Four years of Arteta – is the pressure now on to deliver silverware?

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Four years ago today, Mikel Arteta Amatriain became the 20th permanent of The Arsenal Football Club. How time flies when you’re having fun.

Mikel took over The Arsenal with the club a mess on and off the pitch.

The club had been in decline for a while as the Arsene Wenger era petered out. The leadership struggle between Stan Kroenke and Alisher Usmanov allowed the club to drift in the ocean with no direction under the stewardship if Ivan Gazidis.

Wenger, and then Gazidis, departed leaving a power vacuum. This left Unai Emery in the middle of a power battle between Raul Sanllehi and Sven Mislintat as to hiow we would move forward. Eventually both distruptive influences found themselves out the door, but it was probably too late for Emery.

Unai’s first season had been decent. 5th in the league and runners-up in the Europa League. But it was quickly becoming clear that he had lost the dressing room and was being given little, if any, assistance by his superiors to bring players in-line.

At the time, there were a lot of egos at the club; the biggest of which were Mesut Ozil, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and their German and French pocket holders causing issues. Emery struggled to bring peace to the dressing room and paid the price.

At the same time, Arsenal’s commercial deals were stagnating. We were not a “brand” that companies wanted to associate themselves with. Other’s, including Tottenham, had caught us up and overtaken us.

The club was rotten to the core, with reports at the time that we were close to losing academy status. then things changed.

Edu was already gaining more power whilst Mislintat and Sanllehi were at the club. He played a key part in the decision for Arteta to become the next manager. And also coming upo through the ranks was Per Mertesacker. The no-nonsense former captain saw his role grow as others departed. Arteta was then the final piece in the jigsaw.

The structure of Arsenal Football Club was so broken that is basically had to be demolished and rebuilt from the bottom up.

The academy was revolutionised, training ground upgraded and scouting network re-freshed. Coaches were let go and Arteta, backed by Edu, could wave goodbye to those egos that let down Emery.

Having to pay off the likes of Ozil, Mustafi and Aubameyang did hamper our finances for a bit, but those running the club had a plan.

Out with the old (even if it cost us some money), and in with the new.

Early on, there were a couple of short term signings. Stop gaps. Willian, Pablo Mari, Cedric Soares, Dani Ceballos. But then as finances began to ease and squad numbers reduce, Edu et al could focus on the rebuild.

In came in a lot of young talent, all under the age of 25. Ramsdale, Gabriel, White and Odegaard they key early signings. Each player was eager to learn, eager to listen. And, after a slowish start, momentum began to build.

Winning the FA Cup in his first 6 months meant when there was a little wobble in Arteta’s first fall season, the trigger was not pulled. Edu and the Kroenke’s new they had the right man. They realised how much work had already gone on behind the scenes and it was only a matter of time until that translates to the pitch.

In his 3rd full season, Arteta had us challenging for the title, with only a rampant Manchester City derailing us. This season he has shown that it was no fluke, and we are once more in the title race.

Arsenal Football Club is a much better place than it was in 2019, fans are closer to the players than ever and Arteta is a big reason for that.

But despite all the positives, questions are still being asked. 3 full seasons complete, just that single FA Cup won with a disruptive squad. If we fail to win a trophy again this season, it will be 4-years under Arteta without silverware. Is Miekl Arteta’s job in danger?

For me, it is a clear no.

I do not buy into thie “have higher standards” and “look at Real Madrid and Barcelona, they sack managers all the time and stay successful”. For a start, Spain and Germany are different to England, and the two clubs mentioned are the two biggest and most successful in their leagues. We are in a different place.

Since the inception of the Premier League, it has been proven that success is built on by keeping your manager – Sir Alex Ferguson, Arsene Wenger, Pep Guardiola.

The only outliers in the Premier League that have had a turnover of managers when they reached the top was Chelsea. And you have to ask how many more trophies would they have won had Jose Mourinho not have been sacked in 2007?

Sacking Arteta will not suddenly turn arsenal into Champions. you only have to look at Manchester United.

Since Sir Alex left in 2013, the have got through David Moyes, Luis van Gaal, Jose Mourinho, Ole Gunnar Solskjær, Ralf Rangnick and now Erik ten Hag. In 10-years they have yet to find a winning formula to lift the Premier League.

They have tried everything; bought in the man with Premier League experience, the proven winners, the club legend, the highly rated young European. Each one has failed to take them forward.

And Chelsea are showing as being no better.

Since Antonio Conte won them the league in 2017, Maurizio Sarri, Frank Lampard, Thomas Tuchel, Graham Potter and Frank Lampard (again) have been and gone. now it is Mauricio Pochettino that has them mid-table.

Liverpool are the blueprint to follow, unless you are Manchester City with their untold riches.

They stick with Jurgen Klopp, know he is the right man and have built the club around him. He has repaid them with the Premier League, the Champions League, and playing some of the most thrilling, attacking football in the clubs history. The only reason they have not won more is due to Manchesrer City.

And City are the issue. You can continually change your manager, invest £200m a year in new players, but whilst City consistently get north of 90 points you will never be guaranteed winning the league.

Three years from the last 5, Liverpool got north of 90 points. They have just a single league title to show for it. One season they finished second despite gaining 97 points and losing just once. City have raised that bar.

And you do not overtake City by constantly changing your manager or trying to outspend them. You overtake them getting in the right manager, backing him, and hoping that he can take advantage of that 1 season in 4 where City take their foot off the pedal.

Regardless of what we win or do not win this season, Arteta will be here for a long time. He is a top manager, a great thinker, and the players buy into him. Sacking him now will only see us follow the same circles as Manchester United and Chelsea.

Arteta, it has been a good 4 years, you have given us our Arsenal back. Now it is time to make the biggest, ahrdest step of them all and make us champions again!

Mikel Arteta’s Red and White Army!

Keenos

Kai Havertz scores again…

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Waka waka, eh eh.

I have never hid the fact that I wanted Kai Havertz since his Bayer Leverkusen. He looked to be set to become one of the best goal scoring midfielders of his generation. An ability to find space in a crowded box and clinical in-front of goal. And then he joined Chelsea.

He was not as poor as some made out during his days in West London, but he certainly did not hit those heights of Leverkusen.

A victim of Chelsea’s turnover in managers and playing style, he suffered playing in different positions on a weekly basis and his career risked drifting. Then Mikel Arteta saved him.

Havertz start to Arsenal was slow. He was clearly low on confidence and it felt like he was learning how to play football again. Certainly learning hot to enjoy football. The instinctive footballer who scored 38 goals in 2 seasons in Germany seemed long gone. But Arteta kept the faith.

Whilst others began criticising the signing, claiming it was £60million down the drain, Arteta continued to manage the situation well. He would come in and out of the team as Arteta, helped by Havertz’s team mates, would try to rebuild the shattered confidence.

A so-called “pity-penalty” showed that the team were behind him, and knew that he would eventually come good. But still the German struggled. Then 13 games in to his Arsenal Premier League career, everything changed.

Havertz was signed to score those goals in tough games. To find space in defences that had packed the box. And against Brentford he did just that when he came off the bench to score the winner.

Four days later he would open the scoring agains Lens in an important Champions League match, before getting Arsenal’s 3rd and a crucial equaliser against Luton in the crazy 4-3 game. 3 goals in 4 games, all of them key. This is why he was bought.

Against Brighton, he had an opportunity that has arisen numerous times this season – finding space on the left hand side as Eddie Nketiah drew centre backs to the middle, he found himself one-on-one with the keeper. Havertz of August, September or October would have hit the ball at the keeper or blazed over.

But this is a Kai Havertz who is now finding his stride again. Getting his swagger back. He finished clinically in a similar style to his Champions League winner.

