GUNNERS MAY HAVE FOUND A NEW WENGER
Guardiola’s top dog pays tribute to the master
MIKEL ARTETA has stepped out of Pep Guardiola’s shadow but says his mentor will always be celebrated as a pioneer who changed the face of football.
Like Guardiola’s predecessor as Barcelona coach, Johan Cruyff, the Arsenal manager regards the Manchester City boss as the visionary who unfurled a new blueprint to follow.
And now a new generation of Pep pups — notably Xavi, Vincent Kompany and Arteta himself — are carrying the torch for a progressive, expansive approach.
Debt
As he prepared to take the Gunners to Guardiola’s Etihad fiefdom in the FA Cup fourth round tonight, Arteta laid bare his debt to the mastermind behind City’s four Premier League titles in the last five years.
Arsenal finished a distant 24 points behind Pep’s champions last season, but in a staggering upturn in fortunes they have reached the halfway turn this season five points clear.
Asked how he has coped with the comparisons between sorcerer and apprentice, Arteta shrugged: “Very simple. I feel gratitude, first of all because he inspired me as a player, then he inspired me and gave me the opportunity as a coach.
“For what people think of me, I accept it — because I probably wouldn’t have had the career I had as a player, the understanding of the game or the purpose I had as a player, if he hadn’t been in that time at Barcelona.
“And I wouldn’t be sitting here with that willingness and love for coaching if he hadn’t trusted in my love of the game and given me the opportunity.
“As a player, I was looking at him and just wanted to achieve what he was doing. I loved the way he played and the way he was transmitting and understanding what was happening on the pitch. He was an inspiration since I was 18 years old.
“Did he expect us to be this close this quickly? I don’t know, that’s a question for him.
“It’s been quite a big transformation — the team we had in the beginning to the team we have right now, it’s night and day — and I’m very grateful to everybody who’s been on that journey because obviously they all helped and contributed to where we are today.
Passion
“But I think the influence that Pep had on football in the last 20 years is just incredibly powerful. He changed the game like Johan (Cruyff) did in the past, he did it like other managers who will go down in history.
“What inspired me was his way of thinking, his way of transmitting his beliefs, the way he understood the game, the passion he had about the game.
“Then, when you have a personal relationship with somebody, and you have that chemistry, that takes it to a different level, and that’s what happened in my case, especially when we worked together (at City).”
New signings Jakub Kiwior and Leandro Trossard are likely to feature at the Etihad in a plum tie which, Arteta insists, will have no bearing on the title race but will tell Arsenal “a lot about where we are” in terms of their squad depth.
Polish defender Kiwior, who signed for €24million from Spezia earlier this week, is expected to make his debut, while Trossard — who supplied an impressive cameo from the bench against Manchester United last Sunday — looks set to start.
Arteta said of Kiwior: “He gives us more cover. We’ve been with three central defenders for the first part of the season, which is very short, and we’ve been lucky with injuries.”
COMMON, modern wisdom suggests the top level of English football will never again see the sort of dynasties created by Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger.
Some 26 years for Ferguson as manager of Manchester United, 22 for Wenger at Arsenal.
The pressure is now so intense, the demands so high that that sort of longevity at a single elite club is extremely fanciful, the argument goes.
Jurgen Klopp and
Pep Guardiola dissolve into laughter when it is suggested they might emulate a Ferguson or a Wenger but Liverpool’s manager has recently committed himself to Anfield until 2026 and Manchester City’s manager has committed himself to the Etihad until 2025.
Assuming they see out those commitments Klopp and Guardiola will have been at their Premier League clubs for 11 and nine years respectively.
They will be 58 and 54 respectively, with plenty of time for their club managerial careers to run.
Summer
Like Guardiola’s, Mikel Arteta’s current contract expires in the summer of 2025 when the Spaniard will be 43.
Arteta has plenty of time to do a Wenger… and why not?
In the wake of the victory over Manchester United, Gary Neville suggested winning the Premier League would bring Arteta to the serious attention of a club such as Barcelona.
That club’s history, its size, its glamour, its location would have an obvious attraction to Arteta.
But the Premier
League is continuing to strengthen its position in the European standings.
On his departure from Juventus, the club’s former
chairman
Andrea Agnelli said recently: “We are heading for inexorable decline for soccer (in continental Europe) in favour of a dominant league, the Premier League, which over a few years will attract all the European talent and marginalise others.”
When that financial dominance is translated into Champions League dominance, the Premier League WILL attract ‘all the European talent’ and the likes of Barcelona will struggle to compete with the top teams from England.
Potential
Somewhere such as Barcelona, or Real Madrid, would have a serious pull but Arteta is at the biggest club in London, a club whose modern potential has probably not been close to being realised, a club who seem to have finally rediscovered a long-term philosophy.
The narrative of
Arsenal threatening the dominance of northern English powerhouses is already compelling.
Concerns about and criticism of Arteta’s touchline behaviour have been made clear on these pages but the vibrancy of the win over United and the way his side go about their business showcase a serious coaching talent.
You can certainly tell he has learned at the court of Pep, who he faces tonight at the Etihad. It will be the eighth time the two have met as dug-out rivals — Guardiola has won six times, Arteta just the once — and it will not be the last.
The age of the managerial dynasty might not be over and Arsenal might have another Wenger.