Mikel Arteta replaced Unai Emery as Arsenal’s permanent manager last month and he has obviously had to make some changes and stamp his own authority on the club. However, there is one thing he will not be changing just yet.
The former captain had several key tasks on his hand when he was given the job, one of them was unifying the side.
The club had been divided among fans, players and even at the boardroom level.
Arteta has started healing some of the wounds and building bridges, but he isn’t about to make total changes to what Unai Emery left behind.
The Spaniard has decided that he will keep hold of the leadership group created by Unai Emery.
Emery allowed the players to choose their captain earlier in the season. Granit Xhaka was chosen, but they also agreed on a set of players who formed the leadership group.
Arteta has come out in approval of the system and says he won’t make changes to it, but he warned the players not to form cliques in any form.
“The leadership many times is related to how this team lives together,” the Spaniard said per the Express.
“The moment you start to see different groups, they have leaders in these groups.
“But they are not shared in the best common interests of the group and this is what I wanted to avoid.
“We have some leaders, some are more leaders on the pitch and some more outside the pitch.
“Some have influence to players that is very necessary. We want to bring all together.
“The more stability we can generate with our captain and the players we have in the squad, I think the more clarity we will have to transmit to the fans what we are trying to do.
“There are many factors, some we cannot control, but at the moment everything is OK and not the time for me to change things in place because I haven’t seen real things to make the decisions.”
Arteta is really gaining control of the team and taking a firm stand on what he expects from the players. And as things stand today, it appears they are responding well to his form of leadership.