Jamie Carragher has expertly broken down exactly why he believes Mikel Arteta’s style of football at Arsenal is morphing into something more akin to Jose Mourinho than Pep Guardiola. The Gunners suffered a 1-0 defeat to Newcastle over the weekend amid an ongoing injury crisis. The result leaves them seven points adrift of the top of the table with less than a third of the Premier League campaign played.
Arteta previously worked under Guardiola at Manchester City as the great manager’s assistant. However, despite being a student of the way the Barcelona great sets up his team, Carragher provided some fascinating analysis on Monday Night Football that shows how the Gunners are playing similarly to how ‘the Special One’ would have told them to.
Carragher Breaks Down Arteta’s Tactics
The ex-defender explained why Arteta and Mourinho are so similar
Speaking ahead of Fulham’s clash with Brentford, Carragher elaborated on previous comments he made regarding Arteta’s style and explained why he believes the Spaniard has adopted a more defensive-minded approach:
“You look at the players they’ve brought in, and the style is morphing towards Jose Mourinho. It’s not a criticism for Arsenal or Mikel Arteta. Because this is a guy who’s won the Premier League three times. Arsenal haven’t won it in 20 years.
“If you think of Jose Mourinho as a manager, what would I think I was getting? The first thing is that my team will be strong defensively. Arsenal are strong defensively. Height and strength. We’ve just highlighted that, about the size and the power of this Arsenal team.”
The defender-turned-pundit continued: “Set piece reliance at times. Relying on set pieces, especially this side. We just highlighted at times Arsenal and the goalkeeper go direct. How often did we see Petr Cech go direct to Didier Drogba?”
Carragher pointed out one stark difference between Mourinho’s Chelsea team and Arteta’s Gunners: the former were far more successful in terms of trophies won. Arteta’s side have not lifted a piece of silverware since their FA Cup triumph in his very first season.
The former Liverpool defender went on to speculate that the reason for this approach could be down to the fact that Arteta does not trust his attacking players enough to outscore opposition like Manchester City, so relies on a strong defence to help them win games.
All statistics courtesy of the Premier League – accurate as of 04/11/2024.