The best man for the anchor role.
Just when you all thought I had run out of ideas for blogs on Mikel Arteta I return with an alternative perspective once more. My motive this time is to reinforce my view that our smooth Spaniard is the best man for the job in the deepest lying midfield anchor role.
There seems to be some confusion in the debates and discussions I am having about fans wanting a Diaby, Viera type player to come in this transfer window. Players such as Diame and Tiote have been mentioned, and of course the inevitable M’Vila. The confusion for me at least surrounds exactly what the fans want and I think many feel the need a strong physical presence in the midfield, because they doubt Abou Diaby can stay fit. Now I completely understand this but let’s be clear that player is an alternative to Jack Wilshere, in the more advanced pivote role, not an alternative to Mikel Arteta.
Younger fans seem to recall Paddy Viera who was always top of Premier League odds, as a defensive player but with the exception of his very first season he always had a partner sitting to allow him to surge forward. First Manu, then Parlour and ultimately Gilberto. So if you want to bring in a Diame type player it will be in place of, or as a different option to Jack and not Mikel. For the record I do tend to agree for certain games a strong we could add some steel and energy but stress I have no wish to see this in the anchor role.
The Arteta role in our formation is the role of a sweeper in ‘old money’ yet operating just in front of the back 2 instead of behind. As I have stressed before this position is in modern day football one of intelligence, anticipation, interception and distribution not one of last ditch tackles, clever fouls and letting the opposition Number 10 now you are there. For me there are very few players in Europe more suited to this role than Mikel Arteta and facts would tend to support me in my contention.
However for those who think the role does require a strong tackler, Arteta can oblige. After 11 games he was 3rd in the tackling league with an average of 4.1 per game. The only DM who had tackled more at this time was Morgan Schneiderlein, but the actual number of tackles being so low may surprise you.
1) Mark Noble (West Ham) – Tackles, 49, Tackles per game 4.5
2) Morgan Schneiderlein (Southampton) – Tackles, 43, Tackles per game 4.3
3) Mohamed Diame (West Ham) – Tackles, 41, Tackles per game 4.1
3) Mikel Arteta (Arsenal) – Tackles, 41, Tackles per game 4.1
5) Claudio Yacob (West Brom) – Tackles, 40, Tackles per game 4
I gather from a superb recent blog by Jake C0hen (@Jcohen92) that his has dropped to 9th at Christmas but is still averaging 3.6 tackles a match.
For me however as we have seen with Sergio Busquets now and Claude Makelele in the past the role is about reading the play, intercepting the ball and immediately beginning an attack with quick distribution. Far more efficient for the DM to anticipate the opposition pass and intercept still on his feet to prompt a counter attack, than to be flat on his arse having made an impressive last ditch saving tackle! The latter is what we would have expected from Song and the former is what we see week in week out from Mikel Arteta.
Busquets and Arteta – Same attributes
If I am correct we should anticipate that Arteta’s interception statistics would be exceptionally high. Well yes they are. As at the 28th December here is the League’s top 10 from a TalkSport magazine survey. Here’s the top 5
| Player | Position | Number of Interceptions |
| Sandro | DM | 74 |
| Baird | CB | 57 |
| Vertonghen | CB | 57 |
| Schneiderlein | DM | 55 |
| Arteta | DM | 51 |
So only two other anchormen have more interceptions in Premiership play and both Spurs and Southampton have conceded more goals.
The other crucial aspect for this role is quick and accurate distribution and Arteta excels in this arena. He is widely accepted to be the best distributor in the league and last season he completed more passes than any other player in our league. His pass completion percentage moves between 92 and 94% which is also unparalleled in the English top flight. Indeed in October it was widely reported that he has completed more passes successfully than any other player in Europe’s top 5 leagues. (Yes, including Xavi – On the 6th October he had made 658 to Xavi ‘s pathetic 530!)
