No matter what happens with the rest of this season, I hope the Mikel Arteta-Arsenal relationship brings back an era of patience in soccer. In a modern game that has become a microcosm of society's decreasing attention span, owners and fans no longer have the patience to see a manager succeed.
They would rather have instant microwave pizza than cook a gourmet meal.
What if I told you a Premier League team that finished in the top 4 for five straight years and won two FA Cups in that period fired their old manager and hired a new manager that finished 11th, 2nd, then 11th again with no trophies to show for it? What would the fate of that manager be? Modern clubs would probably fire him after the fans demanded his resignation. Well, that anecdote I gave you is the start of Sir Alex Ferguson's career with Manchester United. It took Ferguson four years as United manager to win a FA Cup trophy and seven years to win a league trophy.
Would anyone have that type of patience now? I suspect the answer is no, and that is the problem.
Too many clubs are looking for short-term fixes to long-term problems. It is the equivalence of placing a band-aid over an open gash rather than taking it to the hospital. And you, the fan, are a part of the problem too. Fanbases have become far too impatient, and any extended turbulence will result in a significant portion of the club asking for the manager's head. Many of the same Arsenal fans supporting Arsenal's push to the Premier League trophy were flying the #ArtetaOut banners at the stadium and tweeting the hashtag on social media in December of 2020 when the club was in 15th place, just a year into his tenure.
The most worthy projects take time to build; sports history tells us so.
Managers like Pep Guardiola are an exception. The reality is if you want a Klopp, Ferguson, or Wenger at your club, you have to be willing to give them the time and unwavering support they need to build the team they need. Hopefully, the rise of Mikel Arteta will bring back the resurgence of patience with coaches at the highest level of soccer.
It is time to throw away the American inferiority complex with its place in the sport, where many blindly claim that technique should come above all in choosing and developing the best prospects and that the U.S. is not an international power because it cares too much about athleticism.
Following last year's list of nine underground teams to watch, I bring the list back with eight new teams you need to follow. From entertaining amateur players to professional coaches revolutionizing the sport from behind the scenes, here are eight underground soccer teams to watch this season.
The Premier League is here and with that comes an uncountable number of variables and uncertainty from which teams will stay up to which teams will secure a Champions League spot. Here is a prediction of the premier league table from 20th to 1st.
The 2023 Women's World Cup will be a monumental moment in women's football, as for the first time, the tournament format will expand to 32 teams. Here are some ballers to lookout for in Australia/New Zealand this summer.
