Mikel Arteta says his challenge is to build a team at Arsenal to match the performance levels and achievements of champions Liverpool.
The Gunners visit Anfield on Monday night knowing they’re facing a team which has been incredibly consistent for a sustained period, something that the Arsenal manager wants to be able to replicate with his own side.
Arteta was in the last Arsenal team to win away at Liverpool in the Premier League, when goals from Santi Cazorla and Lukas Podolski gave us a 2-0 win, but since then it’s been an unhappy hunting ground.
The consistency they have shown in the last couple of years under Jurgen Klopp is something which has impressed the Spaniard.
“I don’t see any complacency,” he said. “They go to any ground, even when they are 2-0 up, 3-0 up and they’re still going the same way.
“This is an incredible credit to their coaching team, the culture that they have created and the spirit of that team. And you can see that in the 24 or 26 players that they have in the squad, there is not one player that plays half/half on the day, that is not very interested, that they just play for moments in the game.
“They just go for it every single minute of every game. And throughout the season, to do that for 10 months, that’s a massive compliment, I think for them.”
Still less than 12 months into his time in the Arsenal hot-seat, Arteta has plenty of work to do to close the gap on the top teams, but being one of them and producing consistent performances and results over 38 league games is precisely what he wants.
“That’s a different level, and they have done that in the Premier League,” he said.
“They’ve done that in the Champions League as well. And that’s why they raise the bar so high.
“Not only them but Man City as well in in recent years. That’s the level and you have to be able to compete at that level. Because this is our context, and this is our reality.
“So we want to be one of those teams, those basic things have to be implemented every day. And that goes through in training, you cannot expect that do that (during) the weekends and training a different way.
“So that’s the way you conduct yourself every day as well. I will say we will do our best to try to be much better than last year, then whatever they do, it is up to them.”
and their board also backed the manager by making world class signings. Can we do the same with Arteta at Arsenal?
If we can just simply swap Torreira for Partey, swap Ozil for Aouar, and swap Guendouzi for Jorginho, then we don’t need no board backing!
That did make me smile. ??
That’s the worst part. I feel like this is the window we should take advantage of with Real and Barca unable to go for the top players. Kroenke must open up the cheque book. If we dont get a worldclass creative midfielder this window I will be super pissed. And Instead of Partey, we should go for Eduardo Camavinga….what a player that kid is. And he is only 17. He is like the Mbappe of midfielders. Real was supposed to go after him but they cant pay. In a years time, when everything goes back to normal, we wont have… Read more »
It seems an opportunity in a number of ways but inexplicably we always seem to let those pass us by
Hard to see it makes good business sense, never mind anything else
Give it a rest. You want Arsenal to spend €90m on a 17 year old instead of the experienced Partey who has been a mainstay of Atletico’s midfield? We don’t need another exciting prospect.
Hi TorontoGunner: I lived in Toronto for a spell. Mind you, I wasn’t the mayor there; that came later when I moved to McDonaldland. In any case, I have fond memories of Toronto. I lived near UofT and used to watch games at the Duke of Gloucester (on Yonge) which was one of the shabbiest, stickiest pubs I’ve ever been to. And not shabby chic, if you know what I mean. They kept lighting really low so you couldn’t see the stains on the carpet. But it was close to my apartment, and the bartender, Jan, was generous with the… Read more »
ayy man bigg up the 6ix
Is Toronto Scottish now? Och aye the noo, Jimmy, big up the six!
Toronto is everything ? You need to revisit
This makes us happy. Spread the word out for the 6ix. Weston road, Scarlett road, Yonge. White North gooners baby!
do people just conveniently ignore the fact that Auba and Laca both cost £50 mil each? or Pepe set us back £72 mil? and lets not forget Xhaka and Mustafa were a combined total of £70 mil. This is not even mentioning the players in the £20-£30 mil range (Tierney, Saliba, Gabriel, Leno). Investment hasn’t been as much as a problem as bad recruitment or paying over the odds for good players have been.
