Mikel Arteta: Aston La Vista To The Title?

[Sniper Mik]

Mikel, you're clearly tactically intelligent and have a lot of potential but you need to get us playing good football man.

I'm not expecting Liverpool/City but please.

You need to be patient young grasshopper. Mikel's been dropping hints in his interviews that this team will take time to get to that level (citing liverpool example). Right now we are in a race to get back into the CL. So defensive solidity has higher priority than flair.

 

[Manberg]

What is working exactly ? We are just becoming a cup team. This 5-3-2 with the grinding works well in elimination type games but it's not sustainable. I believe we have 0 chance of getting the top 4 playing like this.

Arteta record in the league was just bad last season with this system but he had excuses. Even though i can't forget games like we lost to Aston Villa playing this way and managing 0 shots on target.

This season, we started well playing this way against Fulham who got trashed by everyone else then we scrapped an underserved win against West Ham before getting battered by Liverpool.

We have good offensive players. We should play higher and let them express themselves and trust Gabriel, Tierney to help solidify the defense. That's the real challenge for the coach. Playing 5 at the back and managing 5 shots per game won't get us Top 4. Too many decent teams this season... We gonna have to actually create something instead of just waiting every game.

We switched to a 4 at the back system against Watford and were getting carved open at will.
3-4-3 is far more reliable, even against lesser sides, and more likely to get results. Arteta’s results in the league were top 4 since the New year I believe.

 

[Makingtrax]

What is working exactly ? We are just becoming a cup team. This 5-3-2 with the grinding works well in elimination type games but it's not sustainable. I believe we have 0 chance of getting the top 4 playing like this.

Arteta record in the league was just bad last season with this system but he had excuses. Even though i can't forget games like we lost to Aston Villa playing this way and managing 0 shots on target.

This season, we started well playing this way against Fulham who got trashed by everyone else then we scrapped an underserved win against West Ham before getting battered by Liverpool.

We have good offensive players. We should play higher and let them express themselves and trust Gabriel, Tierney to help solidify the defense. That's the real challenge for the coach. Playing 5 at the back and managing 5 shots per game won't get us Top 4. Too many decent teams this season... We gonna have to actually create something instead of just waiting every game.

I know what you're saying, but there is some improvements. Emery lost 5-1 and 3-1 to Liverpool with almost this squad. Arteta has beaten them 3 times with his cautious system in the last 4 matches. And they're arguably the best team in Europe right now. I agree it's not pretty or sustainable in the long term, but he's being pragmatic and trying to stop a slide . . .8th remember. Lets give him time and see what he does.

 

[HollandGooner]

We are making progress big time, I dont care if we win ugly we just need the job to be done. we all know that we dont have a squad who is capable of winning the premier league but we have done a tremendous job so far against the top 6 with Arteta happy with my guy.

 

[Trilly]

Right now we are in a race to get back into the CL. So defensive solidity has higher priority than flair.

Not necessarily if we struggle to beat the midtable teams.

Arteta has shown me that we (and he) have a great ceiling, able to get results from the big six but what happens when Crystal Palace park the bus determined to get a point?

 

[Sniper Mik]

Not necessarily if we struggle to beat the midtable teams.

Arteta has shown me that we (and he) have a great ceiling, able to get results from the big six but what happens when Crystal Palace park the bus determined to get a point?

We'll have to see how we perform against those teams this season. Too early to say. But as long as we run a tight ship at the back we can always count on our superior quality to make the difference. Of course there'll be games where we'll drop points. Away form is the key.

 

[dashsnow17]

Our lack of creativity is a big problem, one which is apparent to us when we watch our games and one Arteta must be aware of more than anyone, and it's something we need to improve sharpish.

https://www.skysports.com/football/...-do-not-have-enough-shots-and-it-is-a-problem

 

[GoonerJeeves]

Not sure why people complain it is boring to watch. We were content to grind out 1-0s back in the day. Then Wenger spoiled the fanbase with Wengerball.

In the current economic climate we will have to be pragmatic. The squad simply isn't good enough to approach games with romantic idealism.

At least we are competitive now.

 

[AbouCuéllar]

What a load of drivel. Wenger made top 4 right from the word go, and until the atmosphere around the club made it impossible for him to operate in his last two years he maintained that. OK his outrageous attacking style was different to cautious Emery and even more cautious Arteta, and it got us a tonking now and again, but neither of those have made top 4 once yet . . we were 8th last time I looked.

