According to Mikel Arteta, our return to Champions League football is the start of something fantastic.
We had not qualified to compete in the premier European competition since the days of Arsene Wenger. However, Mikel Arteta, who has transformed us as a team since taking over as manager in 2019, led us to the competition by guiding us to finish second in the league last season.
Arteta believes that playing in it this season is just the beginning, as he may be seeking for us to play in it season after season going forward, with the hope of winning it and being seen as the European powerhouse that we are.
It has taken Arteta about three years to bring Champions League football back to the Emirates. The Spaniard and the boys have had to battle through some hard times, but he acknowledges that they never gave up.
“It feels like yesterday, but in the same way it feels like many more years ago,” said Arteta as per the Evening Standard, reflecting on Arsenal’s journey under his tutelage.
“Obviously, we had some big situations to go through. We did it together and in a really powerful way as a club, with everyone that was involved in that process.
“We always believed that we were going to reach there, but something is to try to plan, and then to do it. We don’t want to stop here, that is for sure. That is the aim: to continue to be better.
“Probably when we look back in a few years, we will understand a lot of changes and a lot of mistakes along the way that have made us better.”
That said, we are in it to compete, as Arteta went on to admit. “Looking at the Premier League, and we’ve seen in the last five to ten years what happened, don’t take it for granted,” he said.
“You really have to earn it. It’s a really big thing to be qualifying in this Premier League for the Champions League.
“We earned it last year, and this season we’re going to have to fight really, really hard to try to earn it again, that’s for sure.”
Well, he says we have reached the end of the process by securing Champions League football, and now he just has to make us even better.
That sounds good to me!
COYG!
Sam P
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Read into what MA is REALLY saying, especially in paragraphs 3 and four of his statement – his feet are firmly on the floor!!
Yeah, this is kid talk. You can’t take anything for granted, but the fact that life is a loan. This is football! Just football. Win or lose, who cares? IT IS NOT IMPORTANT!!! Well… it would be nice beating Spurs on Sunday.
“Win or lose Who cares”? I do!!!
It is never easy, but for complete control and spending in excess of 600 million, I don’t think it an unreasonable standard for the manager. If he misses out on top 4 then it is a firm warning, miss out 2 years in a row, then it is the sack.
Wenger and Emery faced the standard, so until we have firm expectations at the club, we risk accepting mediocrity. I believe Arteta is firmly capable of achieving top 4, but my hope is for more, for lifting a PL trophy or at best a CL trophy.
“Probably when we look back in a few years, we will understand a lot of changes and a lot of mistakes along the way that have made us better.”
For those who are expecting him to succeed without any mistakes, hope you can say so in your personal endeavors? Arteta has made a couple of mistakes, but his success stupendously outweighs his mistakes in relation to the state of the club when he was appointed head coach. We were at the bottom half of the table, playing some horrible football. He’s had his difficult moments though, will go through difficult moments still, glad the the board spotted the potential footballing genius in him and gave him the support he needed.
I didn’t spend 600+ millions while getting paid millions in my personal endeavors.
Yeah spent 600 million after earning it during the three plus year interval he has began the rebuild. Job well done i say.
That explains why he is there and not you.