Havertz now has 5 goals in 26 games for The Arsenal. Certainly not a great record, but 4 of the 5 have come in his last 6 games.

It is not just his output that has looked better, but his overall game play. He is learning how we play, and him and Gabriel Martinelli are getting used to playing together on that left hand side. I have lost count how often he has played that ball around the corner to a team mate in the last few games.

Up next is Liverpool and Arteta will surely be looking to use Havertz, Martinelli and Zinchenko to overload Trent Alexander-Arnold.

Liverpool will always look to push their right centre back wider to cover Trent’s defensive frailties. This could lead to their behing a big gap between Konate and van Dijk. Space that Havertz will find. I would not be surprised if we are signing that Shakira song in Anfield again on Saturday.

In other news, I am getting fed up of players (and managers) getting booked due to refs making an error.

In Arsenal and Mikel Arteta’s statement, they highlighted that refereeing in this country is not good enough. And that was highlighted at Anfield on Sunday.

Diogo Dalot was booked for being frustrated that the referee made an error. Michael Oliver then doubled down on his error by booking (and sending off) Dalot for being frustatred at the booking.

Oliver got the decision wrong, booked a player for being upset about the decision, then booked the player again for still being upset. 2 bookings in a very short space of time. The same Oliver who once booked Gabriel Martinelli twice in 5 seconds.

Arteta also recieved another booking at the weekend. This time for daring to wave his arms in the air. There is always a lot of talk about “referees deserve more respect” but they should earn that respect.

Refusing to take accountability and randomly dishing out yellow cards to hide their incompotence will not improve officiating in this country. We deserve better.

Keenos

Match Report: Arsenal 2 – 0 Brighton

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Arsenal (0) 2 Brighton and Hove Albion (0) 0

Premier League
Emirates Stadium, Drayton Park, London N5 1BU
Sunday, 17th December 2023. Kick-off time: 2.00pm

(4-3-3) David Raya; Ben White, William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhães, Oleksandr Zinchenko; Martin Ødegaard (c), Declan Rice, Kai Havertz; Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Jesus, Gabriel Martinelli.
Substitutes: Aaron Ramsdale, Emile Smith-Rowe, Eddie Nketiah, Jakob Kiwior, Cédric Soares, Leandro Trossard, Reiss Nelson, Myles Lewis-Skelly, Reuell Walters.

Scorers: Gabriel Jesus (53 mins), Kai Havertz( 87 mins)
Yellow Cards: Ben White
Arsenal Possession Percentage: 49%

Referee: Tim Robinson
Assistant Referees: Eddie Smart, Nick Greenhalgh
Fourth Official: Darren Bond
VAR Team at Stockley Park: VAR Paul Tierney; AVAR Neil Davies

Attendance: 60,257

Firstly, Happy Birthday to our captain, Martin Ødegaard, who is twenty-five years old today! Secondly, there is the small matter of gaining three points from this afternoon’s clash against Brighton and Hove Albion at the Emirates.

Every point is valuable, every match needs to be won, especially with Liverpool being top of the tree, and ourselves lying in second position, just one point behind them at the time of writing.

Additionally, Aston Villa are a mere point behind us as well, and none of us need reminding of what could happen if the Villains are victorious against Brentford (whose match kicks off the same time as ourselves) and we are unsuccessful today. All to play for, chaps.

We started the match rather speedily, and within no time at all, Bukayo Saka was turning James Milner inside and out, out on the right wing, and a couple of minutes later, Bukayo Saka cuts inside the veteran player but his shot was weak and a simple save for goalie Bart Verbruggen.

We kept coming forward, with Martin Ødegaard cutting in from the right wing and curling a shot just wide of the far post, and then Gabriel Jesus skipped in between two defenders and had a shot deflected wide of the goal.

Bukayo Saka was constantly getting fouled out there now, firstly by James Milner, whose frustration has spilled over, and then other BHA defenders bringing down our man. Is there no protection by referees against this kind of systematic fouling on flair players anymore?

