How Arsenal’s tactics show Arteta’s coaching influence, from Cruyff to Guardiola

With every recent Arsenal clash with Manchester City has come a predictable discourse — the relationship between Mikel Arteta and Pep Guardiola. It's the obvious way to go given Arteta's journey to becoming Arsenal manager via an assistant management role under his fellow Spaniard and the pair's early days together at Barcelona.

And while Guardiola clearly has a huge impact on Arteta, in the build up to these matches it is often overlooked that the Arsenal manager has also drawn inspiration from a number of other coaches.

By no means is this a definitive list but here, The Athletic looks at a few themes of Arsenal's play that could be a result of his exposure to tactics and techniques throughout his life in football.

We'll start with David Moyes.

It was at Everton where the signs of a future coach first became apparent in Arteta, with his anterior cruciate ligament injury in 2009 a crucial period in this regard. Even before this point, he tended to be one of few players to have football conversations with assistant manager Alan Irvine. He convinced Moyes (who “didn't want too many small players”) to sign the Spaniard.

That desire for height and physicality has been a hallmark of Moyes' sides over the past 20 years. In his early days at Everton he inherited Duncan Ferguson and Kevin Campbell. Marouane Fellaini then performed multiple roles for him at Goodison Park and Old Trafford, where he later became manager, while Declan Rice and Tomas Soucek were pivotal to West Ham's success before their dip in league form this term.

Arsenal have seen a height increase across their backline since Arteta took charge and have become more imposing as a result. Their first choice back four is Benjamin White (6ft 1in), William Saliba (6ft 4in), Gabriel Magalhaes (6ft 3in) and Oleksandr Zinchenko (5ft 9in), although there are matches, such as the 3-2 win over Liverpool when Takehiro Tomiyasu (6ft 2in) has meant each member of the backline is over six feet tall.

The evolution from 2019 is visible but there was one period during 2020-21 that outlined Arteta's desire for a more imposing backline. When still using a back three that December, he highlighted Calum Chambers (6ft) as a player who could still be used as a right-back because: “You win some height, you win other characteristics that are different to Hector Bellerin (5ft 10in) or Cedric (5ft 8in) in that position.”

He later gave Chambers his first Premier League start of the season away to Burnley in March 2021. He played right-back, won the second-most aerial duels in the game for Arsenal (seven — although none came against Burnley's left-winger) and overlapped in a way White has done this season.

At Everton, Moyes' coaching tended to focus on organisation while it was Steve Round (one of Arteta's assistant coaches at Arsenal) who worked on attacking patterns. When it works, that organisation directs teams to where they don't want to go and being compact in areas they would want to escape through. Arteta's Arsenal have experienced this twice against Moyes' West Ham.

First, in the 3-3 draw in 2020, when they forced Arsenal to play to Pablo Mari.

They quickly cut off his short passing options, forcing him to go long where they had the advantage.

That was a theme throughout the first half on the day and cropped up again when Rob Holding deputised for Saliba recently. This time it's Michail Antonio and Lucas Paqueta leading the press on Holding.

Rice, Soucek and Said Benrahma make the ball to Martin Odegaard difficult, so Holding opts to go long. As this went on throughout the game, Arsenal struggled.

Arsenal's own organisation off the ball this season has underpinned much of their progress, however. It has allowed them to suffocate teams, with Granit Xhaka explaining the thought behind their pressing structure in pre-season, which allows their back four to set a higher defensive line when all fit.

Arsene Wenger signed Arteta when the Spaniard was 29. Despite reaching a level of football he had not played at before, Arteta arrived in north London as a senior player that Wenger could rely on to be an extension of himself on the pitch.

The Frenchman always desired 'technical leaders' during his time at Arsenal. Earlier this month, former first-team coach Neil Banfield told The Athletic: “If you look at the teams Arsene built it went: Tony Adams, Patrick Vieira, Gilberto Silva, Mikel, (Jack) Wilshere. He always had a senior player or two who understood exactly how he wanted the game to be played. When he got his teams right they were a mirror of the coach.”

