"I Was Terrified At The Start" - Arteta Reflects On Five Years In Charge Of Arsenal
Mikel Arteta says he was terrified at the start when he began his tenure as Arsenal manager in December 2019.
Arteta celebrates five years in charge of the Gunners this week, with the club in better shape now than he found it.
Arteta replaced Unai Emery at the Emirates Stadium and took time to stamp his authority on the team, instilling discipline and farming out some big names like Mesut Ozil and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
Arteta won the FA Cup in his first season and finished eight and fifth in the next two campaigns before two second place finishes over the last two seasons.
Arsenal was Arteta's first role in management, having spent time as part of Pep Guardiola's coaching staff at Manchester City.
"I just wanted to make sure I didn't disappoint anybody, that I was capable of doing it," Arteta said.
"I was probably terrified.
"You haven't coached anybody at the highest level, it was the middle of season, without any preparation, without a coaching staff, you get asked to take this amazing and big job."
"What I did was basically ask, through somebody I employed, to give me their opinion of how they feel to work in this football club," explained Arteta, whose side travel to Crystal Palace in the Premier League on Saturday.
"It was clear that it had to be changed.
"[It was pivotal] because that was the roots of the football club. If those roots were damaged at that level, there was nothing to build without that.
"So in the first season, we had to put the energy and big decisions into making sure those roots were clean and were in the right context and in the right place to be able to create and build what we wanted to build."
