Mikel Arteta has been backed like Jose at Chelsea and won almost nothing

Has Mikel Arteta come up short with Arsenal? Damn right he has. He has been backed with a whole lot of money and come up short again.

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Has any manager been backed like Arteta?
As I write this Liverpool are two up against Newcastle and seemingly coasting to not just a win this evening, but the Premier League title in Arne Slot’s first season in charge. I just finished reading the article on uncomfortable conversations re Arteta and another question came to mind.

Has there ever been a manager in the history of English football that has been backed as much as Mikel Arteta (alongside Edu)?

Since Arteta has come to the club he has completely reshaped the playing squad from top to bottom, clearing out everyone he no longer wanted (including players like Aubameyang who he begged to sign a new contract, and Willian who he begged to sign on a free) and bringing in players totalling close to £800m during his time there. Money has also been spent/lost on getting rid of the perceived deadwood, further increasing the outlay on Arteta’s preferred squad.

The only manager I can remember who has received that kind of support in my memory of watching football, is Jose Mourinho in his first stint at Chelsea – but that was after he had won the UEFA Cup and Champions League in his two prior seasons at FC Porto. Arteta came as a complete novice (which also works in his favour, of course – this is his first job).

I do think it is worth asking the question – Arteta has done very well at Arsenal, but my word has the support been there for him to do what he wanted to. Sure we can point at Manchester United and Chelsea who have spent a lot, but not under one manager – and let’s be honest – they have done so very haphazardly.

Whist I agree Arteta has done a good job, I think some additional context on what he has been able to work with and the support he has been given needs highlighting.

Thanks.
Tim Harrington (QPR), London

Arteta to leave indelible mark
It’s been pointed out by quite a few critical observers, that Mikel Arteta’s constant failure to win the big prizes at Arsenal, would mean that years from now, when people look back, Arteta’s legacy would be an empty one.

However I’m going to shock you all, and say that I strongly disagree! I believe Arteta will leave an indelible mark that will be talked about years from now, when we watch the 24/25 ‘Premier League Years’ reruns on Sky: the first and only manager in PL history to go from odds-on to win a league title at the start of a calendar year, to finishing that same season outside of the Top 4 places. Overtaken by a completely disinterested and dysfunctional Guardiola Citeh.
Stewie Griffin (Arsenal have scored Zero goals in the last 180 minutes of PL football. Madrid must be terrified, cos of course, PSV are nada. I blame 365’s writers and their clear conspiracy to generate commercial revenue, by errrrm….stating salient facts. Know what? Get the QArsenal DoJ to investigate 365. Scandalous bias to state facts)

READ: Arteta knows title is ‘dead’; his Arsenal changes – and one Liverpool sub – proved it

Who can we compare Arteta with?
Tom read the F365 article on how Slot is making Arteta look silly and disagreed because of the comparative starting positions of Slot and Arteta.

Mikey took over a dumpster fire while Slot took over a team that had just lost its best manager since the 1980s that the entire club and city was built around. But maybe Tom still doesn’t think that’s a fair comparison?

So let’s compare him to Klopp, who did take over a dumpster fire sitting in 8th with almost no good players a demoralised fan base and unlike Arteta he could only spend whatever he earned.

Klopp won every trophy available in his 8 years. In Arteta’s time…he’s won 1. Maybe you still think that’s unfair so let’s compare Arteta to… Ten Hag, who also took over a huge dumpster fire…possibly the greatest and largest dumpster fire we’ve ever seen…in his two years he also spent less than Arteta and won more.

What’s more is nobody outside of Gary Neville and Arsenal fans has ever thought Arteta was close to winning the Premier League and the Champions League is a genuine pipe dream for Arsenal under Arteta, I think England are closer to a national trophy than Srteta is to the Champions League and I think England won’t win one in my lifetime and have been saying it for four years now.

So is Arteta underperforming? By comparison to other managers who took over dumpster fires? Yes. By comparison managers in their first season? Absolutely. By comparison to managers on a budget? Definitely. By every single measure he’s under performing.

