Mikel Arteta needs time to overhaul this Arsenal team.
Arsenal has finally made Mikel Arteta their new manager after a predictable process of finding a successor for Unai Emery.
The Spaniard has been given a three and half years deal, it is the hope of the club that he will return them to the top four and title challengers.
While that is achievable with Arteta, especially as he has been part of a winning team at Manchester City, I, however, believe that it will take longer for Arteta to bring success back to the Emirates.
I personally believe that it would take him two seasons to get us back inside that top four and here is why.
Firstly, I think this Arsenal team is too unsettled to give 100 per cent commitment to Arteta.
The likes of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Granit Xhaka and Mesut Ozil should be leading the Arteta revolution, but these players are unsettled with Aubameyang wanting out and Ozil more focused on political issues.
Secondly, I think the lack of confidence in this Arsenal side cannot be improved overnight.
When teams have been badly managed for a long time, they struggle to get used to better tactics and that is a process that Arteta’s team will have to go through first.
Finally, I think Arteta and his newly-assembled backroom staff will find that the rut at Arsenal from the outside looking in is not as bad as it is when you eventually become involved in cleaning up the mess.
But again, that will take time to evaluate and strategise a better way forward.
The bottom line is this, the problems are so ingrained that Arteta is simply not going to be able to turn it around in less than two transfer windows.