#ARTETAOUT
It was a woeful night for Arsenal which sparked fresh questions about whether Mikel Arteta is the right man to take the club forward. (Spoiler alert: he is not)
By Tony Adams
There is seemingly a deeply-held belief in some corners of football, including the Arsenal boardroom, that Mikel Arteta is a truly great football manager in the making. The theory appears to be that spending three and a half years as a close contact to Pep Guardiola on the Manchester City bench has conferred some deeper level of understanding about football. Maybe he is. Maybe it will.
But simply being Pep adjacent for a prolonged period of time is not and never has been a qualification for managing at the top level. After a wretched Europa League exit at the hands of Villarreal and Unai Emery, which effectively ended a wretched season overall, the question really is: after 18 months in the job, what evidence is there that Arteta really, genuinely, knows what he is doing?
At this stage, there is almost zero evidence that Arteta is an elite manager, or certainly one with the talents required to turn around the deeply failing institution that is Arsenal, with its hated absentee owners and dysfunctional executive set-up.
Villarreal CF English on X (formerly Twitter): “Good evening!#UEL #ItsOurTime pic.twitter.com/uJuBqAMhRM / X”
Good evening!#UEL #ItsOurTime pic.twitter.com/uJuBqAMhRM
It is true that this is not a favourable environment for a rookie manager, and maybe Arteta would thrive in a more sensible club, but at the moment his performance recalls that famous Man Utd tweet about David Moyes: Arteta must improve in a number of areas including team selection, game management, player motivation and transfer dealings.
All of these faults were laid bare across two legs when Arsenal were put to sleep by none other than Emery, the last bad Arsenal manager. From the confusing and botched team selection for the first-leg defeat in Spain, keeping Dani Ceballos on when he was a walking red card, another bemusing selection in the second leg when leaving Thomas Partey to wander alone around midfield, to the total lack of any apparent recognition from his players that Arsenal needed to score a goal. There was just nothing there. No urgency, no character, no movitation.
In fairness, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was unfortunate to hit the post twice (before being immediately substituted!) but two shots on target across 90 minutes was a perplexing return for a home side who… needed to score to save their season. Players went missing in all corners of the pitch and honestly, when the last 10 minutes rolled around there was never even really the sense that Arsenal might have the character to make anything happen.
Barring unexpected developments in the Premier League, Arsenal are out of Europe for the first time in 25 years. This club’s decline did not begin with Arteta’s appointment, nor is he the primary factor behind it (hello, Stan). But you simply cannot make an argument that he is currently doing anything to arrest it.
Even his one glowing achievement amid a catalogue of confusing, disappointing or frustrating performances offers a clue to why it’s time to move on. Arsenal brought great joy to their fans when winning the FA Cup last season. But they only beat Chelsea by one goal. Frank Lampard’s Chelsea. Lampard, who is a greater club legend than Arteta is at Arsenal by several degrees of magnitude.
But Chelsea didn’t waste any time when it was clear that experiment was not working and now they are in the Champions League final.
‘Trust the process’ is Arteta’s catchphrase. But what is process without progress?
The Arteta experiment was worth a go. It was an imaginative solution to a situation where Arsenal needed a manager mid-season. But we have surely reached the end of the road now. With scant evidence that things are improving, in fact quite the opposite, it’s time for Arteta to go.
Connect with us on our socials: