Mikel Arteta: Managerial Royalty

[EmeryCouldnt]

Thats not true, in his first 3 seasons here, Özil was easily our best and consistent player. Guy was close to breaking the PL assist record with Giroud and Walcott in the team.

Lets atleast respect what the man brought to us during his peak years. His consistency floored when he got that new deal, but prior to that he was at a very high level.

Özil was always excellent and tidy when we had the ball. It was when we didn’t have the ball that he was a problem on the pitch.

 

[field442]

I suppose today is the start of 4-3-3 being the regular formation? Kolasinac is probably out the door so we can’t really play 3-4-3 without playing Tierney every game.

 

[krackpot]

We need to support him now. We're playing a very risky game.

If we do not back him this window, we will have to get Europe with these players or we will not be able to get the level of players we need next season.

 

[Manberg]

I suppose today is the start of 4-3-3 being the regular formation? Kolasinac is probably out the door so we can’t really play 3-4-3 without playing Tierney every game.

I’m pretty sure we played the same 3-4-3 throughout the whole game it didn’t change.

 

[Football Manager]

Özil was always excellent and tidy when we had the ball. It was when we didn’t have the ball that he was a problem on the pitch.

Simple/efficient/tidy shxt....

we need iniesta, we need complexity in movement/passing play and skill moves to confuse opponent. Not simple play.

We need active involvement in combination play. Not efficiency, not doing minimal and hope for the best.

we need control of possession and overload the opponent, slowly build up our play.

 

[field442]

I’m pretty sure we played the same 3-4-3 throughout the whole game it didn’t change.

Well you’re wrong (yet again). It was 4-3-3 for the whole game.

 

[Manberg]

Well you’re wrong (yet again). It was 4-3-3 for the whole game.

Your eyes deceive you. It was the same 3-4-3. Luiz on the right and Gabriel in the middle this time. Tierney on the left, running forward when we have the ball to make it a back 2. Same setup we used all season, it didn’t change.

 

[EmeryCouldnt]

Simple/efficient/tidy shxt....

we need iniesta, we need complexity in movement/passing play and skill moves to confuse opponent. Not simple play.

We need active involvement in combination play, not efficiency, doing minimal and hope for the best.

we need control of possession and overload the opponent, slowly build up our play.

Haha dude, Özil was super tricky and slippery, no opposition could consistently follow him. He always played in between the lines. Creativity was not a problem with him.

His combination play was great until he had to do it with Guendouzi, Xhaka, and Torreira.

 

[Football Manager]

Haha dude, Özil was super tricky and slippery, no opposition could consistently follow him. He always played in between the lines. Creativity was not a problem with him.

His combination play was great until he had to do it with Guendouzi, Xhaka, and Torreira.

He is good creating for the final pass only.

Lack creativity in the general play. Poor in making space/help the team progress/keep possession.

He has always been a simple and efficient player. Never saw him doing anything iniesta/modric/Kaka/Isco/coutinho/nasri would do on the ball.

 

[AbouCuéllar]

Haha dude, Özil was super tricky and slippery, no opposition could consistently follow him. He always played in between the lines. Creativity was not a problem with him.

His combination play was great until he had to do it with Guendouzi, Xhaka, and Torreira.

Özil is one of the most natural operators in between lines that we have seen in the last couple decades. He was simply a master of that space.

He's not good enough any more but this is a weird one, Football Manager, as I responded to before. Özil is the definition of a creative player.

 

[Football Manager]

Özil is one of the most natural operators in between lines that we have seen in the last couple decades. He was simply a master of that space.

He's not good enough any more but this is a weird one, Football Manager, as I responded to before. Özil is the definition of a creative player.

He doesn’t even create possession.
In games we are lacking control, having him on the pitch would not help us to have more possession. He wouldn’t pass the ball around/creating play in the midfield and build up slowly like Barcelona. He wouldn’t.

He likes to play counter. Quick forward pass, to bypass the midfield creative play. It also means our attackers might be tightly marked when he made the pass and therefore risking to lose possession again.

