Prems. There lies the problem.
But we didn’t
That’s why it’s hard to win leagues , can you do it consistently over a season
Sue P
You make some good points, and the injury situation has had an impact on Arteta’s decisions.
However, he promoted Nwaneri, gave him some chances, but won’t bench or sub Odegaard and play Nwaneri now?
Tierney is healthy, and more than capable LB, but hardly ever plays.
Kiwior was picking up rust on the bench while he overplayed Gabriel until his hamstring went pop.
Same with Saka, Havertz, and others. Over playing people until eventually their hamstrings give way.
That’s poor man management, and if the bench isn’t up to scratch who’s fault is that?
Arteta choose to keep swapping out GK and LB instead of reinforcing his bench.
The players are not robots, they need rest and rotation.
The injuries are not a result of “bad luck” they are in large part due to bad management.
Out poor season has been a culmination of different aspects in opinion.
1: Arteta himself. The system (possession based), slow ponderous, bland, dull, boring at times.
2: The early Red Cards that came in the first 10. We made it so difficult for ourself so early own that we ended up having to chase from the start. I think we were already about 9 points behind by the 10th game of the season.
You are making it absolutely ridiculous being that far behind from that early in the season.
3: Injuries.
Injuries to key players in short spaces of time one after the other Odegaard, Saka, Gabriel, Havertz, Jesus (because when he came back from his injury he looked so sharp, but then after about 4 games he got injured for the rest of the season. We were already struggling for consistency due to our poor start to the season and then injuries.
On top of that our defence was chop and change. Timber get injured, then we bring in Calofiori who also gets injured, then Ben White injured, then Kiwior has to be brought in, then he gets injured. Then Partey has to be compromised as an emergency inverted RB. Zinchecko, Tomiyasu, Tierney etc being untrustwd injury prones.
4: Key players being so out of form for the majority if the season. We went from a team that scored more than 80 goals in the 2022/23 season and more than 90 goals in the 2023/24 season, to only scoring about 60 goals this season (2024/25).
What a significant drop off. What has happened to the goals from the whole team?
Is it the new system / style (more solid in possession while dropping off in our attacking prowess?
It’s been a drag of a season. A start stop and never felt like we were ever going to get going.
I just don’t know how to assess the season properly. It’s tough.
We definitely regressed but many aspects can be pointed as as the culprit. Not just one aspect.
That’s my opinion as always.
👍
Red cards are the outcome of micro management and lack of clarity. The manager has 7 days minus the 90 minutes of match day to train them, why confuse them on match days? Remember Basil and Manuel of Fawlty Towers? We see something similar on match days
What on earth does this mean?
So Mikel is responsible for every red card we’ve received?
If he’s micro managing them, why are they confused on match days?
By the way, he doesn’t have seven days minus 90 minutes on match days…. are you for real?!
If red cards as an excuse is being widely accepted then humanity has a serious problem and its scary where we are going because one in position of power and influence, can use anything as an excuse for their incompetence and get a considerable number of support.
Seriously, even balls have been blamed to excuse the substandard manager who is again empty handed to the surprise of no one.
What will be next?
Nets? Cameramen? Weather (I am surprised this has not been the first excuse)? The pitch too green?
HH, even Pep has blamed the new ball that’s used in the this season’s FA Cup for the lack of goals City scored against Plymouth.
Back in the 03/04 season, Jens Lehmann blamed the new ball for Chelsea’s first goal at Highbury in the quarter finals of the CL.
Wenger also blamed pitches for defeats…
We have had our fair share of reds. Some warranted, other debatable
Every manager has had his share of card and MA is.no different
Under our greatest manager AW had them.coimg out his ear
He never saw them
UE had 2 in one game and that cost us 3 points
Very few managers will come out publicly and lambast there players. Behind closed doors that’s another story and we are not privileged to that part.