Laca was three years ago brother lol and Xhaka and Mustafi even further back dont think Liverpool complain about what they paid for Chamberlain or Keira etc. they not even their first XI but all the players you mentioned are still in Arsenals Playing XI even mustafi until last season
Then please let me remind you that we have been amongst the top 10 of the Football’s money league for years until past few years. You are crying about getting burnt by paying over the top for few mediocre players (Xhaka, Mustafi etc..) and that’s very few when you compare to our traditional rivals. Even teams lower in the league spent way more money than us and got burnt buying “record” signings. What’s the point of getting a billionaire sugar daddy if he is not spending money on you, I say? ?
What does being in the top 10 in Football’s money league have to do with anything? Our net spend over the last five years in transfers has been 3x liverpool’s net spend. What this demonstrates is that Liverpool have been very smart and efficient in their recruitment while we haven’t been as shrewd. And FSG is not a sugar daddy. Hopefully, things are gonna change under the new structure.
Liverpool paid 35m for Ox and are happy for him to come off the bench as available. It doesnt stop them from recruiting more in the same area.
We spend anything over 10m and then spend the next five years obsessing over why the player isn’t the second coming of Fabregas and Henry combined.
I would very much say we have a penny pinching problem.
Liverpool were done.
Still, they’ve gone on and won the ECL and the Premiership.
I very much doubt they give a shit about your estimation of The Ox.
They don’t seem to see it that way, nor does Ox. Wolves wanted him and Liverpool said they’re not selling on any condition which should say it all.
Top post. Well said.
We’re small fry in the transfer market, buying and selling. Check out the spending of us and compare it to Chelsea, Man City, Man Utd and Liverpool in the past decade. It’s a joke. And people wonder why we haven’t won the Premiership since 2004.
Those signings we’re all financed with Arsenal Football Club’s money, not Stan’s. The piggy bank ‘Self Sustainable Model’ that a certain weird section of our fan base find a reason to be proud of, whilst the Premiership and the ECL end up elsewhere. Toronto is merely asking Kroenke to put his hand in his pocket and, you know, help Arteta out and enable him to sign the players he wants. You never know, it may even prevent us from finish 8th. Unless, of course, you too get your kicks from Arsenal running the club on money found down the back… Read more »
*were
So what?
That’s nothing compared to what City have spent out. And Chelsea. And United. The difference is they have owners willing to invest. We have a owner who isn’t willing to invest.
If Kroenke is not willing to invest then he should loan us the money lol
I wish he’d just sell up and fuck off. He doesn’t give a shit about whether or not we challenge for the ECL or the Premiership. All we are to him is an asset on his balance sheet.
…and world class selling let me add
They sold Coutinho for £130m and used that to fund signings. They made two world class signings – Alison and VVD. The rest were somewhat underwhelming at the time eg, Mo Salah. You’ve reimagined Liverpool’s path to success to suit your narrative.
In a word, no.
In Mikel we Trust
Come on, apart from their fast flowing football, reliance on youth players, propensity to score a lot of goals, speed on the break, solidity in defence, passionate fans, charismatic manager and hugely exiting football, what have Liverpool ever done for us?
The reference may not be obvious to every generation of readers Johnny but I enjoyed that.
Charity for an ex-lepor?
“8th place? 8th place? You lucky, lucky bastard!”
This is great, LMAO
Yep, me too. Nice one, J4H! ??
Brought peace?
In his words I also see a message for everybody who is not willing to put in such a shift, focus and hunger such as Mikel has to leave, basically Ozil is there and Guendouzi, with their attitude problems. We are lucky to have such a manager, he alone will clear up all the deadwood in our club, because with him no slackers will be able to pass under the radar. We might have a generational manager here, on the level of Klopp or Pep, and let’s hope he stays with us for a long time and the board backs… Read more »
Too early to judge. Optimism is good though.
“And the board back him up”
Mate, I suggest you make up some sandwiches and a flask. I could be wrong, but I think you’re going to be in for a long wait…..
In all fairness Klopp took his time in building a team that plays his style of football with atleast 5 transfer windows including the January ones to get to a team that fully expressed his ideas on the pitch regardless of the opposition and the results followed. Arteta is doing great with what he has got at the moment and I hope with the support of the ownership will only get better.?