We were desperate to get the opening goal at the Emirates, and just after the half hour mark, Bukayo Saka ran onto Martin Ødegaard’s through ball and cut it back to Gabriel Martinelli, whose snap shot flew over the BHA crossbar.

Ben White picked up a pointless yellow card for pulling the shirt of Kaoru Mitoma, and then Gabriel Martinelli absolutely flew like a harrier down the left wing and forced a save from Bart Verbruggen at the near post, but sadly the follow-up shot by Kai Havertz was blocked.

Eventually, just before the half-time break, our man between the sticks, David Raya, who truthfully, has had nothing to do, almost dropped the deep cross from Simon Adingra’s cross but eventually gathered it up confidently. Shortly afterwards, referee Tim Robinson blew the whistle for the half-time break and it is to be noted that not only have we completely dominated the first half, but the visitors have yet to have a shot. Surely it must be a matter of time before we score?

The second half started in very much the same way as the first ended, with our forwards prowling for that elusive opening goal. The visitors almost got caught out playing from the back twice in just a minute but Bart Vebruggen somehow managed to get to Martin Ødegaard’s ball before Bukayo Saka did, which was lucky for them!

Just eight minutes after the restart, we finally took the lead when BHA defender Jan Paul van Hecke accidentally flicked on a Gunners corner with his head, and who should be there, but Gabriel Jesus, who somehow stooped low at the back post to head the ball into an empty net.

After the restart, during an attack, Gabriel Jesus headed the ball down for our captain, and he shot wide of the mark, unfortunately. This match is so one-sided, it is a miracle that we have not scored another goal yet! Time and time again, our build up play suggest that we could score, but it was really not happening.

The visitors brought on ex-Gunner Danny Welbeck to good applause from our fans, and then Mikel Arteta rang the changes when Leandro Trossard (a BHA old boy) and Eddie Nketiah replaced our goalscorer Gabriel Jesus and Gabriel Martinelli in order to pile more pressure on the visitors from the south coast.

Suddenly, the visitors caught our defence cold in a complacent moment when, literally, out of nowhere Pascal Gross slid the ball wide from seven yards out, which was a huge warning for us. It was then Declan Rice’s turn to put the match beyond the visitor’s reach when he ran down the left wing, burst into the penalty area and forced an amazing save from Bart Verbruggen.

Finally, three minutes from the end of normal time, Eddie Nketiah slotted the ball beautifully to Kai Havertz, who ran into the penalty area and stroked the ball past the outstretched arm of Bart Verbruggen for our second goal of the day. At last!

Just as the six minute injury time sign was introduced to the crowd, Kai Havertz and Bukayo Saka were replaced by Reiss Nelson and Emile Smith-Rowe, and just a minute or so later, our substitute Emile Smith-Rowe hit a fabulous volley goalbound, but Bart Verbruggen somehow saved it.

After some pedestrian play by our boys to preserve the score, the final whistle was blown and we were victorious, and more importantly we are top of the Premiership again!

A well-deserved victory by our boys today, and everyone played well. Declan Rice was absolutely immense, covering a lot of ground out there, and the defence were rock solid, keeping out BHA throughout the game. With twenty-six shots on goal, nine on target, two of them being goals, it was truly a good day at the office for us. All in all, it was an incredible performance overall, with our domination of the game being there for all to see. Well done, chaps!

Remember everyone, keep the faith, get behind the team and the manager, as this season is going to be crucial for our future success in all competitions. Stick with the winners. Our next match: Liverpool at Anfield on Saturday, 23rd December at 5.30pm (Premier League). Be there, if you can. Victoria Concordia Crescit.

Steve

Too Dearly Loved To Be Forgotten: Arsenal v Racing Club de Paris 1930-1962 by Steve Ingless (Rangemore Publications, ISBN 978-1-5272-0135-4) is now available on Amazon