Arteta’s biggest Arsenal management problem

Mikel Arteta has been at the helm of Arsenal Football Club for over two years. He has come under fantastic praise and heavy criticism alike throughout his tenure. Since the beginning, there have been question marks.

Any new manager will be received with some degree of skepticism but Arteta’s appointment was one that inspired great discussion. Manchester City players credited Arteta for their vast improvements into world-class players. Yet the Spaniard was coming into one of the biggest jobs in world football never having managed a team before. Questions arose over how he would adapt and how long said adaptation would take.

Over his time at Arsenal, we have seen Arteta change before our eyes. From adopting a practical three at the back and defending with ten players behind the ball against Manchester City last season to bravely going toe-to-toe with the champions-elect this year, his tactics have certainly evolved.

His management of young players, and his ability to manage upwards, has been exceptional. He initially held back Gabriel Martinelli while developing him into a crucial starter this season; Emile Smith Rowe and Bukayo Saka haven’t looked back since breaking into the Arsenal set up.

Mikel Arteta’s biggest Arsenal management problem is not being able to extract the best value out of players he isn’t fully invested in

The previously mentioned aspects of his management have shown that Arteta has grown in certain areas as he learns on the job. Concerningly, he has shown difficulty in one key aspect: his inability to get the best out of the players he has.

In order to adopt the 4-3-3, Arteta claimed that particular formation requires great specificity. This desire to get specificity and to have all the exact pieces he needs has hindered the club from achieving their goals. It is rare that a manager will get every single player he wants. Some will not be interested, some will move elsewhere and some will just not perform. It is up to the manager to make it work in any way he can.

The last point, referring to players who simply do not play at the level required, explains Nicolas Pepe’s situation: an extremely talented player signed for big money who hasn’t worked out. A different league, a different style of play and never truly settling has meant that the Ivorian hasn’t played to his potential. Yet even if Pepe does not fit the system, it is still up to Arteta to find a use for him.

Rotating him for Saka would have been a smart option. Trying him on the left consistently might have been another tactic that worked. Even giving him more game time off the bench and allowing him to affect games where the attack looked stale would have been helpful in keeping his fitness levels and maintaining his transfer value.

One only has to look to the players banished from the squad for further evidence that Arteta does not get the best out of the squad he has. Matteo Guendouzi was left out of the squad; Mesut Ozil was left out of the squad before being paid to leave; Aubameyang was left out of the squad before being paid to leave. Even Pablo Mari, who Arteta himself signed, was left out of the squad before leaving on a free.

Rarely have these sorts of exoduses happened at other clubs and in the cases they have, rarely have the players left for nothing. Roberto Mancini and Carlos Tevez frequently were at odds early in the Italian’s time at Man City. Yet Mancini delivered trophies and extracted all he could out of the Argentine by settling differences for the benefit of the team.

Arteta has the potential to become one of the best managers in the world, let alone the Premier League. He truly does. He has a clear idea of how he wants his team to play and he does an excellent job of transmitting his tactics to his players. If, however, Arteta wants to take the next step in achieving his potential, he must learn how to get the best out of every single player in the squad.