Opinion – Arsenal hiring Mikel Arteta will end in tears

Mikel Arteta being named the next Arsenal manager is destined to end in disappointment.

It is looking increasingly likely that Mikel Arteta will be named the next Arsenal manager and for me, it is the wrong decision for so many reasons.

The first one is obvious, his lack of experience.

It does work when an inexperienced manager steps up. It worked for Pep Guardiola when he stepped up from the Barcelona B team but look at the players he inherited. I am struggling to think of an inexperienced manager taking over a team in crisis and turning it around. I can think of many failures in that context but not successes.

When former players, assistant managers, academy managers etc take on the big job it only works when the team they inherit is full of good players with a sound structure and base in place. Something Arsenal simply does not have.

There are already rumblings that the players are unhappy at the possibility of Arteta taking charge, you even have the brother of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang having his say.

I am not sure Arteta has the character to tame the out of control egos in the Arsenal dressing room and even if he did, he is severely limited with what sanctions he can apply. I mean, could he come down on the underperforming senior players and drop them when the club is in such a desperate situation?

For me, Arteta lacks the experience, the character and quite possibly the reputation to turn this shower around.

Arsenal needs a manager with immense experience, preferably someone that has overcome a crisis with a huge reputation and ego to take on the senior players that are now destroying the club.

And of course, a manager that can turn average players into some sort of functioning Premier League footballers.

47 Comments

  1. Nonsense, if players wont perform for him then get rid of them and bring in those with good work ethic and characater. He deserves our support and remember experts always start somewhere.

    1. Exactly you are .
      Why is it always the Coach fault !!!
      Most of the time the players Suck .
      No coach will make Arsenal better on the ball and maintaining the Possession than Arteta he is gonna be small Version of Pep .
      For example Vieira in my opinion would most likely add aggression to the Squad but i doubt we would have an attractive football Pep or Arteta could add .

  2. And how did it go with the experienced Emery? Wasnt Ancelloti sacked by Napoli and Bayern?

    We need to support the manager the club appoints. Arteta is the best decision imo. we should support the new manager and be positive. Pep, Wenger,and Pochetino spoke highly of him. Let us be optimistic.

  3. It’s highly risky, and can go either way.

    It worked for Pep, who inherited a great squad. But since he’s done it Barca, Bayern and City, he’s used to handle world class players. Isn’t that exactly what we are after? We have Aubameyang, Lacazette, Pepe, Özil, Ceballos.. all class players underperforming.

    Zidane did it for Real. Jumped straight from Castilla to guide Real to 3 consecutive Champions League wins. Inherited a great squad? Why didn’t it work out for Julen Lopetegui then? Had managed Sevilla and Porto before, inherited a great squad – and got sacked after 14 matches.

    In fact, Zidane is Real’s 2nd most succesful manager in their entire history. How is that? Every other manager also inherited a fantastic squad, yet Zidane without experience, is the 2nd most decorated manager. How come?

    Fact is, everybody starts from somewhere. To Arteta, it’s Arsenal. Huge risk given our current situation. But would be a huge risk for an experienced manager as well. Emery was very experienced. Lopetegui had experience. Ancelotti had experience while at Napoli. All got sacked nonetheless.

    We don’t know what will happen. But if we give up on Arteta before he has even started, then we have truly lost.

    1. Good points, nobody knows how it’s going to go so we should give Arteta our backing and support if he becomes manager. We could hire an experienced manager like everyone is clamouring for and it could still go wrong. We need to give the new manager time as well. After all, Ferguson was one game away from the sack after a couple of seasons at MU and look how that turned out in the end.

    2. Completely agree bro, also how much experience Klopp had before taking on Dortmund job but he did great there as well. It’s same as players I think either u have it in you or not. There are always some special talents which defy the norms like in players u have currently Messi, Ronaldo n neymar, same in manager’s you have special talents like pep, klopp and zizu…so if Arteta turn out to be from same category then I bet no Arsenal fan will be bothered about whats on his CV.

      1. @Mohsan it’s comments like yours that make me mad and keep wondering why is it that people who lack basic facts shout the most on internet platforms? FYI Klopp managed Mainz in the 2000s Mainz was second division team he then secured promotion after several attempts.This was all over when Klopp was being unveiled as BVB manager. These are simple facts that you conveniently ignore to push your preferred narrative. Unfortunately people have the right to spew bollocks no matter how misleading.

