There is a moment in Amazon’s latest ‘All or Nothing’ documentary series, which charted Arsenal’s plight across the 2021/22 campaign, where Mikel Arteta is struggling to articulate his words when addressing his squad in an enraged post-match debrief.
The rant lasts about a minute, is furiously impassioned, and ends with the Spaniard storming out of the dressing room at the City Ground.
Arsenal had just lost to Nottingham Forest. Moreover, they had been completely outplayed by the then-Championship side – a repeat of the outcome of January 2018’s FA Cup meeting when Arsene Wenger’s era was meandering towards its disappointing conclusion.
At that juncture, with a regretful sense of foreboding, there was a feeling the former Gunners captain could soon meet a similar end. It was not the first time his credentials had been called into question. The Arsenal way had seemingly been lost.
“We were not good enough and we have to apologise for it,” Arteta summarised in the aftermath of that despondent defeat. A polite synopsis of the scathing review he privately delivered to his players.