Cesc Fàbregas Praises Arsenal's Patience Under Mikel Arteta
Cesc Fàbregas knows exactly what turbulence looks like at Arsenal. He lived it. Which is why his praise for the club’s recent patience under Mikel Arteta carried extra weight as he spoke at the Emirates Stadium.
The former captain, who racked up 303 appearances for the Gunners, highlighted how the board refused to flinch during the early, awkward years of Arteta’s reign and stayed welded to a long-term plan.
“Congratulations to the club in general starting from seven, eight years ago when they first started with this project,” Fàbregas said, reflecting on the journey. “Because what you see in football every day, what Arsenal did, especially in the difficult moments, it doesn’t exist.”
He recalled a conversation from his visit to a Champions League night in north London last season, when he made a point of saluting the hierarchy.
“I told Edu, I told Andrea [Berta] when I came last year to a Champions League game, I said congratulations to the whole club for the patience, for sticking together, for sticking to the plan when for three years in a row, correct me if I’m wrong, finished eighth, eighth, eighth, fourth year nearly Champions League, it was a big disappointment, Tottenham came, you finish fifth, but you keep going because you have a plan, because you have an objective, because you have progression, you keep going forward.”
In an era where three bad results can trigger a sacking, Fàbregas was blunt about how rare that kind of resolve has become. The constant churn, he argued, kills any chance of building a real identity.
“We lack this in football today. You lose three games, change the coach, he was playing one style, now you play another, at the end of the day I don’t believe in this a lot.”
That belief is shaping his own path. Now at Como, Fàbregas is trying to transplant some of the same values he saw hardwired into Arsenal.
“I’m very lucky I’m in a project, of course with much lower level, the history, everything, but we’re trying to look at the stability Arsenal had, the values, the culture that they are bringing.”
He reserved particular admiration for Arteta’s work, and for the dressing room that has grown around him.
“I think Mikel has done a tremendous job. So I can only wish them the best, really. Because most of the group, these guys now you talk to them, I don’t know… they’re good guys, they want to play good football, they are respectful, you can see how they stick to the plan all the time. Really, I’m super happy to come back here and smell this feeling.”
The next tests of that culture arrive quickly. Arsenal meet Manchester City in the Community Shield in Cardiff on Sunday, 16 August, a curtain-raiser between champions that will give an early glimpse of their Premier League title defence. Six days later, the real business begins against newly promoted Coventry City.
While Arsenal lock in on trophies, Fàbregas’s Como will be grafting through their own preparations. On that same Sunday, the Italian side face a double-header of friendlies against Liverpool, the first behind closed doors and the second in front of supporters, before turning fully toward their Serie A opener against Udinese the following Saturday.
Two clubs, very different scales. One shared question: can patience keep paying off when the pressure bites again?
