Surely saying Arsenal played like a “Mourinho team” is a massive compliment to our defence

In partnership with

Just Arsenal News

·18 de setembro de 2024

Surely saying Arsenal played like a “Mourinho team” is a massive compliment to our defence

Getting called a “Mourinho team” is a compliment of the highest order to me!

A lot of comparisons have been made in the aftermath of the win against Spurs recently with it centering on the way we saw out the win in the latter stages of the game. This has led to pundits and fans alike pointing out similarities between that no-nonsense defensive style to how the legendary Jose Mourinho would set his team up in matches.

Vídeos OneFootball

The game against Spurs however wasn’t the first time we adopted this approach, given we’ve turned to this pragmatic style quite a few number of times during Mikel Arteta’s tenure so far, this was single handedly responsible for some of his best results as Arsenal manager. Think back to the FA cup win in 2020 where we frustrated both Man city in the semi-final and Chelsea in the final before hitting them on the counter and eventually winning. It has brought us great joy more recently too adding to the win against spurs both games against City in the league last season was a great example of how this style has paid off for us.

Some Arsenal fans may view this comparison as something they would rather not be associated with the club, which is understandable given most of us grew up accustomed to the aesthetically pleasing style of Wenger ball under our legendary French manager, this was characterized by a possession based attacking brand of football which brought us admirers far and wide all over the world.

That style will always be in our DNA since it’s a key part of the culture and values that makes this club what it is today. However getting called a “Mourinho team” should be perceived as a compliment within the club not just because of the success that defensive style brought to Mourinho in the past, but also because it means we’re a much well rounded team to the ones we’ve had for much of the 2010s and early 2020s decades.

In that period we were fairly excellent in the attacking phase, but always fell short because of the soft nature of our defense, this was perhaps due to the stubbornness of our manager to adapt his philosophy to cater for frailties in defense. Also it didn’t help too much that we prioritized signing players with elite technical ability during that period, which didn’t leave us with enough physicality in the squad at the time. All this contributed to our steady decline in the latter stages of Wenger’s reign. It is finally being corrected however, we can see now more recently that the club has prioritized signing players with height and physicality as well as technique, which has played a part in both our strength in set pieces as well as our excellent defensive record.

What makes me even more happy about the comparisons is that we’ve been just as excellent on the other end of the pitch in the past few seasons, The last two in particular where we scored 88 goals or more in both campaigns. games like the 5-0 thrashing of Chelsea last season or the 6-0 win against West Ham still shows that we’re still very much an attacking team staying true to our values, however knowing when to switch and be pragmatic in their approach.

This just shows the level of maturity and understanding the management has. Given the amount of injuries we have, that would have been the only way we would have won that game due to how an end to end game would play into the hands of Ange Postecoglu’s men.

Looking ahead to the game against City I suspect a similar approach will be taken which will only further boost our chances of taking something from that game. Defence wins you titles, and with the current strength we have in that area a trophy to show for all that effort will not be too far away from us !

KENNETH BENJAMIN.

ADMIN COMMENT

So here are some simple rules which I must insist commenters follow….

You agree not to give any personal abuse to other Arsenal fans. Everyone is allowed to hold their own opinions even if you disagree with them. It COSTS NOTHING TO BE POLITE TO OTHER ARSENAL FANS.

CALLING ALL ARSENAL FANS! Anyone who would like to contribute an Article or Video opinion piece on JustArsenal, please contact us through this link…