- Mikel Arteta celebrated five years in charge of Arsenal on Friday
- He has admitted he was ‘terrified’ when he first took over from Unai Emery
- LISTEN NOW: It’s All Kicking Off! Are Tottenham managers treated differently to other managers?
Mikel Arteta has admitted he was ‘terrified’ when he was first named Arsenal manager.
Arteta landed his first managerial job in December 2019 when the Gunners came calling after he had previously worked under Pep Guardiola at Manchester City.
He has since turned Arsenal into title contenders and celebrated five years at the Emirates on Friday. But Arteta revealed he had some doubts when he initially took the job.
‘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.’
Arsenal have finished second to Manchester City in each of the last two seasons, and are now trying to chase down Liverpool and Chelsea in the title race.
But things were very different when Arteta walked through the door as he took over an underperforming side that had struggled under Unai Emery.
Arteta explained that he quickly understood that the culture at the club needed to change in order for progress to be made.
‘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,’ Arteta revealed.
‘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.’
Arsenal will hope to give Arteta the perfect anniversary when they travel to Crystal Palace on Saturday.
The north London outfit have already beaten Palace in the Carabao Cup this week to set up a semi-final tie with Newcastle.
