Arteta Has To Stick To His Ethos! By Dan Smith
Arsene Wenger once said you learn the most about a manager when things go wrong. Anyone can deal with winning games. What he said separates the great from the average is who can handle adversity? Can you calmly put out fires or do you let a little problem turn into a crisis?
It’s been a long two weeks for Mikel Arteta.
Thanks to social media it’s hard to ignore opinions from the outside. Not playing Aubameyang in the middle, not starting Pepe, negative tactics, etc. There have been many theories why we have lost 4 out of our first 8 League fixtures.
There is though the difference between politely listening to people’s opinions and agreeing with them.
Remember who our manager has been mentored by. Do you think Pep Guardiola would change his ethos based on criticism? In his first season at Man City he was told by so many that his style of football wouldn’t work In English Football, but he stuck by his principles.
Mr Wenger would rarely change his approach no matter the opposition, based on believing in his vision. Whatever you think of Jose Mourinho, his legacy will be a man who would rather be sacked than concede any power.
So the team news at Elland Road will be fascinating.
We have a boss in his rookie year, so it’s natural he will make mistakes because he’s learning on the job.
If he has identified what went wrong against Aston Villa or spotted something in training, then he should make those changes accordingly. But If I suddenly see a starting line-up that’s essentially giving in to the majority then that would worry me. Even if those changes led to a win, I’m looking past the short term of 3 points.
I believe we could have stumbled on someone special in Arteta. I fear we have a section of our fanbase who won’t give him the time he needs but that’s another story.
Each week we see our ex-captain’s strengths and weaknesses.
We know he speaks very well. We know he can organise a team to be hard to beat. We know he has the man management to get talent to follow his instructions.
What we will now find out, is if he can block out outside noise and not let it affect his judgement. For example since he returned to the Emirates, he has felt Aubameyang was best suited to start on the left. Do you change your mind just because a section of our fanbase are having a paddy on the internet?
I can’t answer that, but I know a certain level of manager wouldn’t. As someone who believes that’s how good Arteta could be, I don’t want to see him change his action plan the moment things get tricky.
If suddenly Auba is in the middle, Laca is dropped, Pepe is playing, Willock is starting. All decisions which would contradict the decisions you have been making since September, that would tell me Arteta is not going to make it.
Surely, he’s been on the phone to Pep in the last couple of weeks for advice.
Would Pep make his selections based on others?
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Dan Smith