A Cult for MA?
First was Arsène Wenger, towards the end of his tenure, then was Mesut Özil and today is Mikel Arteta.
We can’t stay away from a cult, can we?
I don’t know how much this is linked to the social media but I’m witnessing another cult growing among Arsenal fans: the Mikel Arteta cult.
Wherever I turn my head, I see people explaining how big of a genius Mikel Arteta is and how we, poor ignorant souls, don’t understand the magnitude of his work; there are tons of Twitter threads, podcasts, in-depth analysis explaining how this team will suddenly click and would go on and conquer the world.
Am I the only one not seeing any of that? Am I the only one not buying any of it?
I don’t have fun watching the Arsenal anymore; I don’t see where Mikel Arteta wants to take us and I definitely can’t see how, if the likes of Crystal Palace come to the Emirates Stadium and dominate us. I am desperate for Mikel Arteta to be the man, to be the genius I’m told he is, but the more I watch the team, the more I see a disjointed team, with no fluidity and very few resources available.#
Why move him away from the right for anyone?
It’s surely me and my little tactical knowledge but I don’t see how Bukayo Saka is better away from the RW spot; I don’t see how Thomas Partey alone at the base of midfield is good for him of for the team; I don’t understand why Kieran Tierney suddenly stopped his overlapping and cutting back and I don’t understand how Nicolas Pépé can make any difference so far from the box.
That’s not my point, though, not entirely at least.
I’ve witnessed the bitterness and hatred between the Arsène Knows Best and the Wenger Out Brigade; I’ve read it all about how Mesut Özil was either the best player who ever played for the Club or a lazy away-game dodger, a victim of the Arsenal board’s political battles or a martyr for his views on the pay cut or the Uyghurs or just a parasite, happy to collect his hefty wages and mounting an internal mutiny against Emery, Ljungberg and Arteta.
I’ve had enough of them all, their opinions shoved down everyone’s throats, whatever they were.
I’m past the what’s right and wrong here, it’s more about the way we keep getting stuck into our vision and don’t let anything different come in; whoever doesn’t agree with someone’s opinion either has an agenda or doesn’t understand.
You’re either stupid or being paid – end of story.
Forlorn hope?
I do hope that Mikel Arteta will suddenly transform the team into world-beaters; I do hope that Nicolas Pépé will finally deliver on regular basis; I do hope that Mikel’s system will no longer depend on absolute perfect conditions, including the opposition setup, to click and that games like the latest North London Derby will be the rule, not the exception.
Until then, I will keep trusting the best analytical tool I have: my eyes.
Italian living in Switzerland, Gooner since mid-nineties, when the Gunners defeated my hometown team, in Copenhagen. I started my own blog and podcast (www.clockenditalia.com) after after some experiences with Italian websites and football magazines. Covering Arsenal Women with the occasional rant about the boys.
You use the word “suddenly” twice in this piece, as if it’s the intention of the club to “suddenly” turn us into a Top 4 side. That doesn’t seem to be the case. It seems that the owners have decided they can’t or don’t want to spend the immense amount of money (eg £800 million on Chelsea’s current squad) which might suddenly make Arsenal competitive with Man City, United or Liverpool.
They’re taking a bet (a risky bet) that they can take a squad of talented young players and develop them into a Top 4-competitive team – gradually – over the course of two or three seasons. That means there’s no “suddenly”, no overnight change, just gradual, sometime painful, progress (whether you want to pay to watch that gradual transformation is another matter).
The owners have given Arteta this transformative task – and he may not be the right coach for the job – perhaps he should be given a season with this team (“his team”), at least. But if he was replaced, the new coach would have the same task (the owners aren’t going to bring in eg Conte and hand him a billion quid) – trying to turn a young squad into a top squad. The past seven/eight years of constant, slow decline (in the under-achieving academy, feeble transfer activity, poor executive management, poor coaching etc) have turned Arsenal into a mid-table club. That’s where we are, and the owners have only got one plan to change things and there’s nothing “suddenly” about it.
My use of “sudden” wasn’t clear enough, sorry about that.
I don’t expect any sudden transformation for a team that finished eight in consecutive seasons but I’m expected to believe that this Arteta project will suddenly click and transform the team.
Of course, if we change another handful of players, things might change dramatically but how much of that would be due to Arteta?
He’s been in charge for close to 100 games and I still can’t see consistent improvement. We had some great moments in between large spells of indifferent or disappointing performances. I see the same patterns, the same mistakes, the same struggles hence I don’t get the hype around Mikel.
I don’t see how Arteta should be judged differently from any other manager, simply because he’s been at the Club before and worked under Guardiola’s tutelage.
I don’t have any issues with the rebuild taking time, given the mess we’re finding ourselves into, but I refuse to blindly trust Arteta because of this cult growing around him.
Cheers,
Andrea (@ClockEndItalia)
Exactly right.
Great article,you’ve hit the nail on the head. Arsenal fans seem to to have the toxic in fighting more than any other club,to be fair maybe others do too,I only follow Arsenal,couldn’t care less about the rest !
Thank you, hopefully this will change as the culture within the Club and the squad changes
Quit moaning and get behind the team! The constant in-fighting from of some corners of the Arsenal fan base is so tedious.
“You’re either stupid or being paid – end of story.” is such a toxic viewpoint towards people showing some positivity and supporting the club.
Thanks for your comment, Jez. Raising concerns doesn’t mean not supporting the team or the manager, though. I couldn’t agree more about the toxicity of this black-or-white vision and its divisive effects, I wish we would all be a bit more inclusive and tolerant. Cheers