Mikel Arteta deserves Arsenal sacking after Europa League exit

Arsenal have been eliminated from the Europa League at the hands of Villarreal. Their dreams of European silverware and a return to the Champions League are over. The darkest period in the club’s modern history has seen its final flickering light go out.

Nearly three years on from the heat-stroked turf of Baku, where Arsenal had begun their descent into the abyss, the ship has hit the trenches.

Memories of Andriy Arshavin’s winner against Barcelona, Jens Lehmann’s penalty save and Thierry Henry’s solo goal in Madrid have never been so distant from recreation. One can never reproduce such moments, but they can be aimed for.

That target is worn and torn, rotting away at the stand and barely visible. It is Arsenal. For supporters of the club their image of what the red and white represents is vanishing before their eyes.

Arsenal vs Villarreal: Mikel Arteta can be sacked without any complaints after seeing his side crash out of the Europa League.

‘A catalyst for change’. Those poisoned utterings drenched in irony. Arsenal are not the Arsenal many know anymore: the ownership remains in its passive state, the mismanagement from top to bottom more prevalent than ever. What is the vision? What is the pathway?

It started with Mikel Arteta, a man without any prior managerial experience, thrust into an environment with shackling variables aplenty. 17 months on from his appointment and Arsenal are in a worse state than when he began.

If the question is of process, the answer at this stage is of removal. If sacked tomorrow morning, Arteta could have no complaints. He deserves to lose his job. Nobody could argue if he did, whether or not the decision would add fuel to this north London fire.

That is now two Europa League knockout fixtures in succession where he has opted to implement ideas never previously tested on the young core he has hung his hat on all season. There comes a stage where his managerial acumen fades into academy salvation. Teenagers rescuing draws from the clutches of defeats, carrying the burden of inexperience on their already weighted shoulders.

This football club is in disarray. No guidance, structure or certified vision. The task laid before this young manager was handed to him by professionals who themselves have only began flirting with their jobs. That can’t be excluded from the conversation, but it can only act as a paper thin mask to failure.

Arteta won’t lose his job: Arsenal are a project, Arteta is a project. One that has been invested in at least in sentimental terms, if not by financial means. And that is where this goes.

Already the summer window was the biggest in the club’s history. As the gap to the top four extends, Arsenal’s damaging wage bill will carry them further on the conveyor belt to mid-table. It’s ten out and eight or more in. That is the severity of what lies ahead.

Carrying the torch of that rescue mission is a manager who wouldn’t have a leg to stand on if his contract was terminated before the discussions even take place. His advisors on that road no more clued in. The blind leading the blind.

On Thursday night the stench of fear permeated the air. Fear of wrongdoing. Fear of failure. Unbeknownst to Arteta, that filtered through.

Fear of what is to come is what scares the most. Arteta may not be the one to settle it.