Yeah, make to right on that. However, there could be a bigger picture being played out that we're yet to see come to an end. That's to say so many players in that squad are old and coming to an end of their careers and contracts and they do have some promising young lads (being bloodied and playing well in Europa) to come through. One thing that a manager will not want to do is make it seem easy for these players coming through, so he doesn't pick them or has them playing in U23's???? So the culture that he wants is being developed with the young players rather than the Snr's???? (this is me just playing devils advocate and should the board stick with him, might be the reason why as the older zimmer framed players will all be gone sooner rather than later??).
That's not to say that I agree with any of the decisions made about Willian, Luiz, Ozil, Xhaka, Aubameyang (I've been consistent on him that he's nothing like the player he was at Dortmund & Martinelli would have scored the vast majority he did last season) and Lacazete etc but
Part of his task is definitely a rebuild, namely getting rid of the Ozil crew when their contracts finally expire. I'm sure that's how the board sees him and that's why they're backing him so hard, they need a manager who can develop young players on a lower wage bill ala the Dortmund model to be able to compete financially. Allegri may be out there for example, but doesn't fit that "project" mold. Arteta says the right stuff so they'd rather gamble on him than a proven "now" manager.
The thing is, they do have some promising young players in Saka, Martinelli, Saliba etc, the problem is that Arteta has been playing it conservative instead of actually acting like a progressive young coach:
- handing Aubameyang a giant contract (understandable as their only reliable goalscorer, but without a plan to actually use him)
- convincing Xhaka, a 28yo and a truly mediocre player, to stay instead of selling him
- buying a 27yo on massive wages (good player, but not one for the resale value)
- chasing Willian, that was his top target in the summer besides Aouar - again an old player on massive wages
- buying 29yo Cedric and 27yo Mari, basically squad filler
- kicking out Guendouzi, for good reasons but still one of their better young players
- not selling AMN for 20M when they had the offer and then not using him
He talks a good game and probably has really impressively detailed tactics or something that seems new and smart (e.g. he assigns them all homework after games) but his squad management shows someone who's been pretty nervy about his job and hesitant to take risks. I imagine the board will write off this season and give him through next summer because a couple of the big contracts will expire then and they'll have some of the youngsters fit again. But if he doesn't start actually buying and playing youngsters, I don't think they'll be terribly happy with him. Imagine how much value the likes of Pepe have lost.