Mikel Arteta message sent to Arsenal board says it all four years later

Four years ago, as Mikel Arteta faced scrutiny over his future at Arsenal, it was the club’s former goalkeeper Petr Cech who staunchly defended the Spaniard. With Arteta a year into his role and facing backlash from supporters due to inconsistent league performances and a heavy defeat to Manchester City in the League Cup, Cech stepped up to offer his perspective.

Speaking to talkSPORT, Cech said: “It’s hard for any manager when results don’t go your way and then you try to change the way the team play or the philosophy of the football.

“When you start to change a little bit it needs time. As well to implement that faster you have to have everybody believe in it, you need some results as well.”

Cech, whose illustrious career included triumphs with Chelsea and an FA Cup win with Arsenal in 2017, highlighted the importance of confidence in performance and called for unity at Arsenal during the tough period. He emphasized the difficulty of sticking to a plan amid pressure, adding: “This is the hardest part in football because it’s easy to suddenly say this is not working and do something else but you can’t do that all the time.

“But of course in modern football it’s the results that count and at the end of the day you need to find your balance to have success and the way you do it.”

Four years after his plea to give Arteta more time, it’s fair to say that Cech has been vindicated. While Arsenal’s journey under their manager hasn’t been entirely smooth, with an eighth-place finish in the season when Cech spoke out, they have undoubtedly improved and appear poised to maintain their third title challenge in consecutive seasons.