The Premier League title for the 2022/2023 season was contested by two teams led by “The Teacher” against the team “The Student”. Josep “Pep” Guardiola as “Teacher” with Manchester City is pursuing Mikel Arteta as “Student” with Arsenal. Until week 33, Arsenal still lead by five points. But man. City still have two games in their pocket. Therefore, it is very likely that the championship title will be determined in the match between these two teams.
For Pep Guardiola, this situation is nothing new. In his first season with Manchester City, Pep was ranked third. Season two, title in hand. Since then, Manchester City has always been part of the team fighting for the title. If you count from the 2017/2018 season to 2021/2022, The Citizens have participated in the struggle for the championship for five consecutive seasons and only lost once. Even at his previous club, Pep was always part of the title race. You can imagine how rich the experience of the Spanish coach is.
Unlike Arteta. Leading a team in the final round of the championship in one of the best leagues in the world is still foreign to him. Since taking office as head coach at the end of 2019, then being entrusted with becoming a manager, it is only this season that Arteta is competing in the race for the Premier League title. Not only that, as one of the youngest coaches in the Premier League, the team he leads also consists of many young players. So you can imagine, the experience of players and coaches who are still minimal, competes with a team that is very used to receiving the pressure of fighting for the title.
Keep in mind that these two coaches have worked together for more than three seasons. When Pep decided to move from Germany, he invited Arteta to join with the aim of accelerating adaptation in the Premier League. This moment coincided with Arteta’s decision to retire from playing so there was almost no reason for him to turn down the invitation. Arteta under Pep Guardiola served as assistant coach. Arteta is responsible for ensuring Pep’s ideas are well understood by the players. So it’s no wonder that Arteta is so close to the Manchester City players.
After that, Arteta immediately got his first job as a head coach for a big team like Arsenal. He succeeded Unai Emery after just over a season in charge after Arsene Wenger retired. As a former player, Arteta is expected to be able to restore the team’s identity both on and off the field. Not long after serving as coach, Arteta presented the FA Cup title. Unfortunately, consistency in the Premier League is still far from expectations. Even though Arteta hasn’t had many achievements for Arsenal, the changes and developments he has shown are very pronounced.
Pep Guardiola, when he first came to Manchester City, immediately applied positional football. He has consistently applied this style since becoming coach of Barcelona and Bayern Munich. Broadly speaking, the positional style of play is assisted by the division of zones on the field using imaginary lines vertically and horizontally. Each zone must be occupied by at least one player in order to create consistent bait options. Players don’t have to be in the zone all the time. They can exchange positions with the note that each zone must always be filled. Constant rotation. Therefore, to be able to run this system, it requires not only technical ability, but also intelligence. This is supported by the club’s financial ability so that Pep is fully supported to strengthen the team according to what he needs since the first season.
Until now, in principle Pep still applies the same game concept. However, there are always tactical details that he adjusts every season. One such example is this season. Pep after the world cup break changed the structure of his team. This time he played using four players who have a natural position as a center back to fill the defensive post. Ruben Dias, Manuel Akanji and Nathan Ake played equal centre-backs. An interesting role is played by John Stones who plays beside Rodrigo. With this structure, Pep practically does not use a wing-back which is usually used to keep wide.
Meanwhile, Arteta, since the beginning of his career at Arsenal, has also tried to apply positional football. But when he came to the Emirates he didn’t have enough players who were suitable to play the system he played. Not only that, the road for Arteta was not as smooth as expected. There are too many problems for Arteta to solve. Starting from an unbalanced team composition, too many players who are no longer able to develop, to other technical problems.
Nevertheless, Arteta tried to adapt by not imposing the football concept he wanted. He overhauled the team starting from the PE line resistance. Had played with five defenders, even placing Bukayo Saka and Granit Xhaka as left backs. After that, he also adapted by changing the structure of the game to 4-4-1-1 by installing Alexandre Lacazette as a shadow striker behind Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. The concept and style of play that Arteta wants to present was only seen last season. Although it doesn’t always go perfectly, the direction is clear. Thomas Partey is paired with Granit Xhaka as a double pivot. Saka is placed on the right wing so that his potential is far more optimal. Emile Smith Rowe and Gabriel Martinelli took turns filling the left wing post. The main problem in this period was effectiveness and the midfield was still stiff. The main reason is that the players’ understanding of the system that Arteta wants to implement is still limited so that the execution on the field is not optimal.
