Mikel Arteta has praised the belief of this current Arsenal team after they lifted the Emirates Cup yesterday, saying that there’s a togetherness in the squad and with the fans that will be important as the season goes on.
Despite it being just a friendly tournament, the skipper spoke about how getting good results under their belts before the Premier League begins in less than two weeks time is crucial.
“I think pre-season has been good,” he told Arsenal Player. “The tour in Singapore was great as well, probably the best we have had.
“Here, the opponents were tough but we managed to play well and win both games.”
He touched on the stability in the squad, saying, “We have been together a while now and we have this belief now that we are capable of achieving something important.
“It took some time to build this cohesion, this momentum.”
He also referenced the relationship between the team and the fans which has been sticky at times over the years, but after two FA Cup wins, things are improved in that regard.
“I think the crowd is feeling much closer to the team at the moment and together we can make it.”
As much as I think having Arteta around is brilliant for the team, if we don’t bring in cover for Coquelin because Arsene thinks Arteta can do that job, that will be a huge mistake.
Le coq will never be injured.
I agree with you, Arteta is loved by us but has run out of legs. Plus his injury history tells us he can’t be fit for the entire season. Le Coq can’t give 100% for the whole season, he will need a quality backup.
He did look a tad off the pace yesterday, but i think we can give him the benefit considering he is coming off a long layoff. He’s key for controlling the tempo when we play bottom half teams and can give us a chance to rest likes of Coq
Yeah but its the points against these lesser teams that counts, those frustrating dropped points we all knew we could have picked up. In the Bpl, i dont think any team should be underestimated.
Isaac Hayden
An axis of Ramsey and Carzola is adequate as they both have the lung power to cover huge grounds and have good tackling skills. Ramsey just need to be more disciplined in his position. Wenger had been flamed in the past for letting go of his experienced players too early once they turned 30. It will be great if Arteta can contribute in real matches, but his contribution will be more off-the-pitch rather than on-the-pitch. You can buy a new DM. But unless they have PL experience, it will be hard for them in the first season due to the… Read more »
I don’t know about you, but the coq I believe in is ready to fight at least twice a day (night). So this 2 games a week thing is a stroll. The only problem he could get is from STDs, but there we have Arteta to make sure he is protected 😛 You know he’s quite experienced in that kind of stuff 😉
http://cdn29.us1.fansshare.com/pictures/lorenabernal/lorena-bernal-mikel-arteta-paseando-hijo-gabriel-2112019890.jpg
Glad to see Arteta back today. He did misplace a couple of passes but worth noting that two of them were intended for players he hasn’t really played with – Bellerin and Gabriel. Hardly worth worrying about. He’ll be up to speed in weeks, and luckily will be able to do so as part of a settled squad where he won’t be thrown in the deep end in a big game.
He also made a huge self-sacrificial fling-block and won, at least, a couple of excellent exchanges. All-in-all, for his first ‘competitive’ game in absolutely effing ages he did brilliantly. The only reason he’s getting flak is because (a) once we were seemingly in for a DM and now were not (b) we’ve loads of unspent wonga, and (c) those with a negative disposition are scraping the barrel for things to complain about. And anyway, who would we bring in? As AW said the other day we’ve got Flamini (until we haven’t), Wilshere and Ramsey who can play there, Cazorla can… Read more »
Also it was his pass to The Jeff that led to the assist.
with his wrong foot.
Excellent post full of excellent points, especially (c). Arteta may not be the fastest guy on the team, but he’s much like Per Mertesacker who’s also slow but makes up for it with almost perfect positioning. Plus, his tackling is strong and his passing is pinpoint accurate. He’s a fine backup to Coquelin, and because Coquelin will get the majority of the starts, Arteta won’t get overplayed. If Coquelin gets injured, we’ve still got plenty of cover at the position.
@ goonerbynature; Good points and well made. Arteta is class, and a fine metronome for the team. Plus we are yet to see him play with Ozil….. who has a similar approach as Arteta. It could be interesting…
Cech must really love winning the Emirates Cup.
Great to have Arteta around this season. Ideal to rotate in vs. lesser opposition or when games are settled. If he can play 15-20 in all competitions it will reduce the chances of le Coq burning out or picking up injuries.
Wenger could also nurture him into a decent coach…
Momentum. LANS.
Why Arsene still tries to fit Arteta, Wilshere, Cazorla and Ozil into one Midfield baffles me? Last season he spoke of the challenge of fitting so many small technical players into his midfield? Why would you set yourself that challenge? Why wouldn’t you set yourself the challenge of using the transfer market to put a balanced squad in place? We’re so much more dynamic when Coquelin, Rambo and Chambo are in the engine room with the others complimenting them. The PL is all about athletism and power particularly in the middle of the park, we still need to tweak the… Read more »
You do realise this was a pre-season game still right? The aim was to get everybody roughly 90mins as Wenger said. We won’t ever start a EPL game with Rambo, Coq & Ox on the bench
have I missed a period of time in which Arteta’s injury problems became similar to Diaby’s? Arteta has never been a conventional holding midfielder and will never be. Instead of judging him on what he is not and has never been, try and judge him on what he has been doing so well for us. I will get angry if his positioning and passing are CONSISTENTLY OFF, not because he cant replicate coquelin’s performances. Be a bit more open minded to a techical player as a holding midfielder. Arsene has shown how he can tactically set up a team to… Read more »
I agree with your point about wenger setting up his team to offset each other’s shortcomings.
