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#3 Improved record vs the Big 6
Under Arsène Wenger and Unai Emery, one of the most damming criticisms of the team was that they weren’t competitive in big games. Season after season, Arsenal fans would watch their team get battered by teams supposedly on their level.
6-0 to Chelsea, 8-2 to Manchester United, 5-1 to Liverpool & 6-3 to Manchester City are a few that come to mind. In the 19 games vs the Big 6 pre-Arteta, Arsenal had won just three. However, under the Spaniard’s reign, Arsenal are unbeaten in 12/21 of those encounters.
In just 18 months, Arteta has claimed wins over Man City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Spurs and United. Just to add insult to injury, Arteta is completely unbeaten vs Ole Gunnar Solskjaer & Thomas Tuchel. The Gunners are no longer a joke in big games and can hold their own against anyone on their day.
#2 “Put your medals on the table”
Ask any fan on the planet what they enjoy most about football and they’ll tell you winning trophies. In his first eight months at the club, Mikel Arteta did what Mauricio Pochettino couldn’t do in five years, win trophies. The prestigious FA Cup and the season’s curtain-raiser Community Shield would all make their way to the Emirates.
On the way to lifting these trophies, Arteta would have to beat Man City, Chelsea and Liverpool, an incredible feat for a first-time manager. Despite being in the middle of a major rebuild, Arteta has still managed to put silverware on the table, something not many other managers can relate to.
#1 Time is needed for a rebuild
As the old cliché says, Rome wasn’t built in a day. No great empire or footballing dynasty happened overnight, and Arsenal fans must realize that Mikel Arteta doesn’t have a magic wand that will fix everything. The club has been out of the Champions League for five years, this didn’t just start under this current regime. Of course, a Europa League triumph would have been great but that would have just papered over the cracks as this squad isn’t UCL worthy.
Arteta himself said a few months ago that he needed five or six more players to implement his philosophy, and this summer window he’ll go some way to laying down that foundation. If he’s still failing by December this year, then we can have serious talks about his job. However, until he’s given time to build the squad he wants, Arsenal fans must be patient and trust the process.
