EUROPA League
AFTER EUROPA LEAGUE EXIT, MIKEL ARTETA IS CLOSE TO ARSENAL’S EXIT GATE
The clock is ticking on Mikel Arteta – but time has not run out.
Arsenal will stick with Arteta into next season despite failing to get into Europe and being on course for their worst Premier League finish since 1995.
Whether that proves to be the right decision only time will tell but the club is determined to rebuild this summer, give Arteta time and patience and better players.
The bigger worry for Arsenal fans is whether Arteta will prove to be the right man and that is the challenge facing a rookie manager in his first job.
Serious questions are being asked of Arteta for the first time and it would be wrong to say there are also not doubts in the dressing room about the 39-year-old Spaniard.
Arteta can be regarded as arrogant, will not admit to being wrong and completely lacking in humility. Maybe you need that unshakeable belief as a manager. You also probably need experience and years to develop life skills to become a good man manager.
But as someone with great knowledge of both Arteta and Arsene Wenger pointed out, the ability to be self effacing, self critical and to be able to laugh at yourself is a “critical quality.” Wenger had it, Arteta doesn’t.
Arteta has a reputation as a brilliant coach, he learned under Pep Guardiola and his time at Manchester City meant he arrived in December 2019 as a hot property and a popular choice to succeed Unai Emery.
He was also a former Arsenal captain, had an instant connection with the fans and, in winning the FA Cup in his first season, there was huge optimism even though everyone accepted it might take time and a few transfer windows to get the club back to where they belong.
Now, just 18 months into his reign, the fans are getting restless and that is understandable because, while no-one expected them to become champions overnight, the very least you expect is some tangible signs of progress.
Yet this season they have gone backwards. Back in 1995, they finished 12th, it seems they have flatlined in mid-table and the defeat to Villarreal was a lame surrender when they needed to summon one big performance to save their season.
The real worry was that the players did not look as if they were busting a gut for the manager. Even bigger was that Arteta was outfoxed by Emery and that is arguably the most damning aspect of all.
Are they right to stick with him? The simple answer is yes. Questions need to be asked. But they cannot carry on changing the manager because where would they go next?
Arsenal need to rebuild the squad. And stop doing bad deals. Selling Emiliano Martinez to Aston Villa was a shocker and record £72m record signing Nicolas Pepe has not delivered. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s mega three year contract does not look so clever anymore.
You cannot criticise the owners for a lack of investment. They have broken the transfer record year after year. Dug deep to buy Thomas Partey for £45m on last summer’s deadline day. So the bigger question must be is the right structure in place.
Technical director Edu should be under the spotlight as there is a feeling this summer will be vital. They will need to offload to free space in the squad and also from the wage bill. Hector Bellerin could be the first in a big name exodus.
-Mirror
Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim defended under-fire goalkeeper Andre Onana following the Cameroonian’s costly mistakes in his side’s 2-2 draw at Olympique Lyonnais in their Europa League quarter-final first leg on Thursday.
Onana allowed Thiago Almada’s free kick to squirm past him in the Groupama Stadium and was also at fault for Rayan Cherki’s last-gasp equaliser that denied United victory.
Since the start of last season, no Premier League club’s goalkeeper has made more errors leading to goals being conceded in all competitions than Onana.
“It can happen, if you play football, you play a lot of games, you can make mistakes,” Amorim said. “If you look at the season, I make more mistakes than them during these last games and these last months.
“The other thing is we have one more game to change everything and that should be our focus.
“The best thing is to look at the goals, all the actions that Andre had in the game, this is the best way to help any player, it’s to focus on the game, what happened, what we need to improve.”
United nonetheless remain unbeaten in this season’s Europa League — the only side to do so this term — after goals from Leny Yoro and Joshua Zirkzee put them on course for a potential victory.
The team, who are 13th in the English Premier League standings, still go into next week’s second leg in Manchester as favourites to book a spot in the last four.
“It was an entertaining game,” Amorim added. “We had some difficulty in the first half trying to press, because Lyon played in a different way. Then, in the middle of the first half and especially the second, we controlled the game.
“The second leg will be a different game. At home, our fans want us to press all the time.”
-Reuters
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Manchester United will be without defender Harry Maguire and midfielder Manuel Ugarte for Thursday’s Europa League last-16 clash with Real Sociedad, coach Ruben Amorim said, as he seeks to salvage an otherwise dire season.
The pair were left out of an already depleted squad after picking up injuries in last weekend’s penalty shootout defeat to Fulham that dumped them out of the FA Cup to compound the misery of lying 14th in the Premier League.
“We are being careful with them because at the moment we cannot afford to lose any more players for a long time,” Amorim told a press conference on Wednesday before the Europa League first leg game in Spain.
“We are taking care of them at Carrington (training ground) and they cannot play this game because it will be a greater risk.”
The coach, who joined United in November, stressed the importance of balancing youth development with the needs of the squad during a worsening injury crisis.
“I’m trying to cope with everything. When I do my squad, I’m trying to think about every aspect, of the formation of the (new) kids, of the squad and not if it will look really well with the fans and the media,” Amorim said.
Altay Bayindir, Tom Heaton, Jonny Evans, Kobbie Mainoo, Luke Shaw and Mason Mount remain on individual rehabilitation programmes.
Lisandro Martinez, who tore his anterior cruciate ligament, and Amad Diallo, who suffered an ankle ligament injury in training, are also sidelined.
-Reuters
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Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes scored a last-gasp winner to secure a 2-1 victory over Rangers in the Europa League group stage on Thursday and Tottenham Hotspur captain Son Heung-min struck twice in his team’s 3-2 win at Hoffenheim.
United climbed to fourth in the standings on 15 points going into the last round of matches, in a strong position to reach the knockout phase along with Spurs who are sixth with 14 points.
The English side broke the deadlock early in the second half when Rangers goalkeeper Jack Butland misjudged a Christian Eriksen corner, sending the ball into his own net.
Rangers fought back with an equaliser from substitute Cyril Dessers two minutes from time before Fernandes struck in added time to give United all three points.
In Germany, James Maddison opened the scoring for Spurs in the third minute and Son doubled the lead in a first half the visitors dominated.
Hoffenheim pulled one back in the 68th minute through Anton Stach’s counter-attack goal. Son restored Spurs’ two-goal lead in the 77th minute before the hosts’ David Mokwa scored to give his side late hope but the game ended in a narrow win for the English side.
Lazio stayed top of the standings with a commanding 3-1 home victory over Real Sociedad to become the first team to qualify for the round of 16.
Mario Gila struck after five minutes and when Sociedad’s Aihen Munoz was shown a second yellow card on the half-hour mark, Lazio immediately seized the advantage.
Mattia Zaccagni quickly doubled the lead and Taty Castellanos effectively ended the match with a third for the hosts. Ander Barrenetxea scored a late consolation goal for Sociedad.
Eintracht Frankfurt moved closer to securing a top-eight spot with a 2-0 home win over Hungarian side Ferencvaros thanks to second-half goals from Can Uzun and Hugo Ekitike. They are second in the standings with 16 points, three ahead of ninth-placed Galatasaray.
A late goal from Troy Parrott gave AZ Alkmaar a 1-0 home win over AS Roma and Olympiacos earned a 1-0 victory at Porto thanks to a late goal from Ayoub El Kaabi.
Dutch side Alkmaar can still reach the top eight with 11 points sitting in 14th place while Roma’s nine points place them 21st, close to the bottom of the playoff section.
Fenerbahce and Olympique Lyonnais played out an intense goalless draw in Istanbul, leaving the French side in a strong position to progress to fifth place in the group on 14 points.
-Reuters
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