We all remember the 2021/22 season and the constant memes of ‘trust the process’ any and every time Arsenal faltered. But now Arsenal and Arteta are seeing the fruits of their labour at long last, with the team looking secure in their bid to capture at least a top four place and a coveted return to Champions League football.
It also begs the question: just how far can this Arsenal team go under this new model of operating? And, is this now the new standard for a team to build long term success over a manager merry-go-round approach for instance?
It’s no secret that Arteta and Arsenal have not had an easy ride to the encouraging position they now find themselves in as a team. There have been many highs, and many lows – but this bumpy and difficult journey has ultimately provided valuable learning experiences for Arsenal’s young group of players. This has, in the long run, only helped them become better and more developed footballers and people.
There’s many examples we can use here; but let’s take a look at one of Arsenal’s most accomplished, Bukayo Saka. This guy is quite simply unreal, and the praise he gets simply isn’t high enough.
His road to the position he’s in now is a big part of this; there’s absolutely no doubt that these struggles, both team and individual, have played a big hand in just how important he is to this Arsenal team at the age of only 21. His development in this Arsenal team has been great to watch and it’s honestly scary to think of the level he could reach in say 5 years time.
He is, quite simply, the future of the football club. His numbers, technical ability, and mentality are all high quality for a player in his age bracket – even with the fact that Arsenal have not been at the top of the Premier League during most of his time in the team. This shows that he’s not simply being dragged up by higher quality players around him, but that he is an active and crucial participant in this team’s success, with the ability to make an impact on a game by himself.
Saka perfectly sums up the dynamic of Arsenal at this moment in time, and is a perfect example of this successful ‘process’ that they’ve entrusted manager Arteta to oversee. This squad is young, technically proficient, and tactically attuned to Arteta’s style of play and the benefits are there for all to see. Saka is the poster boy of all this – this team that is only going to improve as time passes.
This model of long term trust and faith in a manager is an interesting one, for Arsenal have never acted as a chopping block of managers in recent times. However, they have equally not sought to build a project and team so closely to a manager in a while – it’s felt a bit distant, like any manager could come in and take the team. But this is Arteta’s team, and this new identity represents a massive shift and an exciting future for the club.
As a huge Chelsea fan, it pains me greatly to praise Arsenal in any way, but here I have to say it’s completely deserved. So much so that my team are now basing their model on similar principles, albeit with a far more aggressive approach to the transfer market. The essence of what they are ultimately aiming to accomplish remains the same, just majorly fast tracked.
This begs the question: have Arsenal and Mikel Arteta set a precedent for other clubs to aspire to emulate?
In the immediate sense, yes. Just look at their success this season – it totally validated the idea they relentlessly stuck to even at their bleakest moments when ridicule and bombardment from the outside became overbearing.
Of course other aspiring clubs are going to look at this with admiration and look to take inspiration to the way Arsenal have gone about things. But that doesn’t mean they have re-invented the wheel here, if anything they’ve greatly popularised an already existing model for success.
Take Liverpool as an example. Obviously recently they have seen a decline but their overall success in the last few years needs no introduction: 3 Champions League Finals with 1 won, a first Premier League (First Division) in 30 years, a host of near misses and consistent finishes in the Champions League qualification places.
This all stems from the placing of individual pieces in a long term system set up for their success, with Klopp being the central component. What I’m essentially trying to get at here is the days of the managerial chopping block are gone, as it has been usurped by this more long term approach of building under an established system of which the components remain in place to see it through all the way rather than pursuing numerous short term appointments to see an instant quick impact.
Arsenal are just the latest club to pursue this model, and its paying massive dividends for them right now, which further emphasises this approach to be the most optimal for the pursuit of success in the long term, providing that all the systems and structures in the club are well aligned.
That’s because this model is very heavily reliant on a multitude of factors working together to see this success, whereas under a hire-and-fire tactic short term success could be achieved simply by the impact of the manager coming in. In this new long term oriented philosophy, the recruitment for the elected coach needs to be coordinated and accurate to the overall vision of the coach, so that the squad can be built in their vision.
This is the direction modern football is moving in, and it’s absolutely no surprise when you look at what teams like Liverpool have done, and teams like Arsenal are currently doing.
