Seaman ‘impressed’ by Arteta and urges board to give him time
Arsenal are a lowly 14th in the Premier League going into the north London derby against Tottenham this weekend, but Gunners legend David Seaman says he has been impressed by Mikel Arteta and has urged the board to give him time.
Arsenal are already five points off a top-four place and could fall as low as 16th if they’re beaten by Spurs on Sunday, but Seaman isn’t among those questioning the management of Arteta.
Speaking on the new Target Men Podcast from Football Index, Seaman says: “Overall, I’ve been impressed with Mikel Arteta.
“When he first signed for Arsenal, I thought it was a big risk because it’s his first job and it’s a big job. After Emery and the latter years of Arsène, we weren’t getting any better, so for Mikel to take over was a tough ask.
“At the time I thought Patrick Vieira might have been a better choice because he’d already had experience, but after I saw Mikel’s first press interview, I was really impressed.
“Since then, I like how he’s affecting the team, but he needs to be given time from the board to make it his own team. The game against Wolves showed that Arsenal are still lacking in confidence and a clear idea of what is expected of them.”
One player who’s certainly struggling to show his best form this season is Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, and Seaman does question the merits of him starting games out wide.
“Aubameyang is struggling to score because he is out of the penalty area too much at the moment,” the former Arsenal keeper says. “It’s clear he’s trying to get involved in linking play out on the wings, but as a striker he needs to be in the box getting on the end of crosses.
“When Lacazette came on against Wolves and the two of them were up front, Arsenal caused a lot more problems and that’s simply because they had a lot more bodies in the box.
“We know what he can do, we’ve seen what he can do, it’s just a case of getting him in the right positions and giving him the service. He’s hardly touching the ball, if I’m honest.”
Despite his faith in Arteta, Seaman admits that making the top four this season would be “almost like winning the Premier League” – and he is not particularly confident they can go to Spurs and win.
“The game with Spurs is going to be tough,” he says. “I can’t see us keeping a clean sheet, but I do think we can nick a 2-1 win.
“They’re a good unit and they’ve got a great mix of players, especially with they’re strike force in Kane and Son and now with Bale there as well, it’s going to be a tough ask for an Arsenal team going there with no confidence.
“But with Arsenal, you don’t know what you’re going to get and all I can think of is going to Man United and beating them 1-0 again.”
The Gunners are almost certainly going to need Bernd Leno to be on form if they are to get a result in the derby, and Seaman, who also gives his thoughts on Gabriel, Thomas Partey and England on the podcast, has got no concerns about the German being No.1.
“Leno has had a great time at Arsenal, there’s no doubt,” Seaman says. “He’s shown what he can do and for me, he’s definitely the number one.
“I was a bit surprised when Martínez left because I wanted two good goalkeepers at the club. With Martínez, he was experienced and had experience winning trophies so I felt that was brilliant.
“But then you’ve got a problem of having two goalkeepers that want to be number one. Obviously, one’s not going to be happy, a bit like the Henderson situation at Manchester United. But Martínez wanted to move on, he wanted to play and I admire that.
“The fact that he wanted to go somewhere else and play is good, but with Leno, he’s a quality goalkeeper – there’s no doubt about that, he’s shown that. For me, his main strength is his shot-stopping.”
New episodes of Target Men will be released every Wednesday at 7pm and are available to listen on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube. Next week’s episode features Ashley Cole.