Mikel Arteta has said even qualifying for Europe will not make this a successful season for Arsenal and admitted he has made “a lot” of mistakes this season.
Arsenal can still mathematically qualify for the Europa League or the Europa Conference League, UEFA’s new third-tier competition, but they must win their final two matches against Crystal Palace and Brighton and hope others slip up.
Even if they scrape into Europe, Arteta concedes this season cannot be deemed a success.
“To have a successful season at this club you have to be having trophies in your hands,” said Arteta.
At the end of what has been a difficult season for the club, Arteta has admitted he will look at himself and how he can improve as a manager next season.
“I want to reflect in the next week or so when we have finished, but I am sure I have done a lot of things wrong,” said Arteta.
“100 per cent I can tell you now. So how am I going to make better decisions, get the better out of the players and the resources we have got.
“I want to spend time building, creating and with all the foundations we have in place now - evolve. I want a pre-season where I can work with the players and create, I am a really creative person, I want to create and evolve.
“A lot of the time since I have been here [my job] has been to determine and make some very difficult decisions that have to undo but I want to start doing more and more. The capacity of what we have to do is incredible.”
