Should Arsenal consider Mikel Arteta as our coach again?

Is Mikel Arteta now ready to coach Arsenal?

Who would have thought that just 18 months after Arsene Wenger leaving Arsenal we would be keen to bring in another manager already, but this is exactly what most of us are thinking right now as it is very obvious that we have only gone further backwards under Unai Emery. It must be bad when 56% of our readers said that they would prefer to see Jose Mourinho in charge at the Emirates instead of Emery.

Those rumours appear to have been quashed now, but who else could we go for, if not Mourinho. I’m guessing we also still have a chance of bring Mikel Arteta back, and this may be an even better time as he has had another 18 months to learn more under Pep Guardiola and has a couple of League titles on his CV as well. Pep agreed after Wenger left that he would not stand in our old captain’s way. ‘Mikel’s contribution was outstanding, amazing, and we have been so good together,’ said Guardiola.

‘So, if he stays I will be happiest guy in the world. If he decides to move because he has this option I will not say: “You don’t have to go”.

‘I want the best for my friends and he is a friend. If he decides to go I will be sad but I will understand his decision.

‘Because it is his career, his life and family and I am not the right guy to say you don’t have to do that.

‘But hopefully he can stay and finish what we have together in the coming years.’

Well, he has stayed, but surely he must be ready for bigger things as manager having served his apprenticeship?

Even Arsene Wenger agreed that Arteta could be the right man for the job. He told the Telegraph: “He has all the qualities to do the job, yes, and I think as well he is one of the favourites.

“He was a leader, and he has a good passion for the game and he knows the club well, he knows what is important at the club and he was captain of the club. Why not?”

So, after the failed experiment of bringing in Unai Emery, despite his previous achievements, do you think that we should take a chance now on Arteta, who knows Arsenal inside out and has a couple of EPL titles as assistant to Guardiola?

31 Comments

  1. Of course Mikel should be considered. He has learned from the very best, for quite a few seasons now. He ticks all the right boxes. That being said, ANY change from what we have now has to be an improvement. It cannot get worse.

  2. Huge risk but I can’t see him doing any worse than Emery.

    24 goals scored last season at this point, this season 16. And we added Martinelli and Pepe to our forward line. Emery’s Arsenal is fading.

    1. We should get it right the second time; we should hire a top coach that can bring the wins while playing entertaining football. We went cheap and took a flyer with Emery, and it’s been terrible. Enrique if he is ready to lead a team again, Ten Haag, there are a number I would rather have before Arteta.

      Let’s stop messing around and just do it right.

  3. I’m afraid we would get relegated if Emery stays longer

    A draw in Leicester should be enough for the board to fire him

    After that, the cheapest option would be appointing a caretaker

    1. @ gotanidea.
      A caretaker could be good for Mikel Arteta if he is interested. He has an understanding of premier league and he is learning well under PepG. Arsenal need a coach/player that understands our value and football philosophy.If Mikel does well then,he could be made permanent. Else Luise Enrique should be appointed.

    2. Emery is a no-brainer to lead Arsenal any where. The boad should make their decision promptly. Emery will not win at Leceister if lucky he will get a draw.

  4. NO. Absolutely Not

    Unless it’s for a few weeks or months as a transition manager. I’d prefer Llungberg personally though

    Get an experienced, trophy winning manager

    How will we compete with Klopp and Guardiola by having Arteta

    It will be same as Solsjaer and United

    Get a Top manger

    1. Or could be like Lamps at Chelsea.But I do not think certain players in our squad would respect him. I do not know if he can be strict to demand victories from his players, if he is mentally tough to deal with our prima donas masquerading as football pros.The likes of Xhaka, Ozil, Socrates, Kolasinac if they could not perform under Unai & Arsene, I doubt they would do better under Arteta. He needs to bench them and look at those who want to perform.Does Arteta have the character? I doubt. Does he have the knowledge / tactics? Yes. Will he be able to implement his game plan with our players? I doubt. We need a senior coach, a no nonsense type, perform or perish mentality. Arsene sowed the seed of mediocrity, Unai natured the weed and we are seeing the harvest. The fact that we signed a coach know for his EL heroics, meant that those in power deemed fit for us to remain in EL, which is now looking like a difficult task. Luis Enrique would be able to turn around things for us by benching or booting out the non performers.

    2. Getting Arteta does not equate to getting Pep Guardiola. I see Arteta in the same light as Thierry Henry. I too would personally rather appoint Ljunberg instead of Arteta.

  5. Yes I wish Mikel to be our new coach because am sure the time he has spent together with Pep it’s enough and he has learnt much from him.Once again when we remember during his time as a team captain, he was doing well. So I say Mikel should be our next coach.

  6. This is what a club with ambition does.

    Bayern Munich have sacked manager Niko Kovac after the German giants were thrashed 5-1 by Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday.
    The 5-1 defeat was Bayern Munich’s second loss in 10 Bundesliga games this season. The defeat is also the club’s heaviest in the Bundesliga in 10 years.

    Bayern have struggled this season under Kovac’s leadership and the team are trailing surprise league leaders Monchengladbach by four points.

    “The performance of our team in recent weeks and the results have shown us that there was need for action. [Bayern club president] Uli Hoeness, [sporting director] Hasan Salihamidzic and I had an open and serious conversation with Niko on this basis on Sunday with the consensual result that Niko is no longer coach of FC Bayern,” Bayern CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said in a club statement.

  7. I see arteta is iur future head coach, he will bring back that attacking football to arsenal, learn a lot under pep have big influence in his preferred tactic

  8. Mikel Arteta has all the ingredients of being a good manager, i absolutely think the Arsenal board should give him the job, rather than being with this so called Emery who has put the club on the cross roads, no identify, no philosophy the team is just declining, the earlier they sack Emery the better.

