What Arteta must do to succeed at Emirates
If Mikel Arteta needed any help to fully appreciate the scale of the job he faces at Arsenal, it is handy he had a front-row seat for the latest show of evidence. At the Emirates Stadium on Sunday, the flaws were laid bare for the man now tasked with turning the club’s fortunes around.
Sat on the Manchester City bench alongside Pep Guardiola, Arteta will have noted the extraordinary openness of Arsenal’s midfield and watched at how their defenders backed off and then backed off some more, inviting Kevin De Bruyne and his Manchester City team-mates into their penalty box without so much as making a challenge.
He will have seen the bowed heads and shrugged shoulders of a group of players devoid of confidence. He will have heard the anger of the fans who booed Mesut Ozil from the field in the second half and spotted the emptying of the stadium which began long before that.
Arsenal are as close to the relegation zone as they are to the Champions League places. The ease with which City swatted them aside on Sunday – “we played much better against Manchester United,” said Guardiola afterwards – underlined just how far behind the elite they have fallen.
They have conceded more goals after 17 games than in any previous Premier League season. This is the first time they have had a negative goal difference at this point. They have never won fewer games, and the only time they had fewer points – in 1994/95 – they went on to finish 12th.
These would be immensely challenging circumstances for any coach – let alone one with no experience – but it is a testament to how highly Arsenal regard Arteta that they are willing to stake their future on him. For his part, and considering how failure could impact his managerial prospects, it also shows how much he believes in himself.
He will certainly need that self-belief. Arteta has spoken about his commitment to “expressive” and “entertaining” football in the past, but if he is to succeed at Arsenal, the priority must be to instil organisation and urgency at the back. That won’t be easy with a group of players who seem to struggle with the basics of defending.
“Every time I watch them play, every time the ball comes in on the attack, they just drop off,” said Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher on Sunday. “They drop off when they should press, they press when they should drop off. It’s like they don’t know what they’re doing.”
Carragher added that Arsenal’s defenders simply aren’t at the level required and it is difficult to argue with that in light of recent evidence. But it is also true that they aren’t helped by the gaps in the midfield in front of them. It is another area in urgent need of attention, but another in which there are few obvious solutions in the squad.
At Manchester City, Arteta had the luxury of working with Fernandinho, a master in the art of protecting a defence. At Arsenal, however, he inherits a group of players in which his only experienced option for the role, Granit Xhaka, lacks the speed and mobility required, and the others, Lucas Torreira, 23, and Matteo Guendouzi, 20, are still raw.
Read Also:Breaking: Arteta appointed Arsenal head coach
Arteta must drum positional awareness and tactical discipline into those young players and change attitudes towards defending across the squad, but can it be done quickly? Because while the appointment of such a young coach represents the start of a long-term project, there can be no hiding from the fact that immediate improvement is required.