Keep the faith brother. Deffo agree that 1st half was abominable and myself and my Arsenal buddy watching were declaring it loudly throughout the half. The Merino thing was also inexcusable. The a couple of The Athletic writers have posited that Arteta made tactical tweaks 18 mins before end of 1st that gave us more control (Mark Carey and one other). The 2nd half was much much better in terms of really going for it with fast, incisive attacks. Towards the end when we again started to sit back I could see Arteta frantically waving the team forward so I’m not wholly convinced that slow build up play is entirely down to him. A good win though against a team that has caused us no end of issues last season so we can bask in that eh? Onwards to Bournemouth who seem to love scoring goals and not know when they are beaten but will, presumably, be missing their talismanic attacker Semenyo.
I think the slow build up play is driven by a desire to not lose the ball, hence avoiding risky passes. But you also know that in life the fewer risks you take, the lower the potential upside is.
I am sure that if Arteta wanted to make us a faster attacking team he would achieve that in six years.
P.S. the win is monumental with double upside. I am pretty sure that had we lost points vs Villa, City would win in Sunderland. Now we are 4 points up. We just need to be faster and more aggressive against Bournemouth as in the second half.
Actually it was Lewis Ambrose writing in Arseblog: Tactics Column: Aggressive press and Hincapie tweak the keys against Villahttps://arseblog.com/2026/01/tactics-column-aggressive-press-and-hincapie-tweak-the-keys-against-villa/
Thanks for sharing the article Ben! Basically the premise is that it was Gabriel’s fault Rogers was marching through our defence. Maybe it is true but is it sustainable to rely on a Centre back to protect the DM zone.
Great PL players like Rogers run past Merino like a pedestrian and that is a constant problem. Lewis observed that Arteta practically sent Zubi to take care of this area, but we became weaker high up the pitch. Merino doesn’t work in this role for me.
Agree re Merino. He is clearly a much better false 9 than a a midfielder in the PL. I agree re risk vs reward but you could also argue that with us topping the league the balance is just right. I watched Sunderland vs City yesterday and let me tell you that Sunderland really took the game to them ok a way they weren’t able against us. So it’s swings, roundabouts and balance. Love reading your article. As it also allows me to indulge my Arteta-sceptic side but I’m trying to keep all angles in mind. HNY buddy
I am not a full Arteta-sceptic. He brought a lot of great stuff into this team. I just believe that to win the biggest titles Arteta needs to come out of his comfort zone, e.g. take more risks in our set up, believe in more players.
How many times this (or even last season) we were punished for being too open? I can’t recall a single time. At the same time, we are at our best when we actually take risks - second half against Villa, NLD, second half against Bayern.
Happy New Year to you too! Thanks for your comments!
Keep the faith brother. Deffo agree that 1st half was abominable and myself and my Arsenal buddy watching were declaring it loudly throughout the half. The Merino thing was also inexcusable. The a couple of The Athletic writers have posited that Arteta made tactical tweaks 18 mins before end of 1st that gave us more control (Mark Carey and one other). The 2nd half was much much better in terms of really going for it with fast, incisive attacks. Towards the end when we again started to sit back I could see Arteta frantically waving the team forward so I’m not wholly convinced that slow build up play is entirely down to him. A good win though against a team that has caused us no end of issues last season so we can bask in that eh? Onwards to Bournemouth who seem to love scoring goals and not know when they are beaten but will, presumably, be missing their talismanic attacker Semenyo.
I think the slow build up play is driven by a desire to not lose the ball, hence avoiding risky passes. But you also know that in life the fewer risks you take, the lower the potential upside is.
I am sure that if Arteta wanted to make us a faster attacking team he would achieve that in six years.
P.S. the win is monumental with double upside. I am pretty sure that had we lost points vs Villa, City would win in Sunderland. Now we are 4 points up. We just need to be faster and more aggressive against Bournemouth as in the second half.
Actually it was Lewis Ambrose writing in Arseblog: Tactics Column: Aggressive press and Hincapie tweak the keys against Villahttps://arseblog.com/2026/01/tactics-column-aggressive-press-and-hincapie-tweak-the-keys-against-villa/
Thanks for sharing the article Ben! Basically the premise is that it was Gabriel’s fault Rogers was marching through our defence. Maybe it is true but is it sustainable to rely on a Centre back to protect the DM zone.
Great PL players like Rogers run past Merino like a pedestrian and that is a constant problem. Lewis observed that Arteta practically sent Zubi to take care of this area, but we became weaker high up the pitch. Merino doesn’t work in this role for me.
Agree re Merino. He is clearly a much better false 9 than a a midfielder in the PL. I agree re risk vs reward but you could also argue that with us topping the league the balance is just right. I watched Sunderland vs City yesterday and let me tell you that Sunderland really took the game to them ok a way they weren’t able against us. So it’s swings, roundabouts and balance. Love reading your article. As it also allows me to indulge my Arteta-sceptic side but I’m trying to keep all angles in mind. HNY buddy
I am not a full Arteta-sceptic. He brought a lot of great stuff into this team. I just believe that to win the biggest titles Arteta needs to come out of his comfort zone, e.g. take more risks in our set up, believe in more players.
How many times this (or even last season) we were punished for being too open? I can’t recall a single time. At the same time, we are at our best when we actually take risks - second half against Villa, NLD, second half against Bayern.
Happy New Year to you too! Thanks for your comments!