        1. Which Club and Zidane managed before Real Madrid? You only focused on the Klopp still to push your own narrative. The point being made is that coaches made their breaks through different means. It’s a function of best fit and best situation. Arteta could be the best fit and this period of crisis could be the vest situation.

        2. @james, I know that he managed Mainz but then Mainz is not a big club n it was second division team so for most of the us fans managing a second decision team will still be considered as no experience at all because like you some other fans want a manager who has managed big club to avg size club in competitive league. The point which I am trying to put across is being experienced does not mean you are successful other wise UE will still be here. Everyone has to start some where…n if you have the talent / ability to the job then why not. That’s how companies progress, get new blood in with new optimism, new hunger and new ideas….so they can deviate from norm. Get the point….or ur too ignorant to understand it.

          1. Experience alone doesn’t mean success but minimal experience is a strict requirement for any job.
            Arteta lacks that and the skills he developed were all in a club that plays by completely different rules than Arsenal.
            He won’t get to buy a new back 5 because the existing one can’t pass from the back, for example.
            Any experience on a lower league would be a massive plus already and minimal requirement to even be considered. At least it should.
            Everton’s board played Arsenal’s like kids on this one as they’re the ones who got the manager who’s in a completely different league than Arteta.
            Even Freddie literally has more experience! What a joke this Board is… 🙁

  4. Arsenal needs a manager with immense experience but more importantly, they need a manager who has all the resources to manage his own staff, players and contacts. That does of course come with experience to a great extent. But, I doubt Pep will be providing some pointers for Arteta every week. Above all, the manager needs the clubs hierarchy to fully support the manager and make the best decisions, which we all know, doesn’t happen at Arsenal!

    Whoever gets the job are in for a tough ride because this team is pretty much unmanageable!

  5. We are all welcome to our opinions, but they mean very little. The success of Arteta is as uncertain to me as it is to everyone else on the planet who cares. Although it probably comes from a good place – concern for one’s team – to come up with such a definitive damnation is a little ludicrous.

  6. I am willing to give every manager / player that is introduced to Arsenal.
    If it is Arteta, Ljungberg, Spiderman etc then they will have my support. One season honeymoon then season two is always the season I start to expect better and much more.
    If it is not working out then i am always one of the biggest critics of that manager / player.

  7. Should Arsenal under Arteta get relegated, would KSE sell the club, I wonder?
    How likely is that? But before all that, I hope the club manages to offload Ozil and get a King’s ransom for Auba. I really want Auba sold in January. With him in the squad scoring, we can be where we are now, between 6-10, because our defence is beyond bad. OR we can have a top defender and put our trust in the remaining attackers we have to score as much, or slightly less and to see our defenders conceding less because at least one of them has a full defenders’ brain. I might even go as far as to buy two defenders from Auba funds. If there’s any money left or the KSE are willing to pay for a solid box-to-box midfielder, that’d be great. THEN, Arteta would be able to do wonders with the squad and maybe even challenge for the top 4 spot.

  8. Arteta will be welcomed by two tough away matches and two big home matches, so the timing is not right

    He might face hostility from some people at Arsenal, hence the club should support him if he wants to sell some players

    1. Exactly @gotanidea.
      Just like his former manager (Arsen Wenger) said “he will be needing support” Both of the board and staff. I feel some players will look down on him bcos of his little or no credentials. So, he must be determined in his decision making regardless of who likes him or not among the players.
      I have chosen to give him a chance. I am sure he will emulate some A.Wenger football phylosophy that made Arsenal a class act years back.
      I wish him luck.

  9. It is no coach manager since AW left, replace him by Emery did not work, Artera will be even worst.

    Today only free manager with shoulders to possibly replace Wenger is Ancelotti. Let’s not miss out as we did on Mourinho, look at Spurs now!

    Ancelotti will manage ego, bring back character and help to being Koulibaly unhappy at Napoli for sacking Ancelotti!

    We got spoiled by AW securing CL with a bunch of kids for ages, no money. We would be in championship ages ago without AW miracle with no money from bloody krownke.

    They picking ans looking for cheapest option. Ancelotti will be twice more to pay and will impose to sign Koulibaly and back up for Bellerin and Tierny; a must for a year!

    Or we finished, fight for relegation

      1. And what an astounding failure ot is for the Board to miss out on Ancelotti!!
        Everton is now in much better position than us in terms of management to snatch the last Europa League places we’re competing for.

