Arsenal star David Luiz has backed Mikel Arteta as the right choice for manager and says the Spaniard will prove himself to be one of the best coaches in the world by making the club “shine” again. The former Manchester City assistant manager has picked up just one point from his first two games, with Manchester United the visitors to the Emirates on New Year’s Day.
It has extended the north London club’s run to just one win in 15 games, seen them flounder in the lower half of the table and left them as close to the relegation zone as they are to a possible European qualification place.
With Freddie Ljungberg sat back in the director’s box for the 2-1 defeat to Chelsea on Sunday after his unsuccessful spell as Arsenal caretaker boss, that dip in form has come under three manager’s in all, with Unai Emery in charge before the Swede’s interim stint.
However, Luiz remains confident that given time – and despite his lack of experience – Arteta has the tools to polish things up again at the Emirates.
“We have to try to improve ourselves as soon as possible because this club deserves to shine again,” Luiz said. “They made the right choice with Arteta.
“He will be one of the best coaches in the world for sure because he knows football, he understands football. He’s trying to improve our team with some field training. We’re going to try to do our best.
“He’s trying to make a new philosophy. I think everybody saw that in the first half, we dominated the game and we should have scored the second goal. It would have been a different game.
“After that the second half was very nervous and both teams were fighting till the end. The first half on Sunday, everybody saw an amazing thing. The second half Chelsea were better than us.”
Luiz fears in that regard the chaos following the decision to sack Emery has set the club back – as was exposed by a Chelsea side who have been working together under Frank Lampard since the summer.
“In the process they are in front of us,” he said. “They had a pre-season together with the same philosophy and coach.
“We need to understand the stage of the season we’re in now. We have to take the positives from the Chelsea match and improve the negative things.”