Mikel Arteta has played down suggestions that winning the FA Cup was a negative because it raised expectations about this team too high, too early.
The Gunners followed up the 2-1 win over Chelsea at Wembley with a Community Shield win over Liverpool, but he says he wouldn’t change those results despite the Gunners struggling to convince over the last few weeks.
Speaking ahead of the visit to Everton on Saturday evening, the Arsenal boss was asked if he felt success in those tournaments has left him suffering more because of the recent poor run of form.
“The fact we were able to make people happy, for me, it’s worth it,” said Arteta.
“The reality of where we are, I know it really well and the people inside the club know it, but you cannot stop the expectations and speculation.
“It’s better to have high expectations than low expectations. This is what this club is about.
“The fact we’re in a different position in the Premier League, we cannot take that away.
“This is us right now and we have to get through it.”
Arteta is under intense scrutiny right now following a string of poor results, but he feels he’s learned a lot in his first 12 months a manager.
“I want to believe that I’m much better,” he said when asked about his job now as opposed to this time last year.
“I’ve experienced things in a year that probably in a normal job you would experience in 10 or 8, I don’t know.
“It’s been great. It’s been great because of the people I have around me, because of the experiences we’ve shared with everyone at the club, with the players in these moments it has united everybody a lot.
“We’ve gone through that and we’ll get through this. I have some really good highlights as well, obviously.”
Fake it till you make it Mikel.
Man, I really, really hate to say this so please vote me down. But the comparisons to Liverpool’s trajectory seem way off in my opinion. Liverpool had been a constantly “good” club for a long time before Klopp took over, finishing in the top 6 almost always. Brendan only came a slip away from winning the league with them. Ok, they weren’t always spectacular but they were a reliable top 6 club. Arsenal haven’t mounted a title challenge for over a decade and are a club with no league table consistency and are currently in free fall. The club that… Read more »
Sorry for the off topic essay guys, wrote this in the early hours when I couldn’t sleep…
In the summer we will lose Ozil, Mustafi, Sokratis (if he’s not gone in January) Luiz, Ceballos and Macey. We should also sell Kolasinac, Lacazette and Xhaka. Guendouzi and Torreira will also go. That’s a hell of a rebuild, the type of players they bring in will tell us all we need to know about the executives at this club. No more Willians please.
The owners are very different also, Liverpool have owners who want to invest so that the club can be successful, ours on the other hand probably don’t even know how to spell Arsenal.
In order to do what you suggest the club will have to sell players they might otherwise not want too. It’s all well and good listing a group of players like Vonnie has but the truth is no one wants them. If we had offers for AMN and Bellerin in the summer they probably should have been sold with the funds going on Aouar, or whoever has been deemed an improvement on the first 11. I honestly don’t think our results would be any different, especially from a defensive point of view, with Cedric playing and considering we have 7… Read more »
Perhaps. Although I think getting major earners off the roster would be as good financially as selling a player. And these players contracts do run out one day. They just have to! I think I agree with your points about Hector and AMN. The fact that AMN isn’t getting picked is just more evidence of poor management because that £25m could have been invaluable this summer. I suppose my overall point is that we replace the old guard with fresh young talent. Just their wages alone should go a long way to pay for them. Obviously we aren’t going to… Read more »
Before we sign more young players, we need to find a strong leader. Raw talent need role models to look up to.
I’m backing Tierney to be club captain by the time he’s 25. Partey can lead. Leno too. Gabriel could be another possible captain.
But yeah, I get what you’re saying. We are definitely deficient in that department.
Part of the issue is it’s difficult for the young players to lead while we have so many senior players. & the senior players clearly aren’t good leaders. Losing most of those players might be addition via subtraction this summer
We don’t have scouts anymore, how would we identify young prospects in the range of our economic position who would improve us?
Football manager and FIFA.
Joking aside, the most recent crop of European talent that’s just emerging I was buying on FIFA two or three years ago.
Fuck it. Let’s find the worlds best Football Manager player and recruit the FIFA people who set the development settings on career mode.
I agree completely – very “rational”. I fear that we’re probably beyond a “half glass full, or empty” scenario now and the glass is in the floor! We have to accept that we’ve been in an overall decline as a club for several seasons now – over the tenure of three managers (so far!!). The odd domestic cup win was a plaster on the wound not a cure. The move to The Emirates didn’t, for a number of reasons, enable us to close the gap on the other leading clubs and the expected “bonus” from increased revenues has been frittered… Read more »
Due to huge losses because of Covid-19, the club cannot be patient with MA. Even Europa League peanut money is a must. They’ve cut scouts, Raul, office people etc. They love him but will have to let him go with plenty of good words.
Probably easier said than done though. The $64,000 question (although nowadays that’s many £millions) is if the club removes MA who replaces him? There aren’t that many “suitable” managers out there (the key here is “suitable”) and of the few that there are, how many would want to come to the club in the mess that it’s currently in, with all the financial restraints that you mention on top? Sacking someone is simple, replacing them in these circumstances isn’t and that’s the dilemma that Arsenal faces.
