Mikel Arteta: Winners and losers as Arsenal appoint new manager
Former Arsenal captain returns to the Emirates to replace Unai Emery, but the size of his task ahead is set to change the landscape of the club completely
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Your support makes all the difference.Arsenal have appointed former captain Mikel Arteta as their new manager, replacing the dismissed Unai Emery three weeks since after he was sacked.
The Spaniard has agreed a three-and-a-half year deal to return to the Emirates Stadium, leaving his role as assisant to Pep Guardiola at Manchester City.
But Arteta has made it known to City that he is keen on taking the job while it is on offer, having been overlooked at the last hurdle two seasons ago when the Arsenal board decided to hand the role to Emery instead.
Arteta’s first task will be to lift a squad that is desperately low on confidence, having secured just one victory from their last 12 games in all competitions, with the hope being he can lift them from their lowly Premier League position of 10th to challenge for an unlikely top-four finish.
But the wider picture will see Arteta required to carry out a revamp of a squad that is evidently not up to scratch to achieve what Arsenal are demanding right now, and that is set to leave a number of winners and losers across the club that could have sizeable repercussions.
Winners
The German has outlasted Arsene Wenger, Unai Emery and the short interim reign on Freddie Ljungberg, despite being one of the prime targets for the fans’ ire over is apparently lethargic displays this season. Ozil has long been one of the enigmas of the Premier League, having a talent that few across the division can rival yet displaying it on so few occasions that the prospect of his selection at all sometimes beggars belief.
But the arrival of a former teammate in Arteta could well see Ozil receive the arm around the shoulder that he desperately craves, and at a time when he has put himself in the headlines for reasons beyond football, it may be the perfect cure to get him focussed on playing his best again. After all, who else do Arsenal have to select in his position who is performing well?
Mikel Arteta
Of course, this is the obvious one. Arteta receives his first permanent manager’s job at a club where he can’t really do much worse than what is already happening, yet has the potential and talent to shoot right up the table with just a couple of wins. It’ll be a tough ask for Arteta, but he knows the club inside out and – just like Ole Gunnar Solskjaer – will be afforded more time than most due to his previous relationship there.
As long as Arteta sticks with him as captain, the arrival of the new manager could see Aubameyang benefit from what Pep Guardiola has taught his young understudy. Guardiola has always favoured playing one lone striker and for too long Aubameyang has been wasted out wide to accommodate both he and Alexandre Lacazette. Arteta’s arrival could well see Aubameyang return to being the main man in the middle.
Arsenal fans
It has not been a kind campaign for Arsenal fans to endure so far this season but the arrival of Arteta will bring a renewed optimism at the Emirates and – the club will desperately hope – a new manager bounce that they failed to get with Ljungberg. Whether or not Arteta is the answer to Arsenal’s issues remains to be seen, but he should help to heal a fractured fanbase and bring calm to a club that has been in freefall in just about every area.
Nicolas Pepe
The £72m club-record signing clearly has something about him, and Arteta could be the man who finally brings out his best side at Arsenal. With just four goals to his name since arriving from Lille in the summer, it would be fair of Arteta to demand more from his high-cost winger, but in return Pepe may now finally have a manager who truly believes in his talents.
Losers
Pep Guardiola
Although the Manchester City manager wanted Arteta to remain in his backroom staff, he admitted that he could not see a reason for the former Arsenal midfielder remaining at the Etihad when offered a head coaching role. City have let their title-winning intensity slip this season; they have had their worst start to a Premier League under Guardiola ever, with three defeats in their opening 13 games, to leave them in third place, floundering nine points behind leaders Liverpool.
Guardiola’s loss of his assistant manager can only increase the pressure on the manager’s shoulders, and it could put the Spaniard’s long-term future at the club under more doubt.
David Luiz
David Luiz, who won both the Premier League and Champions League with Chelsea, has struggled to make an impression for the Gunners this season. Although he has started 14 of the side’s 16 Premier League games, fans have argued that this is not because of the defensive skill of the 32-year-old but because Arsenal do not have anything better at their disposal.
Luiz has been a catastrophe alongside Sokratis, and both players are likely to be sold in the not too distant future if Arteta is in favour of a revamp.
Sokratis Papastathopoulos
Which brings us to Sokratis. Arsenal’s current squad is lacking depth in multiple areas, but nowhere as greatly as in its defence which has been labelled “embarrassing” by critics this season. Arteta will have to look to fix this problem area across the next two transfer windows through both buying and selling players.
Sokratis has fallen out of favour with fans after multiple shaky performances throughout the season, with many questioning why the defender continues to be fielded.
Alexandre Lacazette
If Arteta sticks by Aubameyang, Lacazette could find himself reduced once again to the role of impact substitute – something that we have already seen frustrates him. The problem for Arsenal is that Lacazette is two years younger than Aubameyang, but by being placed repeatedly in this role he could easily have his head turned by other interested clubs. Choosing how to handle his two superstar strikers could be one of Arteta’s biggest challenges.
Joe Willock
Emery had given young midfielder Willock plenty of game time this season, before Ljungberg trusted him to start his first game in charge in the form of the recent defeat by Brighton. It backfired, with Willock hauled off at half-time, and the introduction of Pepe appears to have given Arsenal a little bit of life, if nothing else. If Ljungberg and Per Mertesacker, his former academy coach, weren’t going to stick by him, it’s highly unlikely that Arteta will, at least in the immediate future.
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