A new challenge awaits for Mikel Arteta

Arsenal have appointed former club legend Mikel Arteta as the head coach. Over the years, Arsenal’s house has been at sixes and sevens. The glory days faded long ago and without showing any signs of improvement, the performance graph consistently has gone downwards. Unai Emery was sacked and the interim coach Freddie Ljungberg also failed to fix things. The times were desperate at Emirates and at this crucial juncture, Arteta was appointed.

The appointment seems to be an exciting gamble, but all might be wasted if Arteta fails to fix the major problems in Arsenal.

Arsenal’s defence has been a major problem. Under pressure, their defence crumbles and for which the team has not kept a clean sheet for the last 14 games. There lacks synchronicity between the centre-backs and wing-backs. The combination of Sokratis and Calum Chambers does not look like the answer for now and Arteta might think about re-operating with David Luiz either at the back or in defensive midfield. Arteta himself had been a defensive midfielder and surely he would be a better idea of how to get the best out of summer signing Luiz. Again, he would also know the importance of Lucas Torreira, Matteo Guendozi, and Granit Xhaka.

At this point, the midfield might focus more on solidity rather than creativity to protect the backline. Build up from behind and give the forwards the much-needed freedom upfront. If this mindset prevails then someone like Mesut Ozil would become a luxury in the side. Ozil is a star, but at this point, whether Arsenal can afford him or not remains a moot question.

Then Arsenal have issues with wing-backs: Hector Bellerin and Kieran Tierney are out injured. It would be better is Arsenal operate with center-backs in all four positions. It is time to rebuild rather than trying something adventurous.

Arsenal have Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette up front. Lacazatte seems to be a lost soul right now, whereas, there is no denying the fact, on his day, he could crush any opposition with his goal-scoring abilities. Arteta needs to bring the best out of Lacazette and build a dynamic combination of Lacazette and Auba. Someone like Lacazatte warming the bench is never a good sight to watch.

Above all, Arsenal’s captaincy issue needs to be solved. Xhaka - who according to various reports is expected to leave Arsenal this winter -  was stripped of the captaincy after he reacted to the boos from home fans. Emery appointed Auba as the captain, but the duty seemed weightful enough for him. Against Brighton, Auba lost his temper against 20-year old Joe Willock. Arteta knows the importance of leadership. And thus, one expects him to be wise and composed enough to fix the problems at Arsenal.      

Note: this article has been posted at Cricketsoccer as CSdesk on 21/12/2019 A new challenge awaits for Mikel Arteta 

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Faisal Caesar