Lots of clubs were after Wenger, but he was about 70 when he finally retired.

Continuing to bash Wenger every time we get a win is getting irritating beyond extreme. People need to stop with the same blah blah rewriting of history. He's gone, this is the Arteta thread and Arteta's time . . give it a ****ing rest.

The atmosphere at the club was of his own making. Wenger the coach is not the same as Wenger the Director of Football + manager, if you include that facet of his work he was even poorer towards the end of his regime.

The tactical and coaching level in England was extremely poor, especially in the top clubs, until top foreign coaches like Klopp, Guardiola, and Pochettino were imported (which also had a bit of a trickle down effect on lower clubs). This is reflected in how poorly English clubs did in Europe for a number of years there. Reflected in a club like Leicester winning the league.

Once those three were installed we didn't get top four places even with still floundering United and Chelsea. It's not a coincidence. Wenger could just about sneak 4th when his competition were equally or worse coaches tactically like Sherwood, Redknapp, Villas-Boas, etc., but once that changed and the tactical level in England finally caught up a bit to the rest of the world he was out of his depth.

No one is re-writing history. We can all (hopefully) agree that Wenger was a visionary who changed English football and Arsenal much for the better, who was once a top manager, despite his failings in Europe. We should all also be able to recognise the relatively obvious: late era Wenger was not a good manager. Watching Arsenal from 14-15, especially 15-16 on, should've made that quite evident...

Much like whether Xhaka is press resistant, I'm kinda surprised there's even argument about that.

 

[dashsnow17]

Not sure why people complain it is boring to watch. We were content to grind out 1-0s back in the day. Then Wenger spoiled the fanbase with Wengerball.

In the current economic climate we will have to be pragmatic. The squad simply isn't good enough to approach games with romantic idealism.

At least we are competitive now.

The game now is almost incomparable to the game pre-1996. You can't 1-0 your way to a Champions League position now, you have to create chances, score goals and beat the smaller teams.

This team is heading for a serious problem if it doesn't start taking more shots. I'm not a stats nerd or anything but you've gotta believe in basic principles, if you're relying on freakishly high shot conversion and not taking many shots then eventually the shot conversion will revert to the mean and you'll score much fewer goals - and then you won't pick up points.

The coaching staff at Arsenal aren't oblivious to all this.

 

[krengon]

Our lack of creativity is a big problem, one which is apparent to us when we watch our games and one Arteta must be aware of more than anyone, and it's something we need to improve sharpish.

https://www.skysports.com/football/...-do-not-have-enough-shots-and-it-is-a-problem

Sheffield game will be interesting in that regard, really expect us to play good football there so we'll see. System is also way too pragmatic against midtable/bottom half clubs, so hopefully he'll change it.
It's starting to become an issue you can't ignore though, so I really need to see that change asap..

 

[GoonerJeeves]

The game now is almost incomparable to the game pre-1996. You can't 1-0 your way to a Champions League position now, you have to create chances, score goals and beat the smaller teams.

This team is heading for a serious problem if it doesn't start taking more shots. I'm not a stats nerd or anything but you've gotta believe in basic principles, if you're relying on freakishly high shot conversion and not taking many shots then eventually the shot conversion will revert to the mean and you'll score much fewer goals - and then you won't pick up points.

The coaching staff at Arsenal aren't oblivious to all this.

I agree that you cannot compare to the Graham era, but we need a solid foundation in our play. We've been lacking defensively for a long time, and that we right now approach games pragmatically is a strength.

I don't think the current approach is the one favoured by Arteta long term, but for now it is probably the best option we have.

We badly need to improve the quality in the squad.

 

[AbouCuéllar]

System is also way too pragmatic against midtable/bottom half clubs, so hopefully he'll change it.

I would normally say this--not a fan of 3 at the back formations--but Arteta's formation is so clearly set up as a 3-4-3/4-3-3 hybrid, and so fluidly done, that I don't think we can complain too much, I don't really see what would be a better lineup than a Tierney-Gabriel-Luiz-Bellerín Xhaka-Ceballos-Saka Auba-Laca-Willian in possession, given our personnel. (And that's what it is in possession, that's what he chose against West Ham minus Kola for Tierney because of injury)

Problem is the lack of a genuine creative player like Aouar or James, and hopefully that is fixed before Monday. Until then it's understandable his reliance on Lacazette because he's the only player who can operate to some extent in the 10 space other than Saka who, is better drifting into that space than operating from that fixed position, as we saw yesterday. Aouar would allow us a lot more options, including the ability to drop Lacazette and play a 4-3-3 with Saka and Willian on the wings and Auba as CF.

