Arsenal’s tactical approach last Thursday continues to divide the fanbase, with strong opinions on whether caution or ambition should have defined the night. Many supporters felt that Arsenal versus Liverpool was a poor advertisement for English football, particularly given it featured the reigning champions against the side widely tipped to challenge for their title. For some, it was seen as an insult to the 60,000 supporters who stood in freezing rain and endured travel disruption.
Context behind a cautious approach
There is a growing belief that results elsewhere may have influenced Arsenal’s mindset. With Manchester City and Aston Villa dropping points the day before, questions have been raised about whether that altered the way the fixture was approached. As with the meeting at Anfield earlier in the season, there was a sense that if both managers had been offered an early final whistle, they would have accepted a draw without hesitation. From that perspective, the approach was not necessarily wrong.
History provides plenty of examples of elite managers prioritising not losing over winning. Footage of Jose Mourinho preparing for major encounters shows him openly questioning whether victory was realistic, while being adamant that “we cannot lose”. At his peak, the Portuguese coach would have gladly settled for a goalless draw after a rival slip up and celebrated the outcome regardless of entertainment value. The same pragmatic streak could be seen in Rafael Benitez at his most effective.
Evolution of Arsenal’s identity
A few seasons ago, Paul Merson spoke about wanting Arsenal to be capable of grinding out an ugly 0-0. That mentality now exists. The team has developed resilience, mental strength and a desire to be difficult to beat, shedding the naivety of previous years. However, this evolution clashes with the values many supporters grew up with under Arsene Wenger, where success was paired with expansive football.
Adjusting to a model where defensive solidity, set pieces and fine margins are central is challenging. It does not mean Mikel Arteta is wrong, but it does require patience. The lingering concern is whether the players froze when rivals slipped up, rather than embracing the opportunity. That fuels the debate.
Should Arteta emulate Mourinho and Benitez by prioritising control, or follow the bravery of Sir Alex Ferguson and Wenger by gambling? The divide among supporters suggests this question is far from settled.
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As long as we win the league, it doesn’t matter. Was Arteta cautious last Thursday? He put attackers on. Or was it the way we play? Putting us under pressure again, when we shouldn’t have been.
The reason I chose Arsenal as my club was not due to family tradition, where I was born or live, or influenced by any similar factors.
I live in the States, so I watched PL games, learned about clubs and their fans, and manager’s style of play.
It was Wenger’s free flowing, slick passing, attacking style of play that pulled me in. Sure at times it’s frustrating, but almost always entertaining.
I’m not a fan of being safe and playing “not to lose.” To quote Norwegian band A-Ha, “…it’s no better being safe than sorry…” it has a ring of truth to it.
What has “playing not to lose” won for us?
Nothing, (so far), it’s not entertaining, and hard to cheer and celebrate going into a shell for 45 minutes to protect a 1-0 scoreline.
It’s just my opinion and preference. Rather suffer the ups and downs of an exciting roller-coaster ride, than the stale, safe, playing not to lose style.
I prefer seeing player creativity than a sterile controlled approach on the pitch.
👍
I think we all want what you want as well. A couple of seasons or so ago, I thought the team played exciting football. There have been occasions when Arsenal have looked superb. The thrashing of City at home last season showed that it’s not impossible. The Villa game recently was also a great game So far, playing exciting football hasn’t won us the league and neither has conservative football. Until Arteta and his players get over the line, I think there will always be the opinion that safe football is the cause but I think it’s been a combination of factors
Exactly Durand ,everything is robotic,scripted.
Just read we have got ourselves a throw-in Guru 😂 we will have more coaches in the dugout than players on the pitch soon .
Dan Kit,
The Kick-off specialist arrives next week. 🤦♂️😂👍
Dan Kit,
perhaps another coach to focus and aid on the further development of our rising academy talent; for example, Salmon, Dowman, and Nwaneri.