  10. Its the senior players that are usually trouble and we dont have many of those.With the exception of Ozil,Sokratis,Luiz and Auba the rest of the team is 27years and below.And i beleive Arteta can do without atleast 3 of the above mentioned,probably get some good money out of them in Jan and bring in his choice players.So the case of players being unhappy i dont think it will be a big issue

  11. Aubameyang’s brother said what….? How bold of him to assume his opinion matters here. But since we are talking relatives, my sister’s brother says Aubameyang’s brother should stick to his job of washing Auba’s rides

    1. Ancelotti’s name alone would be able to attract and, more importantly, RETAIN star players.
      We can say goodbye to Aubameyang following this cowardly lack of ambition displayed by the Board.
      The only very faint hope is that Man City players have been reported to say they’re generally happy to train with Arteta and that some of Guardiola’s man management style rubbed on him…

  12. From comments I read in the press the consensus appears to be that there is unrest in the Arsenal dressing room. Some “pundits” seem to think that AUBA is at the centre of the problem,(shades of his former club).My fear is that Arteta will not have backing of the Board to stamp out the problems, if true, and put the dissenters and those not committed 100% to the club out of the door.A divided dressing room is a certain disaster and IMO part of the reason where we are today.
    Arteta is Spanish, the executives are Spanish which should help when he needs to get something done. Most of us understand that the January transfer window is not easy, either to buy of sell and it is totally unrealistic to expect more than a couple of movements in or out of the club.

    1. It doesn’t take a genius to list the flaws in Arsenal FC. To intimate that an experienced manager would fare better with the current situation is entirely incorrect in my opinion. Peak Mourinho and Guardiola couldn’t give this lot defensive solidity and cohesion when attacking.
      Until all the weeds in the garden are addressed improvement and success must be quantified in other ways.

      1. Are the off field problems beginning to be rectified?
      2. Finding solutions to remove demotivated players/poor players

      We bang on about having a few quality players in our Squad. However talent alone gets you nowhere at the elite level unless it is accompanied by a strong work ethic and mental attitude. If you look across all sports the top players are often some of the most gifted but they are nearly always the hardest working(I know there are exceptions to every rule but the correlation here is very strong).
      Our ‘top players’ are vastly overpaid and because of this have little motivation to better themselves.

      With Arteta’s appointment I believe the club are projecting further along the curve. I would like to think in 18 months time the Squad dynamic, style of play and work ethic at Arsenal will be something to make us proud again.

  13. Arteta may not have experience
    calling the shots to appease the
    majority of Arsenal fans around
    the globe but I am comforted by
    the fact that as a player he played
    passionately for the Badge and has
    learned from 2 of the most successful
    managers in the history of the EPL.
    Will that translate to managerial
    success? The jury is definitely still
    out but give me an Arsenal man who
    understands the ethos of the club and
    what it means to wear the shirt over
    other candiates with more impressive
    CD’s

    WTS, I would LOVE to see Arteta pull
    off the classic scene in the movie
    Hoosiers when Gene Hackman visits the
    teams best player and essentially
    tells him he doesnt care if the young
    man plays for him or the team. The
    reactions of Ozil, Auba and the rest
    of the “Disgruntled Senior Players
    would be PRICELESS!!!

  14. I, like most think it will end in more than tears. I just hope that i and all are completely wrong. I fear for Arteta and i fear for our club. This is a 50 50 decision, that has risks galore, i jusr dont trust the people in charge to get it right. I hooe i am wrong and i will support Arteta but im not very sure at all or confident and im not on my own. Too much uncertainty all around for me, it smacks of failure. But we have to have hope.

  15. Whoever comes in as coach will still have a huge task in sorting out the defence, instilling some level of confidence in a disjointed and demoralised team.

    I blame Emery for trying to force his methods on players not equipped to handle them, his total lack of man management and a lack of ability to motivate the team and finally the fiasco relating to the captaincy. This certainly does not absolve (most) players from downing tools and not even trying because they are professionals earning more in one year than most people earn in a lifetime.

    If Mikel Arteta gets the job I wish him well and hope he is supported by both the club and the fans and quite frankly if the senior players don’t respond, get rid of them along with their egos.

  16. Every single managerial appointment carries an element of risk regardless of whether the applicant is experienced or not.One thing is absolutely certain however in that there is not a Manager on this Earth who can convert the likes of Sokratis, Mustafi and Luis into decent Premier League players to coin your own phrase.If these players are not replaced quickly there is a distinct possibility of Arsenal being dragged into a relegation battle.

