A little under halfway through Mikel Arteta’s five years at Arsenal.
Feeling a little delicate, I sat down on my sofa for the 12:30 kick off. I
was wearing a white jumper, and only remember that because I never
wear white on a match day out of superstition. But that day, something
about it felt right. A new year, a renewal, a new beginning.
Arsenal were facing Pep Guardiola’s Premier League champions
Manchester City at The Emirates… and I was fearing the worst.
But there was no need.
Arsenal were extraordinary. I could not believe what I was watching at
times. We connected inside and out, we swept up the pitch in wave
after wave, we created big chances. We went toe to toe against
undeniably the best football team in the league at the time, and in my
opinion the greatest Premier League team ever.
The difference between that and the 5-0 drubbing we’d taken at their
place just 4 months earlier was night and day — and a smooth finish
from Bukayo Saka had me dreaming.
It may feel familiar now, but before then the idea of Arsenal under Arteta
competing with City felt a million miles away. Arteta was at home that
day, having tested positive for Covid-19… but it didn’t matter. His
imprint, his vision didn’t need him present. It had gone beyond him, and
radiated through the players. Arteta’s soft furnishings might have felt his
fury that afternoon as a late Rodri header went in, but we knew what
we’d seen.
As we approach Arteta’s 5 year anniversary, I remember that moment
so fondly… and I think it’s because the future seemed so bright.
So where are we now? Well, let’s go back first.
It’s difficult to overstate the mess Arsenal were in on and off the field
when Arteta first took charge in December 2019. Arsenal sat 19 points
off the pace by late November on a record winless run under thenmanager
Unai Emery, and the decision was made to part ways.
The results were bad enough, but it wasn’t only that — everyone will tell you
it was the energy. The fans were disengaged and the players looked
lethargic and aimless. A deadly combination. I’m certain I saw eye rolls
from a few on the field when Alexandre Lacazette scored a very late
equaliser against Southampton days before Emery left.
Photos of a sparse home crowd at Unai’s final game in charge, a
Europa League defeat to Eintracht Frankfurt, tell you everything you
need to know. We wanted change, we wanted better football, we
wanted new energy. But what we needed was a revolution.
In comes a rookie manager.
Sure. Why not?
There has always been an element of learning on the job for Arteta, but
from a remarkably prescient first interview talking about changing the
aforementioned energy through to his role in new training ground &
stadium artwork, Mikel’s approach has always been holistic. It was
about creating a whole new way of “living”, as he described it from the
start. Growing up in San Sebastián and playing football in Paris,
London and Barcelona, it’s perhaps no surprise Mikel picked up a few
things about living well along the way.
Mikel was supported from the off by the likes of Tim Lewis (owner Stan
Kroenke’s man on the ground) Richard Garlick (now Arsenal Managing
Director), and until recently Sporting Director Edu — but what Arsenal
had now was a man who could communicate a vision clearly. A
figurehead for the fans to rally around. Intense, sometimes fiery, but
always meticulous — an early change of job title from ‘Head Coach’ to
‘Manager’ in September of 2020 reflected Mikel’s growing stature within
the 4 walls of London Colney.
But cultural change brought with it some pain. The club had given out
some big contracts to the likes of Mesut Özil and club captain Pierre-
Emerick Aubameyang in prior years — the group described as having
“Champions League wages on a Europa League budget” by Josh
Kroenke, no less. Something needed to be done about the
overpayment and under-deliverance, and the young executive team bit
the bullet.
Arteta & Edu took a lot of flack for tearing up contracts or paying off the
likes of Shkodran Mustafi, Sokratis Papastathopoulos and Sead
Kolasinac, but Arsenal were intent on getting younger, leaner and more
serious… and it paid off. Aubameyang was perhaps the most infamous
victim of the culture change at the club, fined, taken out of the match
day squad and eventually leaving the club by mutual consent after a
series of disciplinary issues. It was a hard line, but it was proof Arteta
was serious — no one was exempt from the new ‘non-negotiable’
values, extensively examined in the All or Nothing series in 2022.
