Pressure is building on Mikel Arteta to change his approach at Arsenal or risk finishing another campaign without silverware.
Arsenal’s 1-0 defeat to Liverpool has divided opinion among supporters. Some argue it was a close contest decided by Dominik Szoboszlai’s free-kick, while others believe Arteta once again held his side back with an overly cautious setup.
Starting with Declan Rice, Mikel Merino, and Martin Odegaard in midfield raised eyebrows, particularly given how Newcastle had recently shown the way to trouble Liverpool by relentlessly attacking. The Reds had conceded six goals and faced more than ten shots on target in their three games leading into the Arsenal clash, but Arteta’s side managed just one effort on target across 97 minutes.
Carragher’s criticism
Speaking on The Overlap podcast, Jamie Carragher compared Arsenal to the Liverpool sides he played in under Rafa Benítez and Gérard Houllier.
“You know what Arsenal remind me of? The Liverpool teams I played in. Under Benítez and Houllier, we were a nightmare to play against,” Carragher said.
“I think you’d say that, Scholesy, at times, in one-off games, tough to play against. But it always felt that both managers, at times, had the handbrake on a little bit.”
Reflecting on Arteta’s selection against Liverpool, he added: “It still feels like that with Arteta, and I don’t think it’s ever going to change. That team sheet, before the ball was kicked, told me everything.”
Arteta must show courage
Since the loss, calls have grown louder for Arteta to take full advantage of the talent at his disposal. Supporters want to see him set his side up to play the attacking football that defined Arsenal at their best rather than relying on a conservative approach.
Unless Arteta proves he is willing to take risks, the fear is that he will continue to be labelled as cautious, even cowardly, despite the undeniable progress his team has made in recent years.
Thoughts Gooners?
Daniel O
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For me it is not so much the loss, (we played the champs on their home ground), as it is the way we lost.
We have the squad to go at anyone; best defense in the PL, and we added attackers and another creative player in Eze.
What is the point though if you don’t use them in games like these? The lineup was a sign of how Arteta planned to play, and we see it far too often in my opinion.
That being said, if the goal is top 4, then playing for a draw makes more sense. If the goal is title and trophy, you won’t achieve that by sitting in a defensive shell against the bigger clubs playing for a draw.
Madueke was cooking on the RW, and Eze looked good when he came in. Imagine if Arteta took that approach from the start.
Now it raised many questions with the loss, but in this title race, it could be decided by decisions like these, playing for 1 point or playing for 3.
I think Atteta needs to know the quality he has on his team and should stop playing out of fear. We saw that with the games PSG,that is the same mentality which is not helping Arsenal at the moment. I didn’t watch the first half but when I watched the second half, I realized that Atteta deployed the wrong mentality. You saw After Liverpool scored, Arsenal decided to attack,though it was late, but Liverpool was then in complete ruin for the rest of the minutes. If Arsenal has played the game that way, definitely victory was sure. Why keep Marino all that long. I hope such tactic is not repeated.
I am not against Merino’s signing… But once I saw Merino in the starting line up, I knew that Arteta was playing safe. And from early last season, we seemed to struggle when Merino plays in midfield.
I think this time it was a case of “the end did the opposite of justifying the means”… If we won, it would have been talked about as a masterstroke.
I personally do not like Merino in our midfield in EPL matches, especially with the quality that sat in the bench.
We’ve had a good transfer window, and brought in some very good additions up front. But if we’re not going to play to their strengths, what’s the point in buying them in the first place.
And if they can’t bring someone in, who will get the best out of the most expensive squad in the world.