  9. Arteta is likely to see out his current contract with Man City.He would not be any more of a risk than Lampard at Chelsea and he is doing very nicely there with youngsters who would not have had an opportunity under Sarri.I’m all for giving young Manager’s an opportunity and the prospect of Arteta teaming up with Ljumberg appeals to me.When the departure of Wenger was announced I went for Rodgers as his replacement .I was slagged off on this site by a number of fans on the basis that a monkey could be successful as the Celtic Manager in the Scottish Premier League.Well the monkey is pulling the strings very well indeed at Leicester

    1. Credit where credit is due, Grandad. I also never really rated Rodgers very high but he’s proving a lot of us wrong with what he has done with Leicester.

  10. I really think, we need more than a former player with only an assistants job on his CV.
    No Arteta and no Ljungberg, please.
    Not only do we need a proven top manager to have the best chance of correcting the course. We also need a big name in order to attract top players. They may be willing to accept no CL football, if they get to play under an absolute top manager.
    But I doubt they will accept the combination of a totally unproven manager and no CL.

      1. 👍 👍 Arteta, never showed leadership ability at Arsenal. However, leadership and strong character has been sadly lacking for some time at the Arsenal.
        A strong disciplinarian with a ruthless will to win and team ethic, who doesn’t tolerate pampered prima donnas is what Arsenal needs

  11. I’m think of the best result we come out at King Power stadium and my mind is telling me a draw but my head says 1-0. Irrespective of the line up we put out we are not going to see good performance because our coach will choose to be adaptive and not proactive. So it is better to see his usual first 11 than for us to see him put another player in the line of fire.

  12. I know Arteta would want to set up his Arsenal team to play real attacking football like Man City. It is the only way to get positive results 90% of the time and 90% to me is a distinction. That means all the slow paced players whoever they are will be shipped out and more pacy, technical players with grit will be brought in

    1. Sounds so easy!! But do you think that AFC would cough up over £1 billion to buy these pacy, technical players as Man City’s Arab owners did? And would Arteta attract the top players?

  13. I think the best time to support Arteta as manager was right after Wenger left. At that time we didn’t have too many expectations and might have been patient enough to allow a young manager to learn on the job.

    As it stands today, the atmosphere has turned toxic and Arteta would likely get a lot less patience today than he would have 18 months ago.

    I think the ideal situation would be an experienced manager as caretaker (like Guus Hiddink was for Chelsea at one point) in the hope these managers would be capable of getting into 4th place or an EL trophy, so that next year we can finally offer CL to our current players and new players and or new manager. These managers could be Rapha or Mourinho. We all know Mourinho is also very capable of winning the EL with this squad which would get us into the CL.

    A solution that sees Mourinho come in as caretaker would possibly appease those (like me) who don’t like the guy but don’t deny his track record. If he comes in and get’s us CL football he will likely also have improved us defensively which only benefits the next manager.

    The second option would be giving Freddie a chance but I wonder how much credibility he would have with senior players given that they have only seen him as second fiddle. So if he starts by benching Xhaka and Auba (which of course is unlikely – the Auba part at least) he might lose the dressing room on day one. Arteta, I would prefer over Freddie in that he has learned from the best and comes highly recommended by Pep and recommended by Wenger yet he doesn’t have a relationship with the senior players which might work to his benefit.

  14. Everyone who knows anything is aware that months ago ,PEP said that ATERTA is the obvious the next man city manager when PEP decides to leave which won’t happen soon since PEP said he was happy at city and was not finished,so forget about it!!

  15. So my view is simple get Bergkamp in now have him assisted by Ljungberg. Emery is lost he has now shown that tactically and philosophically he is out of his league. Arsenal needs a manager who has historical connection to its values style and ambition. Arteta not a horrible choice but I think he has loyalty MCity now

    1. You want a non flying manager then? Bergkamp has no real managerial pedigree at all anyway. You are also wrong about Arteta, as IF we want him he would grab it with both hands. That is obvious! I MAKE HIM THE FAVOURITE TO BE OUR NEXT MANAGER. Whoever it is, it will not belong delayed IMO.

  16. He should be he is an ex Arsenal player so understands the culture and value of the club. He has been learning from the best. He will play exciting n easy on the eye football. He is young so if he is successful he can be tied down for long term.

  17. Of 244 who have voted thus far ,87% will take Arteta, me included. That means it is a distinct possibility and that 87% will not much change now. It could well happen I feel. I rule out Mourinho, purely becaue he is personally unpopular with our fans and he will want far too much spending money.He will not come to us and even he cannot make clown defenders into proper defenders; it takes serious funds and they are not there. Bayern looks more likely right now for him. I’d take Arteta in a heartbeat now. I would take Rodgers in half a heartbeat but that won’t happen ,sadly.

  18. Personally i didn’t like arteta as an arsenal footballer and i didn’t like him as a captain. He didn’t do anything special for arsenal football club and he was not seen by wenger as being good enough to be his assistant. I think he is destined to follow pep at city and i think he thinks that also, so i dont see him risking everything to come to arsenal, well i certainly hope not.

  19. I warmed up to the idea last time eventually when all the papers said this was going to happen. If we are going with a former player, we could do a lot worse than somebody who works under Pep Guardiola every single day. Playing ability and coaching ability have no correlation. It would be a HUGE risk, but I was kind of more excited at the prospect of Arteta of Emery. Even without hindsight, I found the Emery picking mediocre but was still willing to give him a chance for his first season… That time is up though.

  20. I’d take Arteta definitely but those calling for him to be caretaker are in cloud cuckoo land. So he takes it as caretaker, then we let him go as he’s not good enough and what’s he do then? Get welcomed back with open arms by Pep? Don’t be ridiculous.
    Freddie as caretaker yes because that would work either way.

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