Why Everyone's Wrong About Mikel Arteta
After Arsenal 1-0 defeat by Newcastle, Mikel Arteta came out swinging and hit back at the officials. While this has brought criticism Arteta's way - we think he knows EXACTLY what he's doing...
Transcript
00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 - Good afternoon, everybody.
00:07 Adam here again, Adam Monk.
00:08 We've got both Adams back now, Mr. Cleary and Mr. Monk.
00:12 So I'll be Adam too for now, 'cause I'm a new starter.
00:15 But anyway, with that said, what happened this weekend?
00:18 Well, that happened there.
00:20 And if you need a reminder.
00:22 - I feel sick, that's how I feel.
00:24 I feel sick to be part of this.
00:27 - Yeah, Mikael Arteta was not happy, was he?
00:30 To put it lightly.
00:31 But let's talk about that.
00:33 So Arteta is facing a lot of criticism
00:36 for his comments after the Newcastle game.
00:37 And not only that, the club statement that followed as well.
00:40 Every angle of the media is kind of having a pop at him
00:43 at the moment.
00:43 Both Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville have said
00:45 that he's out of line on Sky Sports.
00:48 And of course now, Liverpool fans are piling on Arteta
00:50 after his quotes after the Spurs game,
00:52 saying that referees make mistakes
00:54 and need to be shown support,
00:56 which is a little bit hypocritical on a surface level.
00:59 However, I think everyone is missing the point
01:02 on why Arteta has said what he said after that game
01:05 and the genius behind it.
01:07 So let's get into it.
01:08 Now, firstly, let's talk about the goal,
01:09 because I think in my humble opinion that it was a goal
01:12 and should have been allowed,
01:13 as you can see in the background here.
01:15 Now, I can't really explain why the ball was in play
01:18 from the bounds of my bedroom.
01:19 However, Mark and Adam over in London can.
01:22 So take it away, boys.
01:24 - Right, so we've very neatly recreated the exact setup
01:27 that led to that controversial Newcastle goal.
01:29 As you can see here, Arsenal are very well set.
01:32 They've got the box pretty much covered.
01:33 Anthony Gordon's learning about.
01:35 Joe Linton's yet to do the thing that Joe Linton did.
01:37 And Joe Willock has just rescued
01:40 what looked like a ball going out of play.
01:42 Now, Mark, from there, you're filming this,
01:43 you can see that ball is so out, isn't it?
01:46 - It's so out.
01:47 - There's practically daylight between that and the thing.
01:48 But if we just pass the camera over,
01:52 very cleverly now, you can see that ball is still in.
01:57 I'm sure all Arsenal fans will agree
02:00 that's a very scientific way of doing it
02:02 and proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that ball was in.
02:06 - Thank you, guys.
02:07 Very eloquently put.
02:08 Now, the argument, really,
02:10 that Arsenal fans have been putting forward after the game,
02:13 and rightly so, I think,
02:14 is that there should be enough cameras,
02:15 given the money that's in the Premier League,
02:17 given that it's the best league in the world, supposedly,
02:20 they should have cameras and camera angles
02:22 covering every blade of grass and every possible boundary
02:25 that could affect play and affect a decision
02:26 like the one that happened on Saturday night.
02:29 Now, that is a valid argument.
02:31 However, what VAR have to do from that position
02:34 when they see the ball there,
02:35 and it's dubious whether it is out of play or not,
02:37 is they have to give the attacker the benefit
02:40 that is in the rule book, okay?
02:41 We've seen it time and time again.
02:42 So unless it is goal line technology,
02:44 like I recall the John Stones clearance against Liverpool
02:47 three or four years back that was definitive,
02:49 it looked like it across the line,
02:50 but just about hadn't, they could measure that,
02:53 and it was empirical.
02:53 Whereas this one on a byline,
02:56 they can't be 100% conclusive.
02:58 So they have to give the attacker the benefit of the doubt.
03:00 And to be honest, from the angle, me personally,
03:03 I think it has just stayed in play.
03:04 Perspective plays a big part in these things.
03:06 Anyway, now let's talk about the foul
03:09 from Gabriel, allegedly.