Xhaka has taken that mantle throughout Arteta's tenure. While Odegaard wears the captain's armband, Xhaka has always been one of the squad's most vocal members which became very apparent during lockdown when there was no fan atmosphere inside stadiums. The Swiss admitted he doesn't need the armband to lead weeks after Odegaard's appointment as captain, but Arteta's reliance on Xhaka is also represented in time on the pitch.

Going from Arteta's first full season in charge (2020-21), the 30-year-old has only started on the bench in three of the 89 Premier League matches he has been available.

In more of a footballing sense, the freedom of movement in Wenger's teams have clearly rubbed off on Arteta. Compared to Guardiola's style which sometimes becomes more systematic, the team Arteta played in was free-flowing. Hundreds of examples could be used, but here is one from a 4-0 win over Watford in 2016.

Watford are happy to sit back, so Mohamed Elneny and Alexis Sanchez play the ball to each other four times — all one-touch. Mario Suarez can be seen asking for support, while Hector Bellerin peels around the back.

Once Elneny pops the ball inside to Francis Coquelin, his next run — as well as Bellerin's — sees the Watford defenders converge. Sanchez is unaccounted for and bursts into the highlighted space.

After being found by Coquelin, Sanchez has an easy cutback to make. Danny Welbeck and Alex Iwobi were patient on their side and provide two options.

He opts for Iwobi, who is left open due to Welbeck's movement, and scores.

As was the case with the Arsenal side of 2015-16 compared with those between 2007-11, Arteta's Arsenal have different quirks but benefit from similar themes. That freedom of movement has been vital to them unlocking deep blocks, which was the case for their opener against West Ham at the London Stadium this season.

On that occasion, a one-two and drive infield between Bukayo Saka and White drew defenders central. Thomas Partey and Odegaard quickly moved it back wide for White in space who squared the ball across the six-yard box for Gabriel Jesus to finish. Numbers, technical proficiency and understanding of space were all key for Wenger's sides and it's becoming more important under Arteta.

The fundamentals of Arteta's footballing views will of course come from his time at Barcelona's La Masia. In his own words to Sky Sports: “The idea on the pitch for sure (comes from) Johan Cruyff and what he set in Barcelona.”

That 'total football' viewpoint set much of what both Arteta and Guardiola implement today. The aim of having versatile players who could perform in multiple roles like Zinchenko — or John Stones more recently at City — has been in practice for decades at Barcelona, with Ronald Koeman arguably the most well-known example from Johan Cruyff's time in charge. That adaptability is starting to be trained throughout the Arsenal academy, where young players experience playing multiple positions.

Cruyff would not have been Arteta's sole exposure to a more tactically flexible Dutch manager during his youth as he also trained with Louis van Gaal's first team while part of Barcelona B in the late 1990s.

Guardiola's use of inverted full-backs, which began at Bayern Munich, is an obvious trait Arteta took to Arsenal from his time at Manchester City. Even before Zinchenko's revelation this season, he was using Ainsley Maitland-Niles in the role in 2019-20. What is important, however, is that rather than simply copying traits from those who have influenced him, Arteta has built on them with his own ideas.

For instance, at City he was largely credited with helping wingers Leroy Sane and Raheem Sterling become more effective. Similar has happened with Saka and Gabriel Martinelli at Arsenal, with Arteta's instructions on how they receive the ball by coming off the touchline a key standout.

Influence often goes two ways if a relationship is that strong. Since Arteta took charge of Arsenal, Guardiola has never held back in his praise, going as far as saying he was also learning from his former assistant manager. That claim was given more weight when Arteta told Jamie Carragher he used to receive phone calls from Guardiola for advice when his Barcelona and Bayern Munich teams were facing English opposition.

For most, this may be the latest installment of 'the master vs the apprentice'. While that is true, Arteta and Arsenal are their own entity, and differences have been necessary for Arsenal to truly grow. That much was on show when Arsenal beat City on the way to their 2020 FA Cup win by using a 3-4-3.

Much of what is now visible with this Arsenal team can be tracked to various points of the last three years. Months into Arteta's tenure at Arsenal, he stated “How he (Moyes) deals with creating a culture” as a point of reference. Football aside, the work Arteta wanted to do in this regard was clear with a heavy emphasis on reconnecting to the club's roots both on and off the pitch.

The match against Manchester City is an opportunity to continue doing just that.

(Lead images: Getty)