Arsenal FC have been dealing with mediocrity for a number of seasons now but many fans have high hopes from their current manager, Mikel Arteta.
The Gunners chose to sack Unai Emery in December following which they named former midfielder Mikel Arteta as their new manager. And since then the Spaniard has done a fairly decent job at the Emirates.
Right now, Arsenal FC are ninth on the Premier League table – eight points off the top-four meaning there a chance they will miss out on Champions League football yet again.
But while accepting that Arsenal’s fall has been really sad, former Gunners keeper Almunia has predicted that Mikel Arteta is the right back to take the club back to the top.
He told Marca: “With Arsenal, as the big club that they are, it’s a shame to see them like this. For the history, infrastructure, British and global fans and the attraction in general, they should be in the Champions League and higher up in the league.
“Sooner or later, they’ll be among the best again and I’m sure Mikel will help with that. He was a player not long ago.
“He’s shared the dressing room with some of the players he coaches now and he knows what modern football is like and he’ll know what the best thing for them is. He has to be given time.
“With trophies, I imagine it’s a question of eras and a big title can break the ice. From there, the players will believe that they can win more and that’s momentum.”
Is Mikel Arteta the right man for Arsenal FC?
Arteta has surely made some pretty bold statements during his first couple of months as the Arsenal boss but in all fairness, the manager is yet to achieve something really big.
Yes, the overall play has improved under the Spaniard but this season, Arsenal FC have picked up 13 draws which have really hurt their chances of making it to the top-four.
But all said and done, this rebuilding process needs time and will be unfair to judge him after only 15 games in charge. The manager will have to be given at least the next few transfer windows in order to build a team to his liking and only then can we be able to scrutinise his tactics.
There are a lot of areas in the squad that require immediate patchwork and we believe the manager’s biggest focus this summer will be on strengthening his defensive line since the likes of David Luiz and Sokratis have been really underwhelming so far.
Apart from this, the other problem that Arteta will have to deal with is holding onto some of his star players – namely Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang who has only one more year left on his current contract.
