There was a major turning point in Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal tenure which helped set him up to be a major success in North London and Tottenham must follow suit with Ange Postecoglou.
Arteta’s first season and a half with the Gunners was far from easy as the North London club recorded back-to-back eighth-place finishes in the Premier League. There were many occasions in which the Arsenal support called for the manager to be sacked, however, the club did not listen and instead profusely backed their coach.
Postecoglou is now experiencing the same as Arteta did during this period having shown some flashes of promise but a mixture of results is seeing him face increasing fan pressure. Now, Daniel Levy is facing another crunch decision – sack his 14th manager in 23 years or back him against the odds.
How Arsenal backed Mikel Arteta against the odds
Arsenal stunned supporters and the Premier League as they offered Mikel Arteta a new contract despite results starting to fade. The Spaniard made good progress in his second full season as his team made a strong push for Champions League football, however, towards the end of the campaign, they allowed their grip on the top four to slip.
Despite showing good progress across the season, Arsenal fans were growing tired of such inconsistent results and the prospect of losing their Champions League spot to rivals Tottenham. But how did the Kroenkes react to three straight league defeats? By handing Arteta a new contract.
It was quite a statement from the club that they were pulling their full trust in their manager and whilst they ended up losing fourth place to Tottenham, in the long run, their faith paid off big time.
Tottenham must back not sack Ange Postecoglou
Daniel Levy is now facing a similar crossroads with Ange Postecoglou as despite a mixture of inconsistent results, he must decide whether or not to invest in the positive signs the Australian has shown during his time in North London.
Postecoglou took over Tottenham when the mood was at an all-time low following an 8th-place finish and the departure of Harry Kane. He guided them through the storm and lifted the mood at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium within an instant with his exciting brand of football.
Despite injuries to several key players across the season and no replacement brought in for Kane, the Australian still managed to steer the club into fifth place. Doing so by turning the likes of Pedro Porro, Micky van de Ven, Destiny Udogie, Pape Matar Sarr and Dejan Kulusevski into top Premier League players.
However, this term, things have not been quite as rosy with Spurs having lost seven of their first 15 league matches. The underlying data is promising but results on the pitch are far from it and big question marks are being asked of the manager.
Often at this stage, this is where Levy starts to panic and the manager is the one who faces the boot. But now, he must look beyond the immediate poor results, take a leaf out of the Kroenke’s book and support the coach who showed him there is light at the end of the tunnel.
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