Throughout his reign at Arsenal, Mikel Arteta has been mocked from all corners for “phases”.

“What phase are Arsenal in now?” was constantly seen on social media and discussed live on air in the TalkSport and Sky studios. I always found the criticism of someone having a plan laughable.

Anyone that has ever ran a business will know that to be a success, and continually grow that business, you need a plan. A strategy. And that plan will involve breaking down each phase of your growth. Where you want to be in a year, in 2 years, in 5 years. Businesses without a plan usually fail as they are reactive, unprepared, and without direction.

Like Mikel Arteta, I have always been a meticulous planner. I have my life planned out (from a financial aspect), with the common goal of retiring at 57. But you do not get to reitre at 57 if you do not begin planning early.

The first phase of my life was buying my first flat. I did that in 2008 at 24. In 2017 I upgraded from flat to house, using the equity in my property to go from a 1 bed in Walthamstow to a 3 bed in Loughton. The next phase was to pay off my mortgage early. The aim was to always have the mortgage paid off before I turned 50. I have less than 11 months left on it and will have it paid off at 43.

All this planning will ensure that come 57, I have hit my saving and pension goals and can retire with (hopefully) a million in the bank. That will enable me to live off the interest (S&P500 tracker), my early pension, and any passive income my numerous side hustles may generate.

I have never been a greedy man. I have always been someone who wants to earn to retire early and enjoy life, free of financial restrictions, before I get too old and the knees start going.

Circling back, I have always found the criticism of Arteta’s planning confusion. My only conclusion is those criticising have no idea how to plan, about targeting, and are just drifting through life with no real goal. They will reach 60, look at their pension pot and realise it is non existent. A life of gear up the nose, booze down the throat, and making bookmakers rich. They then end up working into their 70s, complaining about the state, about immigrants, and so on. Everyone else’s fault except their own that they can not retire. When in reality they did not plan for retirement.

Arteta’s plan for Arsenal was always clear to me.

The first phase was to get us back into the top 4. Champions League football and all it brings. Then it was to make us consistent title challengers. These two phases kind of merged into one following our 2022/23 overachievement.

After stabilising the club as title challengers, Phase 3 was to turn us into champions. The big money signings of the likes of Declan Rice was always aimed at taking us to that next level. The final phase was our “WIN NOW” phase.

We would be Champions. A squad of top, top players. All we would have to do in this phase is minor tweaks to the team. Sign “oven ready” players who could come in and perform from day one at a Premier League champions level. And that is exactly where the likes of Bruno Guimaraes and Ezri Konsa fit in.

Sir Alex Ferguson excelled in the “WIN NOW” phase. Beyond 1995 and the infamous “You can’t win anything with kids” Alan Hanson quote, Ferguson never really completely revolutionized the Manchester United squad. It was always just tweaks here and there. A couple of new top signings a season that would keep Manchester United at the top of the table. And it worked with great success.

Fergie did not care that signing the Michael Carrick, Dimitar Berbatov, Robin van Persie and others would have zero sell on fees. These were all signed to WIN NOW. Not with the aim of winning at some point in the future.

A little over 12-months ago, Liverpool won the league. Arnie Slott then completely ripped up Jurgen Klopp’s settled side and spent over £400m on the likes of Alexander Isak, Florian Wirtz, Jeremie Frimpong, Milos Kerkez and Hugo Ekitike. It was revolution rather than evolution. The result was they finished 5th.

Through Arteta’s planning, he knew that once he got us to Champions he would not need to rip up the squad. Rice, Martin Zubimendi, Gabriel, William Saliba, Kai Havertz, Bukayo Saka et al would all be made to late 20s. They would all have at least 5 or 6 more years in their legs at the highest level. So he knew he would not have to do too much “future planning”. He could maintain the level by buying Bruno and Konsa, regardless of them being 28 and 29 respectively. It is all about winning now.

That is not to say that Arteta will not have a little side eye on the future.

