Morning all.

Seems a bit premature to look back on the season already but that’s exactly what Mikel Arteta has been doing this week. Talking to the official website, a part of what he said is:

We are improving. When you look at the numbers in position with the top teams, it’s really positive. You need that – those head-to-head games become super important as you can see in the league table and it means that we are improving.

It’s a challenge but at the same time, it’s very inspiring. When you have two of the best managers in the world [Guardiola and Klopp] with two huge clubs, competing and facing them in their eyes and willing to be better than them, you learn from it. You challenge yourself and seek excellence because it’s the only way to try to beat them.

I think most Arsenal would agree that the toughest job Mikel Arteta and his back room team had to do in August 2019 was to earn the fans support. To make them/us believe that there was something to believe in. Arsenal had become stagnant, almost a laughing stock too as year upon year a new season would kick off with the club needing a central defender, a striker, a midfielder, sometimes all three, just to keep up with the clubs chasing top four let alone win the league. We signed players we didn’t really need and sold players we really needed to keep. We signed cheap, we signed other clubs rejects instead of other clubs quality players and quite frankly, we were in a mess. Unai Emery had tried but from rumours in the media, who he wanted Arsenal to sign and who he actually got to work with were two different things. The best thing to come out of his time at the club was the breakthrough of Bukayo Saka and the signing of both William Saliba and Gabriel Martinelli.

Arsenal simply weren’t competing domestically when Arteta walked through the doors and to this day, I still wonder how he, with the players he had at his disposal, managed to win the FA Cup but win they did and it was just what fans needed. Then came the clear up and clear out which took time, money and a strong and supportive ownership. During that period of time, I’d imagine a vast number were unconvinced we as a club were heading in the right direction. I know I had my own doubts as we ended up 8th in the league. But, as proved, sometimes one has to go down before they can go up which is exactly what has happened at Arsenal. Arsenal went from finishing 8th, to 5th, to 2nd in two seasons, not counting the 8th place season. It looks likely that we’ll finish 2nd again which considering the time Guardiola has had at City and the money he’s spent on his squad, it’s nothing to be disappointed in, not really. Of course we are though because of how close the race has been again. This campaign, we’re talking two points as the table stands today.

The difference this season though is that it’s not been Klopp or Guardiola who has dented our league title hope, it’s been Howe, Emery, Silva, Moyes etc. Not even injuries have really blighted our season, not in comparison to what other clubs have had to deal with. However, I do think a fully fit Jurrien Timber and Thomas Partey for much of the season would have made a huge difference to our season. Football doesn’t work that way though as not many clubs, if any, will have every player fit for every game of the season.

We can talk about rotation until the cows come home but I always tell myself, if Arteta 100% believed in every single one of his current squad, he’d rotate more. Why keep players he doesn’t trust then? Well, if the club couldn’t or can’t afford to spend the money needed to sign who Arteta does want, surely it’s better to give those he does have a new contract, use them when he can and then sell them for what will be a pretty decent transfer fee rather than let them leave for nothing? Especially when we think of players who’ve come through the academy who cost us nothing to sign.

But yes, as Mikel Arteta said, we are improving. A slow start under his management but the last two seasons have been very good. The fact that finishing second feels disappointing would suggest that.

Catch up in the comments.

 

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