Mikel Arteta’s coaching and tactics are gradually becoming the standard. The Spaniard has come a long way since taking over at the Emirates, where he was still inexperienced, and now look at him.
Reading manager Paul Ince, a Premier League legend, was recently chastised for sticking with a single lineup throughout the season. He defended the move, claiming it was inspired by Arteta’s strategy. Ince stated that Arteta has helped Arsenal succeed due to his strict team selection, and he intends to continue doing so.
“If we keep chopping and changing, we’ll never get any continuity,” Ince explained (as per Berkashire live), Tuesday night, after Reading’s 2-1 win over Rotherham.
“Arteta has played more or less the same side all season and they (Arsenal) are top of the table so you’re not going to get any consistency if you keep chopping and changing.
“It doesn’t work like that. We were okay at Sunderland; we made a mistake, it cost us a point. The players did their job, so why keep chopping and changing?
“It doesn’t make sense.”
If coaches are now finding the courage to defend their decisions by citing Arteta, it can only serve to validate Arteta’s status as a top-tier coach.
Ince’s claims come at an interesting time, given the numerous calls for Arteta to make changes to his starting lineup. Some argue that with the same starting lineup, the Gunners have become too predictable.
Many people wondered if Arteta would ever change his starting lineup, but we finally saw it change yesterday, but only due to an injury to Thomas Partey….
Daniel O
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A bit of advice for Paul Ince, whom I must say is not a legend. Sorry.
Asking a small core of young players to play game after game in a high-pressing tempo is a sign of madness. It just won’t work out in the long term. It’s better to rotate the squad. Keep the players fresh and energized. (If you think I am wrong, just watch the second half of our game against City).
In time Arteta will come to realize this fact too, we can only hope.
He also needs to understand that in order to challenge for the league, limited transfer funds must be used to improve the squad now and not wasted on cosmetic purchases for the future.
Choosing to spend over 25M on his centre-back collection, and over 35M on lightweight midfielder prospect was unfortunate – or even dumd – when it abundantly clear to everyone what we needed most was just two simple additions: backup striker for Jesus and backup DM for Partey.
We are paying a high price for sheer stupidity in the transfer window.
Cheer up Paul Ince. If you’re lucky, you too could win a FA cup, by fluke.
And who did you manage ?