Anyway enough of the football stats because you will have all heard them or read them before and these are readily available to any blogger or reader. They are however important and in my opinion crucial evidence to back up my continual claim that Mikel Arteta is the right man to anchor the Arsenal midfield. The fact that he has played every minute of every league game suggest the management at Arsenal agree. However it is this fact that worried many Gooners and it is the ability of Mikel at 30 to maintain this that concerns many. People question his ability to play week in week out at his age, with his track record of injury and it is these concerns that primarily prompted this blog.
I am quite frankly bored and disillusioned with Gunners continually suggesting that Arteta is too old to cope with game week in week out for a whole season. Claims he is injury prone also are ill formed and blatantly incorrect. So here are some stats you will not have seen and I hope they prove enlightening and maybe put a few minds to rest.
I decided to have a look back at the last 11 seasons for Arteta and 3 other of the best 30 somethings plying their trade in the top echelons of the premier League. Now 2 of them, Gareth Barry and Michael Carrick are playing the deep lying role at the top 2 sides in the league and Stevie Gerrard has dropped slightly further back this term. Regardless of your own views of Carrick and Barry both have enviable track records in Manchster in recent years and both Alonzo and Busquets rate Carrick as top dog. He has started 45 of United ‘s last 46 games. Barry has seen off De Jong and is currently keeping Garcia on the bench. Gerrard is the Liverpool and England skipper and shows little sign of slowing down. I do not read the blog’s of Liverpool, Man City of Man United but I wonder if their fans are continually questioning their 30 plus central midfielders ability to play each week as we Gooners frequently appear to be with Arteta?
We can start with the obvious points that all 3 are older than Mikel and that all 3 also have had and may still have the extra rigours of international football, which sadly has not been the case for Arteta. His loss however should be Arsenal’s gain. Check out the table below:
| Season | Gerrard | Carrick | Barry | Arteta | ||||
| Age | 32 | 31 | 31 | 30 | ||||
| Club | Country | Club | Country | Club | Country | Club | Country | |
| 2001/2 | 33 | 5 | 21 | 0 | 20 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 2002/3 | 43 | 7 | 34 | 0 | 40 | 0 | 35 | 0 |
| 2003/4 | 46 | 10 | 43 | 0 | 43 | 2 | 33 | 0 |
| 2004/5 | 43 | 6 | 38 | 0 | 36 | 0 | 28 | 0 |
| 2005/6 | 53 | 13 | 37 | 2 | 42 | 0 | 37 | 0 |
| 2006/7 | 51 | 10 | 52 | 6 | 39 | 0 | 39 | 0 |
| 2007/8 | 51 | 10 | 49 | 4 | 38 | 4 | 34 | 0 |
| 2008/9 | 42 | 9 | 43 | 4 | 46 | 15 | 31 | 0 |
| 2009/10 | 41 | 10 | 44 | 5 | 44 | 8 | 16 | 0 |
| 2010/11 | 23 | 5 | 44 | 2 | 46 | 9 | 33 | 0 |
| 2011/12 | 28 | 7 | 44 | 0 | 47 | 7 | 41 | 0 |
| 2012/3 | 25 | 4 | 20 | 4 | 18 | 3 | 23 | 0 |
| Total Games | 436 | 95 | 469 | 27 | 459 | 48 | 352 | 0 |
| 12 SeasonTotals | 531 | 496 | 507 | 352 |
So having assessed the FACTs do you still feel Mikel Arteta is an injury prone player unlikely to be able to play for us each week for the remainder of this season and into the next?
He had one long term injury in 2009/10 and that is it for his whole career – Wow! Sicknote, NOT.
Stevie G injured again!
Gerrard however has missed huge chunks of the last 2 seasons, yet his ability to perform for club and captain England as well is not questioned! Gerrard as well as being regular injured had played nearly 180 games more than Arteta over an 11 years period. 15 games more as a season and yet Gooners question our talismanic vice-captain?
Barry is a year older and has played over 150 games more than Arteta in the past 11 seasons, and yet even after a long-term lay off that causes him to miss the Euros has returned to perform week in week out for the English Champions. Do we hear the City fans doubting Barry? I think not.
