Should Arteta stay or should he go?



Should Mikel Arteta stay or should he go?


By Luca Hamley

It was a dispiriting way for Arsenal’s season to effectively come to an end, a goalless draw in a must-win European second leg against Villarreal.  

The fact that Unai Emery was the person to dump the Gunners out of Europe just rubs salt into the wounds, with Mikel Arteta’s job now very much under threat.  

From the bright young thing, a game-changing manager who won the FA Cup within months of arriving at the Emirates, already it is starting to feel like this job might be too big for Arteta.  

Between a trophyless, dispiriting campaign which will likely end with no European football for the first time in 25 years, and the shadow of the European Super League debacle, where should Arsenal look now?  

Is it time to give up on Arteta and admit he is not the right person for this job?  

Do the club’s troubles run deeper than the manager?  

The answer to the second question is without doubt yes. Whatever you think of Arteta’s management style, and there is a lot to say on that, there is clearly a systemic issue in north London.  

The ESL only served to bring that further into the open. Who is actually running the show? What is the club’s vision for the future?  

Josh Kroenke spoke to fans in a forum at the end of April after the ESL climbdown, and it seems that he is at least the face of the Kroenke’s ownership, rather than his father Stan.  

Either way, there is little indication that Josh or Stan have any idea of how a football club should be run.  

With that in mind, can they be trusted to make the right call on Arteta’s future, or on a potential successor?  

Tactical doubts 

On the field, there is mounting evidence that Arteta does not know how to get the best out of his players.  

In a game which Arsenal had to win against Emery’s Villarreal, they managed just one shot on target.  

The team set-up did not lack for attacking talent, but there was little indication of what they were supposed to do once they were out there.  

The removal of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang ten minutes from time has obviously drawn the most vocal criticism, and it is hard to argue. But considering how supremely gifted a midfielder Arteta was in his playing days, it is concerning that he has not come close to working out how to set up in the middle of the park.  

Tactically, he has not found the solutions, so the question is whether that is a problem of personnel or simply Arteta’s management.  

With no European football on the horizon, the likelihood of going after big names this summer is slim to none.  

Build on youth 

The future has to be built around the young core. Bukayo Saka has played more minutes than any Arsenal player in the Premier League other than Bernd Leno and Granit Xhaka. It’s not an understatement to say that he is Arsenal’s most valuable asset, and Arteta deserves credit for developing him.  


Emile Smith Rowe has also shown promise but seeing the way William Saliba has thrived away from the Emirates, while Arsenal struggle to solve their defensive woes, shows that he is far from the talent whisperer.  

Is there anyone better? 

The biggest thing in Arteta’s favour may be the lack of a credible alternative. With no European football and an unwillingness to invest from the owners, it is hard to see the appeal of the job.  

Obviously if Spotify’s Daniel Ek does take over the club, all that changes. With the support of Arsenal legends Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp and Patrick Vieira, he would bring the sort of change that could actually see Arsenal return to the top table.  

If he were to buy the club, you would have to assume that it would involve a change of manager.  

However, if the Kroenke’s stay put and don’t sell up, then perhaps Arteta is the best option.  

After all, you only have to look at how hard Spurs are finding it to fill the current vacant job in north London to realise the difficulty of upgrading your manager when you don’t have European football to attract a successor. 

Photo credit: Getty Images

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