Mikel Arteta has come a long way since taking over at Arsenal in 2019. He’s still rather inexperienced as a Premier League manager, however that hasn’t stopped him coaching the game his way & now other managers are starting to look at the way he sees the game as inspiration for their own teams elsewhere.
The Spaniard has learnt from the very best in Pep Guardiola & Arsene Wenger and although he’s still learning on the job, he’s learnt enough already to get Arsenal from eighth place in the Premier League to top of the table within three years. However you want to look at it, it’s very impressive the job he has done at the Emirates Stadium so far.
Reading manager Paul Ince was recently criticised for sticking with the same single lineup throughout the season. He defended the move, claiming it was inspired by Arteta’s strategy. Ince stated that Arteta has helped Arsenal succeed due to his strict team selection, and he intends to follow the same principle in the Championship.
Paul Ince on sticking with the same line-up at Reading:
“If we keep chopping and changing, we’ll never get any continuity. Arteta has played more or less the same side all season and they [Arsenal] are top of the table so you’re not going to get any consistency if you keep chopping and changing.
It doesn’t work like that. We were okay at Sunderland; we made a mistake, it cost us a point. The players did their job, so why keep chopping and changing? It doesn’t make sense.”
If other coaches are choosing to defend their decisions by citing Arteta and the way the Arsenal boss operates, it can only serve as praise for Mikel Arteta & validate his status as a top Premier League coach.
Mikel Arteta has also received some criticism from Arsenal fans recently regarding the consistency in his line-ups, stating the Gunners have become too predictable and they need a change in personnel to freshen things up.
I think it’s fair to say Paul Ince would disagree.
