Two years after taking the job, Arteta’s Arsenal are 9 points and 7 places better off

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Under Mikel Arteta, following The Arsenal has been a bit of a rollercaster.

From the highs of winning the FA Cup to the lows of a 7 game winless run a few months later and being bottom of the league after 3 games with no goals and no points this season.

It has not been easy under Arteta.

Some of the worst football I have seen us play mixed in with poor results. Every time we take two steps forward, we take two steps back.

A run of 8 games without defeat (6 wins, 2 draws) this season was followed by 3 defeats in 4 games. And then we went and won the next 3 games.

18 games in (just one off half way through the season) we sit 4th in the table.

I do not know how we have got there considering the start we had and the 6 defeats; but with a goal difference of just 4 we are top 4.

There is often a lot of debate whether we have progressed under Arteta. As I said above it often feels like 2 steps forward, 2 steps back. But how do we compare after 18 games against previous years?

PWDLFAGDPtsPos
2014/1518864322210306th
2015/16181134411823362nd
2016/17181143391920374th
2017/18181035312011335th
2018/19181143402416375th
2019/20185852427-32311th
2020/2118738201912411th
2021/2218102627234324th

A lot of Arteta’s detractors like to make the point that Mikel took over a side that finished 5th the season before and took us to 8th. This is a miss-truth.

When Unai Emery was sacked at the end of November 2019, Arsenal sat 8th in the league table with just 18 points from 13 games.

Arteta took the reigns following Frddie Ljungberg’s 5 game stint in charge which saw us drop to 11th, 23 points from 18 games.

Two seasons from taking over, Arsenal sit 4th after 18 games with 32 points from 18 games. It is undeniable that Arsenal are in a better position now than we were when Arteta took over.

The debate is whether we have moved forward enough, considering the money Arteta has spent.

Despite a clear improvement on the last 2 seasons, we are still 5 points behind where we were in 2018/19 – Emery’s first season.

We are also still one point behind where we were in Arsene Wenger’s final season and 5 points behind where we our total after 18 games in 2016/17 when we finished the season in 5th.

What all this highlights is how far we have fallen since Wenger left (although I do buy into the argument that he started the rot at the club; with many of the problematic players over the last 4 seasons since his departure having been signed by him).

It also highlights just how good we were in the first 6 months under Emery – level on points with the 2015/16 team that challenged Leicester City for the title for 75% of the season.

That Emery team completely fell away in the last 6 games of the season – winning just 2 of its last 7 games as Arsenal dropped from 3rd in the league to 5th and lost the Europa League Final.

Just 4 wins from the opening 13 games of the next season made it 6 wins from 20 games, a run that lost Emery his job.

1 win in 5 under Ljungber saw Arteta take over a team with 7 wins in its last 25 games. The FA Cup victory perhaps papered over what a bad place we were in,

In comparison, we have won 15 of the last 25 games under Arteta.

So what has Arteta done since taken over? He has stablised a rapidly sinking ship under Emry and returned us to where we were in those last few seasons under Wenger.

the argument could be made he is not returning us to glory quick enough; and we have had too many poor runs and performances under him.

But he is a young manager with a young team.

The ultimate question is whether our inconsisten form is due to him being that young manager, or his team being young and at time naive. Or both.

Would Arteta get more out of an experienced team? Would an experienced manager get more out of our young team?

For now, we can only say one thing for certain.

Arteta has taken us forward from December 2019 when he got the job.

The rest you can debate amongst yourselves.

Keenos

MATCH REPORT: Leeds United 1-4 Arsenal

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Leeds United (0) 1 Arsenal (3) 4

Premier League

Elland Road, Beeston, Leeds LS11 0ES

Saturday, 18th December, 2021. Kick-off time: 5.30pm

(4-4-1-1) Aaron Ramsdale; Takehiro Tomiyasu, Ben White, Gabriel Magalhães, Kieran Tierney; Bukayo Saka, Thomas Partey, Granit Xhaka, Gabriel Martinelli; Martin Ødegaard; Alexandre Lacazette.

