Mikel Arteta sack deadline revealed, with new Arsenal boss lined-up
Mikel Arteta has reportedly been given five games to save his job after Arsenal’s woeful start to the new Premier League season.
The Gunners suffered a humbling 2-0 defeat at top-flight new boys Brentford before losing by the same scoreline to a dominant Chelsea over the weekend. That has led to strong rumours that the Spaniard could be on the brink of the axe in north London.
Arteta has spent over £100million on new recruits this summer. However, his squad has so far not looked capable of challenging for a top-four spot.
To that end, the Daily Telegraph claims that the Emirates board are willing to give Arteta until October’s international break to keep his job.
If the slump continues then the Gunners will reportedly turn to Antonio Conte, who left Inter Milan at the end of last season.
The former Chelsea boss, who was strongly tipped to take over at Tottenham this summer, guided the San Siro club to the Serie A title before walking away because of the huge financial problems at the San Siro.
Arsenal face champions Manchester City before the first international break in September.
They then take on Norwich, Burnley, Tottenham and Brighton before the domestic fixtures take another break.
It will be then that the Gunners board will decide whether to continue with the club’s former midfield favourite.
The Telegraph adds that Arteta will need to show ‘significant improvement’ to keep his job.
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Carragher labels Arteta ‘naive’ for Chelsea plan
Meanwhile, Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher called Arteta “naive” for his failed plan against Chelsea on Sunday.
“There was a lot of criticism for the manager, when you have a set of bad results and people say he hasn’t got a clue, what was the plan,” Carragher told Sky Sports.
“Mikel Arteta had a plan, we studied it this morning, it hasn’t worked, maybe it was a touch of naivety, but when you play against Chelsea, there’s a lot of talk about Lukaku but that’s not the only problem, it’s how you deal with their system. A centre-forward and two number 10’s, with wing-backs who play as wingers.
“Holding’s job was to look after Kai Havertz, Mari was in the middle with Lukaku and Mason Mount was deeper with Granit Xhaka. They almost went man to man, maybe a touch naive.
“You see them sticking with those men and, when the ball goes wide, Kieran Tierney’s job is to get out to the full-back, Reece James, and Xhaka’s job is to get into a left-sided centre-back position, almost a back three.
Arsenal tactics failed
“There was a lot of talk that they should have played a back three, maybe they would have if Ben White was fit. A lot of the times, it was a back three, you see the initial idea of how they wanted to play.
“The two goals, they went away from the system we’ve been talking about slightly and they’ve got caught out.
“It’s almost man for man but Mason Mount attaches himself to Kieran Tierney and that gives him a problem, you’re back to your conventional 4-2-3-1. Granit Xhaka isn’t thinking about the ball into Lukaku, he’s looking over his shoulder to see where Mount was.
“The plan was never to stop the ball coming into Lukaku, it’s how to stop it going into Havertz and Mount. It goes into the striker and you have the problem, Tierney has been dragged inside and we know the consequences.”
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