He will know he has the likes of Myles Lewis Skelly, who is still only 19, Cristhian Mosquera at 22, Piero Hincape and Riccardo Calafiori at 24. these guys are the future, but also more than good enough for the present. Saka is also just 24. As is new boy Christos Tzolis and Noni Madueke. then you have the likes of Max Dowman, Tommy Setford, Marli Salmon. This is the next generation.

If the WIN NOW is a success, you never really need to worry too much about building for the future. Each year you just make a couple of tweaks. Either some youngsters progress to become first team regulars, or you make a couple of top signings who can make that impact immediately. You will be bringing in enough revenue from being the best in the league that you no longer need to “buy to sell”. You could literally sign players for 5-years, let them leave once past their best, and rinse and repeat.

This Arsenal team has one goal and one goal only. To WIN NOW. And fans will need to adapt to this new phase. Stop worrying about the age of signings, about their sell on value. Only concern yourselves as to whether they can help their new team mates WIN NOW. And if they do that, it does not really matter if they are 22 or 28 when they join.

At some point, Manchester City owners will start pumping in again, attempting to buy the league. Or Manchester United will sort themselves out. Or Liverpool, Tottenham or Chelsea will stumble across another Jurgen Klopp of Mikel Arteta who will build them a title winning squad. We do not want to be a Liverpool who grafted hard to get to the top and then have thrown it all away by building a whole new squad.

It is essential that Arsenal and Arteta take advantage of the landscape ahead of them now. This is our time.

Keenos

There are ways to start a title defence, and then there is this.

Arsenal opened the 2026/27 Premier League season with a comfortable 3-0 victory over newly promoted Coventry City at the Emirates, putting together the kind of performance that will have the rest of the league taking notice.

It was controlled, confident and, perhaps most importantly, fun.

After the excitement of last weekend’s Community Shield victory over Manchester City, there was always the danger of an opening-day comedown. Instead, Arsenal picked up exactly where they left off.

Christos Tzolis was immediately involved, repeatedly causing problems from the left and showing why Arsenal were so keen to bring him to north London. His energy set the tone in the opening stages, and Coventry simply couldn’t cope with the intensity.

The breakthrough came after 15 minutes.

Tzolis won possession high up the pitch before Riccardo Calafiori sent a low ball into the box. Kai Havertz made no mistake, sweeping the ball home to give Arsenal the lead.

Eight minutes later, it was two.

This time Tzolis was again involved, his delivery causing chaos in the Coventry penalty area before Bukayo Saka reacted quickest to finish. Two goals inside the opening 23 minutes and the Emirates was already enjoying itself.

There was little Coventry could do to stem the tide. They struggled to get close to Arsenal, let alone create anything of their own, and the champions were able to dictate the game almost entirely on their terms.

The second half brought more of the same.

Just four minutes after the restart, Martin Ødegaard added a third. The Arsenal captain combined with Ben White and Saka down the right before finishing the move and putting the result beyond any doubt.

From there, Arsenal could take their foot off the accelerator.

The defence was barely troubled, Declan Rice and Myles Lewis-Skelly controlled midfield, while Ødegaard once again provided the rhythm that makes Arsenal tick. David Raya had a remarkably quiet evening.

There were opportunities to add to the score, but three was more than enough.

For Coventry, returning to the Premier League after 25 years was always going to be an enormous occasion. Unfortunately for Frank Lampard’s side, they were handed a particularly unforgiving welcome. They didn’t register a touch in Arsenal’s penalty area during the first half.

For Arsenal, though, this was exactly what was wanted.

Three goals. A clean sheet. No unnecessary drama. A promising Premier League debut for Tzolis. And a front line of Havertz, Saka and Ødegaard that looked considerably more fluid than it had for much of last season.

It is, of course, only one game.

There will be far tougher tests than Coventry, beginning with the trip to Aston Villa, and nobody should be getting carried away after 90 minutes of football.

But if the aim was to send an early message that Arsenal are serious about defending their title, mission accomplished.

The champions are up and running.

DJ