Arteta happy with new midfield trio, doesn't mind attacking imbalance
12/13/2024 10:03 AM
When Arsenal signed Mikel Merino from Real Sociedad in August, few expected it would take over three months for the Spaniard to start alongside Declan Rice and Martin Odegaard.
Injuries to both Merino and captain Odegaard, at times simultaneously, forced Mikel Arteta to be patient before deploying what many consider his preferred midfield trio.
That patience paid off on Wednesday against Monaco, as a dominant first-half performance offered plenty of reasons for optimism.
Reflecting on how the trio functioned, Arteta said: “There have been a lot of new units recently. Certainly, that was one. That’s one that obviously we have planned and discussed and I think they can play so well together. And they did a really good job.
“They will play again together for sure in the near future and I think they complement each other really, really well.”
On how they complement each other, he continued: “They are three very intelligent and football brains. Three players that like to play for others, especially.
“And then you have a lot – you have players that can hold the ball in tight spaces, they can run with the ball, you have threat in the box, you have creativity in tight spaces. You have a lot of the things that you want. And the defensive part as well.
“We have two players that are more at holding midfield. There’s Martin that is exceptional in his timings and aggression in the high press. So, very good [options].”
While we’ve come to expect positional fluidity from Arteta’s sides, it does feel like Merino’s acquisition was driven by a desire to fill a gap left by Granit Xhaka when he departed for Bayer Leverkusen in the summer of 2023.
Since then the manager has signed and played Kai Havertz and Declan Rice in the Swiss international’s former position. However, he never seemed wholly satisfied with their outputs in that role and the knock-on effect their presence had on those playing at left wing, namely Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard.
His pursuit of Merino was supposed to draw a line under the matter.
“That’s something [positionally] that we’ve had a lot of instability in recent years,” admitted Arteta.
“So finding that stability, those relationships, that time together, putting players there that can connect with each other and find those chemistries is very important. And it’s true that we have never had the consistency, especially because of availability in the left and in the right.”
Recent criticism of Arsenal has included an over-reliance on channelling attacks down Bukayo Saka’s right flank. Interestingly, when it was put to Arteta that his side should be doing more to relieve the burden of responsibility from the England international, he said he didn’t have a problem with his side’s attacking imbalance.
“We certainly have that [threat], but obviously it’s never going to be the same because they [Martinelli and Trossard] have different qualities,” said the boss.
“We need to understand that we have many other threats on our left side and over the years we’ve done it. We wouldn’t be scoring the amount of goals that we have scored in the last two seasons, so I’m really pleased with that.
“Different, different is good. It doesn’t have to be symmetric. Asymmetries in football are great and very difficult to combat. And we continue to go, trying to improve.”
On the subject of trying something different, Arteta was also asked if he’d consider playing Gabriel Martinelli as a traditional number 9 and if he’s been tempted to play Saka in a more central position. Judging by his answer, supporters shouldn’t expect any drastic changes.
On Saka moving inside, he said: “I think that will depend a lot on the qualities and the players around him. For somebody [Saka] to be inside instead of outside, somebody has to be outside. That player and that full-back and that attacking midfielder has to allow the space to do that.
“I’m certainly very open to keep evolving players. Sometimes it’s the role, sometimes it’s the position on the pitch. Sometimes there are other things that we can do so he can spend more time in this position because when the ball is fired on the opposite side, it’s our choice what we want. But we’re certainly thinking about these kinds of things.”
As for playing Martinelli up top, he wasn’t so sure. “He’s played there a few times but I Gabi is so good when he’s got the line on his back and he’s facing forward with the ball in the diagonal.
“I haven’t thought too much about that. He’s so comfortable playing there on the left side. I think I see other evolutions more than this one.”
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