Video: Arteta praises his players who are defending ‘with their lives’

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta claims that he asked his players to defend ‘with their lives’, and that they are doing exactly that.

David Luiz was spotted celebrating his key block in the heart of the defence yesterday as he helped his side to keep a clean sheet against Premier League title challengers Manchester United, and the manager is happy with the way his side have improved at the back.

The Spaniard has now gone three matches without conceding against United, while the team has only conceded twice in the PL since Christmas.

Does the manager deserve immense credit for inspiring our defence of late?

Patrick

Tags Mikel Arteta

12 Comments

  1. Yes , MA does deserve enormous credit for fixing a defence , even with a number of still sub par players in it, that has been little more than neglected, til MA arrived, for about a dozen years, mostly by a certain Frenchman who had little time for proper defence or defenders for much of those years.

    1. Glad to see that you have taken note of the stats that have been supplied to you, including the 2011/12 season, where the “neglected defence” was second in the PL and went 14 games without conceding… nine away from home.
      It seems that the facts have finally sunk in 👍
      As MA has gone 4 games without conceding, I guess the sub standard defenders, who must be Holding and Bellerin (following your “logic”), along with Luiz, who you have branded as a terrible signing, will be the next set of players on your hit list – God help them!!!

          1. Wrong Ken. My name does not appear at all in your first post!
            I’ll ignore the cheap irreligious jibe that YOU obviously think funny! If you wish to be personally rude, then two can play that game, old son! Childish emojis at your advanced age just cut no ice with serouis minded folk like me.

  2. Arteta should stop doubling-down on the whole defensive narrative…we get it, we were shambolic defensively prior to his arrival, but we just aren’t clinical enough in front of goal to logically think that this whole defence-first philosophy can win the day moving forward…on a side note, I’m likewise concerned about Arteta’s reasoning behind the Marts substitution yesterday…how could it be tactically savvy to bring in Willian on his off-side, which could be said about either side recently, than to have Marts out there…in the first half, Marts provided two shining examples of how important it is that our forwards help out defensively; in fact, one was a crucial block at the back post when Cedric got caught out of position…Arteta must have saw this as a way to quell Willian, and his agents, concerns by finding a way to shoehorn him in at half regardless if it made any logical sense

  3. If only he could convince Willian to earn his wages. In defense of Willian I’ll say he played “less bad” than usual.

    Anyone notice after Willian played the ball off to a teammate they all were waiting for him to make his run, but he never did?

    It’s been half the season now, and the “adjustment” excuse doesn’t float anymore. A 32 yr old with many years of PL experience should show some improvement at this point.

    Looking like we have a 3 year coaster on our hands, content with his last big contract. Rather see Nelson over Willian from now on.

    1. Durand , “Anyone” did not notice . But “everyone” surely DID! “Adjustment” has nothing to do with it and laziness and uninterest in anything, save his daft contact has everything to do with it. Simply put , he is a mercenary and a disgrace. Turning into another OZIL, GOD HELP US ALL!

        1. Certainly becoming that way KEN . I had no personal beef with him but when he cannot be bothered to run and is handsomely paid to represent our team to his best abilities and clearly refuses to do so, then YES, I DO find him lazy and disgraceful.

          You see KEN while you think it your bounden duty to stick up for any lazy, workshy player that wears our shirt, with me supporting the TEAM first and foremost, (as I thought you did too, til you proved me wrong, with Ozil) I call out ALL those lazy players who will not try their very best for our team.

          Tell me THAT is wrong, if you will then! I’ll never stop doing it while I have breath. And why? Because I love and support our team, NOT those who harm it!

          1. BTW KEN . It seems very few, if any on JA think Willian worth his place . You read the many comments just as I do , so tell me which one of us is out of step with mainstream Gooner opinionon idle Willian, if you dare!

          2. Jon, you missed my point completely – no matter how good /bad a manager is /isn’t, they ALL make mistakes… some more costly than others.
            So the question I ask you, is why does MA keep playing Willian if he’s as bad as you – not others – think he is?
            Isn’t he making an awful decision even worse?

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