Mikel Arteta will be judged once the season concludes but what will his tenure be measured by?
Arsenal named Mikel Arteta as their new manager late last year after the Gunners struggled for form under Unai Emery.
The Spaniard has changed the mood around the Emirates and he has also got the team playing with some sense of direction.
However, at the end of this campaign, his tenure will be rated or slated for the things he has achieved and where he has failed.
The question now is, how will his tenure be measured?
When Arteta became Arsenal manager, the Gunners had so many issues. One was the poor state of the relationship between the fans and the players, another was the poor morale of the playing staff.
Additionally, the players seemed to be playing without direction and that bred a lack of motivation among them.
The dressing room also seemed to be divided before Arteta came in, ultimately, the team was lagging in their bid to end inside the top four.
Almost everyone is concerned about where the team finishes at the end of the season, however, would that be the yardstick for measuring success under Arteta?
I don’t think it should be. I believe that fans will have to look beyond the position Arteta manages to help us finish and consider other things like, how much progress was made under the Spaniard and if we are heading towards a better future under him.
For me, even if Arsenal finishes out of a European place and picks up no silverware I would still rate his time a success if the team continues to show progress.
It was never going to be an overnight job for Arteta to turn the teams’ fortunes around, there are deep issues that need to be addressed and he is slowly but surely sorting them out.
So, progress and not necessarily success is the yardstick that I will judge the manager by come the end of the season.
An article by Jacob B