IMHO, getting talent and resources on hand ready to contribute next year is better than throwing 70 million or more on another attacking midfielder when we have 2 that need developing already at our club.
Instead of a throw-in coach, how about a coach that has ideas about how to improve our attack? How about someone to get our strikers firing finally? Have not had a productive striker since Arteta took over, to be honest.
Havertz is not elite or great, he is just better than Jesus or Gyokeres presently. It is like playing with 10 men at times, when striker is in the midfield unnecessarily helping with buildup.
Gabriel Heinze was brought in to help with the high press tactics as that’s his approach. Miguel Molina is ex-Atletico, he was Simeone’s right hand man, so he must have some experience given their attacking riches, despite their overall reputation. But yes, a dedicated striker coach seems like to would be helpful!
Durand,
I join Reggie in agreeing with you.👍
Look at barcelona for example! Theyre exactly the same way I want to see us play
Arteta’s pragmatic tactics have been making us finish as an EPL runner-up three years in a row and leading in the current league table, but he would need to be more adventurous sometimes if he wants to win a major trophy
Liverpool didn’t have Ekitike/ Isak/ Salah/ Diaz/ Alexander-Arnold, Robertson, Van Dijk has become much slower and Konate seemed distracted by his transfer/ deal plan, yet Arteta still didn’t have the cojones to use a high-risk tactic after the sixtieth minute of the game
I just hope Arteta can regain his confidence with the return of Jesus and Havertz
I really think Havertz would have been the one to lead the line in that game if he was fit. We were applying great pressure in the first half but just didn’t have the outlet, Gyokeres was out of his depth and not in the right spots to take advantage of service from the wings.
Yes. Havertz might lead our front-line once he becomes fully match-fit, because of his superior aerial ability and pace as compared to Jesus and Gyokeres
Gyokeres seems to be a one-trick pony who requires a lot of space in the final-third to run into. His positioning and technical skills aren’t consistent enough for a top EPL team like Arsenal
But if course, the counter argument to your perfectly sensible post, Durand, is that trophies have not materialised by playing the free flowing football you and I (along with millions of other fans) love to see.
I didn’t see the Liverpool game, but watched the highlights later.
It seemed to me that, especially in the first half, we were certainly attacking them and we should acknowledge they played a very good defensive game… they aren’t the current champions for nothing.
I go back to the Wolves game, where I witnessed the worst game of football (in my opinion) for many seasons, but it wasn’t because we were negative or cautious – it was because the players couldn’t put two passes together, thought it would be a easy three points and individuals (Saka in particular) decided they would win the game on their own.
Mikel comes in for an awful lot of stick regarding micro managing his players and I agree with some of the criticism.
But look at how Guardiola, Klopp and Clough used to drill their players.
In summary, we were held by a team that came for a point, executed their game plan to perfection and we couldn’t break them down.
Ken,
excellent points you make Ken, and I don’t disagree that much with what you said.
We have not attained trophies either way, so why play such negative football? At least attacking football is entertaining, hard to energize the crowd when we are parking the bus and our striker is marking defenders around our box.
Imagine if Bayern, Real Madrid, Barcelona, etc… played not to lose? They likely would not have the size fan base they currently enjoy.
Lastly, when champions with resume’s are saying you HAVE to go get titles, you can’t sit back and hope they fall into your lap, surely that means something?
Hard to imagine that we once played like we did in the 22-23 season. Now we have the depth to play that style, to rotate to avoid fatigue and/or injuries. However, the club has chosen a different route, avoid risks and hope it is enough to succeed.
Almost forgot Ken to respond to your point about players.
I agree that the players were sloppy, careless, and were outplayed by Liverpool in the second half. I can’t fault Arteta for how the players performed on the pitch; Arteta managed not played.
With that being said, Poor performances should see them on the bench, not starting the next game, but rather making way for someone who can/will make a difference.
