Jamie Carragher
Jamie Carragher believes Arsenal are attempting to secure the Premier League title with a defensive style reminiscent of Jose Mourinho, yet lacking Manchester City’s attacking prowess. Arsenal currently sits in fifth place after a 1-0 defeat at Newcastle United, unable to respond to Alexander Isak’s initial goal. The team is seven points behind leaders Liverpool, following a winless streak including matches against Liverpool and Bournemouth. Amidst these results, sporting director Edu has resigned from the club.
**Comparison with Mourinho’s Style**
Jamie Carragher said, “Listen, Pep Guardiola and Jose Mourinho are the two most dominant and successful managers in the last 15 to 20 years. But they’re both at both ends of the spectrum in terms of style of football. You look at the players they’ve brought in and it’s moving towards Jose Mourinho. Again, it’s not a criticism for Arsenal or Mikel Arteta, it’s analysis because this is a guy who’s won the Premier League three times. Arsenal haven’t won the Premier League for 20 years so it’s just where he’s taking them.”
**Defensive Strength and Style Analysis**
Jamie Carragher said, “If you think of Jose Mourinho as a manager, if he took over my club, what would I think I was getting? My first thinking would be my team are going to be strong defensively, no doubt about that. Arsenal are strong defensively. Height and strength and power in my team, we’ve just highlighted that about the size and the power in this Arsenal team – that’s what you get from Mourinho and that’s what you’re getting from Arsenal right now.”
**Arsenal’s Tactical Approach**
Jamie Carragher said, “We’ve just highlighted that at times, Arsenal and the goalkeeper are going direct, how often did we see Petr Cech go direct to Didier Drogba and knock it down to Frank Lampard? The one thing we should also say that Arsenal are not like Jose Mourinho is winning trophies. If Jose Mourinho’s watching tonight and he’ll see that, he will say but I win trophies. At the moment, Arsenal haven’t won a trophy but they’ve been fantastic, the football they’ve played superb and how they’re going about it.”
**Conclusion on Arsenal’s Current Path**
Jamie Carragher concluded, “But anyone who thinks I’ve just plotted this Jose Mourinho thing out to sort of create negativity around Arsenal, it’s analysing exactly where Arsenal are going. If people don’t agree with that, I don’t think you’re actually watching what’s going on with Arsenal right now.”
