Arsenal and Mikel Arteta are going through tough times at the moment. Last season ended on a high note but we have failed to get the desired results this season so far.
Our Europa League form has been good but we have looked out of place in the Premier League, losing three of four home matches.
As expected, some fans are starting to call for the manager’s head but he believes be will succeed even if he things don’t look that way at the moment.
He said: “Our process has to be reviewed constantly with what you do, what we’re trying to achieve, why things are working and why they’re not. Or if things are working, why the results are not working. I think if you focus on just one thing, you can get carried away and not look from the focus that is needed.
“I was certain that we would have moments of adversity and they are necessary. You learn a lot from moments of adversity. The challenge in a moment of adversity in this industry is how you react to them. You can become impatient and get frustrated and when you share that frustration, it obviously brings a big lack of confidence.
“For me, the dream that I have with the love that I have for this football club, is to achieve the level that this club deserves and build a project, but believe me, it takes time and this not a month or three months.
“This is time and time and time, and a lot of good decisions and a lot of support. This is where we are and I’m ready to fight. I’m ready to fight all the way through because I believe that we can do it. We are going through difficult periods, we will see who responds, who doesn’t and how we react as a club through different periods, and how we stick together when things aren’t going well.
“When things are going well, it’s easy. Everybody wants to be there on the front pages, on the TV celebrating, being part of something, but unfortunately, at the moment we aren’t that good and the lines are really thin. We need to be really humble and understand that these are thin lines, but if we do it, we can compete against any team and we’ve shown that.
“We’ve shown what has happened against certain teams over the last five years and what we’ve been doing against big teams in the last 12 months, and it’s not because of me or something easy. It’s because of the belief, the trust and the response that every player had in their reaction.
“It’s no surprise that we can compete against any team, but our reality today is that we can also lose against any team, and Wolves with what they did, they won against us. It happened the same against Leicester. With thin margins and who deserved it more or less, at the end of the day, we lost and there are certain things that have to be corrected straight away, but unfortunately, sometimes they take time.”
It is clear that the team needs the arrival of some profile of players. Arteta is aware of this and he mentioned that he is already working on the possibility along with Edu Gaspar.
“We are planning. We’ve been talking with Edu and the club about things we can do in January.
“At the moment it’s pretty difficult and unpredictable. As well in terms of places [available in the squad], we are very restricted at the moment.
“We’ll see what happens. Things will move in the market and we’ll be prepared to do something knowing the limitations of that market in January and the limitations we have as well to sign players.”
It is obvious that the manager is feeling the heat at the moment. For an inexperienced manager, how he navigates these times could make or mar his career going forward.
We hope he finds a solution to the poor league form and goes on to succeed.
