It did not take long for the Grandpa’s to begin shouting “Arteta Out” to the clouds.
This season has not been a smooth one. But we sit second in the league and are guaranteed qualification to the play-off round of the Champions League. Yet some fans have come from under their rocks and are screaming “Arteta Out”.
Are we now in a situation where it is “top the league or sack the manager”, because if you are saying Arteta is underperforming with this squad, then you are basically saying it is “first or nothing”.
The way some fans (and many in the media) are going on, you would think we were sitting in 13th or 15th.
Admittedly, this season has felt a little deflating. And one cause of the frustration is that it is Liverpool ahead of us in the league rather than Manchester City. I am sure if it was City who were 6 points clear of us then not as much fuss would be made.
Arne Slott leading the way in his first season as led to a lot of mocking from fans of Arteta’s “phases”. But it does not respect the position both managers came into their clubs.
Arteta had a group of overpaid, ageing, underperforming players. His first phase was to get rid of them. His second phase was to get us back in the top 4. His 3rd phase was to make us title challengers. It is a fairly clear action plan that is obvious to all.
Meanwhile, Slott took over a team with world class players like Mo Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Allison. The best Premier League players in their positions over the last 5 or 6 years, and amongst the best in Premier League history.
Liverpool had only finished outside the top 3 once in the previous 6 seasons. And last season they were topping the league with just 7 games to go before falling away to 3rd.
A revolution was not required at Liverpool like it was at Arsenal. Slott has merely continued the work with the foundations laid by Jurgen Klopp, and got Salah back to his unplayable best.
Whilst the Grandpa’s are shouting at the crowd criticising Arteta, very few are giving Liverpool the credit they deserve.
51 points from the opening 21 games has them on-course for a 90-point season. Arsenal have never gained more than 90 points in history, with our highest being the invincible 90 point haul back in 2024. I always think if you get 90+ points and do not win the league you can consider yourselves unlucky.
And in the Champions League, Liverpool are top and the only side with a 100% record.
7 wins out of 7 has them secure their place in the round of 16 with a game to go. Right now they are the best team in both England and Europe. Being 2nd to them is no disgrace.
Next season will be the real test for Slott. If van Dijk, Salah and Trent depart. , he will then need to rebuild the Liverpool squad. That will then show if he is a top manager himself, or if he just inherited top players and a system from Jurgen Klopp.
Meanwhile, we need to keep the faith with Arteta.
Some will point to how much he has spent, yet that is blown out of the water by the likes of Manchester City, Chelsea and Manchester United. Our wage bill is also well below the 3 and Liverpool.
We need to keep growing the squad, and maybe take inspiration from Liverpool’s forward line
Rather than go for one single “world class” attacker – of which their are very few in world football – we need to perhaps mimic them and have a group of forwards that are that level below (Nunez, Jota, Diaz, Gakpo), who might not be able to do it for 38 games, but between them will all have their moments over the 38 games.
Benjamin Sesko and Matheus Cunha are those sort of players. Neither is world class, and both have put up similar outputs this season as Gabriel Martinelli and Kai Havertz. The pair, however, would provide us further strength in depth and options.
We will likely finish 2nd again this season. We can not get into a situation where we are sacking managers for finishing second.
Keenos