Barcelona players and other AM I mentioned will involve in passes and passes first, to make the attacking player completely open, so that they can beautifully pass to the unmarked player and make the assist.

 

[EmeryCouldnt]

He doesn’t even create possession.
In games we are lacking control, having him on the pitch would help us to have more possession. He wouldn’t pass the ball around/creating play in the midfield and build up slowly like Barcelona. He wouldn’t.

He likes to play counter. Quick forward pass, to bypass the midfield creative play. It also means our attackers might be tightly marked when he made the pass and therefore risking to lose possession again.

Barcelona players and other AM I mentioned will involve in passes and passes first to make the attacking player completely open, so that they can beautifully pass to the unmarked player and make the assist.

Again, that takes other players to pass to. In the team you are talking about, we likely had Sanchez and Ramsey bombing forward with Giroud already up front.

You can't expect Özil to single handedly play like Barcelona.

 

[AbouCuéllar]

He doesn’t even create possession.
In games we are lacking control, having him on the pitch would help us to have more possession. He wouldn’t pass the ball around/creating play in the midfield and build up slowly like Barcelona. He wouldn’t.

He likes to play counter. Quick forward pass, to bypass the midfield creative play. It also means our attackers might be tightly marked when he made the pass and therefore risking to lose possession again.

Barcelona players and other AM I mentioned will involve in passes and passes first to make the attacking player completely open, so that they can beautifully pass to the unmarked player and make the assist.

Özil regularly dropped deep to get involved in possession both for us and Madrid (can't speak to Bremen, only watched highlights). Naturally any manager will want him to be in the 10 space as much as possible because that's where his talent really stands out and where he really makes the difference for a team, but dropping deep to get involved was definitely a feature of Özil's game. Özil is definitely useful retaining possession. Any player as good on the turn as him, as comfortable receiving in tight spaces, and as good at passing and decision making and close control/dribbling is.

His managers instructions/playing style are another matter. Wenger likes a much more direct football than the golden era Barça football you seem to idolise, Mourinho of course even more direct. Löw is just kinda ****.

But in terms of being a modern 10, Özil's playing style is basically indistinguishable from Silva's, at least in terms of involvement in possession (their style in the box/final third is a bit different I guess). It would be weird to like one and not the other. They are the two 10s par excellence in the prem era of 2012-2017 or so.

 

[EmeryCouldnt]

@AbouCuéllar

 

[GunnerShy]

We seem to consistently have twice as many touches per shot of the other big teams/teams in form at the moment.

I can't work out yet whether it's a fear of shooting, a lack of final ball or just fiddling with the ball on the back four and constantly recycling possession that drives such a large discrepancy.

I can see that we are trying to limit turn over in parts of the pitch to reduce transitions. It's been very effective in making us more defensively solid but I can't help but to think a hundred touches a shot will rely on an unsustainable efficiency in front of goal to keep winning games.

Watching today, it feels like personnel in midfield but also more intelligent movement in the final third is needed to release the shooting shackles.

If Mikel can manage this without sacrificing much on the defensive end, we will be in with a chance of finishing high up in the league this season. The next 30 hours will be critical to part of that.

 

[Football Manager]

Özil regularly dropped deep to get involved in possession both for us and Madrid (can't speak to Bremen, only watched highlights). Naturally any manager will want him to be in the 10 space as much as possible because that's where his talent really stands out and where he really makes the difference for a team, but dropping deep to get involved was definitely a feature of Özil's game. Özil is definitely useful retaining possession. Any player as good on the turn as him, as comfortable receiving in tight spaces, and as good at passing and decision making and close control/dribbling is.

His managers instructions/playing style are another matter. Wenger likes a much more direct football than the golden era Barça football you seem to idolise, Mourinho of course even more direct. Löw is just kinda ****.

