Ahead of the match against Leeds United this weekend, Mikel Arteta has been speaking about the manager of the Whites, Marcelo Bielsa.
Bielsa is one of the most influential managers in world football at the moment and the Argentinean has proven his worth by returning Leeds to the Premier League after a 16-year absence from the English top flight.
Arteta was never his player neither did he have a relationship directly with him in his footballing career.
However, Bielsa is one of the individuals that Pep Guardiola credits for his managerial style and Mauricio Pochettino is also his student.
Their match this weekend will be their second meeting since Arteta became Arsenal’s manager.
The Gunners beat Leeds in one of Arteta’s first games as the manager last year in the FA Cup.
Arteta has now revealed that Guardiola told him wonderful and positive things about Bielsa before going on to praise the Argentinean for the meticulous nature he goes about his job.
Asked by beIN Sport about what Guardiola had told him when discussing Bielsa, Arteta said as quoted by Mail Online: ‘All positive and incredible things.
‘First his work rate, the amount of hours that he puts in, the details, and the people around him to support, help and always evolve his ideas, and then who he is as a person. And that’s all really well respected by everybody that works alongside him.
‘He has a unique way of training, of putting things together, and making a team play the way that every single player believes in what they have to do, and even if he’s difficult and challenging they still do it.’
‘I admire him he’s had a really challenging career, but what he’s managed to do – without winning many many trophies – but put a stamp on the football world is a big big merit to him.’
Bielsa the legend! Someone who put gegenpressing in the modern football dictionary. Hope MA learns some new things from the match against MB.
The MA that pit out the squad against Villa is a student of Mourinho