For example, if Gyokeres is wasteful or underperforming in a game, then the next game start Havertz with Jesus on the bench, and Gyokeres watching from the stands. Send the message that if the players are incapable, they have teammates who can and will step up.
How many dire performances have we watched from Odegaard when there were options available? Eze, Merino, even Nwaneri may offer more at the time.
I don’t blame Arteta for their sloppiness, I blame him for continuing to select them as starters or giving them minutes. Injuries have limited some choices, but Norgaard hardly plays, and we see the rust on MLS and Nwaneri, not surprising when you place once every 6 or 7 weeks.
Once again I agree with you Durand.
I watched Eze, for example, set the stadium alight against our noisy neighbours, while Merino was scoring vital goals every game it seems.
While the criticism of Odegaard is, as usual from some of our fans, over the top in my opinion, what is the point of having such a wealth of talent in the midfield attacking roles, if one doesn’t rotate and keep our opponents unaware of what the starting eleven will be?
Still, Mikel can justly point to where we are at this moment in time and say “If I’m going to be judged on trophies, then don’t moan about the style of play” at least until the end of the season.
Ken,
What a pleasure to converse with you, let me say that firstly. I appreciate expressing my opinions, reading your comments, and then having a positive discussion, without any insults, offensive language, or need to belittle you or anyone to make a point.
Now onwards to my point. Playing guys when they are in a purple patch makes a fair amount of sense, get the most from them while they are producing.
However, far too often we see some struggle to produce, even struggle to impact the game. Why are we sitting through a player’s 3rd underperformance when there were and are options available?
For example, when Saliba recovered from his ankle issue, his first couple games back were very squirrely; sloppy play, hesitant, questionable decision making.
In comparison, Mosquera was in prime form; an elite performance at Anfield, followed up with another top showing. Why drop him immediately, especially when Saliba was not in similar form?
Or Odegaard struggling for a stretch; can’t Eze or Nwaneri come on the last 15-20 minutes and have a go at raising the levels of our attack?
Or Zubimendi, new to the league and opponents played into the red, while an experienced DM familiar with the league and opponents (a captain at his former club as well), rarely gets a chance in midfield? Has Norgaard played more minutes as a CB or a midfielder?
Merino has a great run of games playing CF, then one down game, and seemingly he is out of the mix at CF. Meanwhile, back to Gyokeres and Jesus doing FA up top; no goals, out of position for crosses, nearly invisible.
By the way, Jesus running around and still not scoring is good and productive, but Gyokeres running around creating space is bad, and he’s trash? Not aimed towards you Ken, but a question for all.
I concur with your first paragraph Durand.
I was questioned when I criticised Saka after the Wolves game and yet I sat there, watching him produce hardly anything, while other players were pulled apart.
In my opinion, Saka hasn’t yet recovered anywhere near the form that had me out of my seat everytime he got the ball. Yet he never gets dropped, while we have Trossard, Martinelli and our new “useless” chelsea outcast playing second fiddle to him.
Saliba was brought back earlier than Mikel wanted to (again my own opinion) due to the injury to both Gabriel and Mosquera.
But your right, it made no sense to change the latter at the time.
Odegaard is another example of “big named” players being rushed back, while others who are playing well (such as Eze against the spuds) are sent to the bench.
Odegaard should have been introduced slowly but surely, but not at the expense of Eze and/or Merino when they are playing so well.
I cannot fathom why we signed Norgaard, when he’s been completely ignored and he would be a perfect replacement for Zubimendi for, say, the last twenty minutes in order to both rest the latter and stop the former getting ring rusty.
I have watched Gyokeres create space, run into areas that are ripe for a good ball, but seen him ignored, or given a last second ball when the chance has all but disappeared.
Our insistence on playing short balls back and forth trying to probe for an opening, when a quick look by Saka or Odegaard would spot Gyokeres is so frustrating.
The fact that he takes at least two players with him everytime, seems to be missed by fans.
Yes, I know we bought him to score goals, but we haven’t changed our style of play whatsoever.
