Mikel Arteta had quite a seasoned and illustrious career as a footballer, beginning his senior career in Barcelona’s B team, before departing to Paris St. Germain due to limited playing time with the Catalan giants. His stint at PSG...
Mikel Arteta had quite a seasoned and illustrious career as a footballer, beginning his senior career in Barcelona’s B team, before departing to Paris St. Germain due to limited playing time with the Catalan giants. His stint at PSG was quite short and he moved to Glasgow Rangers in 2002, establishing himself in the first team, winning the Scottish League and Cup double that season, alongside a litany of individual awards.
After leaving Rangers, Arteta had a brief run out with his hometown club, Real Sociedad, in 2004, before signing a permanent deal with Everton a year later. Under David Moyes, Arteta became a household name in Merseyside, winning the Everton Player of the Year twice in his time at Goodison Park.
Arteta’s love story with Arsenal began in 2011, when he joined the club as part of the famous ‘trolley dash’, when Arsene Wenger’s side was utterly destroyed by Manchester United before the transfer window closed. The Spanish maestro made 150 appearances in five seasons with Arsenal, winning two FA Cups and two Community Shields before hanging his boots and starting his coaching tutelage under the great Pep Guardiola.
After Unai Emery took the team to the trenches and got fired in December 2019, Arteta replaced his compatriot at Arsenal, his first managerial position in the beautiful game, and four years has waltzed by with the Spanish manager in the reins.
Without further ado, let’s celebrate Arteta by reviewing the good, the bad and the ugly in his time with Arsenal.
THE GOOD
The Trophies
Every manager’s yardstick for greatness remains the amount of silverware they’ve amassed in the clubs they’ve managed, and Arteta is no different. In his maiden season with Arsenal, Arteta commenced his FA Cup campaign with a narrow win over Leeds United courtesy of a Reiss Nelson goal, then followed up with a Fourth Round win over Bournemouth.
A visit to Portsmouth in the Fifth Round saw the Gunners run out as comfortable winners and the quarterfinals against Sheffield United was rescheduled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The game was eventually played when football resumed and Dani Ceballos put his name in Arsenal folklore when he scored the late goal that sent Arsenal to the semifinals.
It was a Jedi Master vs. Padawan showdown when Arteta met his former mentor, Guardiola, in the semis, but club captain, Pierre-Emerick Aubemayeng, cutting in from the left wing, stole the show with a brace that sent Arsenal to the finals. Aubameyang stepped up again in the finals, scoring another brace against Chelsea to hand Arsenal their record 14th FA Cup trophy.
Arteta has also gone ahead to win the FA Community Shield twice in 2020 and 2023.
The 2022/23 Premier League Title Challenge
It has been eons since Arsenal won the Premier League, and it had also been a long while since the Gunners genuinely challenged for the Premier League title. Since winning the division, attaining immortal status after going unbeaten in the 2003/04 season, Arsene Wenger’s other credible title challenges took place in the 2007/08 and 2013/14 seasons.
Towards the tail end of Wenger’s reign at Arsenal, the Gunners were a far cry of what they used to be and there was certainly no improvement in that front when Unai Emery arrived.
Last season, Mikel Arteta had successfully assembled the team he wanted, making crucial transfers like Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko to the fold, as well as augmenting the squad with some good signings like Leandro Trossard, Jorginho and Jakub Kiwior to sustain the title challenge against the juggernaut known as Manchester City.
The campaign saw Arsenal end with 84 points, scoring 88 goals and finishing in second place, which marked a return to the Champions League after a seven-year hiatus.
Some Excellent Transfer Dealings
The transfer window can be a hit or miss for different clubs, based on different circumstances, and Arsenal is no different.
However, Mikel Arteta and Edu Gaspar have hit home runs with some of the recruits they have signed to the club in his four-year stint at Arsenal.
Gabriel Magalhaes and Thomas Partey were signed in Arteta’s first full season with the club and have gone on to become mainstays in the starting lineup. In Arteta’s second full season, he signed Martin Odegaard, Ben White, Takehiro Tomiyasu and Aaron Ramsdale that have impinged their footprints on the club.
Last season saw the arrivals of Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko from Manchester City, that revolutionized the way the team played its football. But in all of Arteta’s career at Arsenal, there has not been a better, bigger and more important signing like Declan Rice, that has become a vital cog in the midfield engine.
