On December 6, 2020, Arsenal traveled to Spurs for the season’s first North London Derby. At the time, Spurs sat at the top of the Premier League table. Almost every media outlet seemed to tout the side as a dark horse for the title. However, it was becoming increasingly clear that Spurs only really knew how to play one way: absorbing pressure and countering through Harry Kane and Heung-min Son.
For Arsenal, mired in 14th place at the time, this was ironically the perfect tactical setup for them to deal with. Since the end of the previous season, the Gunners had regularly deployed a 3-4-3 formation more suited for counterattacking than dominating matches. While this strategy had proven unsuccessful against midtable teams that defended in deep blocks, most of those following the fixture understandably believed it might actually suit this particular match. The best course of action appeared clear: make Spurs uncomfortable by setting up in the 3-4-3 once more and letting them have the ball, then try to hit them on the counter and give them a taste of their own medicine.
Instead, Arteta opted for a 4-2-3-1. He set the team up to play possession football. Arsenal had 70% of the ball, 632 passes to Spurs’ 288, 9 corners to 3, and 11 shots to 5.
The match finished as a 2-0 win for Spurs. Kane assisted a Son goal, and then Son assisted a Kane goal. Both goals were scored on the break. Arteta had effectively played right into Jose Mourinho’s hands. To add injury to insult, Thomas Partey aggravated the thigh problem he had been rushed back from to play in the derby.
Last month, Arsenal took on West Ham. In a matchup against his former manager in David Moyes, Arteta decided to tinker with a system that had performed quite well since Boxing Day. While Saka had regularly been deployed down the right, he was switched to the left flank. In his place, Aubameyang was deployed as a right-winger.
Up until this point, Aubameyang had enjoyed a steady run of games at center-forward, being deployed in that position in his last five appearances prior to being dropped for the second North London Derby of the season for disciplinary reasons. Before that, he had effectively alternated between playing on the left flank and as the main striker.
But against West Ham, Arteta saw fit to play him at right-wing. It was the second time all season Aubameyang had played there. The first had come in October against Leicester, another match in which Arsenal were outdone by an opponent with a very obvious game plan.
West Ham cruised to a 3-0 lead in the first half. Their opening goal came through Arsenal’s right-hand side. Aubameyang had supposedly been meant to keep the Hammers’ Aaron Cresswell pinned back but failed to offer much defensive assistance for Calum Chambers in his first start of the season. While the other two West Ham goals came down the left, Arsenal appeared confused by what Arteta had instructed them to do for much of the first 45 minutes of the match.
And yet, when Bukayo Saka and Aubameyang swapped flanks, Arsenal began to play like they had in the weeks prior to the match. Things clicked offensively, and Arsenal overcame the deficit to end the match as a draw. But one can’t help but feel that West Ham were poorer than their position suggests, and had been there for the taking that day with more straightforward tactics.
On Thursday, Arsenal hosted Slavia Prague in the first leg of the Europa League quarterfinals. Not only do the Czech team stand in the way of a return to the Champions League, but they have earned the animosity of the entire footballing world after one of their players allegedly made a racist remark to Rangers’ Glen Kamara in the previous round of the competition. It was imperative that Arsenal make a statement in their home leg.
The opportunity to inflict a heavy defeat to Slavia Prague was certainly there. They were without their two starting center-backs. Their goalkeeper was nervous on the ball. Despite having knocked out Leicester and Rangers, they were quite dreadful at the Emirates.
It would stand to reason that a pacey and potent front three would be the prescribed strategy for dispatching Prague due to their deficiencies at the back. However, the Arsenal manager decided, for some reason, that Willian and Alexandre Lacazette were better equipped to grab his side a victory. And so, while Slavia Prague failed to provide much threat throughout the match, the Gunners matched them in dullness. Outside of a free-kick that smacked the post, Willian did not provide much else. He finished the match with no key passes, no successful dribbles, and one shot-creating action. Lacazette was woeful and fluffed the best opportunity of the night when he was one-on-one with the keeper and couldn’t be bothered to try something simpler than curling one into the top corner of the goal.
Arteta waited 73 minutes to make a change, which came in the form of Gabriel Martinelli taking Willian’s place. At 78 minutes, Aubameyang and Nicolas Pepe replaced Lacazette and Saka respectively. With the quick and threatening players who should have started finally on the pitch, Arsenal looked far more dangerous. Pepe would go on to put his side in the lead, only for them to disastrously concede a goal in injury time. Arsenal go to Prague next Thursday with their season, and perhaps the club’s immediate future on the line, having practically gifted their opponents an away goal. In the aftermath, many fans have wondered how different the result would have been if the first three substitutes had played more minutes.
Mikel Arteta has several flaws as a manager. His ability to identify talent appears to be Michael Jordan-esque (and if you follow the Charlotte Hornets, you know this is not a good thing). He does not avoid clashing with players, even when doing so would be beneficial for himself or the club. He has a concerning penchant for asset destruction. His substitutions are often suspect.
However, these are all issues that can be attributed to inexperience in the role. This is, after all, Arteta’s first time serving as a manager. While these could very well be issues that persist well into his career, one could not be blamed for hoping they are kinks he can work out with time.
But one thing that very much seems to be part of his very identity is his consistent tendency to overthink his approach to matches. What we have seen time and time again is that when presented with an obvious weakness through which to attack his opponents, Arteta does not simply take what is given to him. He strains to create a novel method by which he can exploit such vulnerabilities.
When he is tasked with overcoming a pair of second-string center-backs, he deploys a striker who plays with their back to goal. When the opponent features attacking full-backs who leave acres of space in behind them, he matches them up with a 31-year-old striker instead of one of four speedy wingers 25 and younger at his disposal. When he goes up against managers who only want to play on the break, he selects a team that plays possession football but can’t finish their chances.
As clever a footballing mind as Arteta can be, sometimes he tries to be too clever. Sometimes he tries to reinvent the wheel when Arsenal are a block away from home and have a spare tire in the trunk. It’s almost as if he has an insatiable desire to always be the smartest person in the room, even when the only question to be answered is whether two plus two equals four.
Arteta must realize that sometimes the smartest thing he can do is just to do the obvious thing. Unai Emery got himself sacked by continuously tinkering with the team. Arsene Wenger found success for years simply by rolling out the best players at his disposal. There is a sweet spot between those two previous Arsenal managers, and the current manager does not have all the time in the world to find it.
For what truly matters is not how cleverly a manager gets their results. What matters is that they get the results. A win is a win, even if the path to it is so easy the untrained eye can see it as well. Arteta would do well to remember that.
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