A defiant Mikel Arteta has hit back at critics who have claimed his cautious tactics are threatening to derail Arsenal’s bid to win the Premier League.

Sky Sports pundits Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher both accused Arteta of selecting an overly defensive team following Arsenal’s 1-1 draw against Manchester City at the Emirates on Sunday. Notably, Arsenal’s marquee summer signing Eberechi Eze was dropped to the bench despite the absence of Martin Odegaard. Instead, Martin Zubimendi, Declan Rice, and Mikel Merino formed a midfield three.

Addressing criticism that he approaches big matches with the “handbrake on,” Arteta responded:

“Surprised? In football? I don’t think I’m surprised by anything. I don’t read it, but if you tell me that this is the main narrative, I’d be extremely surprised given my knowledge and how I analyse a football game.

Because it was impossible for somebody to predict such dominance from Arsenal throughout 96 minutes — something that never happened in 17 years of Pep Guardiola as a manager. So if the narrative goes somewhere else and we’re talking about dominance, how can you be dominant against such a team if you have, what was the word? Handbrake. Dominance and handbrake are two different words. But I accept everything. I will learn more to have a different vision.”

Arsenal trailed 1-0 at the interval, with Eze brought on to replace Merino, while Bukayo Saka was also introduced at the break in place of the injured Noni Madueke. On Tuesday, Arteta confirmed that the England international faces a period on the sidelines with a knee injury.

“I respect everybody’s opinion, but when I watched everything back and saw all the stats, I was surprised. I don’t think one player makes that big of a difference when you see the behaviour of our team,” Arteta added.

“We played Ebz on the right-hand side. Could he play 90 minutes? That’s a question I asked myself because none of you know the load he can handle. So it’s easy to say he could have played from the start — maybe not. He’d already played two games from the start and he’s never played as a right attacking midfielder before. So that’s another new element for him. But all good.”

Currently five points behind runaway Premier League leaders Liverpool after just five matches, Arsenal will face Port Vale in the third round of the Carabao Cup on Wednesday. Madueke will be absent from Arteta’s travelling squad, but 15-year-old Max Dowman could make his first start for Arsenal. Meanwhile, former Chelsea goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga is set to replace David Raya.

On Madueke’s injury, Arteta said:

“He’s going to be out for a few weeks. We’ll probably have to do a scan again next week. He felt something at the beginning of the match against City, tried to carry on, but at half-time he was too sore.

It doesn’t look too bad. He was gutted, obviously. It’s very disappointing because he was in such good form and looked a real threat — so it’s a big miss for us.”
https://www.breakingnews.ie/sport/mikel-arteta-hits-back-at-accusation-that-his-arsenal-approach-is-too-cautious-1810146.html