Mikel Arteta was appointed Arsenal head coach on 20 December 2019. Serving as Pep Guardiola’s assistant at Manchester City for three years was his only experience prior to this appoint.

A 6 or 7 out of 10 RATING is a very fair rating for the rookie manager

If we take into account what we were before he arrived and how he drastically changed the spirit and the way we play you will have to agree.

Since his debut Arteta lost only one game from that time until lockdown playing a 4-2-3-1 formation with Ozil and Willock used in the number 10 role, after lockdown he changed the formation to 3-4-3 and we picked up a great run again winning the FA Cup and the Community Shield in the process. This illustrate his strength in changing the formula to suite the players at his disposal.

With both formations, Arteta build a solid compact defense that was very hard to break down. Also take into consideration the amount of goals we conceded per game during that time it was not more than one for most games. His record until that point in all competition was:

P: 27
W: 16
D: 6
L: 5
FA Cup trophy
Community Shield

That’s a pretty good record for a rookie manager. Off course this season didn’t start off well but he still deserve time to implement his idea and his philosophy. With a chance to bring in his own players and one year experience in the job, we could be looking at a different Mikel Arteta next season.