Some might say it’s up to Gyokeres to change and adapt, but they can’t have it both ways – surely due diligence was done, as it took an eternity to sign him?
If he’s “trash” and not good enough to wear the shirt, where’s the criticism of those who bought him?
The issue is not just about Arteta though, it’s that football strategy has changed in the EPL since last season and now most if not all teams are employing similar suppressing tactics. I think it was The Athletic that had a great breakdown of this a few weeks back. It’s become generally defensive, all about low blocks and possession.
Basically this means no EPL teams are very open at the back anymore, so even if you do get to deploy fast, free-flowing, attacking football, such as on a counter, the other team is always going to have players held back, and their midfield will be tracking back at pace too, so eventually you’re going to hit a few fast defenders, or even a 9-man low block, and get stopped in your tracks. The way to get consistent advantage now is to be able to pick through these defensive lines, by any means necessary. Which is why there are significantly more goals from set pieces this season.
Opportunities to play the attacking football we all want to see more of are more frequently going to be in the Champions League and the cups this season.
Well said Bergkampwagen.
Your acting like putting 10 men behind the ball is a new thing ,it’s a tactic as old as time .
Until Arteta wins a big trophy especially the epl or Champions League his tactics won’t be considered good.
I don’t think Arsenal were cautious against Liverpool,particularly in the first half. In the second half, we couldn’t string passes together but I don’t think it had to do with caution. It was more that Liverpool were just better in the second half. Most of our players looked a bit off.
I think the robotic style we see today isn’t just about Arsenal but something happening all over the league. The game has become more tactical and physical. It is just the current iteration of the game- it won’t last forever.
To an extent, you can ‘blame’ Guardiola for the prevailing style. His influence is such that most EPL sides had to change approach to cope with the robotic City style. It’s not a coincidence that once other teams became more robotic, City have not been as dominant as they used to be.
Also, the narrative that Arsenal play a cautious game doesn’t make sense to me. It’s perhaps robotic but definitely not cautious. We play the highest defensive line in the league and have generated the highest xG – doesn’t support the caution narrative, but the media can say anything and people will buy it.
I also tend to think that because Arteta and the boys haven’t won a major trophy, they are trying to be too perfect- not make mistakes. It’s understandable.
I believe once they win something big,they’ll be able to relax and express themselves. It’s like when you’re trying to woo a partner, you try too hard to be perfect. But once you win them over, you can relax a bit and express yourself freely. It’s just human nature, I think.
They just need to win and then they’ll get that swagger,belief,arrogance and inevitability that you can only get from winning
So you think that if we win the title this year, Arteta will devolve away from Arteta-ball and evolve towards a more free-flowing, expressive and creative style of play?
Sorry I do not see any evidence of that. Instead, I see a continuing doubling down of his philosophy with no evidence of change.
Set piece specialists, now a throw-in specialist, but you think they will all go away when we win a title?
You are an optimist my friend, and I congratulate you on that, wish I was more of one myself.
IF anything, winning will only reinforce Arteta’s mindset, and I would expect more of the same, rather than less as you optimistically suggest.
Why would we do away with set-pieces? What’s wrong with them? Are they not part of the game? Playing expansive football doesn’t mean taking a sniff at other aspects of the game. A dominant team should be dominant in every aspect of the game, set plays included. By the way, the team that wins the league almost always leads in set piece goals as well.
For what it’s worth, Arteta has evolved his tactics from season to season. The way we play this season for instance, is different from how we played in 2022/23.
Good points Onyango and that’s why I’m waiting to see what happens with our throw ins during the second part of the season.
I’ve no idea what the monetary cost is for this position, but if it results in the same outcome as our set piece routines have, it will be well worth it.
I think you need consider what Arteta and every other manager is up against in the PL. There are far more teams with a sophisticated undertaking of football than there’s ever been. In the PL many teams have fit, athletic players all over the pitch. There are several managers in the PL who are amongst the best tacticians in world football.
