Arsenal – Manchester City: Mikel Arteta vs. Pep Guardiola – sport-fm.gr SUBJECT – English Premier League – Arsenal – Manchester City

The derby between them is shaping up to be, if not already, her biggest yet Premier League.

A little bit of the rise of Arsenal with last year’s championship run, a little bit of the fall of Liverpool, who was and still is playing the role of ‘opposition’, and the steady downward trajectory of Manchester United and Chelsea, created a great new ‘enemy’ for football on the island. .

It arose from his impressive progress Mikel Arteta As a coach he came to oppose his rule Pep Guardiola. He didn’t say we should leave the wands behind.

Arteta “grew up” and Arsenal was born again

Basque The student Three years later, Guardiola left the position of assistant at Al-Ittihad, to coach a major club that could not raise its head. The “Red” locker room has been in disintegration for the best part Unai Emery In a year and two months, he was unable to “boot” it competitively. Arsenal needed someone to do that “Restart”. Arteta had already begun his own coaching career, so a parallel start for the two seemed ideal.

“We need to build a mindset that everyone supports. So my job is to convince everyone that in order to be part of the whole, they have to learn to live according to certain conditions“, he declared characteristically during his presentation. They say that every beginning is difficult, and the former captain of the London and Everton teams understood it firsthand. The end of the first term found him in eighth place and falling out of the European positions with a record of nine wins, six draws and five losses. Neither ideal nor disastrous. Begins For a rookie player in the best league in the world.

From December 2019, when he took charge, until today, Arteta can be proud of creating a team that creates championship, with children from the “bowels” of the club, such as Saka and the talents, who are the “tomorrow” of world football, see Martinelli, Timber, Inkeitia. He can also boast that he turned the Manchester City-Arsenal match into major football derbies and not just matches for the English champions. It doesn’t matter An unimaginable record Not an honor at all for the Gunners coach. In ten head-to-head matches with Guide He has eight defeats at league level, with heavy results in some of them. An FA Cup quarter-final win and a draw in the final of the Community Shield final, which he celebrated.

the road From the Spaniard’s game with three central defenders in the back four, the left-back becomes a midfielder in the attacking phase, Declan Rice and Partey stop opponents’ counterattacks before the midfield and Martinelli Saka constantly converges from the wings, they “suffocate” the opponent and remind of the tactics of the best coach in Sports history.

Guardiola “scribbles” new tricks so as not to be outdone

Precisely for the reason mentioned above, “copying” his tactics, Pep always makes sure to be one step ahead of everyone and to develop intentionally or unintentionally. soccer. This is the “zero” point, and it defines the way the sport is played now. And with last year’s ‘recipe’, Eddie Howe led Newcastle to the Champions League after 20 years. A trio of centre-backs with a fully attacking right-back, a quality center who creates phases and interceptions, and attacking wingers who make the attackers ‘dress up’.

What was he thinking? Pamponero Is he thinking midway through last year’s hugely successful treble season? Naturally, Stones’ promotion to midfield, following the transfer of Kalvin Phillips, did not “work out”. What is the purpose of this step? Obviously, in order to immediately “cut off” counterattacks, in order to have an extra defensive player high up the pitch, where he was not needed in the back four. He removed one from the back and added him to the attack. The constant pressure in the final third of the pitch created a large gap between the midfielders positioned almost outside the penalty area and the central defenders. The full-backs were high, so every three-on-two counterattack smelled like a goal… and the worst part? This was happening. City kept a clean sheet in 13 of the 38 matches they played in the English Premier League. Four fewer than expected.

Solving the defensive shift is a big issue. the structural engineer Regarding the “empire” that he is building in England, and slowly in Europe, he found the “button” that he was missing in the heart of the English defence. But this year things are different. He missed due to injury, Gentojan now wears the Blaugrana and Rodri is serving a three-match ban. The first major derby of the year split the ‘Nationals’ in two. There are of course options for Kovacic and Phillips, but they can in no way replace the resourceful defensive midfielder, who has added creative elements to his game.

the Appointment Sunday will not decide the title. It will leave the first impression of where they are moving. Especially for Arsenal, who also have to manage the Champions League. The loss to Lance shows that qualifying for the round of 16 is not easy. Hence, more pressure, more fatigue, and more opportunities for “jila” within the borders.

That doesn’t mean Manchester City won’t have an equivalent programFor her, in the end, the derbies continue. He has already counted elimination from the Carabao Cup and a first Premier League defeat to Wolves. She is educated, and she “fakes” such situations. Winning the Champions League for the first time in Istanbul now changes the club’s status. It is now essential that the season is judged a success by the top of Europe and not just England. After all, Pep Guardiola lives and breathes them and leaves him complaining about constant games. Student versus teacher, then, in a separate meeting between the two.

Editor: Thanassis Kritikos

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