goon For better or worse, and there will be things he’ll ultimately have to change course on, Arteta knows what he wants and for me that’s a reassuring thing rather than a point of frustration - even when I can’t see the rationale.
I see what you're driving at. It can be a complex thing for managers, retaining authority and conviction while making regular changes to tactics and selection.
Firstly, changes need to be made on a fairly regular basis just so they don't appear reactive and lead to consternation and anxiety when they are truly necessary.
Secondly, changes once made may need to be persisted with to avoid a perception of either hesitancy, or of personal responsibility for immediate poor outcomes.
Thirdly, none of this should be talked about, or if it is, a certain mystique has to be retained, or if that fails, the manager's subsequent behaviour should be consistent with what he declares publicly.
I think Arteta's been good on the second point. Historically, he's been poor on the first point. It cost us last season when our first XI dipped in form and cohesion in April. We were used to a very static selection, and not at all well prepared for change. This season I think he's explicitly working on that and I approve. On the third point, he's had issues lately.
It's great that we now have a squad we can meaningfully rotate, and it's great to finally see it happening. It will definitely make us more flexible to change for other reasons—form, injury, suspension and more. Some players we have (Jorginho and Cedric are two examples, formerly Holding) will be relentlessly targeted if selected. I don't want to see those guys.
