Arsenal: 5 improvements under Arteta this season

Arsenal are not losing games in the Premier League. Everything is rosy. The team is in finer fettle and everything they do turns to gold and is improving. Well, not quite, but it does look like things are on the up for this team, even if there are plenty of bumps in the road to come.

From the tactical disasterclasses that were on show against Chelsea and Manchester City to the utter domination against Tottenham, Mikel Arteta is putting his stamp on this team.

And, yes, the obvious and understandable response to this is that he’s been in the job for 20 months. In terms of putting a stamp on things that’s like Mr. Burns trying to crush an ant with his foot.

Whatever the ‘project’ may have been was never intended to be a short-term fix. Naturally, if that was at all manageable then it’s a bonus. Everyone wants to make an impact as quickly as possible not least as this is a results business.

5 growing improvements under Mikel Arteta this season as he aims to forge Arsenal into a more structured and threatening unit

Arsenal fans are now majorly on board with the idea of this being a mid to long-term project that would never be undertaken overnight. One need only glance at the state of the squad Arteta inherited with the global and football climate around him to see this was a long process with an awful lot of hurdles to scale.

The darkest of days most supporters will have ever witnessed in their lives has seen them dragged through hell. Some of the depths Arsenal have sunk to mankind have yet to explore.

On the pitch there are signs of life, though. Inklings of improvements in how the team operates that even in the short amount of games that have followed since the Manchester City trouncing are visible.

While the sample size is admittedly very small, and Brighton was a setback, already fans are being treated to an Arsenal side edging closer to where they and the club envisage them being. Arteta is making strides, even if some more closely resemble baby steps.

1. Arteta is Improving His Substitutions & In-Game Management

A source of supreme anguish and discontent, the manager has enraged more than just a few of the Arsenal faithful with some of his bizarre substitutions.

Either too late or just downright befuddling, none stand out more than the decision to keep Dani Ceballos on the pitch in the first leg away at Villarreal in last season’s Europa League. The entire footballing world screamed in unison to take the Spaniard off, not only because he was playing poorly but due to the inevitability of his sending off.

Spilled milk, etc.

There has been an improvement in that regard: switching up the system at home to Norwich and bringing in greater central steel after the 60-minute mark at Burnley are decisions the manager would have been unlikely to make in the months gone by. Alexandre Lacazette and Nicolas Pepe, while it didn’t work, were the right calls at Brighton.

Having a better calibre of player to choose from helps, but Arteta stated that he’s looked long and hard at his own performances, and his in-game management has shown signs of positive tinkering.

Everyone will have noticed the unmistakably Arsene Wenger-esque additional wing-back subs against Tottenham. Nuno Tavares and Ainsley Maitland-Niles might as well have been Kieran Gibbs and Carl Jenkinson.

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2. Less Left-Sided Bias With Kieran Tierney

This is a very new alteration to how Arsenal play as the Granit Xhaka pass to Kieran Tierney down the left channel and cross tactic has already been painfully overused this season.

The most painful rendition of the Tierney one-pronged trident was that horrific away defeat to Tottenham where he flung in 5,329 crosses to Alexandre Lacazette’s unavailable head, with Arteta continuing to utilise this route to goal for too long after that.

There were inklings of this changing against Norwich which blended into the games since where Nicolas Pepe was receiving the ball deeper on the right and seeking to build play with a more balanced attacking approach. Away at Arsenal a host of subpar performances meant Arsenal barely had the ball to even consider attcking.

Yet, what is visible now is the fives lanes of attack. They’ve so clearly defined and Arteta has evidently put a lot of work into it.

This is aided by Martin Odegaard’s permanent arrival and Arsenal have far more balance and threat coming from every direction than they’ve had before: Tierney’s overlaps, Smith Rowe’s left half-space, Odegaard’s centrality and Saka’s effervescence on the right.

It ensures that the Gunners are less painfully predictable and with the Norwegian glue in the middle and the Ghanaian Rolls Royce just behind they can find those lanes of attacking with greater fluency and speed.

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3. Arsenal’s Game Management

Against Tottenham having already boasted a three goal lead, while it would have been enjoyable to see Arsenal go for the jugular and add gloss to the scoreline, all the team had to do was match Spurs’ intensity to see the game out.

It’s not the prettiest approach, nor was it at Burnley and Brighton. Yet, it’s effective.

A strong rearguard is helpful to defending a lead just as is Arteta appointing clear job roles and responsibilities to his players during certain game states. While Arsenal won’t be able to defend a lead every time there is certainly greater confidence in them to do so with the defensive structure he instilled early on in his reign balanced out with greater attacking impetus.

Not always the case of defending a lead, Arsenal are also wise to know when to pounce. The second half against Spurs was far more reserved, but that is the because the job was already done. There was no sitting back after the opener and smelling blood his side were devastating in transition.

At home to Norwich with the game entering the final stages it wasn’t an 11-man low block and instead the attackers wasted a gluttony of chances to kill the game off. In those moment against such opposition the team can push for more.

It’s pleasant to see Arteta instill a clarity of thought into the players of what they can and can’t do in certain game states, as well as when to strike and when not to.

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4. Arteta Has Rebuilt a Connection With the Fans

The supporters in the grounds as well as those watching on this season have been spectacular. For the first time in what feels like an eternity – the pandemic helped extend that wait – there appears to be a true connection with those on the pitch and those off it.

Arteta has banged on about it enough to let us know how important of a trait this is, and in doing so has built a unity that has doubtlessly paid dividends in the improved performances.

It’s a bond that has been broken and stewing in toxicity since the end of Wenger’s years and much of the way through Unai Emery’s tenure. How fortunate, or unfortunate, may Arteta have been not to have supporters in the stadiums during the dark days last year remains to be seen, yet with fans back there is a bond that continues to grow.

The recruitment side of matters has played its part, as fans find it far easier to connect with their team if it’s full of young, hungry and charismatic players all of whom are likable in a playing and personal sense. The strategy implemented is one any fan can get on board with.

Even the change from Bernd Leno to Aaron Ramsdale has had a remarkable impact as the German was someone who never connected that deeply with the fans, whereas there is not a soul in north London that isn’t totally smitten with the new arrival.

This isn’t all Arteta’s doing but it does come back to his early days in the job where he spoke about changing the culture. If it happens internally it resonates externally for those looking in and he has done a tremendous job in reforging that connection.

Winning games helps, too.

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5. Arteta is Building a Fitter and Stronger Arsenal Team

How many players have we seen fall down with cramp in the latter stages of matches this season? A fair few.

This is a group that is pushing itself harder than ever before and that comes down to the intensity with which they play and train. There are always concerns of burning out, especially with international football, but this being a group as young as it means they have the physical capacity to adapt.

Arsenal have direct runners of the ball who are now playing with a higher tempo in transition and greater aggression off it. Boasting the right profiles to suit those demands aids this improvement and it’s visible on the pitch that this team is growing in fitness (much of which is organic).

There is a newfound hunger in how Arsenal approach games. Some of that is down to the mentality and how games are approached, but a lot of it is due to the stylistic demands and how fit and aggressive these players are in and out of possession.

One key attribute of that is having someone like Odegaard who is relentless in his work rate, something that is also evident in Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s performances. He too is distinctly more engaged in matches with his pressing and work out of possession.

Having the right mentality and a strong level of fitness is pivotal to this.