Having once lamented the fact that Arsenal could only manage a position in the top four under Arsene Wenger, the club's supporters are probably longing for the day that a place in the Champions League was even an outside possibility.
The club have fallen to a remarkable degree over the last few years, with very little progress made on the pitch. It was thought that Mikel Arteta would be the man to change that, although it hasn't really worked out so far.
Some talented young players may have emerged, but Arsenal seem further than the top four than ever. While it remains to be seen what their ambitions are for the upcoming campaign, Mikel Arteta certainly isn't giving too much away.
When asked what position they would be aiming for in the league, the Spaniard came up with the most waffle filled answer that has even been given in a press conference.
🗣 "Our goal is to get the best version consistently that's going to bring us closer to win football matches."
Mikel Arteta says Arsenal need to work on the teams consistency throughout the course of the season pic.twitter.com/YHCUnYpdpC— Football Daily (@footballdaily) August 12, 2021
Our goal is to get the best version, consistently, that is going to bring us closer to winning football matches. That is all I want from the team.
If we do that consistently in every single match, we are going to be in a good place. That is something that we haven't done, consistently give the best version.
That is something that we must control and we must do. If we are able to do that, the result will be the consequence to that...
On Friday, win against Brentford and we will be in a strong position in the league. That's what we have to do.
The rest will come.
Talk about side stepping the question.
Of course, a manager not giving a concrete answer on where a club would like to finish in the league is nothing new, but the lack of conviction on show from Arteta here sums up many of the problems during his tenure.
The team do not play with any sort of discernible style, with their only ambition seeming to be to keep it tight at the back. The fact that they're not very good at doing even that doesn't help matters. They are putrid to watch at times.
Arsenal made little progress last season and you can imagine that Arteta's position will come under pressure if they start the upcoming season slowly.
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