Arteta often used the analogy of a train — get on it, or get left behind…
and that’s exactly what happened with some of the club’s biggest
names, on and off the field. We rarely think twice about that period
going another way now, but a rookie manager (so young he had actually
played with some of those he was coaching) plotting his way through it
wasn’t always guaranteed.
But Mikel has an emotional intelligence you rarely come across in
someone that book smart, so it’s easy to see how he got that train to
move. He’s not perfect — but he’s never shied away from what he calls
the “beautiful challenge”. But despite Mikel’s qualities, Arsenal needed
new players — and to me an Arteta footballer can now be roughly
summed up in 3 words; versatility, physicality and intelligence.
Oh, and they’re usually a defender. Broadly the policy to double down on under 25 talent has worked, and the league has followed. Benjamin White at £50m was widely derided, but he’s now developed into one of the best full backs in the country. Martin Ødegaard at £30m is one of the great Arsenal signings full stop, and in time I suspect the signing of Jurrien Timber for less than £40m will age superbly.
Not every signing has worked out as Arteta might have hoped. Sambi
Lokonga at north of £17m looks a touch steep and Fabio Vieira never
quite settled in North London. Mikel has no doubt been backed with big
money, but no more than any other top team during his time — and
crucially, his hit rate has been excellent.
Mikel’s speciality in the market, as I see it, is identifying players with
unique physical gifts. Rice’s telescopic legs, Timber’s turning radius,
Riccardo Calafiori’s carries, Havertz’ running, White’s stamina. If you
look closely, almost every player he signs is blessed with some ‘freaklike’
physical quality, in the best sense.
And that focus when making signings is one of the places we can see
his uniqueness shine — now established as a top coach.
And Mikel has a wide range of influence. He’s been a player in multiple
countries. He’s worked under Arsène Wenger and David Moyes among
others. He’s known the intensity of an Old Firm derby and played keepup
on the beaches of San Sebastián. But while Arteta is often painted
as a Guardiola acolyte, look harder, and you see how much they differ
in approach and influence. Now we know him better, we see how Mikel
favours physical control — duels, counter-pressing. Pep is more
technical control, death by a thousand passes. Mikel uses the wide
areas, Pep prefers the centre. Mikel is his own man, with his own ideas.
Mikel will have to face the future without right hand man Edu, recently
courted by Evangelos Marinakis to spearhead his group of clubs after 5
years at Arsenal — but with every reshuffle or departure comes room
for new ideas and (in true Mikel style) when asked about it recently, he
said he viewed it as an opportunity to get better.
There are some in the club’s orbit who worry about Mikel gaining more
power. Critics see this as a moment where Mikel might consolidate
further, and without Edu there we might go back to a world where, akin
to Arsène Wenger, one man runs the show. Arteta, like anyone, needs
challengers… but he knows that.
A recent interview with ex-Arsenal assistant Andreas Georgson now of
Manchester United, spoke of Arteta picking his assistants exactly
because they aren’t yes men. The Kroenkes will appoint a replacement
for Edu, rumours are swirling, and I’d welcome a bit more football
experience in the setup — but sometimes when you’ve unearthed an
evidently quite special football mind, you do need to get out of their
way a bit. Handing the keys to any one person can be a risk, but name
any successful era of a Premier League club… and it usually traces its
way back to one singular, pretty powerful figurehead.
Winning by committee rarely works in England. And if you were going to
go all in on someone, I think this might be the man.
From small glimpses over the years you build a picture of Mikel’s
famous attention to detail — from the perfect angle of the pass from the
full back to the winger as he explains in a brilliant clip from 2017 when
coaching at FA Wales, right down to things like the right body shape
when receiving the ball and how the goalkeepers arm position should
decide your shot location (yes, really).
And he’s adaptable. While it’s a little rudimentary, you can probably very
broadly split Mikel’s time at Arsenal into 4 main tactical chapters.
There was the 3-4-3 that won the 2020 FA Cup with its heavy reliance
on transition. Aubameyang looking for the release in behind, defensively
patient without particularly special athletes. Between 2020 and 2021
Mikel was building his group; and despite the club’s reputation, went for
practical over pretty.
