Arsenal legend, Jens Lehmann has come out to question Mikel Arteta’s credentials as a manager. He recently had his say while speaking to the press, and fans have been reacting.
According to him, he is simply not sure the Spaniard can ever win the Premier League title because he does not strike him as the winner Arsenal should be employing as manager.
Lehmann added that Arteta could just be the nice football guy who helped step Arsenal’s level up a notch.
His words, “Arteta has done really well bringing Arsenal up, but if he is the right man for Arsenal now… I am not sure. Last year, they were leading, and in one month [April], they lost it [three draws and one defeat]. The culmination was when [Bukayo] Saka missed the penalty against West Ham at 2-0 up and it was a draw. It was two points.
What people who hire coaches sometimes don’t understand is that the personality of the coach is super important as well. Look at the personality of the coach. Is he a winner, or is he a nice guy who brings you to a certain level and then it is over? Inside a football team people thought the same [about me] but after a while they changed their minds, they thought: ‘Okay, he is difficult but he helps me to win’.
The difference between winning and losing is that losing is very easy. You don’t need to do a lot to lose. You don’t have to practice a lot. You don’t need to argue with your team-mates. You don’t need to argue with the coach. You don’t need to command a lot, to challenge a lot. When you lose it’s nice and it’s no effort. Everyone can lose. You do nothing – you lose. But you are a nice loser. You want to win? It’s the opposite. You have to do a lot. You have to talk a lot, you have to argue a lot, you have to discuss, you have to dispute a lot. That takes time and energy but it is worth it and along the way it creates friction.”
WOW.
Arsenal Football Club is an English professional football club based in Holloway, North London. Arsenal compete in the Premier League, the top flight of English football.
The club has won 13 league titles (including one unbeaten title), a record 14 FA Cups, two League Cups, 17 FA Community Shields, the Football League Centenary Trophy, one European Cup Winners’ Cup and one Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. In terms of trophies won, it is the third-most successful club in English football.
After conducting an overhaul in the club’s operating model to coincide with Wenger’s departure, Spaniard Unai Emery was named as the club’s new head coach on 23 May 2018. He became the club’s first ever ‘head coach’ and second manager from outside the United Kingdom.
In Emery’s first season, Arsenal finished fifth in the Premier League and as runner-up in the Europa League. On 29 November 2019, Emery was dismissed as manager and former player and assistant first team coach Freddie Ljungberg was appointed as interim head coach. On 20 December 2019, Arsenal appointed former club captain Mikel Arteta as the new head coach. Arsenal finished the league season in eighth, their lowest finish since 1994–95, but beat Chelsea 2–1 to earn a record-extending 14th FA Cup win. After the season, Arteta’s title was changed from head coach to manager.
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