Mikel Arteta is in his third full season as Arsenal manager and in many ways it feels more like his second. When I look back at his first 18 months in charge, I’m not sure I necessarily see all the building blocks of what we see now accumulating in those 18 months. I feel like there is, or will be, a rewrite of that part of his tenure as part of the inevitable slow and steady ascent.
There was a lot on Arteta’s plate, to say the least, so it’s only fitting that Arsenal have been slow to get to this juncture where, for now at least, they’re playing some of the best football in the Premier League. It is not my intention to fully re-litigate that first season and a half here, but it is fair to say that many mistakes were made, as you would expect from a rookie coach.
The question was always how many mistakes the Arsenal board would accept before they felt it was less of a learning curve and more of a sign that they had misjudged Arteta’s capabilities. That point didn’t come and I think we can all be thankful for that now. To be fair, I think the pandemic led many football clubs to make strange decisions.
I’m not sure that Aubameyang’s contract, Dani Ceballos’ second year on loan, David Luiz’s contract extension in 2020 or the rejection of Wolves’ offer for Ainsley Maitland-Niles will happen without the financial uncertainty of the pandemic. However, there was a line in the sand in the summer of 2021 when the transfer policy was redirected towards younger and hungrier players.
Arsenal fans could feel something moving and checking that window now, Ben White, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Martin Odegaard and Aaron Ramsdale all feel like essential catches. The team has flourished even more with the arrival of Gabriel Jesus to revive a forward that required more urgency and quality.
The mood at Arsenal, certainly in the stands, is as vibrant as I can remember. It feels a lot like the early days of a relationship when every message, every exchange feels vital and life-affirming, before you start asking long-term questions about where this is all going and whether you both want the same things.
I think the parallels between what Mikel Arteta has done at Arsenal and the early days of George Graham are numerous. Graham clashed with established international players like Kenny Sansom, Graham Rix and Tony Woodcock, pushing them out the door and replacing them with younger, hungrier players more willing to follow his lead.
Graham also brought in some of the best talent from the club’s academy, including Paul Merson and Michael Thomas, and even named 21-year-old Tony Adams captain. Graham was a former Arsenal player who felt standards had dropped at the club he knew as a player and sought to reintroduce them. Sounds familiar, right?
The current period also reminds me of that first season with Arsene Wenger in 1996-97. There is a slight distinction in the fact that Wenger took over late in the season and largely retained the staff he inherited (with the exception of a lanky young midfielder named Patrick Vieira). However, football was revolutionized.
Arsenal seemed urgent, even blustering. They finished third during Wenger’s inaugural campaign and no one had a clue what would follow in 1997-98. Again, it was that early period of the relationship where you don’t really ask those long-term questions, you just absorb that sense of vitality.
After a couple of seasons of mediocrity and football that was often hard to stomach, Wenger instantly released the team and there was a sudden stir at Highbury, a feeling that we were in good hands. That’s how it feels right now too. Over time, there is a tricky mid-term question for Arsenal that could start to eat away at us and undermine our happiness.
With the presence of Manchester City in the league, what is the real ceiling for this team? A league title feels like an unlikely goal, while City can spend whatever money they can and have a setup that can host Goliaths like Guardiola and Haaland. Even though the Gunners currently top the table, few see this as a title run.
Ultimately, Arsenal would be trying to beat City for the title with their former assistant manager and a couple of players, in Jesus and Zinchenko, who City were happy enough to sell to N5. Arsenal beating City with so many of their legacy would be hilarious, of course, but it’s still unlikely.
On Sunday, Arsenal defeated Liverpool and it felt like a baton change in many ways. An intense young team with a fully engaged crowd behind them beat a Liverpool side with five 30-year-olds. The visitors have enjoyed an incredible five-year stretch, in which nearly every hiring decision has been executed flawlessly, with a generational coach and rare chemistry being generated on the pitch.
Domestically, their reward has been a single league title (although they did, of course, win the Champions League). I am reminded of Jurgen Klopp’s quote while coaching Borussia Dortmund: “We have a bow and arrow, and if we aim well, we can hit the target. The problem is that Bayern have a bazooka. The probability that they will hit the target is clearly higher.”
A league in which Guardiola’s Manchester City operate is close to a closed shop and if Arsenal’s trajectory continues (which is far, far from guaranteed) that fact could start to rankle. For now, though, Arsenal and their fans are in those cherished early days, where a piece of inadvertently smudged make-up looks appealing and every chime of WhatsApp message pitch generates a flurry of anticipation.
In the words of Jacques of The Simpsons, “Here is the most beautiful moment in life. Better than the fact, better than the memory. The moment… of anticipation!”
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