Where are Arsenal going under Mikel Arteta?

That question has been posed for the best part of 18 months. Unfortunately, the answers given back then are the same as the ones given now, we still don’t know where Arsenal are going under Mikel Arteta.

Having seemingly bought the right players for his system, with backing from the board, it has all been set up for Arteta to show that he is the right man to lead this club back up the Premier League table. Instead of climbing, Arsenal is treading water.

The performance against Tottenham in the North London Derby looked for all intents and purposes to be the turning point in Arteta’s reign as Gunners boss. That result is now looking like a flash in the pan. An anomaly against a poor side instead of an indication of routine.

Club legend Thierry Henry stated in the lead-up to Arsenal’s game with Crystal Palace that the alarm bells were ringing from the club’s game against Brighton, and that perhaps what everyone had seen from Arsenal in the three prior outings was something of a false dawn.

Where are Arsenal going under Mikel Arteta? Nearly two years on and the same issues remain despite extensive investment with his job hanging by a thread

"“I don’t know if things are going in the right direction,” Henry said. “I was waiting to see the Brighton game, to see if we could have the ball and keep the ball, away from home, retaining possession, against a dangerous Brighton side. “But I didn’t see that.”"

What they served up against Palace was nearly a resemblance of Unai Emery’s final weeks in his ill-fated attempt to halt his own slippery slide: grabbing an early lead and sitting on it, inviting the waves of pressure. A belief that one goal is all the team could realistically aim for. The red flags were raised.

The one thing that stood out against Crystal Palace was not on the pitch, but rather off it. Looking at the two managers in Arteta and Patrick Vieira, what both have been able to do in their time at their respective clubs is stark in comparison.

The Spaniard has been in charge of the club for nearly two years and there seems to be no noticeable improvements from when he first took over. The same shortcomings and fragilities remain; the lack of a plan to achieve that crucial element of football, scoring goals, was evident for all to see.

Then in the other dugout, a polar opposite has happened. Vieira has squeezed more out of his Palace squad in his short stint as boss than Arteta has in nearly two years. Their style has changed, drastically, and the players understand it. Also, Vieira hasn’t spent £150m ($207m) in the most recent window.

Given the length of time Arteta has been in the job, more often than not, fans, media personalities, and everyone in between should know what Arteta is about and what he brings to the table as manager. However, still, after all this time, the jury is out. That in itself tells a harrowing story.

Surely if the board and fans thought Arteta was the man to lead the club back into Europe and its next Premier League challenge, they would know it by now. Palace was organized, superior in possession, and came out with a plan and executed it on Arsenal’s home deck. They didn’t have to be exceptional, or even excellent, to control the game.

For large spells Palace looked like the home side, not Arsenal. Under Arteta, the side have won just eight of their last 23 games at home. Is that how far this club has fallen that teams that are viewed as inferior to Arsenal can easily turn up and boss games as they did? It is perhaps time to put Arsenal in a different bracket when talking about the ‘good’ sides in the English top-flight?

Where do Arsenal go under Arteta from here? And when is enough enough?

Continued on next page…

Arsenal Are Not Improving Under Mikel Arteta – His Job Hangs by a Thread

You can’t put Arsenal in the same bracket as the top five/six (Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester United, Leicester City) and truth be told, are they even viewed as a top 10 team now? I think we all know the answer to that.

In a year in which it was meant to be a season of improvement and progress – not straight into the top four, obviously – with signs shown that the Arteta model can produce results indicative of a reasonably good side, eight games into the season and it still feels like this team is not much different to the one Arteta inherited. It’s as if you could give him any set of players and they’ll perform exactly the same.

There have been some promising signs, and it hasn’t been too long that Arteta has had this new crop to work with, but the overreliance on youth (Bukayo Saka and Emile Smith Rowe), the lack of in-game management, and flawed attacking principles see Arsenal drift further behind the ‘Big Six’. Add in Newcastle and their newfound spending power and suddenly, seeing Arsenal as a mid-table team could become the norm. If that isn’t the perception already, that is.

That is scary to ponder.

We have been saying for months to give Arteta time – he has been given it. Nearly two years have passed and there has been no significant change in how the team plays, as aside from the odd standout performance, there is no consistency to the team anymore. Inconsistent teams capable of the superb and the ordinary in equal measure are mid-table teams.

The win against Tottenham felt like the beginning of something for Arsenal, a turning of the page, if you will. However just a few weeks on and it feels like we are back to square one. The North London Derby buzz once again clouds judgement.

It leaves the entire fanbase devoid of any hope that the season can be salvaged. It’s now or never for the manager. Facing Aston Villa in the Premier League on Friday is gigantic.