Carrick, the closest player in style and effectiveness to Mikel has also been too often overlooked by his country perhaps but he is not doubted by the United faithful or Sir Alex Ferguson. He too has played over 140 more games than Arteta in the 11 seasons recorded in the table.
In short Arteta has averaged only 32 games a season since 2001/2 and you want me to believe that at 30 he cannot play weekly and sustain his form having only suffered a solitary long-term injury? Whilst Gerrard who has averaged 48 games a season, Barry 46 and Carrick 45 are selected continually without such doubts being raised?
I hope I have manged to convince some at least that Arteta has all the attributes to stay at the base of our midfield, protecting our back four for some time to come. However most importantly, that thanks to a golden generation for his country and the likes of Xabi Alonzo and Sergio Busquets, Arteta’s very low number of games per season, relative to his peers means he has many miles in the tank for Arsenal. Some question his pace but as long as the two centre backs continue to show the discipline they have developed of late, and just sit, I feel our Vice – Captain has the football brain to make up for his slight lack of speed with acute positional awareness.
Regardless of who Wenger decides to bring in this month you can have a bet on Arsenal keeping Mikel Arteta the anchorman for the remainder of this season and beyond. Roll on the weekend and the start of our campaign for FA Cup glory v Swansea.
Until next time thanks for reading.
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Arteta has not missed a game this season so his number of interceptions would be higher and you cant base everything on statistics anyway, saying he makes a certain amount of tackles every game, how many tackles did he miss? where were these tackles made on the pitch, how well did he get back. and to say a new defensive midfielder would replace jack wilshere is mad he would clearly replace arteta as he is our defensive midfieler, how can you justify what your saying
I think you missed my point. I am saying that the physical Diaby/Vieira type presence fans are calling for is not as a DM. Diame for example is not a DM just because he is big. If we bring in this style of player he will play where Diaby was before injury not as DM. I am not saying I wany Jack our of team if that is how you read it/
Very nice post mate.
Fantastic blog again, Dave and you make a lot of great points. I agree with everything you say about Arteta.
I would like to add to the debate about the shape of the midfield and the option of a “powerful” midfielder as an alternative to Wilshere (as Arteta’s partner). I don’t think it’s as simple as adding steel for certain games but will affect the balance of the team, specifically where the “pivot” of the team lies. Every team needs an outlet, a fixed point that the man in possession can easily play the ball to in the knowledge that he will hold it under pressure long enough for the rest of the side to transition from defence to attack. This can either be a target-man style striker or a central midfielder. Our Invincibles had its pivot in midfield and when either full-back received the ball in a tight situation, he could play a short pass up to Vieira safe in the knowledge that even if there was no pass on for him, Paddy would hold the ball until there was. Our 07/08 team played slightly differently and when under pressure could play more long balls up to Adebayor who was excellent with his back to goal and could shield the ball long enough for the midfield to get up in contact with him.
In our current team, Giroud shows signs of being able to hold the ball up as effectively as Adebayor, but when he’s not in the team and Walcott starts centrally, I worry that the team has no natural pivot. Walcott has many qualities, I’m a huge fan, but a target man he ain’t. We saw at St Mary’s time after time that we simply couldn’t hold possession long enough when we were pressed high up the pitch because we didn’t have the option of the longer ball and all our midfielders are passers who look for the early pass, even when it’s not on; hence the rapid turnovers.
Great insight as ever Jane. This subject you should expand into a blog on your own site me thinks
Santi is the closest we have for that role, he can shrug off 2 or 3 oncoming challengers and either hold onto it, tuen away eith the ball, or find a pass or mostly be fouled..
I agree Mikel is doing a great job as our anchor man. Our midfield trio is technically brilliant but it do lack height to compete against the rooney’s, ba’s, giantstriker’s of premiere league. We rarely wins the header in the middle of the park through our midfielder, so Vermaelen has to come up the field when opposing goal keeper kicks a high ball in our final third, leaving the space behind him for them to exploit and Gibbs will be in his own league around center line, means we are exploited. What I am trying to suggest is Mikel is good in anchor role but he needs someone physically stronger alongside him to perform better.
