FIGHTING TALK FROM ARTETA

CONTEXT VACUUM FILLED

Mikel Arteta came out firing in the media. I won’t quote, but the gist was very clear.

• The journey these players have been on has been immense

• We’ve gone from a midtable joke, to competitors

• Only one team can win the Premier League and we’re competing against the greatest-ever Premier League side, and Jurgen Klopp on his farewell tour

• When you’re in a fight, sometimes you lose, but you shouldn’t take your eye off the progress

That’s what I want to hear from my manager.

We had the youngest team in the league last year, we’re probably 3rd this year, the majority of our superstar talents are 25 or younger, and we managed to get to a quarter-final in our first UCL in 7 years, and we’re still in the hunt for the Premier League.

2 points in it against the monster of Manchester City, and people want to question the club?

Please.

The biggest problem we have as fans is we don’t like to hear about incremental improvements and being constantly disappointed is upsetting.

The past two seasons, it’s a different type of upset. We’re angry because we could have, not because we didn’t.

The banter years was apathy. The club didn’t care, we did. But there was a resignation about where we were as a club. Arsenal was rudderless.

These days, we’re angry because we’re behind in the Premier League and we dropped out of a game we should have won. We’re literally pissed because we are now in such good shape, we believe Bayern should have been rolled.

That is a good place to be. People crying for something different aren’t serious people. Our club is the envy of the world, our players are just getting started, and there’s no manager that suits who we are as a club than Mikel Arteta.

At the end of last season, the biggest improvement we wanted to see was more control, and scalps against the top 2 clubs. We've taken 8 points from Liverpool and City and gone unbeaten. That's massive. We also boast the best defence, the most goals, and we top nearly every important metric Liverpool looks at and City looks at.

Are there things to improve upon? For sure. But we all knew that at the start of the season.

We need a midfielder who can step into that Partey role.

We need an explosive winger like Leroy Sane.

We need a strong striker who can be a difference-maker physically and clinically.

Arteta needs to get to grips with rotation and we need to work out a way of making it beyond April.

But that will come. Liverpool is in the same situation and has been plenty of times. They finished 5th last year, and they’ve slumped harder than us despite having players like Trent, Robertson, Salah, Jota, and Allison.

Getting back to the top takes time unless you have the backing of a nation-state. Even the best nation-state-backed club in the world took 13 years to win a Champions League. The best manager who has ever lived took 7 attempts to win it with City and he didn’t do it with Bayern Munich at all.

Don’t get down about us not winning Champions League at the first attempt. 90% of our squad had never played in the competition before. It’ll take some time and require some luck. Look at the final 4 teams, they are not the best teams in the world.

Wolves tomorrow is a chance to be within striking distance of City if something goes wrong. Win against an incredibly depleted opponent and we are still very much in the mixer with 4 games to go. Remember, that 5th place CL spot did not go to the Premier League. If Spurs want to have a respectable season, they simply have to win all the rest of the games. They are chasing Villa. Liverpool and City play Spurs. They are a nightmare team for City for no apparent reason. It could happen.

Ok, that’s me done. Thanks to those who signed up for the Subtack. You’ll be getting all the podcasts ad free. You’ll get the paywalled blogs when I turn that function on at the end of the season.

Right. See you in the comments.