Three years ago, Arsenal fans were already being warned to be careful what they wished for.
Arsene Wenger was being handed his big goodbye, forced upon him in the end by a fan-base seemingly unhappy with what the Gunners had become under the Frenchman.
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After 22 years, maybe it was time for him to go, but the manner in which it came about left a sour taste in the mouth.
Unai Emery, a coach with an enviable record, took his place, but he too was hounded out of the job before he’d even had a chance to get his feet under the table.
Now history is repeating itself for a third time as the north London faithful take to social media, phone-in shows and the like, demanding that the Gunners sack Mikel Arteta.
It’s true that this season Arsenal haven’t performed at the level expected for an extended period, but in the same way as he wasn’t the best coach when winning the FA Cup final, neither is he the worst now.
This knee-jerk reaction when a few results don’t go your way is unhelpful at best.
Arteta should be given another season – at the very least – within which to work, and continue to would the team as he would like.
Supporters pay their hard-earned to entitle them to an opinion, granted. That doesn’t mean they can or should embark on a witch-hunt every couple of seasons, however.
It’s not about “fan fury” or “witch hunts”, it’s simply about understanding when a manager has either lost his way completely or never had a clue in the first place. For the last 2 months of Unai Emery’s tenure, Arsenal were showing relegation form, not just losing at home to teams at the bottom of the league but being comprehensively outplayed by them, based on every available statistic. That is clearly nowhere near good enough.
Other than an FA Cup that was won almost single-handedly by Aubameyang, Mikel Arteta’s 18 months in charge have been an absolute disaster. Besides half a dozen decent performances, there has been a complete lack of motivation and desire, a lack of speed, energy or movement off the ball, and repeated tactical cluelessness, as a result of which, at best they create 3 or 4 half chances in every game. It was always a gamble to appoint a rookie manager with no experience and it is now as clear as daylight that it was the wrong decision.
Arteta should be sack please, gunners is too big for him let him go please so that we can have peace of mind pls go
Stop talking about witch-hunts and start talking about results, performances and team selection.
There is no progress under Arteta. None.
He spends more time trying to prove he’s a tactical genius by dropping players who will do a better job and selecting his favourites.
He’s brought this on himself. Arsenal fans are realistic. They would settle for slow progress not alarming decline.
The man-management of Nelson, Saliba and Balogun has been shocking. One more season of Arteta will see transfer requests from all of them.
The board and owners need to go, but Arteta should be sacked regardless of all that. He has blown his chance big time, and let all of us down.
MA should go now. If he stays, should not be given any funds as he will buy the likes of Willian and the Runnarson.