I can’t imagine how Mikel Arteta must have been feeling these last few days. As vice-captain of Arsenal football club, a veritable pressure-cooker at this moment in time, he must feel a large level of responsibility for his sides’ success.
To give away a penalty against Fulham, only to follow it up with a missed penalty in the dying seconds of the game, in a 3-3 draw must particularly hurt. Players are often accused by fans of ‘not caring’. When Mikel left the Emirates turf head in hand at the end of the game, it was clear that this was not the case. His disappointment was tangible.
Yet I find it very difficult to blame him for Arsenal slumping to yet another poor result. He’s accrued enough good will over the last couple of seasons to allow him one costly game. Two mistakes ended up costing Arsenal big, but the team performance as a whole wasn’t good enough to see them through. Even if Arteta has scored that last minute penalty, the Gunners wouldn’t have been worthy of the three points.
Besides, Mikel Arteta has saved them on numerous occasions in the past. Match-winning goals against QPR and Manchester City (last season) immediately spring to mind.
Most recently, he has been deployed in the holding role. It’s not his favoured position, but he has proven to be very good at it. He’s mastered the art of nipping in front of a player and winning a free kick. His controlled passing means Arsenal are able to play it out from the back. He has a good understanding with his compatriot Santi Cazorla.
His successful-pass rating is always superbly high and he makes a surprising number of interceptions. He’s Arsenal’s Michael Carrick and he doesn’t always get the praise he’s due.
It’s for this reason, that I think most Arsenal fans are going easy on him following his role in the 3-3. Had it happened to a player like Andrey Arshavin, the response would have been different.
Fans seem to realize how important the Spaniard is to this Arsenal side. There is nobody else who can play the holding role as well as Mikel Arteta. He has made himself indispensable thanks to his versatility.
Sure, it’s not quite as flashy a role as that given to Jack Wilshere and Santi Cazorla, who play further up the pitch, but it’s just as important.
If Arsenal are to recover from their slump, you can bet that Arteta will be at the heart of it.
What’s your take? Was Arteta at fault for Arsenal flopping against Fulham?
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arteta is a very strong player and better days will come for arsenal once we buy better players
Spot on Harry, good article. For mine Arteta should be the captain.
WE shouldnt blame him this things do happen! Even Roony/rvp do loose such chances. Arteta wasnt at fault at any cost!
Yes he has played an important role but is he irreplaceable? We are not at the top of the league remember? Neither are we playing well. It is about time we tried something new which includes perhaps change of role for Arteta or replace him with a more conventional DM like Frimpong(although he is not very experienced).
Our biggest problem has been that we are conceding goals too easily.We must improve our defending.
I agree Arteta is propabally AW best buy and I include Cazorola in that judgement . As for the penalty he gave away yes he was clumsy, BUT the ball should have been cleared prior to the pass to him, which I dont think he was expecting,as a ex defender my local team manager always drummed into us that if you can not pass it safely put it into row Z. As far as the captaincy is concerned why can you not re place the captain part season. I know TV5 was very good when he played last year, but as the pressure of captain got to him ??
arteta is arsenal best for now but Saturday was his worse day at the emirates. nevertheless, those things happen in the game of football. watch out he will surely come back very strange.
Its true it was a bad day for Arteta.But it is wengers failure to replace a true defensive midfielder in songs position with a physical presence to shield the defenders. Can we compare arteta with the likes of Makelele, Essien, Viera, Roy kean, Yaya toure, Tiote, Yahn Villa, Chabaye, Song, Gerald?. Wenger should stop gambling with this position.One reason our strikers are not supplied with killer passes is taking Arteta in the role not his yet he does better in attack with systematic and calculated passes. If AW get a cover of this position, trust me we will be there.
Arteta was great he is the only player who work the hardest last saturday.. but it was the manager who was so stupid to keep tv5 on the pitch..he is not an Arsenal player these days.. jakinson will even play batter in that position and in the midfield Esfield should play and on the left wing podolsky should be replaced by the ox in the 50th min + ramsey should nver come in he is useless…