Arsenal’s Trip To Everton Previewed

A week is a long time in football and so it seems to be with Arsenal. The 3-0 defeat at home to City last week showed the gulf in class between them and us and also the huge gap in the commitment levels of far too many of the players. Unai Emery was despatched a few weeks ago and the hoped for improvement in performances and results didn’t really happen.

It’s hard to blame Freddie Ljungberg too much for the performances under him as he was thrown in at the deep end with little or no help. The players gave just about as much for Freddie as they did for Emery which simply wasn’t enough far too often. There’s a malaise at the club which runs right through from the owners who seem disinterested at best right the way through to the majority of the players who can’t be bothered to give their all far too often.

Under the final seasons of Arsene Wenger’s reign there were still occasions when we could turn it on and beat almost any team. There were even a few performances like that early last season under Emery, but they were few and far between. I can honestly say I haven’t seen a single Premier League performance from Arsenal this season that has impressed me and it’s something that has to change.

It appears the man the club hope can bring about that change is Mikel Arteta as he has been announced today as the new manager. It’s a massive gamble to appoint an untried manager at a time when the club is in crisis, but his time as assistant to Pep Guardiola at City should hopefully stand to him. When Emery was appointed I gave him my full backing as I would with any Arsenal manager and Arteta will be no different.

I am a little worried that he was a player at the club when that malaise started to creep in, but he was never a player who I considered to have given anything less than everything he had to the cause. It’s up to him to root out those who won’t or can’t improve and give their all and if the rumours are correct there are quite a few players queueing up to leave. Some of our higher profile players would seem to be of the opinion they can win trophies elsewhere and they could well be right, but with the right attitude and commitment they can win them at Arsenal too.

I don’t think Arteta will be in charge for tomorrow’s early game at Everton, but hopefully his arrival can have a positive impact on the players. I have read all too often about our lack of quality, but we still have some very good players who are capable of hurting just about any team we play against. They lack organisation, consistency and discipline, but Arteta sees himself as the man who can return that to our team.

As for Everton it’s a big game for us, but every game is a big game for a team who have only won once in their last nine league games. We’re looking upwards in the table and can move in that direction with a win, but a defeat would leave us one point above them and they’re currently only two places above the relegation zone. Fifth placed Spurs are only four points ahead of us though with fourth placed Chelsea a further three points ahead of them and they play each other this weekend. 

Chelsea have lost four of their last five league games and I’m still not impressed by Spurs under Jose Mourinho so I don’t think a top four finish is completely beyond us yet. For it to happen Arteta has to have an immediate and lasting impact on every single thing the players do and I’m optimistic he can do so. You might call me crazy, but surely the lot of a football fan is to be optimistic and having a new man at the helm should at least allow that for a while.

That’s it for today.

See you tomorrow.