Arsenal: It’s really not hard to understand what Mikel Arteta is doing

Arsenal fans are losing their minds over Mikel Arteta and his inability to turn around the club, but he is doing exactly that, and it’s not that hard to see.

You know Arsenal fans—it’s never good enough. Give them what they ask for, and they ask for something different. Mikel Arteta is now in the throes of that. Fans are finding new grievances with the manager despite him being nearly unanimously accepted from the start.

But then again we have it—what’s good today sucks tomorrow. Still, calling for Unai Emery to come back and replace Arteta is a bit much, wouldn’t you say?

Arteta has a plan. He’s still experimenting, but he has a plan with all that experimentation. He isn’t just doing a mad scientist like I’m convinced Unai Emery was. And Arteta’s plan is clearly geared towards fixing the No. 1 problem this club has had for much longer than any other problem we’ve had.

In Arteta’s first nine games in charge, his side has surrendered just eight goals. That’s the first time I can recall Arsenal surrendering less than a goal a game on average. It’s crazy. And he did it will all the same people that were so obviously failing under Unai Emery and Freddie Ljungberg.

More from Pain in the Arsenal

• 3 standout players from 1-0 victory over Everton
• 3 positives & negatives from Goodison Park victory
• Arsenal vs PSV preview: Prediction, team news & lineups
• 3 talking points from Arsenal’s victory at Goodison Park
• Mikel Arteta provides Gabriel Martinelli injury update after Everton win

Prior to Arteta taking over, the club had surrendered 16 goals over nine games. Meaning that with the exact same personnel—and not even that really, with injuries and the need to start Shkodran Mustafi—Arteta has made this defense twice as good as it was before.

And it’s only going to get better with the additions of Pablo Mari and Cedric Soares. That’s added depth, added options, to a defense that clearly Arteta understands.

Let’s play the ‘if you’d told me’ game.

If you’d told me that Arteta would come in and cut then number of goals we were surrendering in half without any signings, I’d have told you no more was needed. Not yet. Fix the defense, that’s the No. 1 thing we wanted, right? He’s doing that. Right in front of our eyes. And what do fans say? Fans say we suck because we can’t score any goals.

Never mind the fact that our defensive effectiveness has doubled. Why focus on the positives when the negatives get your so much more attention on Twitter?

What Mikel Arteta is doing is exactly what we wanted him to do. Now shut up and appreciate it.