“Individually, can we do things a little bit better and deliver more quality and deliver the magic moment?”
That was the question Mikel Arteta posed himself and his players in the aftermath of Saturday’s frustrating 0-0 draw with Everton. And with good reason.
While his side dominated the game from start to finish, the Gunners couldn’t find a way to unlock the visitors’ defence and surrendered more points on a weekend when they might easily have made up ground on league leaders Liverpool.
Having watched his side deliver a similar performance the week before at Fulham, serious questions are being asked about the Gunners’ misfiring attack.
Ahead of Wednesday’s Carabao Cup game with Everton, the media returned to the idea of winning games with “magic moments” leading Arteta to define his parameters for the term.
“A magic moment is not only just to score a goal,” he explained.
“A magic moment can be Gabriel Magalhaes last year against Manchester United when he plays the striker [Alejandro Garnacho] offside for millimetres. That’s a magic moment as well in my opinion.
“It doesn’t only have to be scoring a goal, but we have players that are capable of doing that.
“Doing it every three days, that’s when you become a world-class player, a player that wins games with individual actions and we’re trying to develop our players to have more of that because that would be another source of winning games.”
Arsenal have enjoyed a huge uptick in the number of goals they’ve scored in the last couple of seasons – last season’s tally in the league was the club’s highest ever – so you can understand Arteta getting prickly when asked if his side are too reliant on set-pieces.
“That’s always the narrative [when you don’t score],” he said.
“When you score five goals, then another five and another three, you’re not going to talk about it. When you concede, now you don’t have that many clean sheets. When you don’t score a goal you’re going to come back to that. That’s normal, that’s the narrative, but for us it doesn’t change.
“We want to improve regardless of if we score three or five. Even though we didn’t concede anything on Saturday, there are still things defensively I want to do better. It doesn’t change our work.”
So how does he get more attacking “magic moments” from his players. Arteta knows his players have the technical quality but they don’t always seem to have the same belief in themselves. Asked if it’s about mentality, he agreed:
“A lot. Actually, making it happen and believing it can happen again, creating the fear in the opposition that a player or two can deliver that…a player can became, it’s easy to say predictable, I know what he’s going to do, but actually stopping what he’s going to do is something else.”
On Saturday, Arteta’s ‘Hail Mary’ was to send on exciting teenager Ethan Nwaneri in place of out-of-sorts talisman Martin Odegaard. The academy graduate had proved he was worth a punt based on previous cameos but on this occasion couldn’t really get into the game and barely touched the ball.
Interestingly, Arteta thinks Nwaneri, who predominantly plays as an attacking midfielder, could develop into a number 9 in the future – a statement that came out of the blue.
Explaining why, he said: “When he’s got the goal in front of him, he just looks at the goal. He has a tremendous ability to put the ball into the back of the net.”
Trying Nwaneri as a 9, I am all for it. Arteta is getting into Wenger’s territory now, encouraging.
I may be getting ahead of myself a bit as I’d never really considered Nwaneri a number nine before, but thinking about it could he develop into what Arteta wanted Jesus to be? He may not be the tallest but like Jesus before his injuries he’s strong, hard to knock off the ball, front footed and able to beat players on the dribble. A crucial difference from Jesus however is that Nwaneri looks like a decisive finisher. The sample size may be small but I think we’ve seen enough from him to know he has that quality. Jesus unfortunately even… Read more »
You never considered him as a 9 because he doesn’t have the necessary skillset, physique or pace to play there. He’s a midfieder/ inside forward in old money. If he plays him as a 9 he’s either out of ideas or clutching at straws.
How different are his physical attributes from someone like Firmino, for example?
A certain Ian Wright was not exceptionally tall.
It could certainly be interesting to see how he could develop.
it’s funny I watched the end of that presser and Mikel first says more ambiguously “there’s another position I think he can develop into…” and the reporter asks him “can you tell us that position?”
To which Mikel said “nein” which was the funniest way he’s refused to answer a question so far consdiering I don’t think German is even one of the 7 languages he speaks.
Anyway, it turns out he said “nine” rather than “nein” but I think it says more about him than about me that I heard it that way!
haha
Lmao 😂
My main issue with us this season, and I was given stick for pointing it out at the start of the season, is trying to fix something that wasn’t broken. Around this time last year the whole talk was about a need for a striker etc. Then from January we had a consistent starting 11 with Havertz up top, Trossard on the left and the guys behind practically in place. Trust me we were facing deep blocks even then but with that team we were fluid. Think we won 18 D1 L1 But sadly city w18 D2 L0. Fast forward… Read more »
Arteta has about 6 weeks to save our season.
The transfer window opens in less than a couple of weeks: he absolutely must go out there and buy.
A quality striker plus a left-sided attacking midfielder can save us from another disappointing season and possibly win us the title.
But if he sits back and does nothing we have no chance of catching Liverpool.
And then things will turn nasty.
I seriously can’t see us spending big in January. Maybe in the summer if we can offload Jesus, Nelson, Zinchenko and a few other, then we might have the funds to go after a 70-80 million striker like Isak.
Let’s say we get that top striker and left sided attacking midfielder. If tactically we play like we did against Fulham, bournmouth, and Everton this season then it won’t really matter who we sign. To be a top class Manager you need a plan B, and plan C, when things don’t go your way, and I think Arteta is still in the learning phase.
