IAN LADYMAN: How long can Arsenal wait to come good?

IAN LADYMAN: How long can Arsenal wait to come good? The Gunners are lacking direction nearly two years into the Mikel Arteta reign after their loss to Chelsea… the Spaniard cannot escape that he is on borrowed time

  • REPORT: Arsenal are comfortably put to the sword in a 2-0 defeat by Chelsea
  • The Gunners are still waiting to transform into a top side under Mikel Arteta 
  • Now 20 months in, the promise of a new attitude and style has gone begging 
  • It seemed inevitable the Gunners would fall to defeat to Chelsea on Sunday
  • Arteta talks a good talk, but too many problems remain from failed tenures 

One of the many questions Arsenal supporters will be asking themselves is: how long must we wait? 

The Mikel Arteta era was always sold as one of gradual improvement. A fundamental reboot of style, attitude and strategy that would take a little while. But where are we with that, 20 months on? The strange truth is that nobody really knows.

There were excuses to be found for this disappointment at the Emirates but only in part. 

Arteta’s squad have been struck by Covid in recent times. Much of what can occasionally be potent about the modern Arsenal was missing.

Arsenal are no closer to becoming a top side under Mikel Arteta after their loss to Chelsea

Nonetheless, they were not good enough or resilient enough to make this a proper contest.

Arteta cut his coaching teeth at Manchester City where certain principles underpin all that is pretty about the football. Hard work, toughness, selflessness and micro-organisation. The Arsenal manager will be reminded of all that when he takes his pointless (no insult intended) team to his old place of work next weekend for game three of what looks likely to be a long Premier League season.

There will be no mercy to be found at the Etihad and it already feels as though Arsenal will head into the first international break of the season without a point and bottom of the table.

Supporters must be wondering how long they have to wait for the change they were promised

It seemed inevitable that the Gunners would be toothless against Chelsea and lose the game 

Arteta continues to say the right things and it is hard not to pull for a coach who clearly wants his team to play the kind of football with which the club have for so long been associated. 

But the fact is that nothing he has provided so far – bar the false dawn of an FA Cup win in his first season – has been greatly better than the barren latter years of Arsene Wenger or the short and confusing reign of Unai Emery.

That is why the return of supporters to the Emirates after 18 months was not a cause of celebration as it has been throughout the country but an occasion on which to see for our own eyes what has been happening while the world was shut out for so long.

It always felt as though Arsenal would lose this game. It always felt as though they would be bullied by Romelu Lukaku. It always felt as they would be toothless at the other end.

Arteta must know he is on borrowed time at Arsenal after failing to solve their biggest issues

There is some young potential in Arteta’s squad.

But the problem with allowing youthful talent to toil for too long in malfunctioning teams is that they begin to wither. 

Emerging players need to be surrounded by the right examples, by players from whom they can learn. 

All football clubs need direction. All need to feel that they are moving forward. 

Arteta has said from the start that he knows what the problems are. But too many seem to remain and despite the clear mitigating circumstances, all this adds up to an unshakeable sense that the Spaniard is already on borrowed time this season. 

This was a 2-0 defeat that felt worse and for a while looked as though it could be.  




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