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Mikel Arteta has a lot to consider these days, but he already has a clear decision. The Arsenal manager intends to “clear” in January as he feels there are two “passengers” in the club.
His football is certainly very passive right now and without any momentum. Among the most irritating aspects of this Arsenal team is the few opportunities it creates. Arteta wants some of the payout money to go back to the team, especially to encourage that attack.
One of the main problems is that this team deviates a bit from its ideal. It’s a lot of work with many players who are not necessarily up to the task.
An obvious answer to that, of course, is to train them. That’s what was supposed to mark Arteta, after all. Almost everyone he talks to in football who knows him, including those from Arsenal, is still enthusiastic about his coaching skills despite recent results; its effect on players; your vision of the game.
Without a doubt, it was supposed to set him apart from a generation of coaches like José Mourinho.
The Portuguese is making fun of the arguments, some of them on these very pages, that Tottenham Hotspur had appointed a coach beyond their best and Arsenal one for the future.
It has recently gotten discouragingly bad at the Emirates, both in terms of performance and results. Any sense of progress has completely stalled, along with so many prescribed attacks.
For his part, one of the many important differences between the teams at this time was how Mourinho was able to bring two decades of experience in the transfer market. He knew exactly what he wanted this summer and he got it, in a way he hasn’t enjoyed much since 2014 at Chelsea. That is another factor in this resurgence. That’s another contrast between the clubs. While Arsenal have had a huge commotion behind the scenes and Edu is still adjusting to a new role, with some agents still waiting to see the club’s focus, Daniel Levy knows exactly what he wants and needs with Spurs.
Many cite Mourinho’s ability to make the president spend, in a way that was often absent during Mauricio Pochettino’s time, as crucial to the last window and current form.
It means that unlike Arteta, he has this outfit exactly how he wants it. He is solid and capable of the most dangerous counterattacks. This is truly the kind of front-line Mourinho has long idealized, and that’s even without a fully fired Gareth Bale.
Mourinho has Tottenham on a roll
(Reuters)
That in itself creates an interesting dilemma for this game. A meeting between Mourinho and a Pep Guardiola protégé would normally be completely predictable: the Portuguese team sat down, the opposition will proactively try to open them.
It’s just that Arsenal have so far not lived up to the ideals of that Spanish-Catalan pressure possession. In fact, Arteta’s team has been more comfortable when playing something closer to a Mourinho game, against another big team.
He feels the smartest thing about Arteta would be to undermine Mourinho and go as limited as the Spurs coach would. Arsenal surely won’t offer the kind of space behind Harry Kane and Son Heung-min thrive on. The danger if they come out here is that the Spurs could separate them at halftime, for the kind of result that could well be embarrassing.
That’s really the last thing Arteta needs right now, even if Arsenal are absolutely determined to stay out of it no matter what.
So the first thing you need to do is get solid setup.
We might as well have a stalemate. Stagnation has been one of Arsenal’s problems, but it may be necessary now.
