I think its unfair to take the view that Arteta should have achieved sucees in 3 years. He inherited a basket case of a club and needed to re-establish a team drifting below the CL places and beset by a lack of cohesion; strategy and mentality - the complete opposite of what Slot walked into at Liverpool.
But this should have been our year. 2 second places - the last season an improvement on the one before and a near perfect 2024, beaten to the title by a monster of a team by only 2 points.
Instead, in a season where Citeh are stuttering; having spent over £700m on players since he arrived, and being given huge latitude to build a team that can complete the 5th stage of the project, its obvious that Arsenal is regressing rather than pushing on.
I am not being knee jerk here, and I am not saying that Arteta has 'failed' or playing down what he has undoubtedly achieved, but (like HCZ says) simply acknowledging the evidence that suggests that Arteta has reached his ceiling. He has built a team that relies too much on the first 12/13 being fit and on form - while signing players with lamentable fitness records; is based on too often sterile possession; requires perfection to execute a game plan effectively (and is vulnerable to counter attcking when this doesn't happen as is inevitably the case); has neglected its attack and does not get the best out of key players.
This is all relative of course - we are 3rd in the league. But by his own objectives, the manager is falling short and our lack of cutting edge when faced with stubborn opponents is a strand that has run through the whole of his tenure.
Perhaps yesterday's game - more than any other this season, encapsulates our 'close but no cigar' character - and I have to say that I no longer really trust Arteta to buy the players we need.
