Arsenal: The Mikel Arteta ‘clean slate’ leaves no room for excuse

Mikel Arteta has said that every player will be given a ‘clean slate’ when he is in charge. This stance from the Arsenal head coach leaves no room for excuses.

When a new manager comes in, every player at the club gets a chance to impress. Part of the motivator for the ‘new manager bump’ that many teams hope for when they replace their manager is that those players who previously believed they would never get a chance to play now have a new lease of life as they can impress the new boss.

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For the second time in two years, Arsenal have a new head coach. And in his first week of working with the squad, head coach Mikel Arteta will be determining what this collection of players can and cannot do and where they fit into his system, if at all. It is on the players to prove to Arteta that they should be involved.

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In his first-ever pre-match press conference as a head coach on Monday, prior to the Boxing Day trip to Bournemouth, Arteta spoke about the thought process regarding how he will select the players moving forward. This is what he had to say:

"” With me, they have a clean slate. I told them that. You’re not going to be judged on things you’ve done in the past, whether they are negative or positive. This is evolving every day and I’m expecting you to perform and be in the right mindset every single day for me. If you do that, you’ll have a chance to play. If you don’t, you won’t.”"

This came in an answer specifically asking about Mesut Ozil, who was left out of the squad against Everton at the weekend due to injury, with Freddie Ljungberg going out of his way to state that he would not have included Ozil had the German been available.

Players like Ozil who have been little used by previous managers now have another chance to prove their worth to Arteta. They will be given a ‘clean slate’. That is obviously a huge positive for them individually as they can now re-establish their place in the starting XI, but it should also produce inner-squad competition, driving up the overall performance level of the team.

But it also leaves little room for excuse now. Ozil was an automatic starter under Arsene Wenger, but both Unai Emery and Ljungberg turned away from him, unhappy with his effort levels. If Arteta now thinks the same after wiping his slate clean, he only has himself to blame. The same can be said for Shkodran Mustafi or Nicolas Pepe or even Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Alexandre Lacazette and Lucas Torreira, all of which are fighting for different positions and roles in the team.

Arteta will play the players that deserve to play. He has made that quite clear. And given that he spoke at length about the ‘ruthless’ nature that he has learned from Pep Guardiola, I expect him to follow through. If you are to play for Arsenal, you will have to earn it.

So, for those that believe they deserve to play, or for those that want to rely on their talent to see them through, more is now required. Arteta will both demand it of them and give them the opportunity to prove they can adapt. Because of that, there are no more excuses.