I recently said that Arteta is a first steps manager and Arsenal now need a next steps manager because he isn’t the guy. He’s a great stabiliser, no argument there. But he can’t bring home the league or Champions League. It’s not in his DNA.
Lee

Injuries no excuse
On the 21st of December, Saka got injured. Arsenal had 33 points from 17 games. On the 27th of February, Arsenal have got 54 points from 27.

Can we get rid of this nonsense that injuries have stopped Arsenal this season? If anything, Arsenal have done slightly better with the injuries than with a fully fit squad. Liverpool were getting more points per game before the injuries, and they are still getting more points per game now than Arsenal were able to manage either before/after the injury.
Jon (it turns out that the table might just be a fair reflection of the two teams and two squads), Bridgwater

Man Utd fans somehow rage against Dorgu red
Another bull sh*t VAR decision probably about to cost another Man Utd manager his job.

#PGMOLOUT
Ashmundo

…Finally, a quiet evening at home, chance to watch United against one of the worst teams in EPL history and…oh ok that’s not a good start. God knows what Onana is doing but he’ll do that I guess.

Oh alright, couple scrappy goals, total control, we’re gonna be okay.

Weird, Hutchinson has stayed down ages here. Get up lad. Uh oh. Reason 4,027 why I hate VAR. Of course, in slow motion and in still frames that looks horrendous. But context is king – the only reason he’s caught Hutchinson is because the Ipswich player has hugely miscontrolled the ball and then completely missed it with his reach out. I’ve no idea how Dorgu is supposed to anticipate, at speed on a wet pitch where his leg is going to be – after Dorgu takes the ball. It doesn’t matter anymore, it’s United and it’ll be a red, because that’s how our luck goes.

And then Onana again. Will he manage a hat-trick of gifted goals? One can only hope.
Ryan, Bermuda (I’ve nothing but sympathy for Amorim having to manager this lot)

READ: Man Utd pit of despair has fresh meat but Red Devils show welcome grit to beat Ipswich

Onana…what?
A gritty and dogged performance that delivered a deserved 3 points. Shame about Dorgu who was playing well; don’t think there was any malice in it, but that’s always going to end up in a red card. However…

We need to talk about Onana. It’s stating the bleeding obvious to say United’s problems run deeper than a keeper, but Jesus wept, we’ll go nowhere with this clown in goal. Ipswich created nothing tonight and he’s chucked two in. He’s absolutely fine 98% of the time, but if the other 2% is cataclysmically bad, that’s a serious problem.

Our recruitment list was already prohibitively long, especially on an apparently limited budget, but there’s just no way we can continue with him as first choice next season. It’s getting to the untenable stage. Here’s hoping we can ship him back to Inter for whatever value is left in PSR terms.
Lewis, Busby Way

Apocalypse now?
Donald Trump sits in the White House. The planets mysteriously align in the night sky. The Pope falls ill. And Pep gets a league win for Manchester City over bogey-team Spurs.

*Consults the book of Revelations*

Yeah, I’m not saying the apocalypse is upon us, but maybe don’t start a new box set.
Chris Bridgeman, Kingston Upon Thames

Spurs clearly prioritising Europa
Having just read Will Ford’s hilariously hyperbolic takedown of Ange’s team selection, I’m wondering if he is trolling or honestly doesn’t know what’s going on. Has it genuinely not occurred to him that Ange is clearly, blatantly prioritising the Europa League next week and therefore chose a game that isn’t a must win to rotate three guys who have played pretty much every game recently??

Yes, he could have rotated against Ipswich and picked a stronger side against City (it wasn’t at the Etihad though Will, small detail i know). But if he had and Spurs had not won either game…. Will Ford would be penning an article saying he deserved the sack. If Spurs hadn’t won the last three Premier League games their line up tonight would probably have been different, but they did.

As a Spurs fan, I have no problem with the way Ange has picked his teams for these games. We need to pick our strongest team for the biggest games… and that will be the case next Thursday. The Europa is our only realistic route to European football next year and quite rightly was the highest priority, and we still played well enough tonight to something out of it. If you’re going to call for a manager to be sacked for not playing his best side in his biggest games, it’s probably worth knowing what the biggest games are.
Philip, London