Mikel Arteta: Arsenal manager responds to critics calling him overcautious after draw with Man City | Football News

Mikel Arteta has hit back at critics calling him “too cautious” in big games – with the Arsenal manager asking the question: “how can you dominate against Man City by playing a handbrake?”

Criticism of Arteta being overcautious came after Arsenal’s 1-1 draw with Manchester City on Sunday, with the Gunners accused of “wasting 45 minutes” against City by Sky Sports pundits Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher.

The game saw Arsenal rescue a point through Gabriel Martinelli’s stoppage-time equaliser that ruled out Erling Haaland’s opener – but Arteta’s side did not have a shot for 31 minutes and their first one on target came in first-half stoppage time.

At the same time, Arsenal limited City to just 33.2 per cent possession at the Emirates Stadium – which is the lowest from a Pep Guardiola team from the head coach’s entire top-flight career in management.

Arteta admitted he has not read criticism about him or his team but if he did, he said: “I would be extremely surprised.

“With my knowledge, know-how and how I analyse a football game, it was impossible for me to predict such a dominance from Arsenal for 96 minutes. It has never happened in 17 years of Pep as a manager.

“How can you be dominant against such a team with a handbrake? Dominance and handbrake – they are two different words. But I accept everything.

“I was just surprised by it. When I saw everything and watching it back with all the stats, I was surprised.

“I respect everyone’s opinion. If I can see and learn something that I haven’t seen, more than happy to do so. That’s never an issue.”

‘It’s too easy to say Eze should have started’

One of the key areas of complaints about Arteta’s set-up against City was the make-up of his midfield.

Just like against Liverpool in August, Arteta lined up with Mikel Merino as the most advanced midfielder alongside Declan Rice and Martin Zubimendi.

Arteta rectified his midfield at half-time, taking Merino off for Eberechi Eze – who many said should have started from the off.

However, the Arsenal manager believes one player does not change his overall tactics – while he also added that Eze may not have been able to play another 90 minutes after his start to life in north London.

“I don’t think one player makes that when you see the behaviour of our team,” he said. “If you are going to define that with one player playing in that position, I understand collective sport in a very different way.

“We played Ebs on the right-hand side. Could he play 90 minutes? That’s a question I put for myself because none of you know the load that he can do.

“It’s easy to say he could have played at the start, but maybe not. Because he’s already played two games from the start and he’s never played as a right-hand side attacking midfielder. That’s another one, a new element for him. All good.”

What the pundits said about Arteta’s Arsenal….

Gary Neville: “My narrative with Arsenal was thinking is he going to take the risk? Is he going to send his players the message that I am going for it, that I believe in you? And the teamsheet comes through and I see that Leandro Trossard, who’s a very good player, and Mikel Merino are on it.

“I thought the same at Anfield and I can’t help thinking, and I’ve said this probably now for a couple of weeks: I’m not going to look at what a manager says, I’m going to look at what he does. His actions and his actions at half-time were of a manager who I think got it wrong because if you’re making two substitutions at half-time it’s not gone to plan.

“You know that the players that you started with are not going to be able to win you the game in all circumstances, which is when they go a goal down. So, you’ve given away 45 minutes in a big match.

“You must be looking back at this game and reviewing it and think: should I have started with Eze from the off? Should I have started with Martinelli on the left? I understand why Saka didn’t start, we all get that, but it could have been more attacking than it was, and it wasn’t. And again, like at Anfield, the attacking substitutions only happen when they are one down, and that’s not right.”

Jamie Carragher: “Arteta has got a team and a squad that are that close to being really, really special in terms of winning a Premier League and maybe even winning a Champions League, I think they are that good.

“But time after time, when it comes to these big games he picks a team that feels like he is thinking more about the opposition and that does not mean you cannot win the Premier League, Jose Mourinho won it three times and he was a little bit like that.

“But, for me, that was a waste of 45 minutes [in the first half]. Liverpool were there for the taking in that second half at Anfield, Man City were there for the taking at the start of this game and he has allowed them to come into the game.

“It is just a recurring pattern season after season and if you are Arteta and an Arsenal supporter, you just have to hope that does not cost you at the end of the season as they are a brilliant team with a fantastic squad, but the margins are so small.”

Roy Keane: “The few managers I’ve played under, particularly at club level, I always thought were gamblers. Brian Clough and Alex Ferguson were gamblers. They were all about winning and not waiting and not worrying too much about the opposition.

“So I felt the managers I worked under were gamblers, and they went for it, and they got the rewards, and maybe Arteta is defensive-minded. We said last year about too many draws – 14 of them with 10 of them from winning positions.

“Then you look at some of his team selection today, you see people like [Eberchi] Eze when he comes on, we saw the quality of the pass [for the equaliser]. It doesn’t mean to say you take silly gambles, but just calculated gambles.

“If you’re bringing players into your club for £70m, who make the difference going forward, then it’s very hard to have an influence when you’re sitting on the bench.

“When I’m looking at Arteta, I think his mindset is, ‘Let’s make sure we don’t get beaten today’. But because of the standards of the other teams, and we’re talking about Liverpool and Man City over the last few years, that won’t be enough.

“The first half here [against Man City]they had one or two shots on target. When you’re the home team, you have to put them under pressure. But if City are a little bit fatigued and after 15 minutes going, ‘Oh my God, we’re in for a long day’.

“Now Arsenal did get the rewards, but they got the rewards towards the end of the game because they are going to gamble. They are going to chase the game. The home team are going to do that, but City didn’t have that counter-attack.”