Arsenal: Mikel Arteta needs to demand respect says pundit
Mikel Arteta must make drastic changes when he takes over at Arsenal to turn their fortunes around. That’s the view of Gunners hero Ray Parlour. The Spaniard will be appointed on Friday after deciding to quit Manchester City to take over at the Emirates.
Mikel Arteta will join Arsenal on Friday (Image: GETTY)
"You don't have to pick the side. You are in the dressing room as before chatting with the lads, like you're still a player, but you're still next to the manager, and feeding back a little but.
"Now you're manager you've got to make big decisions. You might have to upset certain players and that's the hardest job to get the right balance between upsetting players and leaving people and still keeping them on your side which is very difficult to do.
"Arsene Wenger was a master of it. You can only pick 11 people. You've got a squad of 25.
"Everybody wants to play. It's keeping everybody involved in the club to feel like you're wanted. That's his hardest challenge.
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"He's been a player himself. He knows how to deal with people. I've heard he is very inquisitive, always asking about things at the training ground when he was there. Wenger has said good things about him and appointed him his skipper.
"I'm sure if he's learned a little bit from Pep Guardiola on how he deals with players on a daily basis, because he's got some big stars on that team, and it'll be interesting to see how he does it at Arsenal. Of course it's a gamble."
City manager Pep Guardiola has praised Arteta and he isn’t getting in the way of such a big opportunity to take over at Arsenal.
Guardiola said: “We were smart to pick him up.
Mikel Arteta has been warned by ex-Arsenal ace Ray Parlour (Image: GETTY)
“He’s an incredible person, a good manager with a work ethic. That’s why he has been with us
“He’s talking with Arsenal so I don’t know what is going to happen. I knew about it [the meeting]. He was incredibly honest and transparent with me.
“It happens [that backroom staff members leave]; [head physio] Lee Nobes went to Liverpool and now teams want Mikel.
“He knows exactly what we want but at the end it’s his decision. It’s personal. Nobody is here if they don’t want to be here.
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“If he wants to be here it is because we decided we want to work together three years ago.
“What happens now, I don’t know.
“The organisation of the club is always live, it doesn’t always stay the same, what works today might not work tomorrow. The people today maybe won’t be here tomorrow.”
Arsenal travel to Everton in the Premier League on Saturday afternoon (12:30pm kick off).