December 22, 2019. The date has a significant resonance in the lives of Arsenal fans. For a club as prestigious as the Gunners, success had eluded them for way too long to sit by and not do much. Unai Emery had lost both the fans and seemingly the dressing room and Arsenal had a huge decision to make when they decided to sack the Spanish tactician.
It was a decision that the decision makers had to get right. They not only had to choose a manager who can lead the revival project but also ensure that he is someone who could withstand the pressure that the job brought along with it. Thus, appointing Mikel Arteta was a huge gamble, considering his inexperience but in hindsight, they did get it right.
Mikel Arteta’s first couple of seasons at the club were trying, to say the least. There were calls for his sack for a significant period of time, even from Arsenal fans but the board chose to ‘trust in the process’, identifying that the Spaniard was trying to build something at the Emirates. Slowly yet surely, the results started to show.
2022/23 was a pivotal season for the Gunners. Arsenal played some of the best football they played under the Spanish coach, leading the Premier League standings comfortably for a significant period of time before eventually running out of steam towards the fag end of the campaign. Ultimately, Man City ran away with the title.
Thus, ahead of the 2023/24 campaign, Arsenal made solid reinforcements. They signed the likes of Kai Havertz, Declan Rice and Jurrien Timber among others who have since gone on to become mainstays in the line-up. The result – they made a much stronger bid for the title, only to be pipped by the might of Man City this time. It was a season of ‘so close yet so far’ for the Gunners.
Surely, 2024/25 was supposed to be their time?
Well, that’s what everyone thought. Mikel Arteta went even stronger in the transfer window, signing the likes of Riccardo Calafiori, who was the flavor of the season from Italy last campaign and bringing in Mikel Merino who was expected to complete their midfield. One position that they failed to reinforce though, back in the summer, was the number nine role.
Arsenal decided to go into the season with Kai Havertz as their starting number nine and Gabriel Jesus to provide backup and despite the German having a decent season so far (despite his performance against Man Utd in the FA Cup), the Gunners have missed a target man presence up top. This is definitely one area that the team has to reinforce sooner rather than later.
One more interesting thing that happened in the interim from Arteta’s initial season at Arsenal to the current campaign is that teams have started understanding their patterns better and have started sitting in, an issue that most top-teams that are reliant on possession face at some point during their development cycle. Meanwhile, one area that the Gunners have constantly improved in is set-pieces thanks to Nicolas Jover.
To put this into context, in Arteta’s first full season as Arsenal manager, the Gunners had the third lowest number of goals in the league from dead ball situations. Now, no team scores more goals from set-pieces than the North London side but this has also resulted in a over-reliance on such situations, stemmed by their inability to create from open play at the same rate.
Injuries galore
No. We are not making excuses. That said, Arsenal’s injury situation so far this season has been quite laughable. The likes of Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Jesus, Martin Odegaard, Declan Rice, Gabriel, Ben White, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Mikel Merino, Riccardo Calafiori and so many other names have suffered different issues at different times this season and there is no way a team can ensure continuity in such a scenario.
No team would be able to compete consistently with this kind of an injury list. One look at just how much Manchester City are struggling should give everyone an indication. In contrast, Liverpool who have been super successful this season up to this point, have been very lucky with injuries and there is a correlation here for everyone to observe.
So, what next for Mikel Arteta and Arsenal?
Arsenal, should they fail to win a trophy this season, would be spending their fifth consecutive trophyless season under Mikel Arteta. For all the good work that the Spanish tactician has done at the Emirates, he will know that this is a results business and that is where the Gunners have been consistently lacking.
It is quite astonishing to think that Arteta won a trophy (the FA Cup) back in 2020, months after taking the job and that too, in the midst of the COVID season. Thus, the Spanish tactician is yet to lift a trophy in front of his fans and he will want to change that soon.
Arsenal are out of the FA Cup having lost to Man Utd on penalties and have their backs against the wall in the Carabao Cup. That leaves the Premier League (a distant stretch) and the Champions League (something the club has never won in its history). The next few months could turn out to be huge for Arteta.
Even if Arsenal were to go trophyless this season, the club should continue going down this road with Mikel Arteta. The Spanish tactician is the right man for the job and the silverwares will soon follow.