How come Bielsa's Leeds is more fun to watch ? Even Brighton looks more dangerous than us offensively.

Yeah Bielsa's Leeds is more fun to watch but they will leak goals like they did against Liverpool.

Arteta is just being pragmatic with his current options. The expectations are not the same for him as for Leeds and Brighton, who need to stay up/compete around mid-table. Arteta needs to get the results of a top 4 side, so he needs to do everything he can to get results no matter what, so this isn't really a realistic comparison.

If come mid-season Leeds and Brighton are playing better than us and achieving a similar points total to us then this would be a fair argument. Let's see what happens. I am confident Arteta will have us doing well results wise while also evolving our play if we get Aouar.

 

[mazinarsenal1988]

How did we end up with zero creative midfielders in our team?

Going from Fabregas, Hleb, Cazorla, Rosicky, Nasri, and Özil to Ceballos, Xhaka and El Nenny is criminal!!

I really want Arteta to succeed. I really do. But please stop with this boring football we currently play! Bring the Arsenal back!

 

[Makingtrax]

The atmosphere at the club was of his own making.

The atmosphere at the club most certainly was not of his own making. You want to continue debating Wenger with your nonsense then this isn't the thread. Go over to Merci Arsène and @ me.

 

[AbouCuéllar]

How did we end up with zero creative midfielders in our team?

Hiring Emery after the end of Wenger's reign which was all short-termism and desperation without much long-term vision is a good recipe for that. If Wenger left us with few young creative midfielders to work with, Emery did the rest not making Ramsey a part of his plans until he realised he was our 2nd best player, and just being a horrible choice of coach to squeeze what we could out of the last years of his prime of our highest paid player (Özil).

 

[Gooner416]

How's this man beard grow so fast? He went from Armani cut out to kebab shop owner from mid-week.

 

[Big Poppa]

How did we end up with zero creative midfielders in our team?

Going from Fabregas, Hleb, Cazorla, Rosicky, Nasri, and Özil to Ceballos, Xhaka and El Nenny is criminal!!

I really want Arteta to succeed. I really do. But please stop with this boring football we currently play! Bring the Arsenal back!

There are simple, basic adjustments we can make to the current team. I keep banging on about the Aubameyang on the left thing and I’m surprised it’s not called out more for the travesty that it is.

As that Sky article points out, he’s had 4 attempts at goal in 3 games. This guy is probably the best striker in the league. The only one who is good enough to start for the top 2, in his prime. And we’ve permanently shunted him out to the wing so we can watch Laca and Eddie fall over every 5 minutes.

The hold up play argument is baseless. Who do we need to hold the ball up for? Xhaka?

His movement alone would drag centre backs out of position and create space for others. At Anfield he spent the whole game chasing Alexander Arnold. Let Saka do that.

We don’t need two strikers in our front 3, we need 2 wingers who can create and score, and our best available striker.

This team transforms as an attacking force with Saka, Auba and Pepe/Willian in the front 3. Arteta hasn’t tried it even once.

 

[DJ_Markstar]

How's this man beard grow so fast? He went from Armani cut out to kebab shop owner from mid-week.

Spanish-tier facial aesthetics

 

[kash2]

Nelson

There are simple, basic adjustments we can make to the current team. I keep banging on about the Aubameyang on the left thing and I’m surprised it’s not called out more for the travesty that it is.

As that Sky article points out, he’s had 4 attempts at goal in 3 games. This guy is probably the best striker in the league. The only one who is good enough to start for the top 2, in his prime. And we’ve permanently shunted him out to the wing so we can watch Laca and Eddie fall over every 5 minutes.

The hold up play argument is baseless. Who do we need to hold the ball up for? Xhaka?

His movement alone would drag centre backs out of position and create space for others. At Anfield he spent the whole game chasing Alexander Arnold. Let Saka do that.

We don’t need two strikers in our front 3, we need 2 wingers who can create and score, and our best available striker.

This team transforms as an attacking force with Saka, Auba and Pepe/Willian in the front 3. Arteta hasn’t tried it even once.

saka - auba - nelson