Yep, well said. I harbour serious doubts about financial assistance from the board though – unless the monies belong to Arsenal already.
I just wish Stan would prove me wrong about him – and stump up from his own pockets. I wouldn’t mind but we’re hardly asking the Earth here. Signing Partey and Aouar is hardly going to put Kroenke in the queue at the soup kitchen.
A little too complimentary of the scum methinks.
+ some mind-gaming ?
We will never reach Liverpool if we don’t match them in the transfer market. I doubt Klopp could do any better than Arteta with the players we have. We will be very lucky to finish in the top 4 with cheap Stan, unless Arteta performs miracles.
Well selling a player for 148 mil does help
When was the last time we signed a player who, in his prime, would fetch £148m in today’s prices…?
Henry?
That was in 1999. Over two decades ago.
Top post. The trouble is, you’re never going to be able to convince a certain section of this club’s fan base – and it’s owner – that we have to pay market prices for the top players. We’ve never been in a position to sell a top player without risking destroying the fabric of the entire side. We haven’t had the strength in depth because the club has always run itself on a threadbare budget – in comparison to the top clubs anyway. Look how we struggled after Henry went to Barca, or Cesc went to Barca or Van Persie… Read more »
We can’t match Liverpool for a number of reasons. They have generally been a bigger draw for players than we’ve been. This is particularly true for players at European clubs and it’s obviously linked to their impressive European trophy credentials and tally of Championship etc. built up over several decades. I fear our couple of European trophies in defunct competitions and qualifying for the CL in the past (despite what Mr Wenger said) doesn’t equate to winning it on many occasions as they have. Their owners have invested more in the club than ours, but nowhere near City or Chelsea… Read more »
I respectively disagree. ..we aspire to only be like Arsenal. ..
Well, no one is more proud of our illustrious history – but as David Dein realised in the mid 80’s, Arsenal had to move with the times. And boy did we move. Under Dein’s watch, we won five League titles, four FA Cups, two League Cups, a European Cup Winners Cup and went a season undefeated, playing some of the greatest football the game has ever seen. Now, we’re stuck with Kroenke, whose steadfast refusal to employ market force finance into this club means that we now finish 8th and any trophy such as Wenger’s FA Cups of 2014, 2015… Read more »
And David Dein is the reason why Kroenke owns Arsenal now.
Didn’t Dein quit Arsenal because the board rejected a takeover from Red and White Holdings (Usmanov), who would have pumped millions into the club? Wenger was ready to quit Arsenal too – and only remained because Dein pleaded with him not leave. He (Dein) then went and resigned from Red and White Holdings in order to improve their relations with the club. If anyone is responsible for Kroenke gaining total power, then it was Usmanov – who ultimately gave up the shares war recently and sold his stake to Kroenke – that wasn’t Dein’s choice, or his actions, or his… Read more »
Dein brought Kroenke to the table in the first place. He was fired for trying to do a deal without the knowledge of the board. Hence the originally frosty reception to Kroenke. Dein then teamed up with Usmanov and Moshiri to form Red and White Holdings, sold them his shares, and their plan was to try and buy up enough shares to be majority owners. Danny Fiszman hated the idea of Usmanov, so the shareholders sold to Kroenke to keep him out. So, the reason why Kroenke is the owner, and the reason we had that boardroom cold war between… Read more »
Fair one; I stand corrected via your first paragraph.
My (incorrect) understanding of Dein’s sacking was because he had sold his shares to Red and White Holdings (who, as you rightly say, were not approved of by Danny Fiszman – a penny for his thoughts now though, rest his soul) not Dein’s earlier dodgy dealings with Kroenke – which I wasn’t aware of.
You learn something new every day…
*Make that five FA Cups under Dein.
*Arteta’s FA Cup in August (May…?! ?)
That’s got to be another first, for the club.
Liverpool didn’t do the double though lol in comparison to the invincibles, well there is no comparison as the Wenger boys were by far and away the better team
Super entertaining too. Maybe I’m biased but not many teams come close to the best we once were in terms of style.