Mikel Arteta has a real job on his hands at Arsenal.
The Spaniard has been in charge for less than a month, and he’s already begun to make strides towards cleaning up the mess left behind by Unai Emery.
One thing that desperately needed addressing is the defence as the Gunners had kept just two league clean sheets before Unai Emery’s sacking, but Tony Adams seemingly wasn’t too impressed by Arteta’s current set up at the back.
What’s been said then?
The former Gunners captain seemingly wasn’t too happy with the manager instructing his players to play out from the back.
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“They’re defending in numbers, I still don’t like the way they’re playing out of the back.” Adams said on BT Sport’s Early Kick Off show (18/1/20 11:20AM)
“We’ve not had that balance right for years now, and to get that balance right I think we have to go completely the other way. I’d make us really defensively strong, push out from the back and attack in the other team’s half.
“I think he has to do it a bit like Mourinho at Tottenham, make your team really strong at the back and get that balance right.”
Bemusing
This is a really bemusing take from the former Arsenal skipper. Has he watched Mourinho’s Tottenham recently?
The Portuguese boss has overseen just two clean sheets in 15 matches since he was appointed as Spurs manager, and Arteta already has three clean sheets to his name since getting the job last month.
Adams may love old-school defending where centre-backs couldn’t even dream of passing, but the game has moved on and Arteta’s backline is doing a fine job thus far, despite playing out from defence.
Becoming more like Mourinho isn’t the best advice considering that his side is struggling to keep the ball out of the net.
In other news, David Ornstein has played down one of Arsenal’s transfer pursuits.