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By OLIVER HOLT Published: 04: 00 AEDT, 11 March 2025 | Updated: 05: 07 AEDT, 11 March 2025 6 View comments This is not a hagiography of Mikel Arteta. I’m not all-in on the Arsenal boss. For a start, who gets a dog to help the squad bond and calls it 'Win'? It feels like something out of a David Brent leadership manual. That poor chocolate Labrador, stuck with a name like that for the rest of its life. It may need therapy. I don’t like Arteta’s attitude to referees, either, the histrionics on the touchline, the undermining of the officials' authority, turning players into martyrs because a decision has gone against them. Arteta is far from alone in this, of course, but these things become self-fulfilling prophecies. Take Declan Rice’s sending off against Brighton in the first month of this season for preventing a quick restart. The law has been inconsistently applied but Arteta helped to turn it into a cause celebre, so it was hardly a surprise when Leandro Trossard was dismissed for the same offence against Manchester City three weeks later. Those red cards cost Arsenal four points. When teenage full back Myles Lewis-Skelly was sent off for a cynical foul on Wolves’ Matt Doherty in January, Arteta said nothing about the offence. Again, it was no surprise that Lewis-Skelly should feel empowered by his manager’s indulgence. His disciplinary record since - he was also sent off in the home defeat by West Ham last month - has become a cause for concern. I don’t like Mikel Arteta’s attitude to referees, the histrionics on the touchline, the undermining of the officials' authority Arteta has been turning players into martyrs because a decision has gone against them. He is far from alone in this, of course, but these things become self-fulfilling prophecies When Myles Lewis-Skelly was sent off at Wolves in January, Arteta said nothing about the offence. It was no surprise Lewis-Skelly should feel empowered by his manager’s indulgence And that’s before we get to recruitment. Arteta has not bought a striker for almost three years. Why did he not fill that gap last summer when everyone could see it was what Arsenal needed most? Arteta splashed out on a reserve left back and an auxiliary central midfielder, a plan which has left Arsenal hopelessly short up front. His only nod to the idea that the versatile Kai Havertz, who has subsequently been lost to injury, was no one’s idea of a title-winning forward, was to sign Raheem Sterling on loan from Chelsea. But Arteta is so unwilling to place confidence in Sterling, he’s playing a midfielder, Mikel Merino, in attack instead. When Arsenal were trying to rescue the game against Manchester United on Sunday and Arteta turned to his bench, he brought on Kieran Tierney, a full back, and left Sterling sitting on his backside. Whether it is down to Arteta, the club's former sporting director Edu - who departed suddenly earlier this season - or the Arsenal ownership, the club’s recruitment in that regard has been woeful. The result is that Arsenal are further away from winning the title this year than they were in either of the previous two seasons, when they were runners-up to Manchester City. The expectation was that, if City stumbled, Arsenal would step up. Instead, it is Liverpool who will take City’s crown. Many Arsenal fans, predictably, now want Arteta out. They say he has taken the club as far as he can. Roy Keane, the former Manchester United captain, is also an Arteta-sceptic. When he was asked on Sunday whether he thought Arsenal would win the title next season, he was scornful. ‘No, ’ he said, ‘why would I? What makes you think the manager can do it? Have they got the right mentality? Has the manager? ’ I loved Keane as a player. The best player in English football in the last 30 years, as far as I’m concerned. I love him as a pundit, too. But this idea - partly fuelled by critics like him, and embraced by some Arsenal fans - that Arteta’s time is up is not just harsh. It’s absurd. When Arteta took over at Arsenal in December 2019, the club was struggling to move on from the departure of Arsene Wenger, languishing in midtable and raging against life on the margins Ethan Nwaneri, who was quiet against United, will surely be a first-team regular next season Bukayo Saka, the team’s best player, will be back from injury soon, perhaps even in time to fire a challenge for the Champions League this season When Arteta took over at Arsenal in December 2019, the club was in a not dissimilar position to where Manchester United are now. Not quite as grim, perhaps, but struggling to move on from the departure of a great manager, languishing in midtable and raging against life on the margins. Gradually and methodically, Arteta has transformed Arsenal. This is his first management job, don’t forget, and he has built the club back up to a point where they are regular title challengers. The final step might be the hardest, as Keane points out, but why would you tear everything up now, when Arteta has got the club so close. I may have reservations about his recruitment and his attitude to officials but the job he has done at Arsenal has been incredibly impressive. Unlike Keane, I think there is every reason to believe that next season can be their year. Sure, other teams will improve, too, but if the club's ownership backs Arteta in the transfer market and enables him to buy a top-class centre forward and another creative midfielder to complement Martin Odegaard, Arsenal will be the best-placed team to dethrone Liverpool. They have so much going for them that it would be madness to change horses now. Perhaps this sounds counter-intuitive, having seen their title challenge collapse, but there is every reason to believe things are falling into place for next season. Arteta has built a first-class platform. Bukayo Saka, the team’s best player, will be back from injury soon, perhaps even in time to fire a challenge for the Champions League this season. Lewis-Skelly is a wonderfully exciting prospect. He changed the whole mood of the game for Arsenal when he came on at Old Trafford. He is going to be one of the best players in England’s top flight for some time. Then there is Ethan Nwaneri, who had a quiet game against United, but will surely be a first-team regular next season. Odegaard is one of the best creative players in the league and Havertz is better in a withdrawn role than as a front man. Arsenal have to deliver Arteta a striker of the calibre of Alexander Isak this summer Arsenal have got the right man for the manager’s job. Now they just have to back him big Arsenal have to deliver Arteta a striker of the calibre of Alexander Isak or Victor Osimhen, or a young forward ready to deliver like Ipswich’s Liam Delap. The only doubt surrounding Arsenal is nothing to do with Arteta. It is to do with Arsenal’s ambition. Arsenal have got the right man for the manager’s job. Now they just have to back him and back him big in the summer transfer window and the title will be within reach.   Arteta isn’t the problem at Arsenal. He’s their most valuable asset. Keep the cheap chat away from Match of the Day  The new chairman of the BBC, Samir Shah, says there should be less football on Match of the Day, which is a bit like suggesting there should be less news on News at Ten. I understand that the way we all consume current events has changed but the last thing we need is another show full of prehistoric lad banter and football presenters laughing at their own jokes. It will come as a surprise to Samir Shah but people still watch Match of the Day for the football Gary Lineker has been a brilliant presenter of Match of the Day, someone who can mix light touch and serious analysis. Kelly Cates, Gabby Logan and Mark Chapman are fine choices to replace him. Let them get on with it. It will come as a surprise to Mr Shah but people still watch Match of the Day for the football, not so they can tune in to a bad version of a cheap chat show. Why fans are growing tired of their owners  I walked down to the start of the demonstration against the Glazers staged by Manchester United fans before the game against Arsenal on Sunday. I walked down to the start of the demonstration against the Glazers staged by Manchester United fans before the game against Arsenal on Sunday The demonstration could be easily dismissed as a protest against the particular circumstances at United but something wider is happening here There were thousands of supporters there outside the Tollgate pub in Stretford, young and old, wearing black and marching to protest against the club’s ownership.   The demonstration could be easily dismissed as a protest against the particular circumstances at United but something wider is happening here. The Premier League, with its rising ticket prices, its constant bickering over rules, its embrace of despotic nation states and its disdain for the rest of the English pyramid, is alienating more and more of its supporter base. The goose that laid the golden egg is growing frail.

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