However, compare Arteta of 2012/13 to now, you’ll see he has slowed down. Yes he is a technical dm like Busquets, Verrati, Javi martinez, probably matic, but the epl is a physical league and sad to say Arteta’s previous injuries have started to take a toll on him.
The only person who seems to mesh with arteta well is ramsey. Now imagine if(God forbid) Ramsey and coquelin are out at the same time?? what is wrong with having a young technical DM anyway??
If Ramsey and Coquelin are out at the same time we play Arteta + Ox (see here: http://news.arseblog.com/2014/02/report-arsenal-2-0-crystal-palace-inc-highlights/). Or we play Cazorla + Chambers. Or Wilshere + Hayden. Or maybe Wilshere + Cazorla? Ox + Wilshere? Wait, isn’t that Flamini bloke still around as well? I’m sure Wenger will think of something.
That is assuming if flamini stays(lets be honest, he also is past his best.). You use the crystal place match to make a case for ox and arteta, I’ll point you to the painful game at Stamford bridge.
None of the other combinations would work against big teams. As for hayden, I haven’t watched him that much to pass judgement on him tbh.
Wengers plan is for Arteta’s experience around the team and club to have an influence on the players, he knows he can only manage 50% of the games if fit, but he has chambers who can play there with much more youth and athleticism along side the coq, even chambers and Arteta combo more likely in the carling cup games. He has technically all positions covered for competition and injuries, which is why we have the cohesion in the squad and keeps them honest and sharp, lets hope Theo has signed Dat Ting
Giroud worries me. Maybe im just seeing things but oxlade was really upset when giroud didnt pass to him after his stellar run. Giroud just lost the ball. I give up on the ball everytime it heads in girouds direction. im sorry i said all these things im a giroud fan aswell but until we struggle to score without him again, seeing him on the pitch is going to break my heart.
Did you miss Giroud’s assist for Ox on Saturday? Or his goal?!
“I give up on the ball everytime it heads in girouds direction.”
Then you’ve missed a lot of really, really great goals in the past two years, last season especially. I feel sorry for you.
It’s just worth noting that we now have a big bunch of excellent young players waiting in the wings:
Zelalem, Gnabry, Reine-Adelaide, Alex Iwobi, Akpom, Isaac Hayden, Bielik, Martinez, and Maitland-Niles.
That’s a lot of talent to work with.
me thinks, Gnabry has out-developed(if there ever was such a word) the youth level. He needs a bigger challenge. The lad is just short of game time to make it into our first team.
1. Since March 2014 he was out for over 12 months with a knee injury, but appears back to ‘full’ fitness. 2. This summer he went off to the UEFA U-21s but didn’t get a game. (Germany lost a 5-0 semi-final to Portugal). The 2 other forwards in the squad were significantly older. 3. He’s got the likes of Alexis, Welbeck, Walcott, Ox, Wilshere, and Ramsey ahead of him in the squad. 4. He’s only just turned 20. And that’s the problem, I guess – being out for so long while AW develops the team and cements his preferences. That… Read more »
I reckon he’ll work on his fitness and play Carling Cup in the first half of the season, then go on loan to a bottom half prem team in the second half.
The Ox-Bellerin partnership on the right is mouthwatering. Can’t help being all pumped for the new season!
Wolfsberg enjoyed over 60% possession during the first half yesterday.If they’d had a half decent cf on the pitch they would have undoubtedly scored.Arteta sat in front of the back four and put very little pressure on any of the opposition when they were on the ball.Against Lyon the opposite was true.Coquelin lead the midfield towards the Lyon players whenever we lost possession, and put significant pressure onto them.This effectively nullified Lyon ‘ s attacking play and allowed Arsenal to counter attack with great pace. It was only once Arteta had departed to be replaced by Ramsey that Arsenal were… Read more »
oh come on, is Arteta really that bad? It was the man’s first game in months, surely you can cut him some slack can’t you?
Heard we are interested in camacho of malaga…wouldn’t mind we get him.
I still don’t think chambers is ready to play that dm position yet like some do. As for hayden, i haven’t watched him that much to know if he can step up as well.
Arteta is just not mobile enough to play as a dm anymore. He use to be, but he isn’t.
I think we shouldn’t be worried about if arteta is a good back-up or not (we all know he is), we should be more worried about who will be back-up for Coq if arteta gets injured as he has most recently..
Isaac Hayden.
Everybodys Coq needs a rest now and then. Cover def needed at this position, its a long season.
Even Arteta has acknowledged how important a signing Cohesion was…(Damn the poster who put that stupid joke up last week) I cant let i go 🙂