Substitutes: Bernd Leno, Emile Smith-Rowe, Rob Holding, Cédric Soares, Nicolas Pépé, Nuno Tavares, Calum Chambers, Mohamed Elneny, Eddie Nketiah.

Scorers: Gabriel Martinelli (16 mins, 28 mins), Bukayo Saka (42 mins), Emile Smith-Rowe (84 mins)

Yellow Cards: Granit Xhaka

Arsenal Possession Percentage: 49%

Referee: Andre Marriner

Assistant Referees: Eddie Smart, Scott Ledger

Fourth Official: John Brooks

VAR Team at Stockley Park: VAR Michael Oliver; AVAR Sian Massey-Ellis

Attendance: 36,166

Due to the ongoing COVID-19/Omicron situation, our match at Elland Road tonight is the only Premiership game being played today. Having said that, if we take the bull by the horns and win this match, we can close the gap on Chelsea to just five points. All to play for! We are unchanged from the midweek victory over West Ham United, although goalkeeper Bernd Leno is fit to return to the bench, replacing young Arthur Okonkwo. Emile Smith-Rowe also remains on the substitutes’ bench tonight; however, there is no room in the today’s squad for Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang, following a serious breach of club discipline, apparently.

As befits the long history of these Leeds United versus Arsenal matches, the game started off in a physical manner, with a lot of push’n’shove from both sides. Having said that, we had the best of the opening stages of the game, with superb efforts from Kieran Tierney, Alexandre Lacazette and Martin Ødegaard testing the resolve of goalkeeper Illan Meslier. The game stopped briefly because of an accidental clash of heads between Jack Harrison and Takehiro Tomiyasu; thankfully neither were hurt and the match carried on. Both teams settled down after the preliminaries, with some good probing play being enacted out there, although high tempo in its execution. After just sixteen minutes, Bukayo Saka won the ball on the right wing and charged forward; Adam Forshaw then lost the ball to Alexandre Lacazette, and as the ball fell loose, Gabriel Martinelli took advantage and scored the opening goal of the match in a strong, clinical manner. The goal merely accelerated our domination even further, with some wonderful play from all departments, with little resistance showed from the defence of the home side. We almost grabbed a second when Kieran Tierney found himself unmarked in the box and placed a powerful shot towards the bottom left-hand corner of the goal which Illan Meslier tipped around the post. And sure enough, the second goal did finally come on the twenty-eighth minute when we won the ball in the centre circle and Granit Xhaka played a superb through ball to Gabriel Martinelli; he raced into the penalty area, and then patiently waited for Illan Meslier to go down to his feet before chipping the ball over the goalkeeper to grab his (and our) second goal of the game. A minute or so later, we nearly scored again, when Martin Ødegaard pushed the ball across to Alexandre Lacazette, whose first-time shot was somehow saved by Illan Meslier from point-blank range. With three minutes of the first half remaining, Bukayo Saka received the ball on the wing and cut inside. The ball broke to Alexandre Lacazette, who quickly passed it back to Bukayo Saka, who then hit a shot which was deflected off a defender and ricocheted into the bottom corner of the net, flying past a hapless Ilan Meslier. In the remaining time that remained of the first half, Martin Ødegaard was desperately unlucky not to score, and although we comfortably dominated, Arsenal finished the first forty-five minutes of the game being three goals to the good.