Between 2021 and 2022 came the 4-2-3-1, with more focus on careful
build up — there was a successful double pivot of Thomas Partey and
Granit Xhaka and Lacazette as the focal point. Saka and Martinelli
found their feet, and Arsenal were springing into life.
Then, with the signings of Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko,
came the big jump. The one everyone noticed. The left full back pulling
inside created the clear delineation between in and out of possession
work, and with it we were incredibly progressive, favouring largely a 3-2
in build up. Without it we pressed hard with a high line before settling
into a 4-4-2 mid block closer to our box… high tempo and high scoring.
Now we have our Chameleon-ball, so to speak. As Rob Edwards
described it last season, Arsenal can play any ‘type’ of game —
physical or tactical, running or sitting, chess or chequers. Tweaks from
game to game, be it in Saka’s positioning, the full back’s width, Havertz’
runs all exploit different weaknesses in the opponent.
Nowadays, Mikel might be seen as uncompromising, rigid. But the irony
is in his five years at the club, he has always adapted his ideas to the
players, to opposition, to trend, to mostly… win. Tactically, Arteta can do it all.
Right now, Arsenal aren’t in the best of places, having fallen behind in
the title race and dropped points in some tough UCL away fixtures.
With that, understandably, comes questions about his football.
Impatience. Some of that impatience is from 2 decades of frustration
and perhaps not fair to project onto these 5 years, but that’s the
‘beautiful challenge’.
There is no doubt Mikel has shortcomings — you can see it in certain
results. Villa last year, Newcastle away this year. As we sit here,
accessing the centre of the pitch is a concern of mine, and on a
personal note my patience doesn’t stretch forever. But when judging
football managers, it’s important to consider what they can and what
they can’t control… and Mikel always, eventually, finds a way.
Lacking a creative spark? Here’s a kid from the academy called Smith
Rowe.
Thomas Tuchel makes Gabriel our spare man away at the Allianz? Ok,
we’ll sign Calafiori and we can carry through you next time.
We get well beaten going man for man against City at the Etihad in
22/23? We’ll sit in and take points at The Etihad for the first time since
2016 next time.
We need to get bigger? We’ll get bigger.
We’re making mistakes playing out? Here’s a new goalkeeper.
He is sometimes slow to adapt to his critics… but he does always
adapt in the end. So while this rotten period of form hurts… history
suggests he will be the one to find the way out.
The story, the tactics, the man… but how do we sum it up? Five years of
Mikel Arteta.
By almost every metric, Arsenal have grown under Arteta and his
team’s stewardship. Tactically, physically, commercially, points totals…
even the stadium feels reborn. Look at Arsenal’s recent Big 6 and away
record — they have shaken off the “soft” tag of the Wenger years. 5
years of mostly positive… but there is still an elephant in the room.
Despite all of the progress, no major trophy to speak of since 2020, nor
either of the truly big aims achieved — the Premier League or the
Champions League.
Mentioning the City game was no accident — it’s symbolic of a hurdle
we still haven’t cracked since that day. That was a day, the first in
maybe 10 years that we matched them in every sense… but in the end,
City still won. No matter how well we play, the underlying numbers, the
xG… unless you get it over the line, history will forget you. And history,
unfortunately, is at risk of forgetting this Arsenal team unless they win
something big.
But I think about it like this…
Leandro Trossard misses a sitter at 0-0 against Aston Villa at home last
season. If that goes in, Arsenal are probably sat here as champions of
the hardest league in the world, having toppled the greatest manager of
all time in my book. As it is, we’re not. But we were one kick away.
If you want to get off this manager’s train when we’ve come that close,
one kick away, then be my guest, no-one’s stopping you. But I’m willing
to hold out. We’ve come this far… I just think we need to wait a few
more stops before tearing it all up.
Mikel has always put process over panic and it’s got us this far and this
close. Closer than we have been in 20 years. If we improve on the
points total of last year in 24/25, it will be the first time in Premier
League history a team has improved their points tally 5 seasons in a
row.
We don’t yet have the shiny thing yet — but this train is still only moving
in one direction.
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