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A popular Arsenal fan, Lee Judges, recently said, there are similarities between Mikel and George Graham in terms of style of play.
Ofcourse, he is referring to the defensive nous of Arteta, which Graham was famous for. Graham forbids that you score against his Arsenal side, eventhough he's not going to assure you of scoring several goals. He was known for his solid one-nil victories and he will take it gladly.
Well today George Graham's style will be frowned at and infact it became boring then, that's why the mercurial Arsene Wenger was hired to replace him. Wenger went on to change not just Arsenal, but English football forever and we all look to him for inspiring Arsenal's greatest ever achievement in the invincibles and ultimate football (until the last few years).
Differences:
Well one can point to the fact that
George Graham won two league titles in 9 years (first in 1989 and then 1991) and it doesn't seem like Arteta is keeping pace with him.Someone can also say Mr. Graham had a very solid defence and a sharp striking department, but Arteta just has a solid defence.
However, I think that in the actual sense, Arteta is a mixture of both Graham and Wenger. His side is more solid defensively and structurally than a Wenger side, which alludes to the Graham style; and Arteta's side is more adept and skillful in possession than the Graham side, which is in keeping with the ethos of the Wenger team.
However, one thing the teams of both past coaches had is that they had a geniune goal scorer most often than not.
This is where a lot of us aak Arteta to step up and truly be an amalgam of Wenger and Graham. Easily in the last 5 years, if Arsenal had a better attack, he could have won at least 2 titles and by now he could have begun to be considered one of the greatest manager.
I hope he improves in this respect.
Thanks for reading.