The second half started with much expectation, and the game did not disappoint. Just as we finished the first half, this period continued in pretty much the same vein. The home side spent a large chunk of the first ten minutes trying to take the game to us, but not very successfully, it has to be said. Takehiro Tomiyasu was playing magnificently down the right wing, and got fouled several times for his troubles. Unfortunately, just after the hour mark, our flying full-back was unable to carry on due to injury, so he was replaced by Cédric Soares. Unbelievably, it took twenty-three minutes for us to have our first goal-coring chance since the break, as the expected goal fest did not materialise; however Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli played a one-two in the penalty area and Bukayo Saka dragged his shot just wide of the far post, sadly. With a quarter of an hour of the game remaining, Ben White brought down Joe Gelhardt in our penalty area; Andre Marriner pointed to the spot, and Raphinha sent Aaron Ramsdale the wrong way to get a goal back for the home team. Just after the penalty incident, Mikel Arteta brought on Emile Smith-Rowe for Bukayo Saka in order to bring fresh legs to the proceedings. The home side certainly looked more confident since their goal, but incredibly, Tyler Roberts lost the ball in midfield and we broke out and ran for the Leeds United goal. Martin Ødegaard cruised forward and chipped a clever pass into the path of Emile Smith-Rowe, who cleverly let the ball bounce and simply blasted it past Illan Meslier and into the back of the net for our fourth goal of the night. With four minutes of the match remaining, Martin Ødegaard was replaced by Nuno Tavares and for the rest of the match, (which included three minutes injury time), we simply cruised towards the final whistle and a superb victory.

During the first half, we made the home side look like also-rans; how we never managed to score yet even more goals was something short of unbelievable, really. Although Leeds United came back at us in the second half, overall they were second best throughout, as we thoroughly deserved our victory. Lots of great performances out there tonight, all of which were more than encouraging going into the Carabao Cup quarter-final match against Sunderland on Tuesday night. And, more importantly, we are fourth in the Premiership table for Christmas 2021, which is a superb achievement within itself. A piece of history: During this match tonight, Arsenal became the third club to score more than 7,000 goals in the English top flight, after Everton (7,139) and Liverpool (7,069). Keep going, 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: Sunderland at the Emirates on Tuesday, 21st December at 7.45pm(Carabao Cup). 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.

Arsenal fans likely to miss trip to Spurs for 4th consecutive season

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Earlier this week in the WhatsApp group I made a prediction:

“Football to stop for 2 weeks from Monday; then return to no crowds for 2 weeks from the new year. We are going to miss going Spurs again.”

I was ridiculed. When asked for my source it was “Dan Sports News”. It was just a guess.

But today we have taken a step closer to that prediction.

There is an emergency Premier League meeting scheduled for Monday where top of the agenda will be an immediate cancellation of all games for 2 weeks.

The plan will be put suspended all games for a 2 week circuit break; giving teams to time to recreate the Covid bubbles that allowed football to return at the height of the pandemic.

Football will then return after New Years Day. With the first round of games after the break being the FA Cup 3rd round.

At the same time, the UK Government are also planning a two week circuit break lockdown after Christmas. This will likely begin on Monday 27th December.

This will involve a ban on major events and indoor mixing. Pubs and Restaurants will be out door only.

The circuit break lockdown will end on Sunday 9th January. A week before we are due to play Tottenham.

History throughout this pandemic, however, indicates that we will not immediately return to normal.

Post-lockdown, the restrictions will be lifted slowly.

It is likely that they will follow the same procedure as last time. In football terms this means games with lower capacity and no away fans.

So whilst fans will begin going to games again from 10th January, it will not be full stadiums nor will travelling fans be accommodated. I would expect this to go on for at least 2 weeks so they can “study the data.”

This means we will not see full stadiums and away fans at games again until February.

We play Tottenham on 16th January.

If all of the above comes true, and I think it will, it will mean we will miss out on playing at Spurs’ new stadium for the 4th consecutive year.

Delays to opening the stadium meant it was not ready when we played them for the 2018/19 season.

It eventually opened in April 2019, after we had played them that year.

In 2019/20, the game was scheduled for the second half of the season. Covid hit and it took place with no crowd.

The 2020/21 fixture took place in December just as crowds were returning. Restrictions to just 2,000 fans meant no away tickets were available – although a few Arsenal fan heroes did secure themselves tickets in the home end.

So if the January 2022 fixture is back behind closed doors or in front of a limited audience away fans will not be welcome.

It will mean that we will unlikely pay our first visit to the new Tottenham Stadium until 2023 – 5 years after it was due to open.

I’m gutted.

Keenos