Where I disagree with you is that we were always top four when Rodgers was at Liverpool and talking about top six, even Emery achieved it his first year. We also were celebrating St Totteringham every year until it changed 5 years ago. Spurs have had better squads and did virtually nothing better than us. The key thing is that they’ve had a couple of very reliable players like Son and Kane. Laca was supposed to be our Son but he failed. We even got Mikhi who could have been like Son. We select players who are comfortable with losing.… Read more »
The difference is Son signed for £20m as a 23 year old. Laca signed for £50 as a 26 year old.
The risk factor for Sp*rs was small and Son has been able to find his feet in the last couple of seasons with minimal pressure. These are the kind of signings we need to start making.
No more Laca’s. Plenty more Martinelli’s.
The club was wildly risk averse which really caused long term issues. We didn’t want to spend 20m on up and coming players which meant we repeatedly missed out on top young talents – how many players have said we were interested but ultimately were unwilling to pay the fee- Hazard, Cech, Griezman, etc. Then when they established themselves the cost was too high to bring them in. Let’s not forget the only reason we were even able to get Laca was Atletico had a transfer ban slapped on after a deal was agreed. Our recruitment has been horrific for… Read more »
I get what you’re saying. But Spuds wasted almost all of the money they got from Bale sale. Don’t give them too much credit! I was happy to see Liverpool with the 7-0 statement game today. I’m cheering for them for the league, can’t let Spuds near it.
Anyone else find out tonight that Mkhitaryan is Europe’s in form player?
I know many did not like him , I never thought he was that awful but at that salary I understand we wanted him out his contrubion did’nt match his salary. Now pushing him out and bringing in Willian who is a year older for considerably more money that’s were the mental gymnastics start.
The major difference being that Willian is a proven premier league performer whilst Mkhitaryan was a proven flop, no mental gymnastics required.
The point is that he didn’t work for us and cost a fortune. Just wish we had a club that recognised we could have sold Alexis for £60m six months earlier!
And Emi Martinez has the most clean sheets in the Premier League so far this season.
Stop talking start doing it on the pitch!
Yes but if it doesnt he will have to pay the price.
Football is about results not shots and majority possession
This snake oil salesman talk does not turn into 3 points. Do your talking on the pitch. The table does not lie!!!!
I prefer higher league positions….
There’s no winning for Arteta here or is there? He speaks eloquently to the press about his thought, process he gets bashed. If he doesn’t address the press and the fans, he gets called out for being arrogant and unexpressive. Yes things aren’t going well, we aren’t playing particularly attractive football but the man acknowledges it, he isn’t delusional. Try to stay positive, try to support him, spewing out toxic comments day in and out won’t benefit us in any way and it definitely won’t help our team. We might not realise it but this constant barrage of putrid thoughts… Read more »
Give Pepe the same kind of support you gave William with a decent run in the side. He has a much higher ceiling and we have to see if the investment was worth it.
Top post, well said.
I cannot wait for the absolute scenes, the howling, the meltdown, when, as a result of our dealings in the up coming window, ONE space opens up in the squad. And – with the crushing inevitability of a Vardy/Walcott/Iwobi (give it a few hours) goal – the player Arteta chooses to reinstate Sokratis.
Trophies are a part of history. Our many FA Cups are part if a legacy that reach back in time, but also forwards. They are forever. Permanent. In 80 years, we will still count them. I said this before the season too – we need to rebuild for the future even if that means finishing deep down in the table. I would rather finish 15th 3 years running and then be back with a real threat, than finish 7th for the next 10 years. Now.. We dont know what will happen. And yes, this hurts. Bad. But I am sick… Read more »
Well said. I totally agree. I would take silverware this season in lieu of CL positions…of course if we can win the Europa and get CL that way then all well and good, but we are nowhere near a CL team and would probably be back in Europa in no time…look at Man U…who for some reason suddenly think they are in a title race! Stan has to know by now that rebuilding the club to actually compete in the PL is a priority and he has to do it no matter what the financial cost is…part of the financial… Read more »
I bet his favourite 80’s band is Talk Talk.
Stick with Arteta.
Expectations should be:
Shift the toxic/deadwood that are out of contract in the next 6-18 months, Meanwhile bringing along the younger players,
A few key signings,
Learning from inevitable mistakes as a manager.
Then we’ll be in a good place, in 2-3 seasons. Sounds painful to some impatient fans but get real – just have to accept that’s what it takes, and there are no great alternatives. Bonus we already won an FA Cup.
Go for it Mikel.
COYG
When you put it like that, I can’t help but feel excited already about Arsenal’s tilt at the League One title in 2022/23.
High expectations are good!
I really don’t get the belief in our current crop of young players, they look Championship quality to me bar Saka and Martinelli. The rest will get us relegated.
Doesn’t work like that in “real life” though. What will happen, unless MA turns things around quickly, is that the owner will look at the situation, primarily the financial outlook (pretty poor for the club before Covid given the loss of CL money, huge wage bill etc., and dire since Covid) and ask himself “Is it worthwhile sticking with MA or cut my losses and get someone else in”? I accept that changing manager can be very difficult indeed but if there’s not a noticeable improvement quickly, there’s not a snowball in Hell’s chance of MA being given anywhere near… Read more »
Let’s see if the team fights today…