In the wake of Arsenal’s 3-0 defeat to Aston Villa on Sunday night, one bold and intrepid Gooner has taken to talkSPORT to express his fears and concerns over the future of manager Mikel Arteta.
Identifying the manager’s body language as especially telling, the talkSPORT caller does not think the Spanish tactician will remain in his job come the end of the international break. Moreover, the caller substantiated his claim by implying that Arteta has ‘lost the dressing room’ amid a lack of offensive firepower and concerning defeats.
Main attacking threats Alexander Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang have managed just five goals between them this season, with the latter being played away from his preferred striking role.
The Gunners have recently transitioned into a 5-2-3 system in order to instil a greater defensive rigidity and discipline to the Gunners’ play, but this may well have come at the expense of some attacking threat. This ultimately led to the caller expressing a blunt level of fear that Arsenal ‘might have a fraud as a manager’.
In a further blow to Arteta’s options in bolstering his defence, deadline day signing Thomas Partey suffered an injury against Villa and was confirmed as needing to undergo a scan on a suspected thigh problem.
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Whilst the caller’s concerns are completely understandable, it is unlikely that Arteta would get the axe less than a year into the job.
Instead, it may be more prudent by the Arsenal board to ensure that Arteta has given himself a chance to alter his tactical setup and his formation to see if the present attacking issue can be rectified.
The disruption of transitioning between managers may prove unhelpful and could have long-term implications.
