"On My Train Ride to the Etihad, I Heard Arsenal Fans Share Their Concerns About Arteta – and It’s Troubling for the Coach"

THEY are the best barometer of how fans really feel about their club.

Not the fans who flood into the Emirates, bringing that bizarrely mix of bravado and terror and then watch the next week on television.

Mikel Arteta’s side have wobbled in recent weeks Credit: Getty The Gunners were beaten 2-1 at the Etihad on Sunday Credit: Getty

But the supporters who dig deep into their pockets, clamber aboard the trains that often cannot even get them back home after the match.

Travelling in the same groups week after week, the in-jokes and boisterous humour, genuine delight when one pulls out a can of six per cent rum cocktail to follow on from the four-pack of lager.

Some of them having to pretend to their partners that they are “meeting mates” rather than schlepping up to Newcastle, Liverpool or Birmingham: “Dog-house again, allez, allez!”

And if had been on the same journeys to and from Manchester as I was on Sunday, he will start to worry that he is losing the very people who are the true heartbeat of the club.

Even on the train up from Euston, between the bellowed chapters from the Arsenal songbook, there was a sense of worry.

That Arteta’s fixation on “control” had denuded his players of the spontaneity and imagination that makes the difference in the crux situations.

And that his “over-playing” of in particular and his preferred 13 or 14 players in general, were reason for the jelly-legged performances.

These are fans who love the club, devoutly, who are split on whether they want to be relegated, for the sheer pleasure, or who admit the North London derby is still the highlight of their season.

Some Arsenal fans are losing faith in their side Credit: AP

To a man, they respect what Arteta has done. Have revelled in the excitement of the season, already planning their trips to Budapest next month, want to end that 22-year wait for the Prem crown more than ANYTHING in their lives..

And yet, underneath it all, was that gnawing doubt. That while they believed Arsenal could get the result they needed at the Etihad, it could all be falling apart in front of their eyes.

Six hours later, and a different group of despondent Gooners picked over the entrails of defeat, questioning Ebere Eze in particular and bewailing the dramatic fall-off in form that had made the trip so pivotal.

More critically, the doubts, voiced louder and louder as the journey progressed, over whether Arteta actually has what it takes to guide this team over the final hurdle.

Part of it was just the frustration of defeat in a match that could easily have ended with a win that would have pretty much sewn up the title.

That an eight day spell which began with Arsenal having the chance to go 12 points clear had ended with the gap down to three, set to be wiped out totally by Wednesday evening.

The Eze criticism – with long memories recalling his display at in December – seemed harsh.

But the .

Just one win, and four defeats, in their last six in all competitions, 17 points dropped in 14 Prem matches since the turn of the year.

No wonder those questions are now circling, too, over the architect of the Arsenal plan.

Arteta has matched Arsenal to the top of the hill time and again, only to march them down again when it really mattered.

Some of those Avanti West Coast travellers are now asking if the missing ingredient might have to be a new chef in charge of the kitchen.

One who might not use the same spice in every meal and not discover he’s run out when it is actually needed in the recipe.

Arteta opted for up-beat messaging in the aftermath of the City defeat, while opposite number downplayed the significance.

It felt like deliberate approaches by both managers, one needing to send out a tone of defiance, the other seeking to prevent any premature triumphalism.

But Pep is a proven course and distance winner, while Arteta’s record suggests that, when push comes to shove, he cannot quite get over the line.

All could change by May 24. If it doesn’t, if that impression is only confirmed by the next few weeks, it will not only be those on the trains who are wondering if a change at the top is required.