Mikel Arteta, First-Team Manager

[Salibatelli]

So lucky ........... its almost like they did it on purpose?

Your view of the way things are is not healthy.

Nothing to do with luck with Saka's pass and Laca's timed run, nothing to do with luck that Arteta set out how he did against a team who aren't exactly killers.
Nothing to do with luck that Cebellos and Pepe helped improve us, that's the whole bloody point of subbing them on, which you call weird.

God know's how you'll be if we lost or drew ffs.

Pretty much, it was an awful performance all round.

Those two should have started anyway, had they done maybe we'd have won more comfortably and could have taken them off later.

[ag6789]

Arteta is doing the best he can with the average midfield we have. There's isn't any option other than playing Xhaka since we don't have another DM (Torreira was sick).
Besides, Xhaka and Mustafi have improved lately, so why shouldn't we continue w/them? An away victory against a tricky opponent is always something to cheer about really. I was expecting an away draw.
We have a home game ( w/ upper hand) where we can settle the issue.
Besides we have tough PL fixtures, where we have been struggling, so rotation and injury avoidance to key players must have played a part in his planning too.
Overall a pretty successful outcome. Don't really know what to gripe about.

[Arsenal Tone]

Is it fair to call Arteta a defensive manager?

[DiamondGooner]

As mentioned in the Saka thread, what do you guys make of this hybrid ........

4-2-3-1 which turns into a 3-4-2-1 when the fullbacks go up top?

I'm sure many of you have noticed that when Saka or Bellerin go forward the CB's + Xhaka slip into a back 3, with Xhaka going LCB, Luiz CB and Mustafi RCB.

Not sure if this will continue when Saka doesn't play fullback for now its definitely been part of the plan.

[DiamondGooner]

Is it fair to call Arteta a defensive manager?

No I don't think so.

Its just as our biggest problem on arrival he's seemed to have focused to fix this first plus our playing out from the back.

No, if I were to label Arteta, I'd say he's a possession focused manager who likes a structured defence and a creative offence but his major calling card is possession.

He's mentioned that plenty of times in interviews and gets annoyed if we're not dominating possession.

Its also why our players have taken to him so quick, as its an echo from the Wenger era which is what most of our players were bought for, they know it, they're used to it, Arteta just offers a bit more aggression, structure and discipline.

[StLGooner]

As mentioned in the Saka thread, what do you guys make of this hybrid ........

4-2-3-1 which turns into a 3-4-2-1 when the fullbacks go up top?

I'm sure many of you have noticed that when Saka or Bellerin go forward the CB's + Xhaka slip into a back 3, with Xhaka going LCB, Luiz CB and Mustafi RCB.

Not sure if this will continue when Saka doesn't play fullback for now its definitely been part of the plan.

It would be a lot better if it wasn't Xhaka we had to rely on to cover LB.

[Power n Glory]

Arteta is doing the best he can with the average midfield we have. There's isn't any option other than playing Xhaka since we don't have another DM (Torreira was sick).
Besides, Xhaka and Mustafi have improved lately, so why shouldn't we continue w/them? An away victory against a tricky opponent is always something to cheer about really. I was expecting an away draw.
We have a home game ( w/ upper hand) where we can settle the issue.
Besides we have tough PL fixtures, where we have been struggling, so rotation and injury avoidance to key players must have played a part in his planning too.
Overall a pretty successful outcome. Don't really know what to gripe about.

Ahhh, I was wondering what happened to Torreira. I think Arteta has done a really good job at covering the flaws of Xhaka and Mustafi. They're not getting exposed as much and growing in confidence. I would say Xhaka is less of the focal point for building attacks and he's now covering space more and in a more supportive role. We don't depend on him to build attacks and take the ball off the defenders. Neither would be my first choice and I prefer Torreira's playing style next to someone like Ceballos but I sometimes we'll have to rotate. I thought Guendouzi and Willock were awful yesterday and without a midfield that can create or has a final ball, the three strikers up front suffered.

[Phil71]

Is it fair to call Arteta a defensive manager?

His approach seems to be that attack is the best form of defence.

[ag6789]

Would rather say he's a pragmatic coach.
Has a philosophy but not absolutely tied to it.

[Salibatelli]

Is it fair to call Arteta a defensive manager?

His approach seems to be that attack is the best form of defence.

There barely any attack most of the time, so I don't think that's the case.

[StLGooner]

Probably too early to call him anything yet.

[Power n Glory]

Is it fair to call Arteta a defensive manager?

His approach seems to be that attack is the best form of defence.

There barely any attack most of the time, so I don't think that's the case.

I would say we're an attacking team in progress. We just don't have all the pieces but we should be happy that he's able to create a more solid defence and especially when we've got Luiz and Mustafi as our first choice pair.

[ag6789]

A few more victories are need in PL for him to be established as a viable long term solution.

[theHotHead]

Emery had 5 in 20 clean sheets this season.

Arteta has 5 in 10, thought there was no clear improvements

You can't compare this season between the two, the players stopped playing for Emery, they haven't for Arteta, last season is probably a better comparison.

Yes you can, because its the exact same players. Emery made his bed by being a dumbass, not Arteta's fault Emery hung himself.

[theHotHead]

Is it fair to call Arteta a defensive manager?

No I don't think so. Our problem in the past few years have been atrocious defending. Its the first thing dufus Emery should have addressed but he didn't. If Arteta came in and didn't prioritise fixing the defense we might as well have not bothered sacking Wenger!