What should Mikel Arteta and a misfiring Arsenal do to revive the club's fortunes before it crumbles completely?
Clearly, Arsenal is without any artillery. In a Premier League comprising of 20 teams, the Gunners are placed 15th and are dangerously inching closer to being relegated. They look woeful, tremendously short of confidence, and lack the necessary tools to find the back of the net regularly. They now have four losses and a draw in their last five matches. As the Premier League season edges towards the end of the year, the side, supposed to be one of the marquee teams is now languishing at the bottom five.
The need of the hour is to plan for the tornado in the form of a relegation that would hit them if they continue to play through the slump, The team's social media pages have seen more than their fair share of irate fans whose optimism at that start of the season has seen a rapid decline. For some who have been Gunners ardents, the predicament Mikel Arteta and his men are in doesn't come as a surprise at all. In fact, according to The Athletic, those at the North London HQ are sure the losing slide will continue, and arresting it is a long way off.
Make no mistake, this is a side that has all the potential to launch a rearguard attack when the odds are against it, however, the culture and mentality have dipped well below standards, making Arsenal perennial bridesmaids while the rest of the teams, especially in the "Top Six" stake their claim for the Premier League title.
There's no denying that Arteta and his staff have made some mistakes along the way. The former player did put on a brave face saying they had to be ready to take bullets. "We have to take the bullets. We are not winning football matches and you have to put your chest there." Not that he's tried to rectify it. The results didn't entirely tilt in his favor. There were reports that players were miffed when Willian was granted permission to start against Leeds United after his trip to Dubai.
Of course, double standard is a common phrase in sport and Arsenal would in no way escape the watchful eyes of the insiders. A certain part of Arsenal's fandom has labeled Arteta's title change as one of the massive mistakes the club has made. When they did see impressive results, Arteta's stock rose, only to plummet when they started losing again.
For now, what we can still say is the club won't show the Spaniard the door. And while we're talking about entrances and exits, there's that problem of lacking a quality playmaker. Mezut Ozil is still around, but off-the-field issues have made it perfectly clear that the door is shut.
Fan opinions
Some fans felt the issues are far deep-rooted. MEAWW spoke to a few of the club's fans and Premier League followers who shared their opinions on the team's decline. Vijay Menon, one of the club's fans since the 1999-2000 season has seen the outfit go through its period of highs and lows. And to him, Arsenal looking ar relegation isn't an overnight event.
"This is the result of over a decade of mismanagement, bad recruitment, and the biggest reason of them all the Stan Kroenke regime," he opined. "If you ask an Arsenal fan how you can fix this, the answer will be long and drawn out because it's not a small fix. Firing Arteta and giving another manager the same bunch of players will probably see us in the same position a year later."
Instead, I'd rather see a massive clear out of all the deadwood, support the manager with some real quality signings in the upcoming window and hopefully pull out of this slump. The larger fix we need to see is an overhaul of the entire club hierarchy and get people who know how to run a football club. Be ruthless and chase success, rather than be Kroenke's "yes" men. Seconding these thoughts were Ansh Aswal, another Gunners man.
Ansh termed the board and the players to be incompetent. "Players are not able to pull each other-self up in tough situations," he reckoned. There was also a comparison to Manchester United, who after blowing hot and cold in the early stages of the tournament are now placed third on the standings. "Even United has a bad board, but they show decent spine from time to time," he added. Arsenal's plight hasn't gone unnoticed by fans of other clubs either.
Suddhaloke, a United supporter, is in favor of sacking Arteta. "Yes he did not get the players he wants, but the decisions he has taken have not worked. Sticking with Granit Xhaka, Hector Bellerin, and Eddie Nketiah has backfired. The team is too good to be placed 15th," he explained. "I personally think the job has gotten too big for him."
The remedy
In short, the fans say the club must see an overhaul and that's probably the need of the hour. One of the ways Arsenal can indeed look at reviving their fortunes is by injecting fresh blood in the side. While there may be doubts about them shouldering the load, Bukayo Saka's good run is ample proof the formula works. Reiss Nelson and Joe Willock have impressed in Europe and using someone like Willock the way he was used in the Europa League would be a start.
Then comes the style of play Arteta must incorporate. What the Gunners lack right now are astute tactics. Their offense has been well below par and the onus must shift towards counter-attacking. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Nicolas Pepe and Willian have proved time and again that they can take the transitions forward with Saka and Willock sharing those skillsets with them. Rather than playing the waiting game, which has been instrumental in their doom, the Gunners could take the attack to the opposition.
Being in the right place and the right time is key. For all the talk about the lack of goals scored by the side, it shouldn't really come as a surprise considering Arteta and his men are in dire need of a playmaker who could set up scoring opportunities. The idea of goalscoring is getting into positions that enable the player to take a shot with a major degree of certainty, and that is a place the players haven't really been in.
To be honest, Arsenal are not pushovers. Lack of form and internal issues have played their part in knocking them down. Arteta is a man keen to make a mark and although the FA Cup fame four months ago seems a long way off, recreating that turnover isn't a task.
Sometimes calls have to be made for the better and the Gunners, there's just enough time to get out of the hole they've dug themselves into.