Mikel Arteta, First-Team Manager

[Nuggets]

You can say what you like we didn't give a good account of ourselves because we lacked the confidence we could get a good result. We LET them dictate the game. Yes we got a point and yes that's a good result but in my ...my opinion we played with fear of losing rather than giving it a good go to win.

[theHotHead]

What are you talking about ?? We took a point from them at home, thats a result not a failure ! No team has beaten them at home this season, we are the first team in 2 seasons to prevent them scoring a goal at home !!

And you say we didn't give a good account of ourselves. Ask the travelliing fans if they were upset that we only got a draw !!

[Salibatelli]

We struggled to get out because - and I metioned this in the matchay thread - our CBs are not that good at bringing the ball out/passing as City's. It means that City can bring the ball out at will and bypass our press, if you look at Gabriel and Saliba they were scared to do the same. How many times did they make a progrssive pass ? How many times did they bring the ball out ? Compare that to Akanji, Dias and Ake. What it meant was they always ended up playing he ball to the full back who inevitably had little or no option apart from boot it up the line. That is why we couldn't get out. Also their press was more effective than ours.

Thats the reason we were pegged back, it has nothing to do with bening negative or parking the bus. Yes we had our full squad, but no game in the fixture calendar is more difficult than Man City away for any club. Since last season Man City have only lost 1 game at home !! They have beaten every club at home at least once - in the last 2 seasons that have been played/are being played.

The Ake chance was the best chance of the game, the Haaland chance was a chance to square it for an easy tap in - that he missed, he himself didn't miss a good chance to score. They only had one shot on target.

That’s true to a degree but it was clear that we also sat back a lot, Silva talked about how we had a bank of 6 at the back, on top of that we’re supposed to be the possession kings and yet ended up with 27% which is shockingly low for any top side. Again Guardiola himself pointed out the low block and that is a tactic favoured by sides who come out to defend and frustrate, it’s not a tactic that just occurs in a match.

I think Arteta planned to keep it tight which is why Martinelli didn’t start, he was then looking to catch them later on with Martinelli’s pace, whilst we may not have set out to be as negative as we were, there’s no doubt we set out to play negatively in my eyes.

A fair few people thought we were better than them and could win this.

Man City had a lot of their back line missing and have been leaking goals, Liverpool, Spurs, Chelsea and Palace all held them to draws at the Etihad as well, top teams always have good home records but if you’re going to be Champions these are the types of games where you stamp your authority and break the opposition, on Sunday it always felt like they controlled the game, were on top and were the only team really trying to win.

Yes they only had one shot, apparently we had 2 but I can only think of one, the Trossard one, watched highlights again and no sign of the second shot, when was that?

They did have 12 shots to our 6 as well.

[jayramfootball]

Watched the game for the 3rd time
Really interesting tactical battle which Arteta won against Pep.
It really was one hell of a masterclass by Don Mikel.
If we do go on to win the league, this will be the game that won it for us.

[Salibatelli]

the Arteta bias knows no boundaries.

It was a 0-0 draw, where we were second best, hardly a masterclass, we didn’t win the game and handed control of the title race to Liverpool.

If we lose the title, this will be the game that lost it because we dropped points and were no longer in charge of our own destiny and ultimately never gave it a go and tried to beat our rivals to stamp our authority on the title race.

Got to admire the Graham and Wenger sides, they went and won at their title rivals when it mattered, remember winning against Liverpool and Wenger sides beating Man U in classic matches, winning the league in style.

That’s the way to do it, go out and show you’re the best.

Also quite funny how you had to post pretty much the same thing twice because noone really took notice and agreed the first time

[Maiso]

And people say that Arteta is clueless when it comes to tactics. That he has no Plan B.. He keeps showing diversity and tactical flexibility.

He can go super defensive (like when we won the FA cup in 2020) and how we played against Man City on Sunday.

He can go super offensive. Like last season (2022/23).

He can go for control possession football like we have done this season.

He blends a bit of Pep, Wenger and Moyes. Because he is a student of those three managers..

This is your best post so far. Stick to topics like this and stay far far away from topics that discuss player's skills and football analysis

Brother I am being consistent with my views. I observe every game with my eyes and comment about it. But it’s you the Stats monsters that are not being consistent. You need ridiculous stats to influence what you see with your own eyes.

In order to be consistent in your “irrelevant” stats obsessive worldview, you should be posting all kinds of Stats from our weekned game against City. But you have not. And I’m yet to see anyone posts any Stats from the game. You know; “Chances created, Expected blocks per minute, goal clearances per micro second, expected CB’s huff’s and puff’s per minute, predicted dives per sec, projected falls, tackles per hour etc.. lol
You should be on here mesmerising and spamming the whole place with your amazing stats you so much care about from the game. Lol

What everyone has done since the game is just comment on what they witnessed / observed with their eyes and giving their opinion. No ridiculous Stats needed.

