Mikel Arteta: Aston La Vista To The Title?

[DanDare]

Remember when Arteta chose the keeper who was significantly worse at playing out from the back and then used him to play out from the back

Good times

 

[Blood on the Tracks]

Expect this thread will be quite quiet tonight. Hard to be too critical of many decisions Arteta made. He got most right.

We really do need to cut out these individual errors though. We're gifting teams 1 goal every match at the moment. It's not acceptable and it's costing us, in the league at least.

 

[Wounded Healer]

at least he can agree with what my blinded grandma is saying the past 3 seasons.
bullseye.
then he will play luiz and xhaka.
well, credit to him mustachi went to do that somewhere else.
1 down 2 to go.

 

[Lidl_Reed]

Remember when Arteta chose the keeper who was significantly worse at playing out from the back and then used him to play out from the back

Good times

I don't remember him choosing the Aston Villa hoofer

 

[A_G]

I don't remember him choosing the Aston Villa hoofer

this ****ing guy..

 

[Iceman10]

Expect this thread will be quite quiet tonight. Hard to be too critical of many decisions Arteta made. He got most right.

We really do need to cut out these individual errors though. We're gifting teams 1 goal every match at the moment. It's not acceptable and it's costing us, in the league at least.

If a player gets on the stats sheet with an assist or goal it is hard to knock the selection, but there is always going to be the question of whether the player on the bench would still have performed better than the player selected. This is where there will be a lot of discussion. I said in the match thread that Mikel would feel vindicated with certain decisions, but that is different from us accepting he was vindicated. If we cannot cut out the errors we need to be scoring more than one goal when on top in the first half, so you know how I still feel about that with regards to Saka and two playmakers vs. Saka, #10, and a runner on the LW who can score also.

 

[Riou]

He really needs to work on how we play out from the back, if he wants to keep doing it.

Under Arsène, at our peak we probably played the best football in the history of the sport...we didn't do that with our goalkeeper always going long with his kicks, we defintley played a shorter game at times then...right now we just seem to be ****ing around at the back with the ball, waiting for an error, instead of trying to progress it forward as our main aim...we always look very nervous back there.

I don't know if the players aren't good ebough, or Mikel is just "over-managing" them too much...but that needs to be sorted asap.

 

[Macho]

Credit to Mikel he picked the right 11 and got the W. Imma just leave it at that.

I see a lot of crying for Pepe and Martinelli but that’s football, you just have to trust that Arteta has his reasons.

If we’re not careful we might end up overrating them because of absence - it’s a results business not a popularity contest I guess.

Onto the Derby it is.

 

[Hunta]

He really needs to work on how we play out from the back, if he wants to keep doing it.

Under Arsène, at our peak we probably played the best football in the history of the sport...we didn't do that with our goalkeeper always going long with his kicks, we defintley played a shorter game at times then...right now we just seem to be ****ing around at the back with the ball, waiting for an error, instead of trying to progress it forward as our main aim...we always look very nervous back there.

I don't know if the players aren't good ebough, or Mikel is just "over-managing" them too much...but that needs to be sorted asap.

He’s doing the same build up Pep is mastering at City. Noticed it when I watched City the other day. The difference is that when the ball goes into Rodri he can play a ball round the corner first time or switch it 40 yards first time, our mids can’t.

Everything about City in that regard is better, better starting point (Ederson/Leno), better players in all other positions, spacing is often perfect and they have better profile of player in each position - two attacking mids centrally rather than two defensive minded ones.

 

[hydrofluoric acid]

He really needs to work on how we play out from the back, if he wants to keep doing it.

Under Arsène, at our peak we probably played the best football in the history of the sport...we didn't do that with our goalkeeper always going long with his kicks, we defintley played a shorter game at times then...right now we just seem to be ****ing around at the back with the ball, waiting for an error, instead of trying to progress it forward as our main aim...we always look very nervous back there.

I don't know if the players aren't good ebough, or Mikel is just "over-managing" them too much...but that needs to be sorted asap.

Nah we did go long a lot under Wenger when the GK had the ball.

No problem with Arteta method. The players need to be smarter about it though!

