Having defended Per Mertesacker in my profile of him last week, it felt only right that I do the same for Mikel Arteta this week. The club captain is another of those players who many Arsenal fans have decided to over-criticise, either in a bid to prove to others on social media that they are perfectly objective and able to insult even the captain of the club they say they support, out of a new-found loyalty to Francis Coquelin, or due to a genuine belief that the ex-Barcelona youth player (he never appeared for the first team, but does hold almost 50 appearances for their ‘B’ and ‘C’ sides) is no longer – or even has never been – good enough. It all feels a little unfair on the man who left Everton for Arsenal in the hope of winning trophies, and achieved that goal, at a time when many were leaving the club in the stated aim of doing the same.
Football fans have notoriously short memories – apart from when it comes to pointing out the length of another team’s trophy drought – and it is easy to forget the impact Arteta had when he joined the club on deadline day in 2011. The Spaniard had taken a pay cut to help force through the move at a time where the club was in a state of crisis following the 8-2 humiliation at the hands of Manchester United, and was an immediately stabilising presence. The experience and reliability he offered was something totally lacking from the side at the time – although Per Mertesacker was also to offer that after signing a few days earlier – and his addition was hugely important when it came to the recovery process that the club had to go through. It cannot simply be coincidence that it is those two, signed in the aftermath of possibly the darkest day of Wenger’s reign, who are now captain and vice-captain of the club. They were signed to provide leadership and experience to a young, humiliated side, and have succeeded in that aim, both of them playing crucial roles in enabling the transformation of the team on the pitch – Arteta’s calm, unassuming leadership in the middle of midfield was key to allowing his younger teammates to flourish at a time where there was a risk of total collapse.
So, even if you question his current ability and role in the squad, you must recognise his importance to the club. But really, much of the current criticism of him is largely unfounded. Arteta has hit unlucky with injuries, and during his absence from the side, fans appear to have forgotten just how important he was to it, and distorted their memories and views of him to, it seems to me, somehow justify further their praise of Coquelin. Few seem capable of recognising that both have their own qualities and are important players for the side – to praise one, it appears you must criticise the other. We see this too with Aaron Ramsey and Jack Wilshere – fans usually fall into one camp, rather than simply recognising that both are very good players. The sudden emergence of Coquelin has therefore been hugely damaging to Arteta when it comes to fans’ perceptions – as more and more sing Coquelin’s praises, many simultaneously feel that they must diminish Arteta’s role.
This means that we now have a situation where the perception that Arteta isn’t good enough, that he’s a liability, or that – a favourite phrase on Twitter, it seems – “his legs have gone”, is increasingly widespread. There is little recognition of his ability to read the game, his fantastic passing ability, the calm composure he adds in an often hectic midfield or the fact that in reality, all of these increasingly widespread perceptions of him as having lost all ability to run and being defensively incompetent are entirely untrue. He has only just made his return from injury and as such will obviously be a little off the pace, but after coming off the bench against Crystal Palace last Sunday, he still made a series of crucial challenges and interceptions in order to maintain Arsenal’s lead. Doubts over Arteta’s defensive ability are long-running, but during his time at the club he has consistently improved in that respect – popular opinion just hasn’t kept up with the reality on the field. It is rare to see him charging about like Coquelin, but that is because he usually doesn’t need to due to his positioning. Unfortunately for Arteta, that is a less obvious quality to those watching.
My hope would be that as Arteta is an increasingly common presence on the field – as long as he suffers no further injury setbacks – fans’ perceptions of him will change once again to recognise his importance. This is likely to be a hope in vain, however. As long as Coquelin continues to perform, fans will seek to undermine Arteta – that just seems to be how things are. But ultimately, Arteta can be seen as one of the most important players the club has had in the last few years, one who was crucial in helping to stabilise the end of what is increasingly being seen as the second third of the Wenger era – the drought – and one who helped to enable the final third, where trophies are finally being won again.
He appears to be taking on a player/coach role at present, and I have little doubt that he will be a coach at the club in the future. I have a hope that he may even, one day, be manager. A natural leader and with great footballing intelligence who many fans feel hugely frustrated with. Yep, it would fit perfectly.