My point all a long. Football can be simple you know. Isn’t it Einstein?

[theHotHead]

I post stats to back up my points. What stats do I need to post to back up the fact that we went to Manchester stopped them from scoring, kept Haaland quiet, had more shots on target than them, took 4 points off them this season. What stats do I need to post to back that up ?

You were wrong in the other thread, instead of just accepting it you drag along the same tired/boring argument to every thread. I use stats when they are needed, simple.

[KG3]

I would like to see players like ESR, Nelson and Vieira getting significant game time of at least 30 mins in the second half of games, it’s really important now more than ever that we keep Saka, Martinelli and Odegaard as fresh as possible to avoid possible Injuries/fatigue.

No need for them to play 90 mins if the game is already won or if they’re playing bad and we need a change, also it helps giving game time to others keep them sharp with the amount of fixtures we have now everyone needs to play their part

[ag6789]

True, we need to rest our key players during the run-in, but that can only happen if we take the lead early and are comfortable late in the games.
Can't pull out game changers in a tense encounter, unless it is a tactical switch.

[jayramfootball]

:lol: the Arteta bias knows no boundaries.

It was a 0-0 draw, where we were second best, hardly a masterclass, we didn’t win the game and handed control of the title race to Liverpool.

If we lose the title, this will be the game that lost it because we dropped points and were no longer in charge of our own destiny and ultimately never gave it a go and tried to beat our rivals to stamp our authority on the title race.

Got to admire the Graham and Wenger sides, they went and won at their title rivals when it mattered, remember winning against Liverpool and Wenger sides beating Man U in classic matches, winning the league in style.

That’s the way to do it, go out and show you’re the best.

Also quite funny how you had to post pretty much the same thing twice because noone really took notice and agreed the first time

Ozim complaining about someone posting something twice.
Got to love the laughs.

[Salibatelli]

:lol: the Arteta bias knows no boundaries.

It was a 0-0 draw, where we were second best, hardly a masterclass, we didn’t win the game and handed control of the title race to Liverpool.

If we lose the title, this will be the game that lost it because we dropped points and were no longer in charge of our own destiny and ultimately never gave it a go and tried to beat our rivals to stamp our authority on the title race.

Got to admire the Graham and Wenger sides, they went and won at their title rivals when it mattered, remember winning against Liverpool and Wenger sides beating Man U in classic matches, winning the league in style.

That’s the way to do it, go out and show you’re the best.

Also quite funny how you had to post pretty much the same thing twice because noone really took notice and agreed the first time

Ozim complaining about someone posting something twice.
Got to love the laughs.

No I’m laughing at the fact you posted the same thing twice because noone cared the first time.

They still dont care about your Arteta love in

You’re so desperate for everyone to put him on a pedestal and act he’s some sort of genius or demi-god, it’s odd you need to keep reposting a carbon copy to try and get people to take part in idolising Arteta

[theHotHead]

I would like to see players like ESR, Nelson and Vieira getting significant game time of at least 30 mins in the second half of games, it’s really important now more than ever that we keep Saka, Martinelli and Odegaard as fresh as possible to avoid possible Injuries/fatigue.

No need for them to play 90 mins if the game is already won or if they’re playing bad and we need a change, also it helps giving game time to others keep them sharp with the amount of fixtures we have now everyone needs to play their part

You want to see Nelson and Vieira get game time? The drop off in quality is too great, unless we have a 3 goal lead thats risky. ESR I have no problem with because he is proven quality.

[swipe right]

I post stats to back up my points. What stats do I need to post to back up the fact that we went to Manchester stopped them from scoring, kept Haaland quiet, had more shots on target than them, took 4 points off them this season. What stats do I need to post to back that up ?

You were wrong in the other thread, instead of just accepting it you drag along the same tired/boring argument to every thread. I use stats when they are needed, simple.

This would have made sense if we were sitting pretty at the top of the table. But we are not. We are trying to overhaul a lead so how the hell can you be happy dropping two points?

[theHotHead]

It can only be considered dropping 2 points if we were favourites to win the game or if we threw away a lead. We were/did neither.

[jayramfootball]

Good read

The Regista - Man City vs Arsenal tactical review: Pep & Arteta locked horns in top tier chess masterclass

Tribalfootball.com's tactics expert Connor Holden reviews Arsenal's 0-0 draw at Manchester City and insists the clash between Pep Guardiola and Mikel Arteta was one of the great strategic battles of the season.

In a game that many neutral fan's have labelled a “snooze fest", I instead witnessed a top tier chess match between two elite coaches, both challenging for the title. And the two most important pieces on this 105m by 68m chess board were Josko Gvardiol and Mateo Kovacic for Pep Guardiola's plan...

https://www.tribalfootball.com/articles ... ss-4490579