What has gone wrong with Arteta Ball?

By Merlion
September 7 2021

Re-reading Rinus Michels: “Team Building - The Road to Success”, one cannot help but perceive that Mikel Arteta is a poor coach and a poor man-manager That without an ounce of experience in forging a team to play “circulation football” as envisaged by Rinus Michels. And what Arsene Wenger did successfully with his French Spine, and for a brief interlude with Rosicky-Fabregas-Flamini-Hleb Midfield with Van Persie and Adebayor during 2007/08 season.

Rinus Michels explained Circulation Football and it can explain why Mikel Arteta has had such a poor start this season, and what it is he needs to rectify:

“This strategy is distinguished by the ability to circulate the ball from player to player until the correct moment arises for the attacking phase and thus, the ball can be played deep. It is a means to be able to play the ball deep and not an aim itself. It has to be linked to a healthy dose of opportunistic football via for example, the lucky pass and the cross.

It places a high demand on the build-up qualities of the team, together with high-quality positional play. This is a tough assignment, especially if the opponents pressure you constantly.

Fast combinations and excellent positional play are a must - Circulation football!

The coach who “forgets” these guidelines when playing circulation football, chooses to play boring football without many surprises, and thus easy to defend (sic)”

Mikel Arteta became highly predictable with his rigid and dogmatic approach in setting up his team in a fixed set of plays such that Brentford, Chelski and Man City easily countered Arsenal FC by instantly pressing and denying Arsenal ball carriers time and space to execute their “perfect” passes.

Moreover, poor positional plays with both full-backs and midfielders caught up high on the pitch meant that Reece James was free to run repeatedly down the left flank like it was a bus lane. Manchester City also destroyed Arsenal's right flank, poor positional play again.

Arsene Wenger had coached the French Spine to play “Kick and Run” English-style football that within four touches of the ball from box to box; an Arsenal player was in a clear position to shoot at goal. This is the 2nd Strategy of “Circulation Football” – play deep ball. (Although Crab football became a Wenger motif during his last 5 years. Editor).

Mikel Arteta did not coach the team to play deep ball. And a few times that Pepe or Saka or ESR broke out of the box, there was no quick passing combination and invariably being fouled immediately to stop our counter-attacks in its track. Plus, Brentford, Chelski and Man City won virtually all the balls hacked out of the box when they pressed our Defence relentlessly.

Opportunism is the 3rd strategy for the build-up. Rinus Michels explained that there is a need in football for a surprising action in the build-up and the attack - opportunism. This is possible through opportune plays. You need to have the courage in the attacking third of the field to sometimes “blindly” cross the ball with the first touch, and not choose to play a square pass or a backwards pass after several touches, dribbles or short passes.

After winning the FA Cup in 2020, Mikel Arteta changed all that in 2020/21 season. It seems like Arteta only want to score a goal out of very elaborate combination play. Perhaps his team will succeed at times, but most of the time it does not work. And it stifles the spontaneity and unpredictable nature of Aubameyang cutting in from left to centre and running between defenders into passing channel with such elaborate and predictable combination plays.

The 2021/22 season started with the same team, surprisingly, began to swing more crosses into the box. But what good it will do when there are no Arsenal players in the box? No one cutting inside towards the penalty box is also not performed consistently during attacking phase.

A problem that Arteta coach his players to make timely runs into the box to anticipate crosses swinging into the box. But are there any good headers of the ball in the team? It is a matter of specialised individual training and the willingness to work on this aspect for those players – remember at the latter stage of Thierry Henry’s career at Arsenal, he began to score headed goals?

With his penchant to swing in crosses from the flanks, and Aubameyang or Lacazette deploys as “lone striker”, Arteta forgot the cardinal rule that the teamwork between the centre-forward false “9” is very important – like Henry-Bergy. Or the second forward in 3-5-2 formation.

Unfortunately, Arteta had failed to develop the synergy of Aubameyang, Lacazette and Nicholas Pepe to gear their actions to one-another, to serve the best interest of the team, instead of wanting to score goals themselves; and to understand it is all about playing as a team efficiently. It is a difficult assignment for them to develop communication and to understand each other movements and preferences when Arteta chops and changes the Starting-11 regularly. The very basic principle that one forward that anticipates first the scoring chance, and the second forward has to react to these actions immediately to support him is not translated into the playing pitch.

During the attacking phase, Arteta deployed a second line, midfielders and sometimes centre backs, plus full backs cutting into centre, who took up a position to be able to receive a pass being played back or to intercept a cleared ball. The problem is that the Defence loses its shape and wide open to counter-attacks with a long ball out of defence. To defend against swift counter-attacks, Arteta needs to impose discipline to ensure that there are at least three defenders situated at centre-circle, and are not allowed to take part in the build-up or the attack.

A good example is Wolves-Man U game where a quick and powerful Adama Troare ripped through the exposed ManU 2-Man Defence during Wolves counter-attacks.

Another example is during the last 3 league games, Nicolas Pepe’s frequently dribbled unnecessarily into a wall of 2 or 3 or 4 defenders. He was unsuccessful all the times, thus giving Brentford, Chelski and Manchester City an ideal situation to play dangerous counter attacks, with Chambers or Soares caught high up in opponent’s half.

It was a disappointing to see that when Arsenal were desperate to score with only 20 to 30 minutes to play, Arteta refused to switch to a more opportune approach, namely, to a more “kick and run” strategy. Instead, Mikel instructed his team to continuously pass out of defence to start another series of deliberate and elaborate passes to move into and around opponent box.

While chasing late in the game, the advantage of using the “Kick-and-Run Style” football is that the crowd will get behind the team, because the opponents are constantly put under attacking pressure. This style of play also prevents the ball from being lost in an early stage in the midfield, that is, bypassing midfield and straight to opponent’s third.

Aubameyang, Lacazette, Martinelli, Saka, ESR and Odegaard have the guile and skills to navigate in a crowded penalty box. But has Mikel Arteta developed effective guidelines and coaching to direct the complex traffic in the crowded penalty box, which ask for quick actions and reactions in “one-two and move” passing? And players so well drilled that they can anticipated passes and move into space to provide varied options for ball carriers to pass?

A good example is those well-drilled Chelski and Manchester City players that move into space to provide multi-choice passing options for the ball carriers, plus anticipation and quick reaction to consistently recover the second ball. Mikel Arteta’s style of play with elaborate build-up around the box without opportunism, rigid patterns that stifle the spontaneity of flair players, is too boring and sterile to watch. We may expect more booing by the Emirates crowd unless this present sterility is not changed.