Total Football is not the way forward for Arteta just yet

MIKEL ARTETA says that Johan Cruyff would need to moderate his Total Football philosophy if he were Arsenal manager today, as he vowed to continue the counterattack revolution he has instigated at the club and resist football’s possession purists.

Arteta is a graduate of Barcelona’s world famous La Masia, the youth academy that produced Lionel Messi, Xavi and Andres Iniesta and is regarded as the home of passing football. He was once a Cruyff disciple and is also a friend, confidante and former No2 to Pep Guardiola, the high priest of possession.

And yet Arteta (right) is now the man who beats the biggest teams by playing on the counter with long balls and 40-per-cent possession, with Liverpool falling victim in the Carabao Cup last week after also losing the Community Shield to Arteta’s team.

Guardiola’s Manchester City and Chelsea have also lost out to Arteta’s unique blend of counter-attack, which he says is an evolution of Cryuff’s game and a needs-must approach.

Arteta, who takes on Chris Wilder’s Sheffield United today, said: ‘Our game is a mixture of both. The game is evolving and you have to be able to adapt. I have to be able to adapt to the players that I have and try to give them maximum security and comfort and ask them things that they are able to do. ‘When you play against a type of opponent (like Liverpool) which, at the moment, is one of the three most-dominant teams in Europe, you have to know and be realistic and play the game that you are able to play against them. ‘Not the game that you are able to put with the magnets (on the tactics board) or on the video. It’s actually the game we have to play against them. If we are able to do that, we can compete against them and give ourselves a big chance to win.

‘And this is what we have to do, game by game, not forgetting where we have to get and how we’re going to make that process and evolution.

‘I want to become more dominant, I want to press even higher than we do. I want to have 55 shots on target and concede zero goals every game. This is the aim.’