Arsenal: Mikel Arteta adds much-needed and long-lost aggression

Mikel Arteta ‘shouted a lot’ at half-time of Arsenal’s 1-0 win over Leeds United. The new head coach brings an aggressive streak that is much-needed and has been long-lost.

Arsene Wenger was a loyal coach. He believed in his players, stuck by his players through thick and thin, and always championed their best qualities. This helped create some truly great teams. The freedom of expression, the positive culture, the entertaining football with an unshaking belief. Wenger masterminded all of that. But it also made Arsenal soft.

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It is somewhat of a trope to criticise Arsenal for lacking resilience and fight and aggression and leadership. Anyone who wants to say something negative about the club immediately reverts to this type of comment. And it is largely the dinosaur pundits that do so — I am looking at you, Graeme Souness.

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But there is a reason why it is a little bit of a trope: it’s largely true. For far too long, the club has pandered to its players, allowing a culture of mediocrity and complacency rein, while lacking accountability and the will to challenge and question.

So when Mikel Arteta arrived in north London to take over from Unai Emery, he immediately set about changing the culture of the squad. He has spoken at length about the ‘non-negotiables’ that he expects to see from his players. He talked about the ‘ruthless’ lesson he learned from Pep Guardiola and has set about ensuring that everyone abides by his methods. Anything less is unacceptable.

This all came to the fore in Monday night’s 1-0 win over Leeds United. Arsenal were played off the park in the first half. Arteta was not happy. In fact, after a second-half turnaround that saw his side improve markedly, Alexandre Lacazette was asked what Arteta said at half-time to inspire such a response:

"The manager shouted a lot. He was not happy because we knew they’d play like this and we didn’t respect what he had said”"

Reiss Nelson then expanded on Lacazette’s comments, also reflecting on the overall managerial approach of Arteta:

"“He just said that we weren’t playing the way we should be playing. Mikel is a manager that wants to play with a purpose. He said we needed to be more aggressive and I think we did that in the second half. We showed more fight and character. We went out and did what we were supposed to do <…> I think as a coach you always need to have the aggressive side and obviously the side where you give love as well. In training he is always asking us to press with passion and play with purpose.”"

‘Aggressive’ is the keyword. Arteta was taking no prisoners with his half-time team talk. He chewed out the players for their performance, demanded a response, and got one. Arsenal were substantially better after the break, their attitude, intensity and focus much more prominent after Arteta had 15 minutes with them.

It is something that Wenger rarely did. He took the softer approach. Arteta, however, is adding an aggression and expectation that he been much-needed and long-lost Arsenal. And as Monday night proves, it is having an impact.