I'm sure the above title is shocking to some people, but the title is no fiction, someone actually said so. Here's it verbatim —
"The irony is Spurs have become like Arsenal in the late Wenger era. Trying to walk the ball into the net...
Meanwhile Arsenal are playing like prime Chelsea under Mourinho, sucking the life out of football games."
Ok you probably got it, it was a Spurs fan who said so. Aiit let's ignore that and assume he is a neutral.
Firstly it's interesting that not so long ago people said to Arsenal:
You people are beautiful to watch with the ball on our feet, but without the ball you are weak; in 50-50 balls you are weak; there's a soft underbelly about you, you guys can't win anything with that.
Now Arteta has changed the narrative. Please nobody should complain.🙂
My Take
Well I do not think he is right about that take on Arsenal, it's more like a false allegation to me. Even if we say he's referring to just that match yesterday, I still fault him.
Now Arteta was a midfielder, if there's one thing he knows, it is how to defend.
Infact you can hardly score an Arteta Arsenal, if he wanted to stay true to how he started in Arsenal. That style was more like the Mourinho method, very difficult to score against, but doesn't score much.
That earlier style was a 3-man defence which he used to win the FA cup. He would have finished 1st or 2nd in the title race the next season and beyond, but he opted for a change and a gradual movement into a new style that has this inverted full-back theme.
Nope Arsenal yesterday didn't play like a prime Mourinho team. They are just great at defending, right from the front. The organisation is so impressive that it even confounds Pep at times.
Look, against Brighton last month, I was confident Arsenal will defend the lead even after Rice was sent off. A lazy Gabriel Magalhães tackle spoilt everything, such that the match ended in a draw.
snap shot from my TV on the Tottenham match
It's a new Arsenal, people have to come to terms with it. The old ethos of an attacking possession-based football is still very much in place. Infact the system still encourages dribbling by wide players where it so applies.
THIS IS ARSENAL