    1. Once again Grandad, for the umpteenth time I am so glad to read balanced, cerebral and wise counsel on here from you. I have oft said that God Almighty could NOT make defenders out of those ridiculous clowns posing as “defenders”, whilst regularly betraying our historical reputation for sound defence(prior to approx a decade ago and worse now, by far, than even under Wengers last years).

  17. Sorry to say but this reporting is wrong. Pep didn’t inherit a great team. In short Barcelona league position the previous season was 3rd behind real and vilareal. Their stars ronaldinho, deco and Eto were found dispensable by gardiola because of their ego and toxic attitude. Even Barcelona fans doubted gardiola because he was a rookie too. Don’t forget that after his first 2 games in charge he got just 1 point out of 6. Arsenal and Arteta are in exactly the same position Barcelona and pep was 11 years ago. I trust arteta will prove you doubters wrong.

  18. Admin Martin your article is rather one sided, with little to no true perspective. I am going to assume, as it seems we all now do, that MA does become head coach this week or early next. You correctly say that without help he is given a poisoned chalice and IMO rather pointlessly, mention the comment of Aubas brother. So what ? He is not his brother and his brother is not him, so what has that comment to do with anything relevant! You fail, or deliberately CHOOSE to fail, to mention the clear high esteem that MA is held in by Pep G and that Pep clearly does not want to lose his technical nous and obvious man management intelligence; something of which Wenger spoke about,a lot too, whilst both were here. You also neglect to mention, in your one sided argument – as many of yours are prone are being, when attempting to stir up fan conversations for this site, rather than giving disinterested analysis, as real journos are charged with doing – the widespead regard for Artetas abilities from pundits and in the know football folk. I believe, in fact I know, that to mention that would not suit your agenda.

    You claim that Arteta lacks the experience, the character and possibly the reputation to turn this shower around. We can agree on the “shower” being there. But, I challenge you to provide even ONE piece of evidence to support your defamation of his character. “Experience” we can agree upon and at least not actively disagree on “reputation”, as a number one, as of right now. There is loads to the reverse view, from PEP, WENGER and myriad other pros and ex -pros and journos who all speak of his CHARACTER, work ethic, attention to detail, coaching ability, people skills and intelligence. You take a minority view about his “character”. Well, you are fully entitled to it , just as I am fully entitled to challenge you to produce evidence of lack of character. Which you will not be able to do, since none exists. Perhaps you think that only screamers and shouters have character? Do you?

    Overall, you personally do a good job as an admin on this site but this article , in common with SOME others of yours (I do not say more than SOME) is unworthy of a man of your intellect and is biased towards your own view. I suggest an admin should, in general, try to be more balanced. Accept my challenge about evidence then then MARTIN?

    1. It was an opinion piece, Jon, as is said in the title. I hope I am proven wrong about Arteta but in less than two months I am certain most will be calling for him to be fired and my opinion will be vindicated. But know this, I very much welcome the day you come on here and say to me I was 100% wrong, I really do.

      1. Matin , I was careful -or perhaps you would prefer “balanced”, as I do, NOT to say you were 100% wrong. Such a comment would have been mostly wrong. Whilst agrreing with some of what you wrote,I specifically asked you to produce one piece of evidence to supprt your minority view of his lack of ” CHARACTER””. Your inability to produce such evidence and to claim it is only your opinion , vindicates my challenge to you as being correct.

        Be assured though Martin, I have a far better view of you as a person and also as an admin, in general, than you may ever imagine. I say my piece and I move on. I do not bear grudges and I know you do not either. Pity more on here do not though. You have the guts to come straight back at me and it is not your fault that no such MA character evidence exists.

        I for one and I THINK MOST WILL THINK LIKEWISE, am determined to give MA consistent support as he begins his mighty task. And we can surely ALL agree that it is a mighty challenge. But even he cannot get rid of Kroenke. Not legally and lawfully, anyway! I should not say that I would settle for UNLAWFULLY though, so I won’t say it!

        I wish you well and a great Christmas too, AND also to Pat, if you would kindly pass that on.

        1. Like I say, Jon, it is an opinion and “evidence” is not always required when expressing an opinion. I was very careful how I wrote the article and the part about his character starts with the words For me. I stand by what I wrote but do hope my opinion is wrong.

