Arsenal and Mikel Arteta: No excuses the only way to progress

In his pre-match press conference on Thursday prior to the weekend’s match versus West Ham United, Mikel Arteta was asked whether injuries have curtailed his plans. The Arsenal head coach would make no excuses, which is the best way to make progress when unfortunate circumstances strike.

It has not been the easiest first three months at the Arsenal helm for head coach Mikel Arteta. In his first-ever senior managerial job, the former club captain and Manchester City assistant coach inherited a team severely lacking in confidence, dove head-first into the packed festive schedule in which there was little time to train, and then had to deal with a swathe of injury issues at key positions, especially across the defence.

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But despite these potential pitfalls, Arteta is both flourishing as the Arsenal manager and is not making any excuses for the struggles that he has encountered.

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In his pre-match press conference on Thursday morning ahead of Saturday’s match versus West Ham United, Arteta was asked about what impact the injuries have had on his team and his preparations during these first weeks as the Gunners head coach. His response left no room for excuses:

"“We don’t know! I could not tell you with points. For sure since I joined, the amount of things that happened is enormous, but we just have to try to adapt. It’s part of football. It doesn’t only happen to us, unfortunately it also happens to many other teams. So we cannot be crying about that. It is what it is. Sometimes it’s bad luck, sometimes it’s part of the game we play and sometimes things that we can avoid and do better as well – the coaches or fitness coaches – but it is what it is.”"

It would have been very easy for Arteta to paint a dour picture of the situations that he has been forced to handle. He could have highlighted the difficulties of the Unai Emery, the bad habits that the team had picked up, and the toxic atmosphere he was facing. He could have bemoaned the fixture schedule, complaining that it restricted the impact he could have on the team. He could have argued that the injuries have tied his hands behind his back and left him with few options.

But he didn’t do any of that. Despite all of these problems being true and applicable, and Arteta politely discussing the impact of them, he has never once tried to use them as a reason for a poor performance or defeat — in part, that is because there has not been many, but even when there has, Arteta only looked at himself, his coaching staff and his players.

From Kieran Tierney and Sead Kolasinac missing major time at left-back, forcing Arteta to lean on an out-of-position left-back to Calum Chambers missing the entire season with an ACL tear and Rob Holding failing to prove his fitness; from inheriting a squad that at one time featured no fit full-backs to the niggling issues to Reiss Nelson and Gabriel Martinelli. And now what looks to be a season-ending ankle fracture for Lucas Torreira.

But amidst all of this, Arteta has remained resolute: injuries — or anything else, for that matter — will not be used as an excuse. It is nice to see an Arsenal manager take responsibility in spite of the circumstances.