Have Arsenal finally bought into Arteta’s philosophy at last after rollercoaster season?

Well, it has certainly been a rollercoaster season for Arsenal so far, with our awful start under Unai Emery, and then even worse short period under Freddie. It looked Like Mikel Arteta had got us back on track in the New Year, and we went unbeaten all the way until our enforced lockdown and he looked to have steadied the ship.

But then we were destroyed by Man City and humbled by lowly Brighton, but since then we have gone on to win three games in a row again, and looked totally in control against Norwich yesterday. Does that mean that the Arsenal players have finally accepted and understood Arteta’s philosophy and tactics?

Arteta himself certainly thinks they are catching on, and he said on Arsenal.com after yesterday’s win: “Yeah, it’s part of the process that we have to respect and we can give them so much in certain moments. It’s been a really difficult season since I joined with the amount of games that we’ve had in December and then the break that we’ve had in lockdown, but they are so willing and they are completely onboard with what we are trying to do.

“A lot of things that happened today will convince them even more that this is the right direction for us to take as a team, and we still have to work on many things like the way we handle the game in certain moments. We cannot give anything to the opponent and we gave that again tonight, but overall I’m really happy with the attitude, and as well with their understanding of the game and what the game requires for them to control it and exploit the opponent as much as we can.”

We can certainly take heart from looking at the Premier League table again, after climbing up to the heady heights of seventh, and even ahead of the Spuds for now!

If we can win yet again up at Wolves next week we can start closing the gap on the Top Six as well. Maybe there is still a bit of life in this season yet….

15 Comments

  1. 3 wins on the trot ,should have been 4 ,not much more we can ask for ,and another clean sheet which I think is 10 out of his first 20 games ,not to shabby .
    Most of us realise that our squad is not good enough to challenge the top 2-3 teams at this time but given the right players and backing we could hopefully see us get back to where we was when Wenger was here .
    We are heading in the right direction again after Emery’s failings so Arteta as is work cut out ,but right now it’s all very positive and as a fan that’s all you can ask for .
    Partick 👍on the 4-0 scoreline prediction,was going to have a cheeky bet on that but decided not to 😂 my loss .

  2. Arteta has been nothing short of phenomenal. He’s managed to bring out the best in struggling players, gives the impression of being firm but fair, had managed to win over the players despite his inexperience, has tactically revitalised a team bereft of ideas and inspiration and handles the media like a politician. I’m very excited about our future with Arteta at the helm. Long live the king!

    1. Exactly

      It was never going to be easy dealing with some senior players who thought they were bigger than the club. In the early Autumn there was a sense of anarchy as the players completely ruled Emery and by their actions were not being professional. Emery lost any power he had and all I could see was the bottom 3 looming.

      Arteta had to do many things behind the scenes not least reviving a winning mentality. Less fashionable clubs with less exalted players were getting results and we were going down the plug hole.

      My feeling is that the players now know who is the BOSS. Not an easy task but he has gained respect and is improving slowly but surely. Guendouzi has had his wings clipped for his arrogance and I’ve no doubt that Arteta will deal with any other insubordination in the same way.

      I’m sick of the unwarranted negativity surrounding Arteta after arriving during a topsy turvy season. He has my backing and I hope that he and Edu can bring a new beginning to what has been a few disappointing seasons

  3. I think the 3-4-3 system fits the players and they are adapting to it well.
    Let see how it works against a strong team like Wolves on Saturday.

    1. Depends on the person and Arteta very clearly has a philosophy and he was developing that long before he became City assistant which is why Pep, Poch and Wenger all wanted him on their coaching staff at that time.

      Obviously his philosophy will be ever evolving but that is true of a manager who has been around for decades too.

  4. That boy Martinez is a very very good goalkeeper, it’s a shame he has Leno to compete with, I love his distribution and the way he shout on the defenders. And to think we almost sell him last summer SMH.

    1. I agree about his distribution, it’s excellent. There I was worrying about being without Leno…up steps Emi and what a great job he’s done! And he has really beefed up!! 👍

  5. Progress is there that’s for sure but some issues need to be solved quickly:

    1- buy a good midfielder
    2- a good CB (Saliba is a good addition but he’s still young)
    3- Resolve the Lacaztte/Ozil situation -> Those two are not Arsenal material anymore

    So yeah it feels good to get the wins again but Arteta has a lot of work ahead of him

  6. we can say all we like but we have beat three pretty beatable teams after two poor defeats. We have 5 very interesting games that we can gauge better any improvement, not thrashing Norwich.

  7. To think we lost as many matches as city (2nd) and still struggling at 87th, is baffling, let’s see how far the squad has improved under MA in the next 4 matches

  8. Too early to say anything. Still need more committed players. Still need better players. Let’s see how things go against Wolves. This Arsenal team has to show growth. Arteta, I am satisfied with his job so far tho.

  9. Not yet. MA has a lot of work to do, but first he needs all his players available. I can say he is a fast-learner, he made mistakes then he corrects them and he is improving from match to match.

    The most important point to me, is that how he changes the mentality of our defence players, look at Holding and Mustafi for example. They were less than average players, but not anymore. He is trying to find the correct formation from match to match and choosing the right players, that why I will prefer to give him some time before start judging him. Moreover, we can’t compare him to any other manager, he took charge in our worst results.

    We are all patients and we believe in him, he has good background from Wenger and Pep but sometimes he needs luck to have all his players available and being ready or in mood to play!

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