03:11 Now, of course, the phrase that gets banded around
03:14 is clear and obvious with VAR.
03:16 Everything has to be clear and obvious to be given.
03:19 And the fact that no two pundits can say
03:21 whether that wasn't or was not a foul
03:22 means it's fairly dubious and subjective.
03:25 I think it's one of them that can be given both ways.
03:28 I don't think it clearly shows a foul,
03:30 but for me, that is a push in the back.
03:32 I would be giving that.
03:33 We've seen it happen before.
03:35 I guess it is just open to interpretation.
03:37 So Arsenal do have a right to feel
03:39 slightly hard done by there, I feel,
03:41 more so than the ball allegedly leaving the pitch,
03:43 which it didn't.
03:44 Now, before I talk about the onside,
03:46 I am actually just gonna rewatch the goal.
03:48 So bear with me, I will be right back.
03:50 Yeah, even Gary Neville has said it there.
03:52 Even he's not sure.
03:53 I'm not either really from viewing it.
03:56 The whole goal in itself is just very, very dubious.
03:58 I can see why some Arsenal fans
03:59 would feel aggrieved and possibly Arteta,
04:01 but for me, it was a goal.
04:03 Now, let's talk about Arteta.
04:05 Now, he's no doubt angry,
04:07 as I showed you at the start of the video.
04:08 - I feel sick.
04:10 - But he's also not stupid.
04:11 I think that he can see that this is all
04:14 incredibly unfortunate, but he also thinks
04:17 that it is actually correct refereeing.
04:18 Now, hear me out.
04:19 So while the officials in general were pretty poor,
04:23 let's say, during the entirety of the game,
04:25 not just that goal, the only real clear mistake
04:28 that was made in that game was not sending Bruno off
04:30 for that sort of palm, elbow thing
04:34 that you just can't do on a football pitch.
04:37 He should have been sent off for that.
04:38 But he can't really complain about that publicly,
04:40 'cause you could argue that Kai Havertz
04:42 was equally as fortunate to stay on the pitch
04:44 and could have been given a red card
04:45 on any other given day for that, again,
04:48 dubious high foot that was in the first half.
04:50 So what he's really done, in my opinion,
04:52 is use the dubious goal.
04:53 I need to stop saying dubious.
04:54 Stop saying dubious.
04:55 I'm gonna think of a different word and come back to you.
04:58 So what he has done is use the contentious goal
05:02 as a way to create a them versus us mentality.
05:06 What it's rather geniusly done now
05:08 is made Arsenal fans move away from talking about things
05:10 like Raya versus Ramsdale and whether Enchete
05:13 is good enough to start up front full stop, for instance,
05:17 and they're now rallying behind a team
05:18 that feels as though they've been served
05:20 a serious injustice.
05:22 And what I don't think a lot of people are realizing
05:24 is this kind of behavior from a manager
05:26 is straight out of the playbook
05:28 of some of the elite managers we've seen over the years.
05:31 So take the obvious example, Sir Alex Ferguson.
05:33 Well, he used to take it a step further.
05:35 He actually used to ban parts of the press
05:37 and attend in press conferences
05:39 if they'd say certain things about the team,
05:40 not necessarily relating to decisions and stuff,
05:44 but he did ban his fair share of journalists,
05:47 which created a sort of a mentality around the club
05:50 that the media and the press were out to get them,
05:52 that they were almost the pantomime villains
05:54 and could play up to that.
05:55 It was them against the world
05:56 back when United were in their pomp.
05:58 And Ferguson really had that tactic down to a T
06:00 and it worked a treat for what, 26 years?
06:03 Well, 21 or two because he started slow,
06:08 but he picked things up and did pretty well, did Alex?
06:11 And then of course there was Jose Mourinho,
06:13 who was arguably the best to do it
06:15 in the 21st century full stop.
06:18 His approach was to be braggadocious and arrogant
06:20 when he came to England after, of course,
06:22 winning the Champions League with Porto in 2004.
06:24 And what that really did was paint him
06:27 as the pantomime villain
06:28 and then just deflect all the pressure away from his players.
06:31 The focus was always on Jose, Jose, Jose,
06:34 what he had to prove in English football
06:36 to which he just always rebuffed.
