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Arsenal’s shock loss to Aston Villa drew criticism, but Mikel Arteta wants to remind fans that they were in much greater confusion a year ago.
Mikel Arteta believes he joined an Arsenal that was “damaged and badly hurt” and the Spaniard was shocked by the disconnect between the team and the fans when he was appointed.
Arteta was hired by Arsenal in December last year, taking over as permanent head coach following the firing of Unai Emery at the end of the previous month.
In the interim period, Freddie Ljungberg presided over just one win in five games as an interim, with Arsenal in 10th place in the Premier League upon the arrival of Arteta.
Former Arsenal captain, Arteta had built a flourishing reputation working with Pep Guardiola at Manchester City and expectations of him were high.
He is believed to have garnered a positive response from the Arsenal team, while making demonstrable progress towards implementing a style of play and philosophy, something that Emery was routinely accused of failing to achieve.
But while some recent performances have worried fans, notably the 3-0 home loss to Aston Villa before the international break, Arteta has reminded fans of the confusion in which he encountered Arsenal less than a year ago. year.
“You can’t build something new [quickly], when something has been damaged and seriously injured, you can see a big division even between our own fans and the team, “he told the official Arsenal website.” When you were in that stadium 10 months ago, I was surprised.
“You have to rebuild that [bond]. To do that, you have to build some foundation and then start a process. You have to prioritize that process up front and where you are going to get.
“To do that you need some pieces that you have to fill in there and you have to start creating a puzzle and try to handle it because there will be bad times and you don’t want to break it.
“All the time you have to be very alert because it takes very little to break what you are building.”
Furthermore, Arteta accepts that playing in empty stadiums does not help, suggesting that it is having a negative mental impact on the players, particularly the sense of purpose.
Fans have been unable to attend Premier League games since March due to the coronavirus pandemic, and while there were plans earlier this season to start reopening stadiums this period, they have since been suspended due to a second wave. of COVID-19. sweeping the UK.
“It is definitely affecting the players,” he said. “Now, for example, with the confinement: you win at Old Trafford, you feel excited, your adrenaline is very high, you go home and you want to celebrate, you want to do something, but you just go home, alone, something from the players they live alone, and you go home, sit on the couch and voila.
“To find that purpose and say, ‘Okay, I work so hard for this moment, I want to enjoy it, I want to have people around me,’ but you have nothing, so it’s a completely different life.
“In our case, when you try to build a new project, you need to involve the fans with the team. They have to see what the team is broadcasting live. It’s completely different on TV, you can’t do that.” .
“Without creating that chemistry between players and fans, so that they create, so that they see what we are trying to do live, it is complicated. We need that.
“Players have to feel, ‘Wow, these guys are really behind us, they’re really pushing, they like what we’re trying to do … I feel more motivated, more engaged, I want to participate’ – and we lack that. “.
Arsenal return to Premier League action on Sunday at Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds United.
Source: m.allfootballapp.com
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