Mikel Arteta’s Five-Year Arsenal Tenure: Fan Views on Progress and the Quest for Silverware

Friday commemorates five years since Mikel Arteta assumed the role of Arsenal manager. During his tenure, the Gunners have advanced to one domestic cup semi-final following their FA Cup victory in the Spaniard’s inaugural season, and have contended for the Premier League title in the two most recent campaigns. We invited public commentary on Arteta’s leadership to date and the team’s potential to secure additional trophies. Among the submitted comments, Scott stated: “Before Arteta arrived, I was on the verge of stopping my support for them because I felt like the Arsenal I grew up loving were gone. Mikel has rebuilt the club, made us solid, given youth their chance to make an impact, made difficult decisions, and been ruthless when needed. The progress from where we were has been fantastic, especially when you compare with other clubs like Manchester United. I think we have to remember he is a young manager doing remarkably well. The trophies will come!” Savs commented: “Arsenal have come a long way in five years. And this was after a lot more than five years of gradual decline. The comparison is often made with a post-Sir Alex Ferguson Manchester United – it is a fair one and they are still in disarray. For this lens, Arteta has done a magnificent job. However, now comes perhaps the hardest final step: winning trophies. He should be given the time and opportunity to do this. But this has to be this season or next. Keep the faith. Keep supporting. Keep believing.” Tharun observed: “He has done what Ruben Amorim is trying to do. We went from a team who were not finishing in the top four, which was disappointing, to not winning the league, which is disappointing. Now we know we can win silverware so we ought to expect one.” Lee suggested: “We will never win anything until a striker like Alexander Isak or even Marcus Rashford were to come in. I’m sure Arteta could get him back to his best and then teams would be more afraid of the striker and less dependant on trying to stop Martin Odegaard or Bukayo Saka. That would open more space for the team to do damage, especially in tight games.”