Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta is at the centre of another touchline debate after rule changes highlight the increased risk of touchline suspensions.
Mikel Arteta has become no stranger to the attention he receives on the touchline. Despite the technical area being breached on a regular occasion by plenty of coaching staff, Arteta appears to get more attention than most.
The established regulations regarding coaches and how they can receive a yellow card boil down to eight separate incidents. These include dissent, insinuating that a yellow card should be given (which is what Arteta received his for in the Community Shield) persistent breaches of the technical area’s confines, satirical clapping, inappropriate uses of language or gestures directed at officials, delaying a restart of play of their team, entering the technical area of the opposition in a non-confrontational manner and the kicking or throwing of objects such as water bottles.
The yellow that Arteta received on the weekend against Man City however will not count toward a tally for the season. Gary Neville recently spoke on Sky Sports’ Overlap to hint that changes to the rules had been made with the Arsenal manager in mind.
"I spoke to a non-league coach," Neville said. "And they had a briefing in pre-season about touchline behaviour and they said that Arteta was a big reason that it was brought in, because of last season’s behaviour."
Arteta is a massive presence for the Arsenal team and is often seen delivering instructions to his players throughout the game. He displays his passion for the game and the protection of his players.
Again at Anfield, Granit Xhaka lost composure in a confrontation with Trent Alexander-Arnold; it sparked a reaction from the Anfield crowd and soon after Liverpool scored on their way to stealing a point. It was debatable whether this moment cost the Gunners the win in what was a pivotal game in the title race, but it became another talking point.
Arsenal could do without the focus on this for the forthcoming season. Arteta and his side will need to be mindful of the rule changes and take them into account whilst bearing in mind there is perhaps an alleged unfair level of scrutiny toward them in particular.
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