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Arsene Wenger insists Arsenal have been “soulless” since moving into the Emirates Stadium.
The former Gunners boss oversaw the move to take the club away from Highbury after 93 years in 2006.
Arsenal’s success has dried up since the move, with just three FA Cups in 13 seasons.
And Wenger believes the lack of atmosphere compared to Highbury has contributed to this.
“We built a new stadium but we never found our soul -- we left our soul at Highbury,” Wenger told beIN Sport.
Show all 11 1 /11Winners and losers as Mikel Arteta joins Arsenal Winners and losers as Mikel Arteta joins Arsenal Mikel Arteta agrees to become Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta is poised to return to Arsenal to replace Unai Emery as manager, but who are the winners and losers of his appointment?
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Winners and losers as Mikel Arteta joins Arsenal Winners: Mesut Ozil The German has outlasted Arsene Wenger, Unai Emery and the short interim reign on Freddie Ljungberg, despite being one of the prime targets for the fans’ ire over is apparently lethargic displays this season. Ozil has long been one of the enigmas of the Premier League, having a talent that few across the division can rival yet displaying it on so few occasions that the prospect of his selection at all sometimes beggars belief. But the arrival of a former teammate in Arteta could well see Ozil receive the arm around the shoulder that he desperately craves, and at a time when he has put himself in the headlines for reasons beyond football, it may be the perfect cure to get him focussed on playing his best again. After all, who else do Arsenal have to select in his position who is performing well?
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Winners and losers as Mikel Arteta joins Arsenal Mikel Arteta Of course, this is the obvious one. Arteta receives his first permanent manager’s job at a club where he can’t really do much worse than what is already happening, yet has the potential and talent to shoot right up the table with just a couple of wins. It’ll be a tough ask for Arteta, but he knows the club inside out and – just like Ole Gunnar Solskjaer – will be afforded more time than most due to his previous relationship there.
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Winners and losers as Mikel Arteta joins Arsenal Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang As long as Arteta sticks with him as captain, the arrival of the new manager could see Aubameyang benefit from what Pep Guardiola has taught his young understudy. Guardiola has always favoured playing one lone striker and for too long Aubameyang has been wasted out wide to accommodate both he and Alexandre Lacazette. Arteta’s arrival could well see Aubameyang return to being the main man in the middle.
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Winners and losers as Mikel Arteta joins Arsenal Arsenal fans It has not been a kind campaign for Arsenal fans to endure so far this season but the arrival of Arteta will bring a renewed optimism at the Emirates and – the club will desperately hope – a new manager bounce that they failed to get with Ljungberg. Whether or not Arteta is the answer to Arsenal’s issues remains to be seen, but he should help to heal a fractured fanbase and bring calm to a club that has been in freefall in just about every area.
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Winners and losers as Mikel Arteta joins Arsenal Nicolas Pepe The £72m club-record signing clearly has something about him, and Arteta could be the man who finally brings out his best side at Arsenal. With just four goals to his name since arriving from Lille in the summer, it would be fair of Arteta to demand more from his high-cost winger, but in return Pepe may now finally have a manager who truly believes in his talents.
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Winners and losers as Mikel Arteta joins Arsenal Losers: Pep Guardiola Although the Manchester City manager wanted Arteta to remain in his backroom staff, he admitted that he could not see a reason for the former Arsenal midfielder remaining at the Etihad when offered a head coaching role. City have let their title-winning intensity slip this season; they have had their worst start to a Premier League under Guardiola ever, with three defeats in their opening 13 games, to leave them in third place, floundering nine points behind leaders Liverpool. Guardiola’s loss of his assistant manager can only increase the pressure on the manager’s shoulders, and it could put the Spaniard’s long-term future at the club under more doubt.
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Winners and losers as Mikel Arteta joins Arsenal David Luiz David Luiz, who won both the Premier League and Champions League with Chelsea, has struggled to make an impression for the Gunners this season. Although he has started 14 of the side’s 16 Premier League games, fans have argued that this is not because of the defensive skill of the 32-year-old but because Arsenal do not have anything better at their disposal. Luiz has been a catastrophe alongside Sokratis, and both players are likely to be sold in the not too distant future if Arteta is in favour of a revamp.
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Winners and losers as Mikel Arteta joins Arsenal Sokratis Papastathopoulos Which brings us to Sokratis. Arsenal’s current squad is lacking depth in multiple areas, but nowhere as greatly as in its defence which has been labelled “embarrassing” by critics this season. Arteta will have to look to fix this problem area across the next two transfer windows through both buying and selling players. Sokratis has fallen out of favour with fans after multiple shaky performances throughout the season, with many questioning why the defender continues to be fielded.
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Winners and losers as Mikel Arteta joins Arsenal Alexandre Lacazette If Arteta sticks by Aubameyang, Lacazette could find himself reduced once again to the role of impact substitute – something that we have already seen frustrates him. The problem for Arsenal is that Lacazette is two years younger than Aubameyang, but by being placed repeatedly in this role he could easily have his head turned by other interested clubs. Choosing how to handle his two superstar strikers could be one of Arteta’s biggest challenges.
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Winners and losers as Mikel Arteta joins Arsenal Joe Willock Emery had given young midfielder Willock plenty of game time this season, before Ljungberg trusted him to start his first game in charge in the form of the recent defeat by Brighton. It backfired, with Willock hauled off at half-time, and the introduction of Pepe appears to have given Arsenal a little bit of life, if nothing else. If Ljungberg and Per Mertesacker, his former academy coach, weren’t going to stick by him, it’s highly unlikely that Arteta will, at least in the immediate future.
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“We could never recreate it for security reasons. The distance from the pitch to the stand had to be bigger as we needed ambulances to come in.
“The inclination of the stands had to be smaller all those things together that we didn’t find to recreate the atmosphere.”
Wenger, speaking alongside Liverpool ’s Jurgen Klopp , who is looking to match Wenger’s achievement of guiding a team to an unbeaten season, hailed the Reds’ home form, with no league defeat at Anfield since April 2017.
Wenger believes Arsenal have suffered since the moves to the Emirates (Getty) “[Anfield] is the best stadium in England,” Wenger said. “It’s simple because the people are so close to the pitch. People really love football in every family, they are football connoisseurs.
“I’ve been in positions there where I’ve been leading 5-1 with five minutes to go and they were chanting ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone.’ It’s one of the few cities, maybe the only city in the world where you find that.
“I moved from Highbury [with Arsenal], it was a bit similar to Anfield, if not the same.”
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