Like those ancient travellers of yore, like Magellan and Ibn Battuta, Pep Guardiola’s story cannot be told in its entirety without a fair mention to his group of disciples. From Xavi Hernandez, to Luis Enrique and now Mikel Arteta, any clash between these up-and-coming managers and the master himself is sure to get journalists rubbing their hands in glee, pens and keyboards ready to delve in the layers of drama.
Talking of Mikel Arteta, the Arsenal manager, once Guardiola’s assistant at Manchester City, has reached a rather cinematic third arc in his young career. From the well-oiled machine at the Etihad, his first task was to work a miracle at crumbling establishments of Arsenal, with two eight-place finishes instantly shrouding his stint in ominous light. This was perhaps the first strike, a taunting blow to Arteta’s aspirations of moulding the Gunners in the image of Guardiola’s side.
Despite the sinking feeling pervading through what is now referred to as “lockdown Arsenal”, the second blow was arguably more agonising. The wheels came off established Big-6 sides like Liverpool, Chelsea and Tottenham, allowing the likes of Arsenal, Manchester United and Newcastle to fill in the vacuum. Arteta’s men, having just greeted former Cityzens Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko, shot to the top of the Premier League, some twenty years of hurt about to be emphatically wiped off the cannon crest by someone who once wore it. Instead, the free-flowing Gunners had their champagne party ruined, a 4-1 battering at the hands of Man City effectively serving as a 21-gun salute to their title hopes.
From those ashes rose a new Arsenal. Well over a hundred million pounds spent on Kai Havertz, Declan Rice, and David Raya created the platform for Arteta to inculcate one of Guardiola’s key strengths; control and risk-aversion. Till the first half of the 23/24 season, Arsenal enjoyed plenty of the former, but suddenly looked toothless and dropped points in cagey affairs. Replenished after a winter break, the Gunners had a visibly steely edge to them and quickly became one of Europe’s finest off-the-ball teams. There were the demolitions of Chelsea, West Ham, with Arsenal arguably outplaying Liverpool twice, their 3-1 league victory a resounding statement. However, the string of poor results in December, along with a shock loss at home to Aston Villa allowed Guardiola to have the last laugh by a thin margin of two points.
Three strikes down, the pressure and expectations are now sky-high. This season saw the arrival of Riccardo Calafiori, a centerback who has enjoyed majority of his Arsenal minutes at left-back, and Mikel Merino, a Swiss-army-knife of a midfielder with world-class duelling statistics in tow. The former Liverpool captain Jamie Carragher’s punditry generally brings groans from the audience, but one can’t deny his passion for the tactical side of the game. That’s why it was so fascinating to hear him compare Mikel Arteta to Jose Mourinho, delineating a transformation aimed at toppling Guardiola off the throne. The pundit couldn’t help just mention, cheekily, how Arteta is still far from adopting Mourinho’s penchant for trophies.
Nearly some hundred years ago, Herbert Chapman, arguably the forefather to Arsenal’s glittering history, was appointed manager and tasked with steering a ship battling relegation for the past two seasons. So the legend goes that Chapman devised a counter-attacking system, built around the then-revolutionary WM formation, putting Arsenal on a one-way lane to their first top-flight successes through the late 20s and into the 1930s. Intriguingly, the success wasn’t without its complaints from the footballing public. Accusations like “Lucky” and “Boring Arsenal” were flown across Chapman’s face, his philosophy of prioritizing a strong defence seen as an affront to the centrality dribbling assumed in that era. Arsenal, nonetheless, scored a record 127 goals en route to their first league title.
Arteta’s men have been, for the most part, architects of their own doom this season, and currently sit in trepidation of the possibility of Liverpool disappearing into the sunset. However, with the majestic presence of attacking midfielder Martin Odegaard returning to the side, along with some tough away fixtures already dealt with, Arteta must keep belief and shut out the noise, just like Chapman did a century before him.
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