Do I believe he gives it to them Behind closed doors
Damn right, both barrels
Hea not the best manager in the league but he currently is the 2nd best
So if you think he is bad manager, then the other teams below us are really in trouble
Onwards and upwards
If you want to compare him with managers below him those managers have to:
1. Have been on the same club for 5 years
2. Been given nearly a billion to spend
3. Been allowed to write off 560 million worth of troublesome players
4. Their league positions every season in all 5 years.
The number of years you have been at the club does not really matter. If you inherit a good team like what Slot did, you get the ground running. We will not give Arteta successor possibly next year, not enough time like 5 years and will not be writing off any players
We finished above them for the last 2 seasons before Slot came. They even lost top 4 in one of them. So what Slot inherited was lesser than us. He made them better plain and simple.
The number of years absolutely matters otherwise any comparison between him and managers below him is null and void.
Cancelled! Rejected!
So does that make Arteta better than Klopp?
Sorry
I thought we were talking red cards
And not about money
If you want to to talk about money.
Fact. He doesn’t write off 560m
THE OWNERS write it and not the manager
Spending a billion which seems to grow every week. Started at 750 at the end of January and before the transfer window opens he’s done a billion
Fact
The club sanction a d spend the.money
As for the five years staying in the same job
You would have to ask the other owners why they sack there manager so often. As proven doesn’t always work as they are sitting below us
Alanball08, quality reply 👍👏👏
I never get the constant fantasising about other managers that our fan keep doing every season nowadays.
Most of these same managers have not finished ahead of Arteta in the last 3 seasons. Only Klopp, Pep and Slott have done so. The rest have been sacked replaced and the replacement have been sacked and so on while Arteta has stabilised us.
We all now hope for him to take that next step (Winning the major trophies). But our fans consistently trying to use other clubs managers as a stick to beat Arteta with is very confusing as these same managers when hired by our rivals always end up finishing below Arteta nowadays or get sacked.
The over the top fantasing about other managers from some of our fans is weird.
So what’s the the “truth” then?
My honest take is that this season represents a realistic return on the quality of the squad. This team has overperformed in terms of league position for 3 seasons now, and credit has to go to the players and manager that.
Individually this team has some of the best players in the league in their position but also lack quality and depth in critical areas and I think we can all agree those areas are the forward positions? Put simply, when you compare Arsenal’s attacking options to that of our direct rivals, and even teams below us, we are woefully short. That said, I have little confidence Arteta would rotate even if he could.
The red cards have cost us and as stated in the article we cannot simply ascribe them all to bad luck and conspiracy. But I would venture it is the injuries, lack of depth, and refusal by the manager to use the players he has wisely that have all contributed to what most now are as a disappointing season.
We now live in a time when fans feel Arsenal are somehow owed success or that it is our rightful reward for being Arsenal? Whilst the points gap at the top is pretty significant this season, it still represents a runner-up finish for a 3rd season in a row and a UCL semi-final as well. THAT IS A GOOD SEASON! Anyone who thinks otherwise is clueless about what success actually is. It isn’t about winning trophies year after year, it is about having the opportunity to and never having to worry about relegation or bankruptcy. That is a luxury a lot of fans lose sight of. Be grateful we are in the mix, fighting for these trophies, instead of 17th and about to welcome yet another poor soul as manager who thinks they will be different.
Well said Ben!!
Your long, but good, last paragraph just about sums up my feelings for this season.
Despite what anyone says, with the unbelievable injuries we have had, I don’t believe anyone can judge MA on this season.
Ken1945,
You can’t judge Arteta on this season. What about the previous four seasons then. When we didn’t have some of the issues that we’ve had this season.
What’s the excuse for those seasons?
Good question Derek, so let’s take a look.
We can disregard the two 8th finishing seasons, as I was one of those who was questioning Mikel and his decisions / tactics.
So we now look at the season he finished 5th and that was the season we saw the owner backing him in a way no previous manager had.
He started bringing in the players he wanted and the fans responded as we started to see what he was trying to do.
The club was beginning to get together, both on and off the pitch – the Emirates was starting to feel like home and next season couldn’t come quick enough.
