No one said it was going to be easy
That post title has brought a broad smile to any Spurs fan reading it and sage nod from any fellow gunner.
Life is a series of ups and downs and sport is no different. Whether you are playing it or just watching it and shouting on your favorite players, rarely will one escape the home truth discovered by Issac Newton in the late 1600s, namely, what goes up, must come down.
Legend has it that Isaac Newton came up with gravitational theory in 1665, or 1666, after watching an apple fall. He asked why the apple fell straight down, rather than sideways or even upward. "He showed that the force that makes the apple fall and that holds us on the ground is the same as the force that keeps the moon and planets in their orbits," Martin Rees says.
Newton needed to see an apple falling and huge intellect to figure this out, what I want to demonstrate needs neither, in fact one eye and the smallest amount of common sense will suffice.
Arsenal are in disarray and have become the butt of many jokes in recent years. The longer time goes on, "recent years" fails to capture the run of inconsistency, poor form and mediocrity. Let's look at some dates to demonstrate my point.
April 2018 - Wenger retires as Arsenal manager
March 2017 - Last time Arsenal played a Champions League match. A 10-2 aggregate drubbing from Bayern Munich.
2003/2004 - The last time Arsenal won the Premier League
Blaming Wenger
Many Arsenal fans were calling for Wenger's head in the later years of his tenure and sure, some change was probably needed, but looking back on it now, Wenger was a miracle worker, an alchemist, as his shrewd economics-driven mind allowed Arsenal to at least compete, at a time when they were paying off their stadium and cashing in on their star players. He was the driving force behind Arsenal reaching the Champions League group stages every year up until 2016, which in hindsight was quite extraordinary given their net spending in comparison to Chelsea, Man City, Man United and others.
I'd be willing to bet that the majority of them would gladly have him back now, having endured the past few seasons as Arsenal stuttered to 6th, 5th and most recently 8th. Under Wenger, a loss to a Burnley, Brentford or Boreham Wood was a shock. These days, it's almost expected at times. Many a neautral betting fan must have made good money betting against Arsenal in recent times.
Looking forward
The question at the tip of people's lips now is How long does Arteta have? If the bookmakers odds below are anything to go by, his days are very much numbered. Football is cut throat and football management even more so. Arteta has been given more time than many get at top (bit of stretch!) clubs because of his history with the club. He is a former captain and club legend, but as we saw recently with Frank Lampard at Chelsea, loyalty is a scarce commodity in the board room if results are not favorable for too long.
Chelsea's appointment of Thomas Tuchel looks like a stroke of genius, but my fear for Arsenal is that if they sack Arteta, they will again be penny wise and pound foolish and appoint the wrong man for the job. Arsenal need a tough-nut, straight-talking manager to cut through all the bullshit and call it as he sees it. No massaging of egos and molly-coddling. Clear out the guys who lack the steely determination and requisite skillset needed at the top level and get in some real pros. The trouble is twofold however, those type of players cost big money and Arsenal often shy away from big spending or wages. Secondly trying to attract players to a team that has not played Champions League football since early 2017 and finished 8th in the Premier league last year is and was challenging. The agents who control the players today don't want their star player missing out on the exposure of Champions League football and no real sign of it coming any time soon.
Arteta's test
I'll show you the games Mr. Arteta has on front of him in the coming weeks and some are must win as the tried and tested football cliche goes. Nobody expects Arsenal to beat City, so the likes of a 0-2 defeat there would be accepted by the suits I suspect. However should they lose the cup game tonight and get hammered by City at the weekend, then the pressure will be ratcheted right up for the visit of Norwich on September 11th. My American friends will be commemorating a sad day in their nation's history that day and Arteta may also be commemorating his Arsenal managerial career on that same day.
AUG 25th West Brom vs Arsenal (EPL Cup)
AUG 28th Man City vs Arsenal
SEP 11th Arsenal vs Norwich
SEP 8th Burnley vs Arsenal
SEP 26th Arsenal vs Spurs
OCT 2nd Brighton vs Arsenal
Will he survive? Only time will tell. Should he survive? Yes, as it can't get much worse to be honest, so it may be prudent to give him this full season to see where he can get us to. Our opening games have been tough as well, so perhaps once we get the Man City game out of the way, things might improve.
One thing is for sure, it is not easy being a Gunner in 2021! Hopefully like most things, it is cyclical and we will come good again.
The images used throughout were sourced on copyright free website pixabay.com and the qoute about Newton is from https://www.britannica.com/biography/Isaac-Newton
