Former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher has shared his insights on Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta, asserting that Arteta is not merely a disciple of Pep Guardiola. Instead, Carragher believes that Arteta is adopting elements of Jose Mourinho’s tactical philosophy, particularly when Arsenal is in the lead during matches.
In a recent game against Arne Slot’s side, Arsenal twice took the lead but were pegged back both times, first by Virgil van Dijk and then by Mohamed Salah. The match ended in a draw, leaving Arsenal third in the Premier League, five points behind leaders Manchester City and four behind Liverpool.
Carragher highlighted the ongoing discussions about Arteta’s style of play and made his observations clear on Sky Sports. He emphasized that linking Arteta’s strategies solely to Guardiola is increasingly inaccurate.
Jamie Carragher said “Because Mikel Arteta worked with Pep Guardiola, we are always thinking that this is a Pep Guardiola disciple. If you look at the two most successful managers in the last 10-15 years, you have got Pep Guardiola here (lifts up his left hand) and Jose Mourinho (lifts right hand) almost equally successful at the other end [of the spectrum]. Mikel Arteta is slowly morphing into a Jose Mourinho type of manager and nobody really thought that would happen. I just think it is really interesting how they have got there. You see today, 2-1 up, pressing Liverpool, on top of Liverpool, playing really well but they retreat in the second half. It feels like, when they go down to ten men, very Jose-like at the Nou Camp when he was at Inter. This is not a criticism, it is an observation of where Arsenal are as a team. Mikel Arteta looks at his attacking players and thinks: ‘We are not as good as Man City (and they are not) and we have got to win the league by being the best defensively’ and that is what they were last season and possibly still are now but lost goals because of being down to ten men in certain games. But this idea that Arsenal play great football and he is a Pep Guardiola man, he is not.”
