Arteta has been criticised at the start of this season as Arsenal have endured a frustrating start to the 2024/25 campaign as they trail Liverpool in the Premier League title race.
Arsenal are six points adrift of table-toppers Liverpool – who also have a game in hand – after they dropped points against Brighton last weekend.
Liverpool have marched ahead of Arsenal as the most likely side to be the next side to win the Premier League after Man City, while the Gunners’ hopes of winning the Carabao Cup were dealt a blow in midweek. This came as they lost 2-0 to Newcastle United in the first leg of their semi-final.
Arsenal have become overly reliant on set pieces and their attackers (barring Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard) have underperformed as they have been pretty toothless in front of goal for most of this season.
Despite this, he will come under more pressure if they slip further away from Liverpool and fail to win a trophy. A report in Italy has (perhaps prematurely) claimed Arsenal have picked out Inter Milan boss Simone Inzaghi as their ‘dream’ replacement.
The Inter chief was heavily linked with Manchester United last year and he appears to be on Arsenal’s radar with his side positioned to become Serie A leaders if they win their two games in hand.
The report in Italy claims Arsenal are ‘observing and dreaming’ about appointing Inzaghi, who is ‘intrigued’ by this job opportunity. As for Arteta, it is noted that he has ‘interest’ from Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain.
Former Spurs midfielder Jamie O’Hara thinks “people will question if Arteta is a top manager” should they “go trophyless” this season.
“This is a big season for Mikel Arteta, I think he must win a trophy. If he doesn’t, people will start to question if he is the man that can get Arsenal over the line and take them to the next level,” O’Hara said.
“Don’t get me wrong, he’s done a fantastic job, he’s got Arsenal back amongst it. They’ve spent money and he’s got them back towards the top of the table, but is he the man who will take them to the very top? He would say he is because he’s won three trophies, but though two of them are called shields. If they don’t win a single competition this season and go trophyless, people will question if he is a top manager.
“Arteta cannot be blaming the Carabao Cup balls for the semi-final loss, what is he going on about? Both teams are playing with the same ball whether it’s a Puma ball, a Nike ball, if you kick it correctly it goes where you want it to! Look, I’ve played with Carabao Cup balls and with Premier League balls, they are slightly different but if you smash one into the top corner, it’s still going in the top corner.
“It’s another excuse from Arteta, there’s always an excuse or it’s somebody else’s fault, they weren’t good enough!”
0 Comments