Opinion: Why did Arteta not make changes to his tactics and set-up for the Man City game?
Mikel Arteta’s insistence on sticking to one playing style is hurting Arsenal. They say you can’t do the same thing repeatedly and expect different results. Rio Ferdinand and Joleon Lescott (ex-Man City stars) wonder why Arteta insisted on employing the same failed tactics against Manchester City.
Arsenal have already met Manchester City three times this season. They have lost these games. The most recent defeat came on Wednesday night, when they lost 4-1. Arsenal’s game strategy failed again, as it had the previous two times. Arteta should have come up with a different plan for their meeting this week, but he did not. Guardiola was the one who made changes to his system.
“Pep talked about his philosophy; he had to change it from a winning philosophy,” the ex-City defender Joleon Lesccot told the Mirro. “He said we went to the Emirates and I wasn’t happy; they won, and he had to change something.
“Mikel Arteta’s faced Pep three times this season, and they’ve lost every time, and he hasn’t changed.”
Rio Ferdinand also had complaints about Arsenal’s tactics against Manchester City. He questioned why Arteta didn’t tweak things after seeing the Citizens dominate over his team. On Rio’s part, he doesn’t understand why Arteta stuck to his initial game plan even though it failed.
“Tweaks in games can happen; today it didn’t happen, but occasions like this can be a whirlwind and take it away from you, and I think that happened today with this team,” said Rio on BT Sport.
“Sometimes you’ve got to be humble enough to go, ‘Listen, I need some bodies around me; give that to the touchline; speak to the manager.’ Even at halftime, at the moment it’s not going our way; we need a few more bodies around us to build some confidence”
So has Arteta’s rigidity on one tactical plan been his biggest obstacle?
On his part, the Arsenal boss insisted after the Manchester City loss that he didn’t see any reason to change things up. “We wanted to tweak a few things, but they were able to execute and scored an early goal,”
“You have to understand where we’re coming from; we have to be loyal to what has brought us all this way.”
Arteta has matured as a coach, but now is the time for him to be ruthless in his selections He’s got to be unpredictable. Anyone who fails to deliver should be benched. Make tactical switches to confuse opponents. On Wednesday night, Guardiola taught him a lesson; now it’s up to him to put what he’s learned into practise.
Should Arteta be more adventurous with his tactics and squad changes, rather than stickking to just the one game-plan?
Darren N
Watch Arteta refuse to give up on title after Man City defeat – “There are still 5 games to play, it’s not over…”
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