Arsenal: 5 reasons Mikel Arteta should not be sacked – yet

You’re either in or you’re out. At this point in the timeline of events that is Arsenal Football Club, the situation surrounding manager Mikel Arteta has left fans on the fence of his suitability to the role in the minority: ‘Arteta in’ or ‘Arteta out‘, as it’s put. There line in the sand is blurred.

The calls have never been stronger, though. Following defeat to Manchester City in the manner it played out, what is left of Arteta’s credibility is sinking faster than Arsenal down the Premier League table.

Well, funnily enough, they can’t sink any lower. They’re bottom. With no points, no goals and a -9 goal difference.

All of the positive aspects of his tenure, those most notable during the FA Cup-winning run, are fizzling out. There is a lack of defensive organisation, discipline and direction. The transition into a more possession-based outfit who press higher and adopt a higher line has gone anything but smoothly.

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

5 reasons Arsenal should not sack Mikel Arteta despite growing calls for his removal as manager following the 5-0 Premier League defeat to Manchester City

Overseeing some of the worst patches of form the club has ever endured as well as breaking numerous unwanted records, coupled with baffling tactical decisions in major European matches, has all contributed to this point.

Overcomplication and demanding too much of individuals haven’t helped either. Those two points were both on show at the Etihad.

So far, not much working in the manager’s favour, and this is all without mentioning decisions in the transfer market and the use – and lack of use – of other members of the squad. Well, umm, they’ve been mentioned now. Oh well.

Where is the hope? Where are the arguments that sacking him at this point is the wrong course of action? Admittedly, the cases for his removal are stronger than the cases against. But we mustn’t be vociferously opposed to the man in charge of Arsenal remaining in his post. There needs to be something that suggests it’s too soon, right?

Let’s, try, and take a look.

1. The Overhaul Is Not Complete

Including Sead Kolasinac and Willian, with neither due to be part of the squad come August 31, Arsenal will have moved on ten players since the January transfer window. Some of those are loans with options, others contract cancellations and some sales, but that’s a lot of deadwood shifted.

It’s not all of it either.

The desire to instil a new culture has been among the key elements of Arteta’s managerial tenure, so too lifting the floor of this group. His man-management skills have been rightly brought into question as have his choices for which players to keep and move on, but it’s nonetheless his vision not yet fully executed.

In terms of signings, this summer is the clearest indicator yet of what the approach is: five signings all aged 23 or under. A clear profile has been laid out and the strategic direction for that is to have a group of players who will all peak in and around the same time.

Moulding them into a unit that can compete is a different matter but these are players this manager wanted to bring in and hasn’t had much time to work with. With his own group, albeit only a few who will be starting in the league, should he not be granted a period long enough to prove he knows how to best utilise them?

2. The Unlucky Hand He’s Been Dealt

After last season’s errors and mistakes, and with a summer of investment, there was nowhere to hide for Arteta this time around.

Until lady luck came and turned that on its head.

Starting the season in less than ideal circumstances with a squad outbreak of COVID-19 and his best central defender, midfielder and forward all unavailable due to injury and fitness reasons, how bad of a hand can you be dealt?

Arsenal were woeful against Brentford but there is no denying such circumstances don’t help. Then, against Chelsea, there were more absences on top of previous ones and the rather unavoidable fact that the Blues are European champions and a substantially better side than Arsenal. Genuine title contenders.

As for Manchester City, there were returnees, but still no first choice centre-back partnership, nor the £50m midfielder who is so far ahead of the other central midfield options at the club that he looks out of place when he features.

When the international break concludes, Gabriel, Ben White and Thomas Partey will all be back fit and firing. That’s a core part of your spine absent, and about £130m worth of signings made by Arteta he can use together for the first time.

3. The Run in the Second Half of Last Season

We want to see signs of progression. What signs of progression have we seen? Well, accumulating the third highest number of points in the Premier League from the Boxing Day win over Chelsea onwards was a fairly conclusive sign of that.

It’s what supporters have held onto over the summer.

That run, coupled with investment in the squad and the removal of deadwood, would be the springboard to improve on that run of form further. Attend to those seven key squad positions, or at least as many of them as is feasibly possible in a single window, and then look to maintain that spell into the coming campaign.

Seeing the upturn in the underlying metrics – xG going up and xG conceded dropping – together with greater point accumulation was encouraging. There were still issues of fine margins and some poor performance en route, but only five league matches ended in defeat following that Chelsea win.

That was the closest we’ve come to seeing what it is Arteta wants to build. Once he gets his key men back fit and available, can that return in finer fettle?

4. Arteta Has Yet to Field His Strongest Side

Arsenal’s strongest lineup: Leno; Chambers, White, Gabriel, Tierney; Partey, Xhaka, Saka, Odegaard, Smith Rowe; Aubameyang

The above is the strongest lineup Arteta can field at this moment in time. It’s hoped before the deadline closes that Chambers can make way for a new right-back – which would genuinely transform build-up play and progression were the right signing to be made – and not once has it been fielded.

This summer has been ongoing with the aim of making the above team as strong as it can be with the players in reserve to fill in more adequately than the likes of Mohamed Elneny and Dani Ceballos.

Realistically, only two (three counting Odegaard) of the positions in the starting lineup will be new players but it builds on from the form demonstrated in the second half of last season.

If this team, with the right combination of off-the-ball leaders, technical flexibility in attack, defensive organisation and progression through the thirds still bears no fruit then the curtain must be drawn.

We haven’t seen that team play once.

5. The Players Haven’t Turned on Arteta – Yet

Everyone remembers the 2-2 draw with Southampton in November 2019. Arsenal were 2-1 down with seconds left to play of injury time and Alexandre Lacazette poked home to snatch a draw.

Nobody cared.

Lacazette didn’t, and the fans weren’t especially jubilant at the late drama either. The Arsenal players had given up. They weren’t playing for Unai Emery.

Has that happened yet under Arteta? We’re blind to what goes on behind the scenes but the young players especially hail the impact of the Spaniard at the club and while there are clearly some misunderstandings when it comes to what roles they are supposed to be having on the pitch – Smith Rowe comes to mind on a few instances – as of yet there doesn’t appear to be that disconnect.

It sure might be close, though. And, yes, for all we know, it might already be there.

However, the manager regularly praises the effort of the team post-match and singles out the fight they’ve shown, therefore maybe it hasn’t yet festered in their minds.

Fans are losing patience and the players perhaps not far behind. But it does appear as if they still back the man at the helm.

Disclaimer: For what it is worth, this author believes the min-run after the international break is make or break.