Mikel Arteta says he’s happy with the way Arsenal have traversed a tricky run of fixtures without key personnel and says his side will continue to adapt to the loss of Martin Odegaard who is expected to be sidelined for another five weeks.
The Gunners’ start to the season looked very daunting when the fixture list confirmed trips to Aston Villa, Sp*rs and Manchester City but having come through those big clashes unscathed, and having earned a creditable draw against Atalanta in the Champions League, it’s clear the manager is encouraged by the way other players have stepped up.
Facing the media ahead of Saturday’s game with Leicester, Arteta reflected: “If you put me in a scenario before the start of the season with the calender that we were given, with the fixtures we had with the three away games that we had and the amount of injuries that we had to deal with and how we got out of that, I’d would be very, very pleased.
“It’s not just with Martin [absent], he’s one of our best players and one that has an impact in many ways, but there were many others as well.
“The team has coped extremely well because we have an exceptional group, a lot of players that are taking a different role in the leadership, in their importance in the team and they embrace that challenge and I’m very happy for that.”
Despite showing impressive resilience – Arsenal are actually on their longest unbeaten run (13 games) since Arteta took over as manager in December 2019 – there has been much criticism about the team’s defence-first attitude in recent matches.
The Gunners produced a pitch-perfect smash-and-grab against Sp*rs thanks to Gabriel’s header, relied on goalkeeper David Raya’s brilliance to dig them out of a hole in Italy, and survived a second-half onslaught at City when down to 10 men.
While attacking fluidity has been lacking without captain Odegaard, there were signs of life in the midweek Carabao Cup 5-1 win over Bolton, albeit with a mix-and-match squad.
With home matches against Leicester, PSG and Southampton next on the agenda, it’ll be interesting to see how they push on.
“We have to adapt to that [odegaard’s absence]. Obviously, the influence Martin had in our attacking phase is enormous and we cannot question that. When you look at every metric, the way we plan the games, the types of things we do to get him in the spaces where he can be dangerous for the opponent, he’s key. It’s all in relation to him, basically.
“We don’t have it so we have to adapt. We have to adapt our way of playing and find other ways to do it that are very efficient, it will be different, it won’t be the same, but hopefully, very efficient as well.”
Asked for his thoughts on the criticism he’s received this week, which included a lot of teeth-gnashing over Arsenal’s perceived use of the ‘dark arts’, Arteta added: “I don’t know, but it’s honestly part of what we do.
“I don’t want to be on YouTube because we’ve been so silly. I want to be on YouTube because we’ve done the right thing in May for the right reasons and are lifting what we want to lift and achieve.
“In order to do that, we have to be very efficient with what we do. I didn’t predict to play 56 minutes with 10 men and we have to do that and accept sometimes the opponent is better at doing something in the game. That doesn’t mean they are better, but they’re playing better at doing a specific thing in the game. We are interested to do all the things that can help us to win the game.”
I absolutely love Mikel Arteta, he gives the media nothing and they can bait as much a they like, he just won’t bite. A master tactician on and off the pitch.
If Mikel Arteta had Thomas Frank’s personality then the media would hail him the greatest manager of his generation.
That’s how fickle they are. They decide in the first few weeks if they like you and then print every article on you accordingly.
I’ll never forget how disgustingly Jose spoke to Wenger – with no class or respect. But the media acted like the cowardly kids who sneer while poking their heads out from behind the playground bully.
I was kinda hoping that if he was asked about ‘dark arts’ he might give the stock answer with a twist.. something like… “You know we are always looking at the margins, how to maximize every opportunity, and of course I learnt a lot working under Pep about these things. Still City are probably the best in the league with rotational fouling, taking a foul instead of a transition, influencing the referee, all these things, City are still the best, and now they are manipulating the media too. But if we want to compete we have to compete with them… Read more »
I agree . We should be on 15 point but for the fefs
And the refs…
Fuckerees
Ødegaard may not be our absolutely best player (Saka and Saliba are both contenders for that title with him), but he is surely our least replaceable. Havertz can lead the press almost as well, and has an equally incredible engine and defensive awareness. But he obviously doesn’t have the Bergkamp/Özil side of Ødegaard’s game. Rice, Jorginho, Gabriel Jesus, and others are effective leaders on the pitch, but they are entirely different players. It’s possible that Nwaneri can relatively quickly develop that left-sided awareness with Saka and Ben White–but it will take years of experience for him to learn how to… Read more »
Yeah good post. I think it goes way beyond chance creation with Odegaard. As with Rodri at City, he is our leader on and off the ball. I called Rodri their structural scaffold and I think Odegaard is similar. Off the ball, he keys the press and others react to his movement. On the ball, he knits the buildup, receives and progresses under at times extreme pressure, then when the ball is in the final third it’s often up to him to conjure something as well. As I said when he went down: we should not be trying to replace… Read more »
There were some moments of rice drifting right recently to combine with White and Saka. I wonder if maybe we’ll see him come into that spot, havertz in the left 8 (or Merino when he’s fit) and persist with Partey in the 6. Jesus or Trossard can fill the 9 until Merino comes in and Havertz can go forward.
Rice isn’t as technically brilliant as MØ but has the engine to do the role, and is quite adept arriving in the box.
I forgot that we’ll get blocked if we mention TP5’s full name. That whole thing has gone a bit quiet eh?!
Anyhoo I was wondering about Rice shifting right. He’s not as technically able, but certainly has an engine to rival MØ. TP5 stays at 6, Havertz fills the left 8 until Merino is fit. Then he can go to 9. Then we’ll have a monster spine.
Raya, Gabi & Saliba, TP5, Merino and Rice, and Havertz up top.
This team is getting really fucking big and physical!
Can’t wait for Leicester to see the lineup and I think we’ll have some fun. I just hope he rewards Nwaneri, I really think he should start.
Agree, although we have massively improved, something from Wenger should remain in the club.
I think I’d rather see nwaneri play 20 mins at the end of games personally. We are in a great place to not have to lean into teenagers to save our season anymore.
Agreed. I understand folks desire to see more, but having just completed his first 90 midweek, let him recover, and if everything is going smoothly give him 20 or 30 minutes against Leicester