Mikel Arteta: He Who Must Not Be Named

[El Duderino]

For me, us signing Merino instead of an 8/10 hybrid type all but confirmed that we're looking at a double pivot with Ødegaard being more of a roaming #10 as the main plan.

We leaned too much on the right side last season. With Cala/Timber/Zinny on the left, Merino as the left-sided midfielder, and Ode roaming to connect with the left as well as the right, we'll be much more balanced.

We have backup plans, too, clearly. Ode is the most irreplacable player on the team in terms of the function he serves, but we managed his absence brilliantly by switching to a 4-4-2 with Havertz and Trossard ahead. It's kind of like a two false 9s approach. We needed to invent something to cover for Ode and we did.

Yeah, double pivot is something me and others have mentioned that could work quite well given Rice's and Merino's apparent engines and duel winning.

Also gets Calafiore more involved and makes us a lot less static.

 

[Tnegs]

My main problem with Arteta is that he’s not Wenger. Other than that he’s incredible.

 

[ArsenalInMyHeart]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1841528677038780803

this football is so fluid

 

[Rex Stone]

One area I’ll say Arteta is miles ahead of Wenger in is the doping.

Has Merino and now Ødegaard back way ahead of schedule. Keep pumping them up Mik lad

 

[El Duderino]

One area I’ll say Arteta is miles ahead of Wenger in is the doping.

Has Merino and now Ødegaard back way ahead of schedule. Keep pumping them up Mik lad

Wonder how many asthmatic players we have

 

[El Duderino]

One area I’ll say Arteta is miles ahead of Wenger in is the doping.

Has Merino and now Ødegaard back way ahead of schedule. Keep pumping them up Mik lad

There's an obvious Diaby/Gourcuff joke in there somewhere, but I'm too lazy to make it.

 

[Rasmi]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1841528677038780803

this football is so fluid

One area we have to get better in is possession. We are too coached at times. Sometimes you just gotta keep the ball without plotting anything. We had 35% possession at home vs PSG. We averaging 47% in the league. Will be interesting vs Southampton which I expect us to beat. But will it be in transition or can we out possession a team that’s one of the best in the league keeping the ball

I know as long as you win possession don’t matter. But it will matter when you not winning

 

[DUFFMAN]

Enjoy these years lads, we could easily be like United when Arteta decides to leave.

Enjoy not being a laughing stock every week.

 

[Batman]

The little babies in the match thread:

 

[boonthegoon]

Kind of Galaxy brained it.

Rotation is nice but not too much rotation. Glad he made early subs to turn the game around.

Leicester game wasn't on him, we played really well that game. Not so much today.

 

[Tir Na Nog]

I don't blame him for rotating, just wish he'd be a bit bolder. Rice left 8 alongside Jorginho at home, Jesus starting when Nwaneri could've been given a run out. I wish he'd be a bit braver.

Good subs at the right time to bail us out.

 

[Dokaka]

I don't blame him for rotating, just wish he'd be a bit bolder. Rice left 8 alongside Jorginho at home, Jesus starting when Nwaneri could've been given a run out. I wish he'd be a bit braver.

Good subs at the right time to bail us out.

Felt like an obvious opportunity to give Nwaneri and/or MLS a proper go for sure. With both Rice and Jorginho in there to play the safe stuff I don't see why Nwaneri couldn't be the 3rd man in that midfield.

Thought you played quite well tbf but that's the bare minimum against Southampton, they're awful.

 

[fute]

Won't see Nwaneri at this rate unless it is League Cup games or dire straits.

If Cedric was still here, he'd play him before Nwaneri.

Don't be afraid Arteta, the kid can play.

 

[dka1]

Kind of Galaxy brained it.

Rotation is nice but not too much rotation. Glad he made early subs to turn the game around.

Leicester game wasn't on him, we played really well that game. Not so much today.

I think this is fair.

I think the mistake was we changed too much to players that aren't "certainties"; Jesus hasn't been in great goal scoring form, Sterling is new and then we shifted Havertz into midfield (albeit he did have a really good game).

But the subs were really good and after them we took complete control of the game and imo didn't look like losing/drawing afterwards.

I would've liked to see Nwaneri come in, I think that's one change to the starting line up that would've made sense as he could've slot into Ødegaard's position and he's already played quite a bit recently.

But well, we'll see how that plays out in the coming weeks.

 

[Tir Na Nog]

Just got this notification straight after the game

We need a stop to all tacticos until we find out what's going on.

 

[El Duderino]

Not that he played badly ad far as making mistakes go, but Partey at right back killed us a bit.

If Mikel was going to do that, Trossard should've started over Jesus to add more dynamism.

Jorginho is not that mobile and Rice not adventurous enough, so it was static.

Got the subs right, though.

 

[fute]

We are in new times.

Subs, lineup might look strange, but there are more games now and more at stake.

We have some depth. Outside of Gabby, Saliba, Saka, Kai, Rice, and Ødegaard when he gets back, don't get caught up in who starts. We have options where rotation is a must to keep people fresh.

Only issue really is the kid not playing.

 

[Yousif Arsenal]

Yeah Mikel acted weird today I'm all for rotating but not rotating your settled midfield and attack. On paper the team still should done better all 1st half was one way traffic but final ball was disappointing.

I hope also Mikel try to calm our players at home we too chaos against teams shouldn't be chaos against but it's no use this been happening at home since 21 and despite winning but I don't like it chaos football don't suit us

 

[RunTheTrap]

Too conservative to win the biggest trophies, and too scared to drop his favourites. He has taken us as far as he possibly can imo. I need to see what Inzaghi can cook for us.

 

[Melquiades]

Felt like an obvious opportunity to give Nwaneri and/or MLS a proper go for sure. With both Rice and Jorginho in there to play the safe stuff I don't see why Nwaneri couldn't be the 3rd man in that midfield.

Thought you played quite well tbf but that's the bare minimum against Southampton, they're awful.

Given our lack of striker options I think he was trying to spoonfeed the easiest game possible to Gabriel Jesus to try and get him a goal and some confidence back, because the team really needs him to get sorted and in form.

Unfortunately, Jesus is in such terrible form that he absolutely butchered our possession dominance in the first half.

Supporters love to drop players as soon as they have 2 bad games in a row but you can't manage like that (well, Chelsea sort of does) and you have to work on building your players out of bad periods where they lack confidence. Unfortunately right now Jesus is so ****ing bad he might be a lost cause.