Amazing Football on Display
While the early parts of Arteta’s career with Arsenal saw the club play some pragmatic football, Arteta has reverted to some amazing free flowing style of play that has seen the Gunners attack efficiently, while retaining possession and providing high entertainment for the fans.
This style of football has made the club a force to be reckoned with, and has instilled fear on the opposition that play at the Emirates. When you hear a manager like Roberto de Zerbi stating that Arsenal made his team suffer, you’d know that Mikel Arteta and his gang are doing well.
Massive Improvement from the Playing Personnel
Under Arteta, several players have stepped up their game and gone on to become world beaters and you can look no further than the likes of Gabriel Martinelli, Martin Odegaard, William Saliba and Bukayo Saka.
Arteta pushes the players hard to become the best versions of themselves and the major beneficiary is Arsenal.
THE BAD
Missing Out of Champions League Qualification
One of the major grouses the fans had with Unai Emery at Arsenal was the fact that he lost out of Champions League qualification when Arsenal had the ample opportunities to solidify themselves as the fourth best team in the land.
In the 2021/22 season, Arteta was on course to finish in fourth place but a string of terrible results in March, April and May saw the Gunners return to the trenches of Europa League football, after suffering crushing defeats to Tottenham and Newcastle at the business end of the campaign.
Back to Back Eight Placed Finishes
While finishing in eight place after taking over from Emery was disappointing, Arteta had some leeway from everyone connected with Arsenal based on the mere fact that the club was in peril and he was tasked with restoring the team to what we were accustomed to.
However, in his first full season, began the campaign well with a Community Shield win over Liverpool, but Arsenal struggled horribly in the Premier League, losing 13 games in the Premier League, that saw the club miss out on European football entirely in eight place.
The Elephant Falling from the Tree
The 2022/23 season will be fondly remembered for the strong campaign Arsenal had, challenging the perennial winners and defending champions, Manchester City, for the Premier League title.
For the most part, it seemed like Arsenal were going to win the whole damn thing, as Arteta’s men showed some great consistency and churned out good results to match. However, it all went crumbling down in April, when Arsenal dropped points to Liverpool, West Ham and Southampton, before suffering a significant blow to their title challenge with a humbling loss to Manchester City.
The final nail was rammed into Arsenal’s title challenging coffin when the club suffered back to back losses against Nottingham Forest and Brighton, ultimately ending the dream of winning the Premier League.
THE UGLY
Disciplinary Issues
Arteta has become a controversial figure on the touchline with some of his antics, which has seen him dominate the back pages for the wrong reasons. He has also been on the end of some touchline bans and fines, with the most recent happening this season, when he served a suspension at Villa Park due to ‘bookable offenses’.
That has also transitioned to the pitch, with Nicolas Pepe getting one of the most silly red cards you’d ever see in the win against Leeds United. This season, Tomiyasu and Fabio Vieira have also been sent off, which put their team in the lurch.
Handling the Lads with the Big Egos
The acrimonious ways at which star figureheads like Mesut Ozil and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang left a lot to be desired, but you can’t deny that Arteta’s hands were on it, and he could have probably done better.
In my honest opinion, I believe that Ozil was ‘punished’ by the higher ups at Arsenal for not agreeing to take a wage cut and Arteta was tasked with enforcing that ruling, despite the club being in dire needs of Ozil’s services on the pitch. Aubameyang’s situation was even a messier ordeal, and from all indications, all bridges between the club captain and the manager were burned.
The Rescinded Contracts, Rather than Sales
Arsenal has always had a history for being poor negotiators in the transfer market, but under Arteta, they took their terrible transfer sales decision making to a new chronic level by outrightly rescinding the contracts of several want away players, rather than making concerted efforts to sell them in the transfer market.
In January 2021, Arteta sanctioned the contract terminations of Mesut Ozil, Sokratis Papastathopoulos and Shkodran Mustafi. The following season, Arteta allowed Sead Kolasinac, Calum Chambers and club captain, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang leave after rescinding their contracts.
Just when we thought the trend had ended, Arteta gave the go ahead for the then club record signing, Nicolas Pepe, to have his contract rescinded to allow him move to Trapzonspor for free.
In conclusion, the good works Arteta has done certainly outweighs the bad and the ugly, and we can only hope the good times continue at Arsenal with him in charge.
Sayonara.
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