Now, assume we have a fit Diaby alongside Mikel, Jack doing the job as his number 10 suggest him to do, Cazorla out wide on the right wing position, I think we will perform much better. Since Diaby isnt reliably fit, we can have someone like M’villa or Capoue alongside Mikel, so Mikel can be our Box-to-Box midfielder which he is brilliant in doing, scoring from outside the box and assisting for fun. Wilshere doing number 10′s job and cazorla in right wing.
Food for thought Dave?
I have already blogged this suggestion for Santi to move wide. I have no issue with this for some games. We will see what Wenger thinks when Abou fit
Perfect. The easy to please members among us Gooners are more vocal. I don’t know whether their voices carry more substance. Or that they will this.
arteta is gud bt am of the opinion we need a y.toure in our midfield. we need a bully in our mid we are too soft at times just look at the effect of y.toure/bastian.s have.. a CDM will free our creative talents of arteta/santi/jack/ros to operate
I am not doubting your stats but I did not see any of those Arteta tackles in the Last game vs Southhampton. In fact NO one could seem to make a tackle the only time we got the ball was thanks to a bad pass by the opposition. Arteta is confident on the ball but does not close down and win tackles like Song did and he is very negative opting to go back instead of starting a counter attack. And when he does it is too late as he is slow in transition. Great if you have a lead (well not even that as a lack of closing down in midfield is exactly why Newcastle kept coming back to level it until the last 20min. No I do not agree Arteta is the man for the job he is good but Arsenal is not a good club we deserve to be a great club and that take great players in key roles and a top def mid in today’s game is as important as a top striker. Arteta is NOT top or he would take the his place in his national team not wish Xabi and Busquets would make way for him. Football is not just a game of stats If it was Arsenal should be a better team with their dominate possession figures and 3rd in goal scoring. but it is more then just the numbers you have to do the right things with that possession and you have to WIN games by scoring goals in ALL your games not just get a bunch in 2 games and then fail to even create a thing in the other 4.
Could not disagree more but that is what football is all about, opinion and I respect yours. The DM role in modern football is less about tackling and more about game reading and interception. Arteta has this and Song did not for me.
in fairness, he does an awful lot in front of back four,not necessarily huge crunching tackles, but getting in front of on rushing players, moving them away from the danger area,or stopping them on rushing into the danger area – which for me is the protecting part of the protector , no??
but i must say, i think he did push very far forward v’s Southampton,but mainly thru frustration at how bad our attackers were,and i can’t blame him for that..
and to say he slows down counterattacks, i couldn’t agree more, he set up more counter-attack’s than anyone, it was the wider men .ie Sagna especially the other day that slowed everything down and turned backwards..
Hi Dave, a great blog as usual.
I think Michel has done a brilliant job he was asked to play in this position, one that he has not been used to & has done a marvellous job. If AW has someone else in mind to strengthen our midfield I’m sure he’ll buy him.
I hear what your saying Dave but i dont think Arteta is a player you can call “Irreplaceable”. You’ve gone and compared him to DMF’s in the PL where defending has become something of a lost art in recent times. What is more is that the way Arsenal play, i just feel they need someone who has that pace just like the Paddy Viera’s, Diaby’s and Toure’s of this world so they can recover their position when we’re hit on the break. If Arteta has a bad game which thankfully he hasnt had too many of so far, he’s left about 10 yards behind, he has to rely on being tactically astute. United springs to mind, its a occurence more so in games of better opposition. Whats more, Arteta has the job of starting moves when we play out from the back. In those drab games v Norwich & more recently Southampton, if the movement isnt perfect he hasn’t got a plan B. If City have that problem, Yaya just picks up the ball and drives through causing panic. Viera did it beautifully, Diaby can do it for 5 games before he’s injured again. We need another like this. Arteta just doesn’t seem as a good a DMF especially when compared to the top DM’s according to Whoscored. (8th best). I’d love JW pushed forward, Santi on the left like Nasri was & Arteta back in his position from last season with a new DMF mopping up the loose ones.