But in terms of being a modern 10, Özil's playing style is basically indistinguishable from Silva's, at least in terms of involvement in possession (their style in the box/final third is a bit different I guess). It would be weird to like one and not the other. They are the two 10s par excellence in the prem era of 2012-2017 or so.

You don’t have to drop deep to get involved. Just look at iniesta/silva. They are much better players. Özil dropping deep would only do simple passes. He can’t dribble/control in tight space/do a skill move.

Özil can’t make us play like Barcelona? But Sanchez did try. Sanchez did his part. He involved a lot in our general passing play. He dribbled past players. Özil was invisible in the general attacking play.

 

[EmeryCouldnt]

You don’t have to drop deep to get involved. Just look at iniesta/silva. They are much better players. Özil dropping deep would only do simple passes. He can’t dribble/control in tight space/do a skill move.

Özil can’t make us play like Barcelona? But Sanchez did try. Sanchez did his part. He involved a lot in our general passing play. He dribbled past players. Özil was invisible in the general attacking play.

It's so funny... Özil absolutely did dribble/control in tight space and do skill moves... all the time!

Sanchez was also forced to drop deep. And he decidedly did not play like Barcelona! He would do turns against the run of play and stop the fluidity of an attack. He was great individually and in the final third in general, but I'm not sure where this narrative is that he was popping the ball around like iniesta ffs.

In the Arsenal team of 2017, you did have to drop deep to get the ball. It's funny that you think Özil could play in our team the same way iniesta or silva played at Man City and Barcelona at their peak. It's incredible...

 

[AbouCuéllar]

You don’t have to drop deep to get involved. Just look at iniesta/silva. They are much better players. Özil dropping deep would only do simple passes. He can’t dribble/control in tight space/do a skill move.

Özil can’t make us play like Barcelona? But Sanchez did try. Sanchez did his part. He involved a lot in our general passing play. He dribbled past players. Özil was invisible in the general attacking play.

It feels like we're talking about different players. Did you watch Özil at Madrid, I'll ask again?

Honestly, this is coming from a Spaniard who rates Iniesta higher than God like the rest of us, but Özil in 10-12 for Madrid is hard to beat in terms of modern #10 play that I've seen in this century.

 

[Football Manager]

We seem to consistently have twice as many touches per shot of the other big teams/teams in form at the moment.

I can't work out yet whether it's a fear of shooting, a lack of final ball or just fiddling with the ball on the back four and constantly recycling possession that drives such a large discrepancy.

I can see that we are trying to limit turn over in parts of the pitch to reduce transitions. It's been very effective in making us more defensively solid but I can't help but to think a hundred touches a shot will rely on an unsustainable efficiency in front of goal to keep winning games.

Watching today, it feels like personnel in midfield but also more intelligent movement in the final third is needed to release the shooting shackles.

If Mikel can manage this without sacrificing much on the defensive end, we will be in with a chance of finishing high up in the league this season. The next 30 hours will be critical to part of that.

You can try a shot every minute, at 30 yards out from the opponent goal, without any play intended to break the opponent’s defence. This will give you 90 shots per game.

Or you can use combination passing play or skill moves dribbling, to draw defenders or even the goalie away, one by one until you make a chance that is against an open goal, which you will 99.9% score.

The “more number of passes you mention” means that we are trying to create better chances, which are harder to create, but with more certainty to score.

 

[Football Manager]

It's so funny... Özil absolutely did dribble/control in tight space and do skill moves... all the time!

Sanchez was also forced to drop deep. And he decidedly did not play like Barcelona! He would do turns against the run of play and stop the fluidity of an attack. He was great individually and in the final third in general, but I'm not sure where this narrative is that he was popping the ball around like iniesta ffs.

In the Arsenal team of 2017, you did have to drop deep to get the ball. It's funny that you think Özil could play in our team the same way iniesta or silva played at Man City and Barcelona at their peak. It's incredible...

He can’t even do a step over. The best I saw him doing was right foot passes to his left foot pass back to his right foot and then accelerate. If you called this a skill move then I don't know what Ronaldinho has been doing for all his career.