 

[Riou]

He’s doing the same build up Pep is mastering at City. Noticed it when I watched City the other day. The difference is that when the ball goes into Rodri he can play a ball round the corner first time or switch it 40 yards first time, our mids can’t.

Everything about City in the regard is better, better staring point (Ederson/Leno), better players in all other positions, spacing is often perfect and they have better profile of player in each position.

Then Tets needs to give the players more leeway on the pitch, let them decide what to do...some of our players, especially Leno, look really nervous playing this way.

It's all well and good Pep doing this, considering he's only managed Barca, Bayern and Oil City FC...we don't have the same level of players, Arteta needs to understand that.

 

[Hunta]

Then Tets needs to give the players more leeway on the pitch, let them decide what to do...some of our players, especially Leno, look really nervous playing this way.

It's all well and good Pep doing this, considering he's only managed Barca, Bayern and Oil City FC...we don't have the same level of players, Arteta needs to understand that.

He won’t, he’s stubborn. That’s why I don’t see it working here with him. His way of playing needs the best players around to make it work, which he’ll never have here.

 

[AberGooner]

I know we don't have the players City have for playing out from the back but at the moment we aren't talking about a title winning side. Leeds play similar and are mid table with far lesser players than us so in theory it is possible to achieve top4/top6 playing this way.

 

[Lidl_Reed]

I know City have better players, but I have been consistent on one thing with Arteta. I think his idea of playing out from the back is absolutely needed. You don't need Rodri to pull it off. The keeper is good enough to distribute, I don't think Leno's been responsible for the mess. The defenders are on the whole not bad at ball playing. It's the midfield which is the issue.

We need better midfielders and have needed them since Santi got crocked. And no, Ramsey was never the answer either, another technically awful player who was good at shooting. But even average midfielders who iron out mistakes in their game and with good coaching can play out from the back.

I don't think Arteta's done very well in how we've positioned ourselves, but I think the clear philosophy needs to continue, even if we get rid of him.

 

[boonthegoon]

just imagine how good our defensive record will be if we just stop the unforced errors. Mikel has definitely fixed the defence from conceding a lot. Just need to iron out these stupid mistakes.

 

[Penn_]

Playing out from the back always takes awhile to develop. But, the same errors do suggest the players doesn’t exactly get the idea behind it.

 

[dka1]

I don't really know if I can blame him for the way we play out of the back.

Infact when it comes to things Arteta has improved the defense is the first thing to point to and our passing out of the back is vastly superior to what it's been in the past, just compare it to Emery and it's night and day.

As for the mistakes, well I mean it is a danger when playing this way but they I admit that two in a row is not a particularly good look.

I dunno, it could be positioning I guess, but this is one thing that might be on the players rather than the instruction.

 

[Kav]

The issue isn’t just a matter of playing out from the back but the way we play out from the back differs from both city and Leeds. We deliberately pass the ball slowly around the back to invite the pressure from the opponents.

Arteta’s tactics is quite simple invite the press, play through it and it opens up space in the opponents middle and final third for us to then move the ball faster with a diagonal or switch to Auba or use the left to attack the space and have the right side move into the vacant space after the press for the shot opportunity.

The problem is that most teams know how we will play so they put their workhorse up top to press either of our cb’s or Cm’s with the knowledge that they will get an opportunity since we don’t have the best personnel to do it and the fact that we take so long to do it as well.

I have been repeating myself all season. We move the ball too slowly. When we increase our tempo we are much more effective at breaking teams down and making opportunities for our forward players

 

[CaseUteinberger]

One thing that has jumped out to me over the last couple of games is that the team seems quite happy together. The way they celebrate goals and are there for each other. Say what you will about Arteta the coach, but he seems to have created quite a good team atmosphere and spirit, at least from what you can see from the outside.

 

[CaseUteinberger]

I have been repeating myself all season. We move the ball too slowly. When we increase our tempo we are much more effective at breaking teams down and making opportunities for our forward players

Exactly, when things slow down our play just turns into rubbish. We need to move the ball quicker and that to me is mainly on the DMs and the two full backs.