8th best in whole of Europe according to Who Scored and you think we can get better. Why after 16 years of not having an enforcer in theta role, barring one year with Flamini should be require one now?
Look at the names on that list Dave, Badelj plays for Hamburg & hes top. Capoue is 2nd & he plays for Toulouse, (Both nowhere near being in CL) i know Rowley’s been to see the latter but never heard solid speculation. I dont watch Bundesliga but Capoue is a standout player in Ligue 1. The last time we had a solid run at the title was 10/11. Song was a lot more positionally correct that season than he was in 11/12, ive no idea why but have a feeling jack has something to do with it. The time before was 07/08 with Flamini as you rightfully mentioned. We finished 4 bloody points off the top then & thats when united had the fab four! It’s not a coincidence the last two times we had a proper enforcer doing their job we actually went close imo.
the most recent table i saw had him 2nd to Xavi… not far behind on completed passes but Xavi had 11 tackles whereas Mikel had 86
how do you feel about us buying a strong DMF and have a Mascherano/Alonso CM pair?Arteta would be our Alonso.Jack #10,Santi wide…
I have no issue with Jack CAM and Santi wide
You make valid and an excellent analysis Dave, unfortunately you don’t see his glaring weaknesses. Arteta can’t see a killer pass when its on, can’t run at the opposition with the ball, makes no effort to win 50/50 balls, leaves yards of spaces between himself and our defence for the opposition to exploit thereby forcing our defenders to move forward to close gaps when they are supposed to be holding their positions, doesn’t man mark thereby giving the opposition time to plan and execute. Arteta’s teams will always finish 6th, me feels.
agree. And I hope coquelin and frimpong are learning from him.
welcome back mate, i couldn’t agree more… and if it’s Diame they hanker for, just let them think back to the goal he got v’s us, he wasn’t exactly sitting in front of his back four making a shield, nor in the comeback v’s Chelsea, he plays more like Fellaini does for Everton.. For the role that Arteta does the only people i think i could even attempt to replace him with would be a definate Xabi Alonso, and a “naybe i’ll have to think about it” Sami #khedira … but their hair isn’t as nice so it’s Mikel for me…
Keep ‘em coming,
and happy new year again…
I agree with Arselicked. I am not interested in his tackles. Much more pertinent is the lack of closing down and the players who just run past him straight into our back 4. Adams would have had him against the wall so many times …they would have had him framed! Arteta is not a CM. He can’t cope with the closing down and he can’t support…. ie move after passing. Good teams (and Bradford) know this and target the facts. Until we get a combination of 3 proper CMs in there who can pass and move… good teams will stuff us. I don’t want my team to be a flat track bully…. I want to see them outplaying and beating the Mancs…like we used to. I want that Arsenal back and crawlers like Art with lightweight wingers like Caz in there is not going anywhere. Think about Bayern….. Art v Krool ……Caz v the Steiger…..! I will come back and apologise if I am wrong ( let us hope my fears are unfounded) but ‘ragged and ‘run’ are the two words that I can’t get out of my mind. You need engines in there- not jaywalkers!
We must be watching different teams mate. I was one of the the few thousand at Bradford and am surprised to see you feel Bradford targeted Arteta when he was not on pitch. Has he been I suggest we would not have been beaten. Better more qualified observers than an amateur like me have him in top 10 DMs in Europe but you are entitled to your view. The majority of Gooners don’t share it.
I think Arteta was THE BEST signing of the previous signings! I had not known he had taken a drop in pay to come to Arsenal and that fact has endeared him even more to me! But the main thing is he has been excellent for the team he works hard puts himself out there never is standing still always on the move and he can score goals! Granted not a lot of goals but he has scored some fabulous ones. When he was injured at the beginning of the season he was very sorely missed and there was an obvious change for the better in the team when he came back! So even though he was older (slightly) he was most definitely one of the best additions to the team in a long long time. This was an excellent article and well worth reading for everybody!!
