Izuchukwu OkosiArsenal manager, Mikel Arteta on Friday revealed that he was distraught after the club lost the opportunity of winning the Premier League title last season after leading the table for large parts of the season.
The Spaniard while speaking in his press conference ahead of Sunday’s Community Shield against Manchester City, revealed that he questioned his time as manager of the club but after a deep reflection, decided to stay put.
The Gunners created the unwanted record of leading the rest of the pack for 48 weeks on the log but capitulated after consecutive draws with Liverpool, West Ham United and Southampton – before defeats to eventual champions Manchester City – and subsequently Brighton Hoves and Albion.
“The first few weeks, very tough,” said Arteta, looking back at his summer upheaval.
“The first thing you have to do is look in the mirror and understand – is there something that you should have done better or differently? If that is the case then learn from it.
“Judge yourself – ‘are you still the right person to drive the club, the team, forwards in the way that you want and do you have that energy and that belief that you want to do it?’.
“It took a big reflection, but the answer is yes and I feel with a lot of energy and positiveness.”
During the title run-in, Arsenal led 2-0 at Liverpool and West Ham before being held to draws, with winger Bukayo Saka missing a penalty when his side were 2-1 up against the Hammers.
Arsenal then needed two late goals to salvage a 3-3 draw against a Southampton side who went on to be relegated, before sliding to a telling 4-1 defeat at City.
Asked what was the difference between City and his team, Arteta said: “Momentum. In the key moments when it should have gone one way – and in many situations in the season it went for us – it didn’t go for us.
“It was one, two, three and then we lost momentum and they took momentum.
“You are talking about a team that if they need to win 25 games in a row, they have the capacity to do that, so the last thing that they need is momentum and belief and we gave them that.
“We had games that we didn’t win, especially the three draws that we had when momentum shifted.
“We should have won those games and we had enough to win those games – it was in our hands.
“They were key moments when we just weren’t ruthless enough, clinical enough, didn’t have the luck or we made certain mistakes that allowed that to happen. We have to recognise that as well.”
Arsenal finished runners up to Manchester City in the season and qualified for the UEFA Champions League after several years without achieving qualification in a period that saw the Gunners fall short of expectations.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
In October 2004, Okosi joined Complete Communications Limited, publishers of Complete Sports newspaper and Complete Football magazine as a reporter and later script writer for the Complete Sports studio.
He worked there for 13 years until October 2017.
Okosi also worked various times as Correspondent, Content creator and Editor at Sports Market International Magazine, Opera News, All Nigeria Soccer Media and Iconic Media Watch.
He also undertook freelance writing gigs for some local and international organizations.
Okosi is a member of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Association of Movie Producers (AMP), Association of Voiceover Artistes of Nigeria (AVOA), Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) and Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
He has been part of cast in some Nollywood movies and radio dramas including Blood Money 2, Scores To Settle, Dead End 2, Another Campus Tale and Battle Line.
Aside mainstream media and the entertainment industry, he has interests in scouting/unearthing of talents in the sports and creative sectors, exports business and property development.
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