What the Gunners need to do to get back to the Wenger days
Is Arteta just too inexperienced to manage a team like Arsenal?
When the now 38-year-old Spaniard was appointed Arsenal’s manager back in December 2019, he had come with very little managerial experience, if any at all. Granted he did work under Pep Guardiola at Man City as an assistant coach from July 2016 up until signing with the Gunners, where he had won two Premier League titles, as well as two FA Cups, and a pair of EFL Cups.
Even though this may be impressive, Arteta did not manage a team before taking over the London side. Arsenal took a major gamble in replacing Unai Emery with the next Spaniard to try to get them back to winning ways and hopefully get into a Champions League or Europa spot. Appointing Arteta as the manager seemed more like an emotional signing than a logical one since he had already played for Arsenal and retired as the club captain.
No real style of play
More from Arsenal
- Arsenal injury news: Mikel Arteta confirms “rapid” attacker suffered injury
- Arsenal transfer news: Mikel Arteta rivals Manchester United for wonderkid
- Arsenal predicted lineup vs PSV: Mikel Arteta to drop “Henry-esque” winger
- Alan Shearer blasts “slow” Arsenal player – Should Mikel Arteta drop him?
- “Beast” Arsenal fans have noticed the GREAT form of fringe midfielder
In the past Arsenal always had a knack of acquiring technical and direct players, which is a far cry of how the squad is looking now. Yes, Aubameyang was a great buy but the team seems to rely solely on him for goals.
There is also no real creative spark in the middle of the park. Wilshere, Ramsey, and Oxlade-Chamberlain all departed. The latter two found greener pastures while the former struggles for fitness.
Even if Arteta wants to adopt the Tiki-Taka style of football from Pep and apply it, he just doesn’t have the players to accomplish that. The Gunners’ assist leader is currently Nicolas Pépé, with only 6 assists while providing 4 goals in 24 matches, is quite a little considering Aubameyang has 17 goals for the season alone.
Mesut Özil is supposed to be the go-to guy when it comes to assisting goals, but his current form is still not up to the standards of how he was a couple of seasons ago. Özil has only provided 2 assists in 18 matches played, which is a bad turnover for a creative midfielder.
Arteta needs to utilise his more creative players such as Özil and Dani Ceballos to help bring some link-up play between the players and help the team become more cohesive. Both midfielders have excellent technical abilities and the Spaniard needs to use both players in a 4-3-3 system where they can help the team by providing assists to the front three.