“and I think Arteta is still in the learning phase”
After FIVE F**KING YEARS?!
People here just hate you instead of trying to think if your comments make sense or not.
I don’t know about buying a quality striker in January. Which cl7b us selling such striker? As per you other comments of things getting “nasty”, I think I can agree, especially if Anne Slot or Enzo Maresca wins the title in their first season with their respective clubs. If that happens, it is really going to be nasty from the fans and even the players will start to lose faith in MA. Our best players might be unwilling to renew contracts. I just don’t want to think about the ripple effects this will have if we end up not winning… Read more »
Except we win any of the FA, CL or even EFL cups.
Our failure to win anything this season with Liverpool or Chelsea lifting some silverware will be too much to bear, even among the players.
Chelsea looks on course to lift the conference cup at the moment.
Liverpool already had an exceptional team. Chelsea has bought almost every living footballer. Slot and Maresca walked into far far better situations than Arteta. You must have forgotten the absolute shit show he inherited. Before he took over, whenever we played a top 6 club, we all knew in advance we were going to lose.
But he’s been 5 years
Do name a quality striker that may be available and whose club will let him leave in January?
We clearly have issues in goalscoring, and a quality striker will make us a team to compete for the title. Yet, whenever we talk about it, there are comments like who sells such a good striker. So, how other clubs buy quality strikers? Do they come from another planet?
Bayern Munich showed what we were lacking last season. Arteta has the final say on transfers, we bought Merino and Califiori in the summer. He’s got a valid point even though none of you want to admit it.
We can go and have a good look.
Victor, won’t attempt to spell his second name. Selling club, they’ll be looking to cash in. Probably doesn’t have enough Specicifity for the accolytes on here. Can’t play the mythical left 8 position, probably doesn’t track back enough. Probably doesn’t eat all his vegetables. But he can’t stop scoring, so that would do for me.
Osimhen!
In all seriousness, who? Who is the striker you want that we could realistically buy in January? I don’t think anyone – including Arteta – disagrees with the fact we need those players. But that doesn’t automatically mean we can get them. I just don’t see who would be available in January who would significantly improve us.
As far as I can remember, we did not buy any striker in summer as well. So no one suitable for Arsenal is available in summer nor in winter.
The Charity shield comments he made was very embarrassing. No manager should seriously be proud about winning them. Hope he has higher standards.
“We’ve won three – two Charity Shields too. We want more and the big ones [too], that’s for sure.” – is his full quote
True, but the charity shield is nothing to brag about with the ambitions we have, unless you’re making a sp*rs fan jealous.
Oh sure, I don’t disagree but I don’t think it’s a case he’s saying it’s like other trophies either.
He wants to win everything. He’s very competitive
How many Charity Sheilds did Arsene win? Without googling nobody could answer. How many did George Graham win?. It’s a pre season friendly.
Our play is predictable, choreographed to near every movement. Without moving the ball quicker, runners of the ball to move defenders around we will have more Fulham and Everton moments. We just need to be quicker with our passing, and move a bit more when someone has the ball. Be a little aggressive, put a bit more agency in our play we will be fine. Pound for pound no one can beat us in the League, I believe that but we sometimes play into the opposition’s hands by allowing a slow tempo. Especially if Partey is not in the base… Read more »
This is accurate – but I don’t think where some others are saying that it’s because Arteta wants them to be slow – it’s because they’ve not had many games to gel because of the early season issues. By all means, give me an Alexis in Jan that can cut open anyone at any time if thats a possibility. I believe a lot of the pieces – and certainly the motivation and structure are here already. We need the left side healthy for a run and then lets see who is and isn’t fit for purpose. We all watch the… Read more »
He was waving them to slow down on Saturday.
I think we need another trip to dubai soon, form was excellent after that trip last time.
………….Raya
Timber…Kiwior…Gab….MLS
………………..Jorgi
……….Ethan………..Merino
Sterling……..Leo……..Jesus
Time to forget about the two draws, it’s not end of the world in 97.98 we were 13 points behind.
Pool will loose points , we need to stick together and not let this come a mental thing, we are privileged but don’t just deserve to win games, we need to be sharp and on it. I think Jesus on the left suits him better, start Gabi and get another few mins into him, likewise Timber but get them off in 65th min .
Agreed. Pool will lose points but we are also losing point at the same time pool loses points.
That is the irony.
Hoping that our 2nd half of the season will be completely different like last season.
You have wisdom and knowledge.
Arteta’s treating football like his relationships (professional ones, at least) – with full control. He needs to give up a bit of control, open up – yes it makes you vulnerable but also gives a very high probability of success. He is restricting joy out of fear of agony.
Guardiola expects his players to do exactly what he asks until they get in the final third. After that, he expects them to use talent or genius to create and score the goal.
Pep has Messi daddy issues, Arteta has Arsene daddy issues, with Pep, Moyes and Mourniho in his ear. He needs to make up with his inner Arsene.
Doesn’t help that of the front six, only Saka can be relied on recently. The rest are collectively playing at 5/10 or worse. Sleepwalking and horseshoe football do not mix. Not sure if that is on Mikel or the players?