06:38 - Sir Alex is the only one European champion
06:40 in this country, nobody else.
06:42 So I have to prove what?
06:43 - Congratulations, well done today.
06:47 - Thanks a lot.
06:47 - Another great example of this from Jose Mourinho as well
06:50 was actually at his time at Manchester United,
06:52 which as we know was not as successful
06:54 as his time at Chelsea.
06:55 But when United got dumped out of the Champions League
06:57 by Sevilla, of course the media, the public,
07:01 they wanted to hound the players.
07:02 And that's when Mourinho came out
07:04 with his football heritage speech,
07:06 which of course we all remember.
07:08 And that's all anyone was really ever talking about
07:10 for weeks on end afterwards.
07:12 And it really did just take the heat off
07:14 what was a disappointing loss,
07:15 which again is what Arteta is trying to do.
07:18 And then Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola, of course,
07:21 the cast iron elite managers of the modern game right now,
07:25 they also do it, but in slightly weirder ways.
07:27 Jurgen Klopp will always find extraneous variables
07:30 to blame a loss on, whether it be the wind
07:32 or the long grass and stuff,
07:34 but it still kind of does work.
07:35 I mean, people might point and laugh at Klopp,
07:38 but what it does is steer the narrative away
07:40 from the players, take the pressure off them,
07:42 create a bit of a them versus us mentality.
07:45 And you know, it has helped Klopp
07:47 because he's done very, very well in his time at Liverpool.
07:50 And then of course, Pep Guardiola,
07:51 probably the one who does it in the weirdest way
07:54 because if his team lose, he just says,
07:58 "That was the best performance I have ever seen."
08:00 Yeah, not my best impression there.
08:02 It actually sounded a bit more like Arteta, really, didn't it?
08:04 But you get the point.
08:05 He really does just, the team can do no wrong
08:07 when they do lose a game.
08:08 And then, you know, what that does is, again,
08:11 deflect pressure off the players.
08:12 And that is all Mikel Arteta is doing.
08:14 And he's utilized this goal to perfection, in my opinion.
08:18 So listen, it's very, very easy to mock Mikel Arteta.
08:22 Another thing being the club statement
08:23 that was of course issued yesterday, supporting Arteta.
08:26 Now, one thing you should know,
08:28 which I kind of know from when I used to work at Man City,
08:31 is that when club statements are issued,
08:32 they are usually approved from the higher ups,
08:35 that being the coaches and the board.
08:38 Meaning that that club statement
08:39 may well have just come from Arteta himself.
08:42 Which just reinforces what he's doing, really.
08:45 So it's easy to mock him,
08:46 but realistically, I think he's actually doing
08:48 what we've seen several elite managers do beforehand,
08:50 and he's playing a little bit of 4D chess.
08:53 But look, they know they're gonna be in a dogfight
08:55 till the end of the season
08:56 if they do want a challenge for silverware.
08:58 And sometimes, you just have to play
09:00 these kind of mind games with the media,
09:02 with the public, with the narrative.
09:04 You've got to control it a bit in any way possible.
09:06 And that's what I think Mikel Arteta has done this weekend
09:09 to perfection, despite the result.
09:12 So there we go.
09:13 You can let me know in the comments
09:14 whether you think Arteta is playing
09:16 a little bit of 4D chess and he's being a bit of a genius,
09:18 or whether you think I'm an idiot and I'm wrong.
09:21 I'm fine with both.
09:22 You just let me know.
09:23 But I really do think a lot of what Arteta does
09:26 goes under the radar.
09:26 Behind the scenes, the control is,
09:28 what word am I looking for?
09:30 Integrated into the team.
09:33 And now he's just doing,
09:34 he's playing by the managerial playbook
09:36 that a lot of elite managers have done in years gone by.
09:38 So I think he's actually been very, very clever here.
09:41 Anyway, let me know in the comments.
09:43 Don't forget to subscribe.
09:44 And I will see you tomorrow
09:46 in the wake of the Tottenham-Chelsea game.
09:48 Should be a good one tonight.
09:49 So I'll see you soon.
09:51 Au revoir.