We slugged it out with the best team in Europe for the title and, while some say we bottled it, the injury to Saliba proved vital – if you remember the defeat to the spuds and the sending off of Holding – but I could see that Mikel had taken us from those awful early days to a position of strength,as last season proved yet again.
Of course mistakes were made over his time and in all areas – the square pegs, subs, tactics,
signings, but there’s not one manager who hasn’t made mistakes is there?
So here we are today, once again with no trophies, but,something to be proud of.
We progressed to the semi final of the CL – we are going to qualify for next seasons CL – we are (hopefully) second once again… but this is where it’s so different to the previous two.
We have achieved this with a list of long term injuries not experienced before.
When has MA been able to field his strongest squad at any time during this season?
Think back to the start and I’ll let you name the players he couldn’t select week after week after week.
Long term injuries, season finishing injuries and, as you know, everyone of our attacking players succumbed.
That’s why I cannot judge MA on this season… but what I can do is recognise what has gone on and take the positives.
CL semi final, 2nd in the PL (?) CL qualification….. I just can’t wait until we have a full strength fit squad, with the new signings it seems we’re after.
Long winded answer, but you did ask me!!
Not long winded at all Ken1945,
A very thorough post that I very much appreciated reading. And I even agreed with some of your points.
Although Saliba got injured at a very costly time of the season and they did miss him, I don’t think it says much for the team that it effected them so badly.
Then in the following season to lose at home to Villa was the beginning of the end for our challenge sadly.
This season there’s been some issues, some out of the clubs control and some self inflicted. Overall this season has been a season of could of been’s.
But on a brighter note, I noticed that in the open training session held at the Emirates, our prolific striker(Havertz) was back in training. Now all our problems are over.😂🤣👍😉
While it’s all opinions mate I will defend all Gooners ( no matter their point of view ) when you write
We now live in a time when fans feel Arsenal are somehow owed success or that it is our rightful reward for being Arsenal?
It’s 21 years without a title so I think we have been patient
Our own manager said do not accept or tolerate 2nd
Our owners said that only trophies can be called a successful season
So no mate for The Arsenal – 15 points behind Champions can never be called Good
It’s not terrible but it can’t be good
We have to not accept falling standards else you become a Man United/ Spurs – suddenly it’s okay to be 16th / 17th if we win a cup
Dan, I thought that you believed winning a trophy was the be all and end all?
If I’m wrong, I apologise.
No as long as I see my club try to be the best they can be that’s all you can ask
Hence why I was more positive 12 months ago
As you know I felt In January we just gave up the season.
But no you can’t finish that far behind and say it’s been good
Yet I think some Gooners will defend the club no matter where we finish
The football In particular has been hard to watch
Arteta has flattered to deceive, under performed, failed to build a winning team, fauled tactically. Of course like many on here, he will come up with every bogus excuse under the sun, to try and hide his failure.
Five years to be able to keep on going back to the drawing board, what a lucky man. Does he deserves it? Well that’s the conundrum, isn’t it? A first year manager inheriting a decent squad has walked away with the Premiere League but no worries , then how about failure to identify which key positions needed to be reinforced, tactical failures, amount of valuable practice time wasted on set pieces, isolating certain players regardless of team’s needs because they don’t adhere to his cutting edge sideways football philosophy, inverted rubbish etc, etc. Lucky man, a hands off ownership and an easily pleased fan base who are afraid of change. Will he succeed next season, a case of six times lucky? Well, we all hope so, at least us loyal Arsenal fans. Anyway, today I had another “Arsenal” experience while hiking in Japan. Walking up the road, a young man proudly wearing his Arsenal colours. As I walked past him, I couldn’t resist greeting him with a,” We blew it again this year”. His only reply with an Aussie accent was, ” Yeh, Don’t we always”. Brilliant! But it implied so much about the loyalty of us faithful and why the club means so much. There is life beyond Arteta., but we’ll just have to be patient whether he deserves another year or not.