‘We have to give him time’ – Arsenal legend demands backing for Mikel Arteta

Posted by

In what could potentially be seen as a direct challenge to the Arsenal board of directors and supporters, one former legend has demanded that current manager, Mikel Arteta, is backed.

The Gunners sit 42 points behind Premier League leaders Liverpool, and the task that the Spaniard has ahead of him can’t be fixed overnight.

“It’s a tough one because Mikel Arteta was getting there and getting them to a certain place,” Thierry Henry said on Sky Sports, cited by the Daily Star and relating to how the postponement of the season will have negatively impacted the Gunners.

“You could see the organisation, they were more compact and difficult to beat then this happened.

“I can tell you as a coach now it’s not the news you want to deal with, because you want to carry on with what you’re doing.

“Keep the players with you, talking to them. It’s better to train and try to see what you can do after training at the weekend. It depends on who is going to leave, who is not going to leave, who is going to come, also, and we don’t know about that.

“I just want Arsenal to do well, to make sure they can compete. I wish them all the best all the time and Mikel Arteta too, because that’s a tough job as everyone knows, but we have to give him time.”

The Spaniard joined the club after the sacking of Unai Emery, and so in the space of three years, the Gunners have seemingly been in a constant state of transition.

As Henry alludes to, Arteta must be given the opportunity to bring in the right players and mould the squad into one he believes is capable of challenging for honours again.

Taking the manager to task before having allowed precisely that scenario to take its course would suggest a short-sightedness that Arsenal aren’t known for.

Allowing a man who evidently has the club in his blood the time to develop a winning strategy will surely pay dividends in the end.

More Stories Mikel Arteta Thierry Henry