Arsenal’s soul was ‘lost’ before I arrived – Arteta

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has said the club’s soul “had been lost” before he took charge in 2019.

Arteta was Pep Guardiola’s assistant coach at Manchester City for three years before he joined Arsenal and turned them into title contenders last season.

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The 41-year-old said that he felt a lack of connection between the Arsenal players and supporters when City played at the Emirates and was determined to change things around.

“This started [over] three years ago. I was Pep’s assistant at City, we played against Arsenal and I saw that the soul of the club had been lost,” Arteta told MARCA.

“It was not enjoyed, it was not felt. I knew that there was the option, shortly after, of being on the other bench and I knew that this club is so big that you had to connect the team with the fans.

“It has been hard to do, and now I feel happy. We have a clear identity, there is union and we are full of energy. That’s the biggest thing. From top to bottom, they all push in the same direction.”

Last season, Arteta’s team came close to winning the league for the first time since 2004 but finished in second place behind City.

Arteta said that injuries as well as costly draws against Liverpool, West Ham United and Southampton were key to Arsenal’s poor end to the campaign.

“To this day, it still hurts me deeply not having won the Premier after spending 10 months fighting with City,” he added. “But that’s the sport. That said, what has been achieved with such a young team is worthwhile. That is clear to me too.

“Those three draws in a row penalised us, and all the misfortunes that happened. There were three or four injuries to important players and from there, everything got complicated.

“When we had the full team, we were consistent. As soon as problems came, we couldn’t be consistent. And then our rival was the best team in the world; the best squad in the world; the best coach in the world… We had no choice but to accept it and shake hands with the champion.”