Paul Merson has been impressed by the work that Mikel Arteta has been doing at Arsenal, and the former Gunner has backed the Spaniard to make an impression at the Emirates.
Arteta was named Arsenal’s manager late last year after the Gunners had made a terrible start under Unai Emery.
Arsenal had been on a downward spiral and they are still being affected by the poor start that they made to the season. However, Arteta has brought about impressive positive changes at the Emirates.
The Gunners have been eliminated from the Europa League in a rare negative, but they remain unbeaten in domestic competitions this year and some players who had been terrible under Emery are starting to show their worth under the Spaniard.
Merson has been enjoying the management of Arteta and claims that unlike the likes of Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola, the Spaniard is a manager that can build a team from the ground up.
‘Every manager is different,’ Merson told Sky Sports. ‘I’ve worked under some great coaches who weren’t good managers, and I’ve worked under some great managers who weren’t good coaches.
‘You need the team around you, the coaches around you to challenge you. When you have a coaching staff around you who don’t, and are just yes men, that can be a problem.
‘But I think this situation helps someone like Mikel Arteta. Arsenal need such an overhaul of players that it’s actually almost impossible to get that many players in.
‘There’s now an opportunity for him to work with the current crop, and I think it actually takes the pressure off of Arteta, and now anything is a bonus.
‘Arsenal’s expectations will be nowhere near as high as they were a few months ago. I think he’ll now be given loads and loads of time to build. He’s young, he’s enthusiastic, and he’ll want to work with younger players.
‘He’s not a [Jose] Mourinho or Pep Guardiola, who I’d call your Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroys, they’re just dealing in majors, nothing else! Arteta is the type who might work from the ground up with lesser players.’
