Danny Mills expects Arsenal to cope with the absence of Mikel Arteta when they face Manchester City tomorrow.
The Spaniard is self-isolating after catching covid-19, and he will miss the huge clash against the Premier League champions.
Arsenal lost 5-0 to City in the reverse of this fixture, and this game offers them the chance to get vengeance.
Arteta would have been in opposing dugouts with his mentor, Pep Guardiola if he had been in the stadia for this game, but that won’t be the case.
Former Premier League star, Mills agrees the absence of a manager could affect players in the long run, but he backs Arsenal to play well against City.
He tells Football Insider: “In a one-off game, it can galvanise the players and create a siege mentality. ‘Poor old us, let’s pull together for this one game and get it done for the gaffer’. You can get away with it.
“If it’s just one game or so you can probably get away with it. If you go beyond that you might get into a little bit more difficulty.
“With technology and everything else you expect him to be able to give directions and everything else across to his team.
“He’ll be disappointed because sometimes you want to make changes immediately in games but for a one-off game they will be alright.”
Just Arsenal Opinion
It is always better if the manager is on the sidelines barking out instructions to his players.
Arteta has had a considerable influence on his players from the pitchside, and they will miss that in this game.
However, it also offers them the chance to show him they are committed to being their best version, and they will work hard to achieve a result for him.
I often think Arteta goes over the top in issuing his constant instructions from the touchline.He is after all dealing with highly paid professionals with whom he works virtually on a daily basis and as such he should display more trust in them by restricting his rhetoric.Graeme Potter of Brighton has a calm disposition and yet he seems to get the message across pretty well.
MA is constantly and with much justification accused by both his detractors and also by non detractors of micro managing every little move.
Personally, I cannot see how trying to move players as if they are Subbuteo players helps at all.
As a stage performer I like being directed and I like directing others who perform. But the directing stops the moment the curtain rises (actually some way before then), or to use football terms, the moment they cross the white line.
During performance, it is rather late in the day to still give directions to people who are currently performing before an audience, either in football or in theatre.
At half time however it IS of use to have MA there and we will miss his presence to that extent, as we will also miss it in the time leading up to the game too.
To be clear, it remains a disadvantage overall by not having him present.
I hate whenever there’s a baked-in excuse for any of our matches, even more so when we’re the clear underdog…fact remains, there’s no doubt MA will provide VERY succinct instructions for the acting “manager” and the only way we’ll know for sure that isn’t the case is if Xhaka isn’t starting and the subs come in a more timely and logical fashion…regardless of the circumstances, this is a crucial “eye test” affair, so I can only hope we rise to the occasion