Tuesday Cannon Fodder: patience?

Arsenal have started the season with two losses and no goals scored for the first time in club history. Like clockwork, the media chatter has shifted to “is Mikel Arteta on the hot seat” after the slow start. Some odds-makers have made him the favorite for first manager sacked this season.

I don’t think that is how Arsenal see things. I’m sticking to my take: Mikel Arteta will get the entire season unless something goes catastrophically wrong, meaning Arsenal are legitimately, mathematically relegation-threatened. Not in the bottom third of the table but with a sub-1% chance to actually go down. I mean 10%-plus chance based on projections.

It just doesn’t make sense to me that the club would so clearly support his rebuild vision with significant funds in the middle of a pandemic and financial “crisis” if his leash was that short. Or maybe I don’t want to believe that Arsenal’s process and decision-making at the levels above Arteta would be that poorly planned. Not to mention club higher-ups have consistently voiced their support for Mikel in the media.

Of course, the dreaded vote of confidence is dreaded for a reason. Mikel’s “my club has confidence in me as a manager” T-shirt has people asking a lot of questions already answered by the shirt.

How much patience do you have for Mikel Arteta this season? What kind of results see him keep his job? What record sees him canned and when does that happen? And what do you think the club’s position is?