This season, Arteta’s system has been implemented much more effectively. The arrivals of Oleksandr Zinchenko and Gabriel Jesus from Manchester City have added to the pieces that Arteta needs. Thanks to the presence of Zinchenko who plays as an inverted fullback, Granit Xhaka can go further, standing in the halfspace on the left. Jesus, who became Arsenal’s main striker, answered the problem last season. Jesus’ more dynamic playing style also makes Arsenal’s attack structure more varied, fluid, but still neat.
So in general, the principles that Pep and Arteta apply are more or less the same, namely positional football. The difference is the level of execution on the pitch which is due to the quality of the players. Arteta needs to adapt and go a long way to be able to implement the system he wants to implement while Pep tends to be quicker because he has better quality players. Currently, Pep has made detailed changes to the tactics implemented and not many coaches have followed Pep’s footsteps. Including Arteta.
The experience of three and a half seasons as Pep Guardiola’s assistant certainly does not only have an impact on the point of view of implementing tactics on the field. But it also affects the way Arteta manages non-technical things in the team. So do not be surprised if Arteta has a similar attitude to Pep. One of the non-technical similarities that is quite easy to see is about firmness.
When Pep first arrived at the Etihad, Pep openly mentioned the names of several players who found it difficult to implement his playing system. He openly criticized Sergio Aguero for not playing the way he wanted. Pep also dared to sideline Yaya Toure, who has become an important player in the last few seasons. Also loaned Joe Hart to Torino even though at that time he was the main goalkeeper and goalkeeper for the England national team.
This shows that Pep has a clear attitude as a head coach. He clearly understands what he needs for the team. Do not hesitate to be assertive to all players indiscriminately. This policy was also carried out by Arteta. He did not hesitate to let go of several players who did not contribute to the team. Hector Bellerin, Shkodran Mustafi, Sead Kolasinac, Alexandre Lacazette are small examples of players Arteta has released. Currently, it is recorded that only Granit Xhaka, Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli and Rob Holding are still actively playing for Arsenal under the leadership of Mikel Arteta.
Regarding firmness, Arteta also followed the example of the teacher. Arteta is also strict with players who are not disciplined. Aubameyang for example. Last season, Auba was the captain of the team. However, he was reported to have frequently committed undisciplined acts. The climax was when Auba was late for a training session after visiting his sick mother. That moment was the trigger for Arteta to let go of the captaincy and no longer play Auba as a main player. Arteta did not mind Auba’s intention to visit his sick mother. But he could no longer tolerate Auba’s indiscipline actions which did not show the attitude of a leader.
Even though there are quite visible similarities between Pep and Arteta, of course there are differences between these two coaches. This is of course commonplace because the two trainers are quite far apart in age and experience. Although they were once related in Spain, the paths they took were different. Pep during his playing days spent almost his entire career at Barcelona. While Arteta felt the peak of his career as a football player in England (Everton and Arsenal).
In general, Pep is clearly much more experienced than Arteta. So do not be surprised if in terms of the effectiveness and efficiency of implementation and tactical adaptation is much better. Every time Pep discovers or changes a tactic detail into his team, the success rate is quite high. Even become an inspiration for other teams. Erik ten Hag, who also worked with Pep at Bayern, said that German football changed when Pep arrived.
“Football in Germany is different since Pep. Entire leagues change because of the way football is played. I watch almost every training (session). I learned a lot from his methods, how he transfers his philosophy to the pitch.” said Erik via The Athletic. Arteta is aware of this difference. Therefore, he tries to find other methods to make his team better. This mindset has made Arteta pay close attention to details in both technical and non-technical terms. In order to foster motivation and a sense of belonging between players towards the club, Arteta changed the dressing room layout. He also put up posters or illustrations that reflect the identity of Arsenal such as “Victory Through Harmony” and so on.
Not only that, Arteta also carried out several methods to strengthen the players’ psychology as a form of preparation for important matches. Last season, when Arsenal would travel to Anfield, the training session was accompanied by the song “You’ll Never Walk Alone” so that the players would not be surprised when they stood on the Anfield grass with the atmosphere of the massive chanting of Liverpool supporters.
We could call it the “x factor” or maybe it’s just a psychological effort, but for sure Arteta doesn’t want his coaching career to always be under Guardiola’s shadow.
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