Disillusioned Arsenal fans protest against the club’s direction under its owners

DURING a chilly spring, Manchester City’s title-winning manager Pep Guardiola started to appear on the touchline in a grey hoodie.

The next match saw Mikel Arteta at Arsenal dispense with his Burton wear to do the same; a bit like when David Brent arrives at work in a brown leather jacket after seeing “Neil from Swindon branch” do the same in The Office.

Arteta aches to be Pep, but his first full season in a top manager’s role has unravelled and Arsenal are at a crossroads, trying to play the Pep method but without the players to achieve it.

Even playing out from the back at goalkicks has proved costly. There has been a lack of discipline, a rash of red cards and unforgivable lapses in concentration. Sometimes Arteta has tried to be too clever, itching to deliver a masterstroke worthy of his old mentor. The lack of forwards on the pitch in the Europa League semi-final was conspicuous.

Despite an end-of-season flourish, there were times when Arsenal offered some of the most turgid football they have mustered in the past 25 years.

Certainly, the Covid absence of supporters meant Arteta did not have to listen to their boos.

Gunners fans protesting before the match against Everton at the Emirates Stadium

Often the manager cursed bad luck, but there were too many losses for this to be a convincing solution. He was in charge when Willian was treated like a marquee signing rather than a retirement job. He chose Leno over Martinez; performances have shown this to be the incorrect call. Underperforming players have been given endless chances, while those sent out on loan seem to play with greater pride and satisfaction in a different team’s shirt, most notably Joe Willock at Newcastle – rather hapless at times under Arteta’s guidance, but a smart scorer since joining up with the Magpies.

Then there were the unsettling capers with Ozil and Guendouzi – perhaps a stronger manager would have tamed the latter and got him producing better.

Bellerin has sped backwards, gazing at fashion and art, which isn’t a crime, but he’s like a promising rock guitarist who’s discovered jazz.

It’s almost inconceivable that Mohamed Elneny was pushed into the team again. And then there is David Luiz.

Understandably, there was no lap of honour in front of the capped crowd on Sunday for the season finale. As if to sum up the comic incompetence of the team’s campaign, defender Gabriel finished up by padding the turf for a lost gold tooth.

Protests outside the Emirates ahead of the match against Brighton

And there was the tannoy man bellowing out a weepy goodbye to Luiz as if a club legend was leaving. He may be “great to have around” but his two years at the club have had a predictable unpredictability on the pitch – you never knew when he would press the berserker button and do something mindless. Chelsea fans joked about Agent Luiz being at work.

Sometimes it was almost as if he had bored himself with his own sideways passing and wanted to liven a match up, for good or for bad.

So if Arsenal have a lump in their collective throat about his departure, then it’s worrying.

This is a time, with no European football for the first time in a quarter of century, to be ruthless.

It’s easy for big clubs to slide into permanent averageness and take an age to respond – it more or less happened to Liverpool in the 1990s. Spurs spent season after season being top of the bottom half or bottom of the top half, never really explaining why they were one of the “big five”.

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta faces a testing summer

Arsenal need to stop this happening to them. Other clubs would have already had an icy approach to the manager’s end of season report, but the Arsenal board seem invested in Arteta. He will be trusted with the transfer dealings again.

Now is the time to bring players in to assist the two stars of the season: Smith Rowe and Saka. A new goalkeeper is a must. Arteta must also decide on two strong centre-backs and let them develop a partnership rather than more chopping and changing.

An upgrade on Xhaka has been needed for some time in midfield. There’s hope for Pepe after his recent form, but Arteta also has to learn how to manage Aubameyang – he isn’t getting the best out of his once prized asset and must ask himself why.

Just wondering “what would Pep do?” won’t help him – it’s a different club at a different stage.

In the meantime, the red and white smoke from the protests outside the ground gets thicker. It is a last-chance summer.