One Year of Mikel Arteta

*THREAD*

These are one man’s thoughts, feel free to charm in with your own personal opinions on the points made below

LETS BEGIN

When Arteta was first appointed as manager of Arsenal, he talked about “non-negotiations” and picking players on merit.

We have seen very little evidence of that this season with players playing well one game and dropped the next.

Players who are out of form continuously getting picked over those who deserve a shot in the starting 11.

THE FA CUP AND COMMUNITY SHIELD HIGHS
Arsenal beat Man City in the semifinals and Chelsea in the final. The community shield followed a few weeks later.

THE OZIL SAGA
The way that the Ozil situation has been handled by the club and player is very unprofessional. While both parties are no angels in this saga, the lack of transparency from either party has lead to frustration and divide among the fans.

Some think it’s because he refused to take a pay cut, his comments about the Muslims in China or simply doesn’t suit the way Arteta wants to play.Whatever the reason, Ozil is a very divisive figure at the club. He has a massive following and has been active a lot on Twitter.

Some fans are happy to see the back of him, who at 32 isn’t getting any younger and past his best while some feel he still has some gas left in the tank for one last hurrah and is the solution to the creative issues at the club.

One thing is certain, this saga hasn’t been handled well all round with Arteta saying one thing and Ozil’s agent saying something else. The truth is somewhere in the middle and we shall know about it one day.

THE SALIBA SITUATION
Just like the Ozil saga, information is unclear on what the deal is with Saliba. One minute we are told he needs a “transitional year”, isn’t in the right frame of mind because he lost his mum, he is ready for the first team or might go out on loan.

Which one is it? For a £30 million investment, we are not doing a good job of looking after it and fans deserve clarity on both this situation and the Ozil situation.

ENTER THE BUZZ WORDS
Arteta has a way with words and below are a few of his favs

1. Process
2. Structure
3. Transitional year
4. Time
5. Culture
6. Non negotiables
7. Transmitting energy
8. Suffer together
9. Key moments
10. Keep on improving
11. eSpaces
12.Progress

UNWANTED RECORDS
While unstoppable in Europa league, we didn’t come up against strong opposition.

Our league form this season is atrocious. We conceded more goals than we have scored. In a nutshell, this is Arsenal’s worse start to a season in 37 years. Check images below

Recently Arteta has said he needs 5/6 players to play the system he wants and for now he has to make do with what he has. If this is the case, the sensible decision would have been to get rid of 7/8 first team players that ain’t good enough and bring in players of quality.

SENTIMENTAL FC
Arsenal fans have become sentimental to not just players, but managers. We saw this a lot under Wenger and it’s happening again under Arteta. The emotional attachment to players and managers has to stop if we are to get out of the “banter” era.

With the FA Cup, Mikel has bought himself time and patience with certain fans believing this dip is part our process to greatness. On current form, if it was any other manager, Arsenal fans would be calling for blood. Let’s look at our rivals and how they deal with mediocrity.

1. Claudio Ranierri won the league with Leicester, sacked the following season, they were 15th

2. Chelsea sacked Jose in his second term in charge after he won the league, they were 17th

3. LVG was sacked by Man United after finishing 5th and an FA cup

4. Chelsea sacked Di matteo after winning the champions league

5. Mancini and Pellegrini were sacked after winning plenty of trophies

These are just a few of many examples but good old sentimental FC Arsenal fans lose their minds at the thought of Arteta getting the chop.

The TRANSFER WINDOW
Having won the FA Cup and Shield, fans were understandably excited about incomings and seeing the back of players that have continuously let us down week in week out. In came Gabriel, Partey, Willian, Ceballos with Mari and Cedric moves confirmed as permanent.

The big one was ofcourse, Aubameyang signing a new deal. As Arsenal fans we grew accustomed to seeing our captains leave in the past it was great to see a captain commit his future to this club.

Willian said Arteta pitched a project to him which involved winning the champions league in the next 3 years. If we are being honest, to achieve this, we should have moved in the market like Chelsea. Bring in 7-8 top players like Aouar and sell those not good enough for the club.

FANS ACCEPTING MEDIOCRITY
The club has lowered the expectations of the fans so much that they are emotionally attached to bang average footballers. Instead of wanting these players to leave the club so we can grow and elevate ourselves, fans want them to show “loyalty” and stay.

Fans go into meltdown when a bang average footballers they are emotionally attached to is linked with a move away. Sorry state of affairs when fans refuse to embrace quality players and are happy with average footballers to stay longer and let us down every week.

BIRTH OF THE RAT ARMY (Arteta Out) VS ARTETA IN
Any Arsenal fan who refuses to accept mediocrity and the poor start to the season is called a RAT. These fans are often called negative, toxic, Spurs fans, Arteta haters and more for criticising the manager and wanting him sacked.

Certain sections of the Arsenal fanbase don’t want to criticise Arteta because he is seen as a hero having won the FA cup and he inherited a mess. When analysed closely, Arteta inherited a squad that finished 5th and reached a Europa league final under Emery.

These players downed tools under Emery. Football is a result based sport. The rat army will only be silenced if Arteta gets sacked or if results and performances pick up. That’s all these fans want more than anything.

It’s nothing personal against the Arteta, they just want to see Arsenal win games of football and not be embarrassed every single week.

1 year in charge is a long time, sure I’ve missed out some things but these are just things that stood out thus far in the Arteta era.