Arsenal lost to Bayern Munich in the quarter finals of Champions League the other night.
Immediately after the loss, some were quick to label Arsenal’s season a failure and question whether Mikel Arteta, the manager, was making enough progress with the club. Since Arteta took over in late 2019, Arsenal has only managed to win one major trophy, the FA Cup in 2020, a total deemed insufficient.
While the loss to Bayern was disappointing, even if Arsenal were to finish the season with no additional silverware, the progress they are making is beyond doubt.
The mistake we often make when looking at progress, is that we focus too narrowly on the end result. What we fail to take into account by doing so are differences in starting positions. The true measure of progress is the distance one has travelled.
When Arteta walked through the door at Arsenal, he walked into a club in disarray. The relationship between the players and the fans was toxic, the club was full of high earning and underperforming players, the culture was terrible and the team was performing poorly on the pitch.
Five years later, and the reality has completely changed. The relationship between fans and players is as strong as ever, the squad is full of young and hungry players, the team has developed a clear playing identity, and is competing consistently for the biggest trophies This year marked Arsenal's return to the Champions League for the first time in 7 years, and their first appearance in the quarterfinals in 14 years.
When people point out that it took other managers like Jürgen Klopp less time to win more trophies at Liverpool, they don’t acknowledge that Liverpool was in a far stronger position than Arsenal when Arteta took over.
Results take time, and I’m confident that Arteta is on the right path. In the meantime, his lack of trophies shouldn’t be the measure of progress. He has carried Arsenal a long way forward already.