      2. Martin , On re -reading your “hope you come on here … 100% wrong” comment, I realisee I misconstrued its meaning in your reply. I also hope I can come on here in thre future and say youwere 100% wroing. BUT let us suppose, for arguments sake, you, or anyone else, had said the same about Wenger back in 1996 and I had then said but only said in 2006 that you were wrong, I would have been far too premature. So, timing is everything, I’d say. EVERYTHING CHANGES, BOTH FOR GOOD OR FOR ILL, IF YOU WAIT LONG ENOUGH. And that fact of fans being of all different ages and generations, surely affects our personal perspective of how soon or how long we are prepared to wait for success. In general, it surely cannot be denied that the younger generation demands more and far quicker too than us oldies. Equally though, you can wait TOO long and be too patient too! As in football, as in life!

  19. Sorry but far from “exactly the same position” as you state. Secondly, Pep managed the B team at least, where Arteta has a grand total of 1 game he managed, lost 2-1, because Pep was suspended. I admire you trying to put a rosey tint on things, but the truth is no one knows, only time will tell.

    Personally, the club is in serious trouble, in a downward spiral, and darker days look more likely than sunshine and rainbows. IMO not the time to take a risk on a manager without experience. I hope for the best but fear for the worst, I’m a realist.

    1. So should we get big Sam in then? What is this obsession with experienced manager? UE was experienced how did that turn out? I don’t think the squad no where as bad as ppl are trying to make them. Poor game plan and management has led us to this point and like any aspect of life ppl thrive on confidence. That is the ingredient we are missing the most and because of that we are suffering as players don’t play to their ability and are scared. Why does everyone keep on forgetting all these players are internationals n have done n keep doing good job for their countries so it’s not like all of a sudden we have a group of champion ship players. All we need is good tactical manager n players confidence to come back. I bet if you would have given the same squad to Pep or Klopp or Rogers start of the season we would be in top 3 at the moment.

      1. Well, we are close to be in a relegation battle so… 😉

        More seriously, time spent managing isn’t the main point (even though that’s obviously a requirement to take on any high level job), it’s where the experience happened, what was achieved, etc.
        Ancelotti is one of the most successful manager in Football history, Sam might be a “legend” but more in a “lads lads lads, down that pint (of wine 🤣)” kind of way!
        Arteta was a cog in a successful machine that can throw money at a problem until it’s fixed (and with a manager with that experience at the highest level on top, which doesn’t hurt).
        Different leagues.

  20. Personally I don’t think that Arteta is the right man for the job, I hope I am wrong but I just think we could be in the same position this time next year, rudderless. I was never really enthused with his playing ability when he was on the field, but………. never the less we have to give him a chance. I hope it works out but i really have my doubts.

  21. Sorry Niles and Gendouzi are poor excuses for premier league players. they simply are not good enough. Willock is not strong enough and neither is SAKA, what else have we at the minute? Not a lot! I think the next 5 games is going to be disastrous.

  22. Agree completely with other comments ….lets support him all the way. Remember risk goes both ways; he is taking a gamble on us as much as we on him so lets back him. Experience did not work out, and there’s no smoke without fire – a lot of people seem to really rate his potential. Secondly, he knows the league and the club and he speaks good English. I personally think Emery’s difficulty in communicating in clear understandable English did not help. Lastly, Mikel has fantastic hair so that seals it for me – sign him up!

  23. Ending in tears depends on what you set as your success criteria.

    If your criteria is Top Four and playing football the “arsenal way” then yes, it will be tearful.

    If your criteria is (in my opinon) more grounded in reality, then you may not need to shed a lot of tears.

    More grounded – getting the players to play with energy, being competitive in games against top teams (we aren’t one), winning games against similar-calliber teams and lesser teams, playing well and advancing in Europa as far as possible.

    If he is able to work with the front office to recruit good players, spending energy on recruits we can get, using the money well and most importantly filling actual needs, then that is a cause to cheer.

    In short, if he is able to start turning the culture around and pushing us close to European places then he has performed incredibly well.

    So be realistic with your criteria and then you can apportion your tears appropriately.

  24. I’m hearing the comment about the senior players that are dictating and destroying the club…..I don’t agree that we have an abundance of senior players if you exclude Auba, Laca and Xhaka. You count count Luiz because he’s only just joined. The rest of the squad are kids so they don’t have huge reputations to challenge Arteta. People like Sterling, De Bruyne and Jesus all rate him highly.
    The irony is so many fans didn’t want Mourinho despite the fact he fulfills the criteria of experience and dominant and able to organise a team. I think those fans who didn’t want Mourinho but also don’t want Arteta are totally clueless. They’d only be happy if Klopp or Pep took the job…

  25. Maybe I`m wrong but, whilst most successful managers have played the game at some stage and at some level I don`t recall an abundance of super players making super managers, usually the best managers learned their art playing at a low level.

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