Arsenal will keep faith in Mikel Arteta despite Champions League hopes hanging by a thread

WHEN Arsenal sealed Mikel Arteta’s new deal with Champions League qualification still up in the air, plenty of eyebrows were raised.

Now that they are near-certain to miss out on the top four, the timing of that signing is the topic of a raging debate.

Monday’s devastating 2-0 loss at Newcastle has struck a chord with many fans who fear being lumbered with the manager just like with Mesut Ozil and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

But Arsenal knew exactly what they were doing when they made that contract announcement 12 days ago.

They were sending out a message of complete faith in their young manager no matter where the team finishes this season.

And by tying Arteta down for the next three years, Arsenal avoided the kind of damaging talk that could undermine the overhaul of their paper-thin squad this summer.

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So if the Kroenkes and technical director Edu implicitly believe in Arteta’s ability to take the club forward, agreeing that £8.5million-a-year contract was absolutely the right thing to do.

But now that we know for certain that Arteta is in it for the long haul, it is imperative that he learns from his mistakes.

And there have been plenty to learn from.

His most costly was letting six players go in January without signing replacements, a gamble that massively backfired.

Asked at the weekend whether he regrets that decision, Arteta claimed that it was the players who wanted to leave.

Yet they were all under contract and could easily have been forced to stay.

But as soon as a player questions his lack of game time, Arteta’s reaction is to get rid.

So he left himself with just 18 outfield players for the second half of the season — including injury-prone Thomas Partey, Kieran Tierney and Takehiro Tomiyasu.  

It meant when injuries or suspensions inevitably struck, and when Emile Smith  Rowe, Gabriel Magalhaes, Ben White, Alex Lacazette and even Bukayo Saka’s form, dipped, he had to keep picking them.

It is difficult not to wonder how Arsenal might have fared if they still had Aubameyang, Calum Chambers, Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Pablo Mari to help out.

In contrast, bitter rivals Tottenham immeasurably strengthened their squad in January by signing Dejan Kulusevski and Rodrigo Bentancur.

It is now Spurs who are set to nick a Champions League spot.

That will put a £50m hole in Arsenal’s budget this summer.

That figure is the difference between a place in the Champions League and the Europa League.

It also makes it much more difficult to sign the quality they need if they are to challenge for the title again.

You could argue Arsenal have done well to take Spurs to the wire when they don’t have anyone like Harry Kane and Son Heung-min.

Fifth place will be a massive overachievement on most people’s pre-season expectations.

But this feels like a massive opportunity has been missed.

It will be fascinating to see Arteta and his young squad cope with that disappointment.

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Arsenal have lost 26 Prem games in Arteta’s two full seasons in charge.

If they cannot improve on that next term, even that lucrative long-term deal may not protect him.

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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk