Opinion – A defence of Mikel Arteta’s tactics

I have been surprised by how negative some Gooners have been regarding our performance at Brighton. Not because they were wrong to suggest that it wasn’t pretty to watch, but why should any Gooner this far into a campaign be surprised by our tactics?

With 8 league fixtures left this season, Arsenal are not going to suddenly change their approach just to be entertaining. Clearly, some outside our fanbase are now starting to try to discredit our hard work.

Arteta More Like Mourinho Than Wenger

For those who grew up under Mr Wenger, we were used to our club trying to win by playing the beautiful game. That’s why the Frenchman instantly clashed with Jose Mourinho because their principles were polar opposites. Considering our current manager was a captain at the Emirates and did his apprenticeship under Pep Guardiola, it’s ironic that the Spaniard’s win-at-all-costs mentality is more similar to Mourinho’s than his two mentors.

Pragmatic Arteta

In an ideal world, I’m sure the former midfielder would love to play a more attractive style. Yet, as he’s constantly reminded us since he returned to North London, it’s hard to compete with Man City. The 43-year-old is being paid lots of money to find a way to challenge them, and that’s what he is doing. You can mock his over-reliance on set pieces, but does that not mean you don’t acknowledge the hard work that has gone into training to get to that point? You can accuse him of being too conservative, but please appreciate that it remains an art form to defend the way we do as a team. There is a growing narrative that the league leaders are manipulating the rules. In reality, we play under the same laws as the opposition. If we have found aspects that we have mastered, isn’t that good coaching? Isn’t the idea that then the other coach responds with solutions? If (and it’s still ‘if’) we become champions, I just hope this team gets the credit they deserve. They have not earned the right for people to like how they play. They have, though, earned the right to be respected for how they play. Dan Smith

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