When Mikel Arteta entered the football analysis room at the Arsenal London Colney training base on his first day as a coach, he delivered a message to the staff waiting in advance: “You will have a lot of work to do – you know it, right? “A smile spread over his face as he embraced those around him, but the feeling was serious.
Arteta’s meticulous attention to detail first emerged when he was a player, often spending time after training watching videos of future opponents without pushing. He also characterized his time as a manager at Manchester City, working alongside Pep Guardiola, and helped convince the Gunners last December to overlook his lack of managerial experience to hand over the tough task of reviving a team that had been fractured and uninspired under Unai Emery. Yet there was little precious time to make significant changes.
The winter break in February offered the possibility of starting that work but only now, although in strange and unwelcome circumstances, Arteta was granted a prolonged period in which to shape Arsenal more in his image. The last 10 games of the Premier League of the 2019-20 season, which will start on Wednesday at Manchester City, therefore offer the first real glimpse of Arteta’s Arsenal. The result will have significant repercussions for all concerned.
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The first five games of Arteta in charge took place 17 days at the beginning of the year. Then he only had one week off to work with his players before the mandatory Premier League winter break in early February. The Spaniard took his players to Dubai for the first long and significant training camp of his term, finally allowing himself time to grow the seeds planted during that flurry of games. A recovery period preceded six targeted and fruitful training sessions.
Next time, Arsenal beat Newcastle 4-0. In fact, they won five of their six games before the coronavirus pandemic ended.
The only defeat in that race led to an embarrassing last release in the Europa League for Olympiacos 32 – a reality check, no doubt – but if there was a correlation between that agreed training period and better results, Arsenal should be supported from the perspective of another longer period behind the scenes under the tutelage of Arteta to build on those foundations.
However, this was not a normal training block. The clubs had to adapt to the safety requirements of COVID-19, with contact training sessions which delayed the return after several stages of training in small groups or individuals. Furthermore, players were not allowed access to common areas, depriving them of such important interactions to arouse team spirit. Arteta was therefore ready to reject any suggestion that was no longer disadvantaged by the club’s takeover in mid-season.
“This [return to training] it wasn’t exactly a preseason because I haven’t had players for six weeks, but we tried to use everything we could, “said Arteta, embracing the news of an early press conference held via Zoom on Monday before Wednesday’s trip to Manchester City.
“If you asked me, ‘what did I learn more’, he probably used different ways of communicating. The use of technology is one of them, but on my side, it is difficult to communicate with players, talk to them and try to enter them too without touching them or seeing them. This was a challenge, but we tried to do everything possible to help them better understand what we are trying to do to convince them that it is the right way for them to enjoy their profession. we did a good job or not. “
The answer will come in this 10-game queue of the 2019-20 campaign, providing a test of his methodology and a determination of the resources that will be available for him going forward. In this regard, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang holds the key to both situations.
Arsenal will have the slightest chance to review four teams and five points for the fifth place currently needed for Champions League football without their talismanic captain continuing his beautiful form. Since joining the Gunners in February 2018, only Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah (51) has scored more Premier League goals than Aubameyang’s 49.
The threatening noises about the club’s finances also make the need for European football in some even more acute form, no matter if it’s the diminished returns of the Europa League qualifying or a return to the Champions League for the first time since their 16-game round in 2016 -17. This alone would probably not be enough to convince Aubameyang to stay, but a clear vision for future progress in these last 10 Premier League games – perhaps with a long run to the FA Cup started – would reinforce the argument that Arteta can succeed where Emery failed.
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Alexis Nunes and Julien Laurens discuss rumors about the transfer linking Feyenoord’s Orkun Kokcu to Arsenal.
Arteta has confirmed that there were no fitness problems before Arsenal’s visit to the Etihad stadium, and so she can start with something that comes close to a clean slate. Painting that canvas in a way that is both aesthetically pleasing and suggesting a deeper meaning will help convince players that Arsenal is a club worth engaging in.
Aubameyang, Bukayo Saka and Sokratis Papastathopoulos will all enter the final year of their contracts next season. David Luiz’s deal expires this month. Thomas Partey of Atletico Madrid is a desired but expensive goal. Big decisions are in sight when it comes to the team, and Arsenal can emerge from this season on a recovery path or retreat further into the desert.
Even without supporters, Man City is a difficult place to take the first step. There have been signs that Arteta has brought some defensive resistance to the Arsenal, but awaits a thorough examination of its organizational skills. In his first training session, Arteta forced his players to run against the bags to reinforce them when he challenged himself to possession, a trick he repeated in the buildup to face Burnley.
But City’s intricate movement and passing speed offer an opposite polar threat. Tackling him effectively would show Arteta’s dexterity as a coach and have a particular penchant for a team that hasn’t won in a traditional “Big Six” team since January 2015. Arteta was on the Arsenal team that day, beating Man City 2-0.
Arteta may not have had the preseason she craves, but the players were given “many tasks” during this break. The detailed video plans included identifying favorite game patterns and optimizing runs in certain situations through the use of specific clips packaged from previous games.
Players may have excuses for the lack of clarity of the games, but there can be no doubt about what they are asked for, just like the staff available to Arteta. The next 10 games will show if that message is really coming.
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