Liverpool tried to play expansive, attacking football from the beginning of the season. Spurs tried such an approach under Ange.
Such approaches may lead to exciting football but leaves you at risk of transitions which can be devastatingly effective.
The current Arsenal team do not have a world class striker. There is no Salah or Haaland who can guarantee 20plus goals a season. Arsenal do not have an Mbappe or Kane. Do you really want Arsenal to have a shootout from match to match in the PL? How successful do you think such an approach would be?
I don’t think we played conservative, definitely not the first half. That said, we didn’t come out of the blocks for the second half like we did against Villa. Liverpool got the better of us in midfield and we didn’t react, was that conservative tactics, or rather we were out maneuvered by Slot ‘s tactics? Just changing the wingers doesn’t mean we were aggressive either. Maybe poor tactics rather than a conservative mindset. Liverpool played not to concede in the first half and we fizzled out in the second. Hopefully we can improve now that Jesus and Havertz are back. Gyokeres is not working, whatever the reason. He is like a moth to a light running into defenders rather than into goal scoring opportunities. I have heard enough about his work of the ball, he needs to do more with the ball.
If they can win us the league&especially champions league playing boring unattractive football,scoring only from corners,own goals or even throw-ins as we would soon start witnessing,i woudn’t mind at all.
But honestly speaking,i was depressed watching that game against Liverpool,especially the 2nd half but thank God that Nigeria keeps on providing me with necessary entertainment at the Afcon with their free flowing entertaining football.
Matthew,
You said perfect. Nigeria is really entertainers. Semi final v hosts Morocco is termed final before the final. Who do you think go to the final? I think Nigeria players are determined to amend for their World Cup failings by winning this Afcon after 13 years.
Well,Ambachew,as a Nigerian,i want us in the finals,but with Morocco being the host&playing well too,it won’t be a straight forward victory.don’t also rule out a bias officiating from the refrees in favour of the host nation.
The reason we play boring football is no team wants to come play proper football against us. The very few teams who have, athletico and Bayern have been blown away.
Take Liverpool at home as an example. No cf for Liverpool just meant they could compact the midfield. They came not to lose and used the most physical line up possible.
I also feel Arteta is partly to blame for sticking with Gyokores. We played our best football with Merino at cf.
Yeah. Spoke to this above. It’s a general thing across the EPL this season. We get to be more fluid against CL teams, but most EPL games are going to be more like a game of chess.
I’ve seen Arsenal playing a lot of frustrating (boring) games most of the season, against Liverpool we lacked urgency and energy. But I have also noticed Pep, playing not so exciting and dominant football this season too. It seems City is playing a lot of transitional football, maybe things are changing. Also Slot has Liverpool playing some pragmatic football lately after their slump. I now look at the league and am thinking no one is going all out these days, there’s a lot chess. There’s no free scoring teams this season, at City take Halland out and they can’t score.
Arne Slot is saying his Liverpool were denied 2 stonewall penalties against Arsenal. He claims score should have been 2-0 in favour of Liverpool which means Arsenal to taste their first loss at Emirates. Points gap down to +5.
A keep telling fans the gaffer is a control freak, territory and risk management is paramount and non negotiable.
Jay Jay Okocha while playing at PSG, once said he’s 18 years old ( Mikel Arteta) and have that burning desire to control games.
Almost three decades after, the Spaniard hasn’t changed
I know an age old saying which reads ‘grind it wherever you want just bring only the flour’. Whatever negative ugly cautious unArsenal like tactics Arteta employs, so long as those methods lead him, the team and fans to lifting major silverwares no one can reproach him. In consideration of his longer tenure and big investment, he’s under pressure to deliver trophies this season. Aesthetic values are luxurious and are deferred to next season. Arteta can do whatever including Dog Win, throw in expert, set pieces goals, over cautious tactics, players travelling in a team bus etc JUST bring the silverwares.