To мє arteta is a gud player gud anuf 4 everton, spurs, sunderland etc. вυт 4 arsenal he is just average, there is a reason why he played 4 mid table team 4 so many years an nobdy bought b4 arsenal went 4 him, there is a reason why he hasn’t been invited to spain εvεn ωεn little fabreagas ωαѕ always invited εvεn at d age of 19, COYG ωε are big team let’s hav some pride and tink big, is it bad to hav spain intertional regulars like xavi, basquet iniesta, alonso etc in our squad. Arteta is just an avrage player вυт u cant see it unless u watch him deeply, he doesn’t make long passes, always afraid of takin risk, he is very slow.
To мє arteta is a gud player gud anuf 4 everton, spurs, sunderland etc. вυт 4 arsenal he is just average, there is a reason why he played 4 mid table team 4 so many years an nobdy bought b4 arsenal went 4 him, there is a reason why he hasn’t been invited to spain εvεn ωεn little fabreagas ωαѕ always invited εvεn at d age of 19, COYG ωε are big team let’s hav some pride and tink big, is it bad to hav spain intertional regulars like xavi, basquet iniesta, alonso etc in our squad. Arteta is just an avrage player вυт u cant see it unless u watch him deeply, he doesn’t make long passes, always afraid of takin risk, he is very slow.
Totally disagree my friend. There is nothing average about Mikel Arteta. I would prefer to respect opinions of the likes of Cesc, Santi and Alonzo who rate him highly to be honest
Good post but a few questions.
First I agree that Arteta is a great part of our playing style etc. But the problem is, what if he gets injured or burns out a bit? Injuries come from overplaying players, wouldnt it be better to buy someone who can fill in since AW doesnt see EF or FC as viable subs?
Secondly what about teams like Stoke or Sunderland, whose players are mostly thuggy? I am not sure whether our midfield can cope with their physicality. Yes interceptions etc are very important, but arent the old school methods still in the mode for a lot of teams we have to pick points up against?
And I have to point out the fact that Nir pointed out above about TV having to come out.
Thx, cheers
Totally agree, Arteta is the best anchor man, our box to box midfielder should should be the physical one
Honestly, I tend to agree with Tim from 7am that Arteta should not have an anchor role in our team. He did have done a by the numbers column that compare Arteta with other DM and his numbers were splendid. However, he had far more contribution last season by topping key passes stats and a fair share of goals. That was achieved with Song as a DM even though Song played more like a Diaby/Wilshere type. At the end of the day, what you suggest is good by playing Arteta along side a Vieira type players but I think Arteta should not focus more on anchoring the midfield, he should play the Wilshere role with a strong DM to complement him. If that means putting Wilshere off the team, then so be it. Although Wilshere, Arteta, Cazorla could still play on the same team sheet with Cazorla “relegated” to wing position.
I thought Arteta played behind Song last season just as Wilshire did in some game before his injury? To me interceptions are more important than winning the ball back through tackles, which Arteta has been excellent so far. That we’ve not been outplayed in most of our games is an indication that the MFis working well aside lack of creativity in some games. If our MF can keep the ball more and be more creative, Arteta’s work will be more appreciated. Our lack of fluidity at times can be likened to our midfielders still getting used to each other rather than the individual qualities. All the team needs now is time which we can’t afford now rather than individuals.
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I believe when About comes back we should push jack up to AM like Henderson recently for Liverpool and push Santi outside. At least the our transitions to defence will have 3 energetic, strong players to recover. Santi doesn’t have enough presence as a AM. At least not in the big games anyway. For me Mikel and Jack are our 2 best players. I don’t think we should be reluctant to push Jack up a bit.
well i second ur thots bout arteta , he is a vital cog in our midfield, but dont u feel we r hvg some probs wid our mf, coz if i m not wrong then i see smaller teams like norwich,west brom nd even southampton are pressing nd dominating mf. And with wilshre,caz nd arteta in our side that should not happen, but it is happening consistently. when we create chances we win, its not the fault of walcott or giroud, they are not getting the supply, if they get supply, they will surely score
i feel our problem is of consistency not of quality,whats ur views on dat???i
how is that working out for us?