Michael Owen has claimed that the treatment of Mikel Arteta when he first joined Arsenal was ‘quite harsh’, but now all of that is changing.
The former England striker praised the powers that be at Arsenal and how ‘the people that mattered most’ stuck by him when things were getting tough.
As of today, Arsenal are sitting at the top of the Premier League table after once being out of Europe for the first time in over 20 years under the very same manager.
Arteta did secure FA Cup glory during his first campaign at the club, which was disrupted by COVID and then played behind closed doors for the entirety of the following season.
Those 18 or so months seemed to have shaped what Arteta and his team are today because a lot of junk has been thrown out and replaced with diamonds.
There is still a long way to go, but this has been some journey, as Owen compared Arteta’s situation to the one Jurgen Klopp faced when he first joined Liverpool, as he told Premier League Productions (09/10/22 at 1:25 pm).
“I thought it was quite harsh the pressure he was under early on,” said Owen. “No manager, I don’t care who it was, even Jurgen Klopp, right from the outset, there were calls for his head at certain points.
“Liverpool, I seem to remember going ahead 3-0 in certain games and then drawing 3-3 and everybody was saying ‘what’s wrong with them?’ And there was a lot of pressure then.
“I think with any manager, inevitably, you come in because there is something wrong before, so you need time to unravel those problems, then create your own team.
“It takes transfer windows. It takes time on the training pitch. I think, importantly for Arsenal, the people that matter stuck by him and now they are starting to reap the rewards.”
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE IS STILL THE AIM
Whilst Arsenal fans will be dreaming of the unthinkable, they still have to focus on securing Champions League football for next season.
Yes, as the games tick by, the longer they stay at the top or close to Manchester City, then the feeling within the club and fanbase will grow that they can become champions again.
But, as Arteta will know too well, they have to push to serious lengths and depths to compete with this Manchester City side, who are more than likely going to post 90+ points.
As Liverpool have found over the years, it’s pretty difficult to compete with that level of quality, that’s why they were only able to bag one title during these recent times.
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