Arsenal: 3 biggest mistakes Mikel Arteta made in 2020/21

Where are the Men in Black and their neuralyzer when we need them? Arsenal have bid a very fond farewell to the 2020/21 season and not a soul won’t be happy to see the back of a wretched year both on and off the football pitch.

Five wins to end the season does nothing to alter the course. It’s been a disaster. The post-mortem can begin as externally we try to piece together what went wrong and what can fix it, sentiments echoed internally. The squad will be gutted, reshaped and re-imagined.

As a 2-0 win over Brighton at least provided a happy note to end a hideous campaign full of anger and detachment, the hope is that final flurry will act as a taster for what is to come. Whatever that may be can’t be much worse, although one should never assume with this beloved football club of ours.

Fronted by a man without a full season in management on his CV, Mikel Arteta’s role in another eighth place finish and embarrassing exit from the Europa League at the hands of his predecessor is clear. Arsenal have made the decision to stick with the man with whom they’ve entrusted far too much responsibility, and 2021 is likely to finish with him still at the helm.

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Arsenal: 3 biggest mistakes Mikel Arteta made in 2020/21 as Premier League season draws to a close

What is expected of him is clear and there is now nowhere to hide as a first campaign without European football for 25 years will provide him with all the time he can be granted to instill his ideas. If there is no upturn next season there will be no Arteta.

Sacking him at this point will solve nothing. If he were to be relieved of his duties following the limp elimination from the Europa League there could have been no complaints, but he is here to stay and backing him in the summer transfer window is essential.

There has been undoubted positivity to draw from his maiden full term in office, and likewise detrimental mistakes.

An extensive list of both good and bad, there were three standout mistakes throughout the season where the manager could not be free from scorn. Learning from these will be essential if he is to cement his place as the manager of Arsenal for the years to come.

3. Summer Window & The No. 10

These merge together with the former being the beginning of what would become the focal point of the toughest spell of the entire season.

It does mean we need to speak about Mesut Ozil. Whatever one’s view on the German may have been, whether he needed to be integrated or he was simply not at the level or of the right profile for the side, his absence was nonetheless telling.

But not necessarily his absence, more the dearth of a creative operator within this Arsenal team. Arteta made his bed before the summer window had even began and while shifting Ozil proved fruitless for obvious reasons, you can’t cut off your nose to spite your face. If you opt against removing a No. 10 from the team, you need to replace him. Arteta never did.

Now, of course, securing that elusive player in the summer transfer window won’t have been easy. With the endless chopping and changing above him as well as the all-round inexperience and lack of funds, any signings in the window would have been tricky operations. That’s the only saving grace he gets and it’s not much.

Gabriel and Thomas Partey joined to strengthen the spine, with no No.10 following. Not securing someone to fill that void was horribly damaging. It meant the season started with a back three system, one that boasted key creators Dani Ceballos and Granit Xhaka in the engine room. Ha.

This persisted with various personnel, even briefly changing to a 4-2-3-1 with Joe Willock shoehorned into a position he struggled to nail in the Premier League as well as Bukayo Saka briefly flirting with it. The horseshoe patterned football made for excruciating viewing. Nobody in the pockets – trying this just once with Saka did not suffice – left Arsenal toothless and keeping Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang stuck out on the left exacerbated the experience.

Then along comes Emile Smith Rowe on Boxing Day. Cut a long story short, Arsenal were comfortably a top four side from the point of his arrival.

While injury and match fitness prevented his integration from coming much sooner, it could still have arrived earlier than it had. Once it did Arsenal were a different side on the eye and on the scoreboard. Notable about his inclusion, too, is that Smith Rowe didn’t even have to play well to have an impact, such is the importance of someone in that position – even to occupy space, draw others out, it made Arsenal more fluent in attack.

Not seeing to that in the transfer window, persisting with the system at hand and leaving it until the last minute to play someone, anyone, in the No. 10 role hamstrung the season as a whole.