Exclusive: Aliadiere on Man Utd ‘shambles’, Arteta’s Arsenal transformation, Liverpool to ‘drop points’
Mikel Arteta does not get “enough credit” for the job he has done at Arsenal, former Gunners striker Jeremie Aliadiere has exclusively told Football365.
We spoke to Aliadiere in the build-up to his StriveAid appearance on Sunday.
The event took place at Lewes’ ground The Dripping Pan to raise money for the suicide prevention charity Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) and we were fortunate enough to get an invite.
Arsenal, Arteta, former Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag and the Premier League title race were among the things Aliadiere discussed.
Something being held against Arteta is his lack of trophies at Arsenal but it would be ridiculous to say Ten Hag was more successful because he won the Carabao Cup and FA Cup.
Aliadiere agreed, telling us: “Ten Hag just got sacked, winning two trophies in the last two years. Mikel in the last two years has not won anything but I still think Mikel has done a much better job than Ten Hag.
“Would you rather be an Arsenal fan and seeing them progress and getting closer and closer every year and challenging, maybe end up not winning, but feeling that every year you go with a mindset that you might not win it this year but we are going to compete, or be a Man U fan?
“Yes they won the FA Cup, but they’ve been a shambles; you just don’t know what team is showing up. Even if we (Arsenal) won the FA Cup last year, the fans want to see the Premier League.”
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Aliadiere added that Arteta deserves more credit for the “crazy” job he has done at the Emirates.
“People don’t really give him enough credit. It’s crazy what he has done.
“For me it’s the attitude, the desire, I am seeing an Arsenal team now like the team I used to play in back in the day. Big guys, warriors, soldiers that fight on the pitch. They might not get the result but they leave everything on the pitch.
“I have seen pictures of the players in the tunnel before coming out, you’ve got Ben White, Gabriel, [William] Saliba, and they have got eyes like they are going for war. It’s not all friendly and smiling, no, they are just ready for battle.
“That’s what I want to see and that’s Mikel, that’s what Mikel has brought in to every single player and everybody at the club.”
Asked about criticism of Arsenal for being soft in the past yet still being criticised for their physicality now, the Frenchman continued: “I’d rather be that (physical) than we are playing Tuesday night at Stoke City and we know we were going to lose.
“Now, I am confident we can go anywhere on a Tuesday, in December, freezing cold, and I am confident we will get something. I prefer my team to be physical and to never give up and win duels.”
There have been some comparisons to Jose Mourinho’s defensive style and Aliadiere – who works as a matchday commentator for the Gunners – is not having it.
“I don’t think so at all. Arsenal have been playing attacking, exciting football for the last few years.
“This year, teams have worked us out so the free-flowing football we have, the left-back coming in, centre-back going wide, Jorginho coming in, playing from the back and inviting the pressure, it looks amazing but teams have worked it out now.
“The problem is, by playing this way you expose yourself to making a mistake and get penalised straight away.
“It is normal that Mikel is going to think, ‘Hang on a minute, teams have worked us out, they know exactly how we play, I am not just going to go full on and then concede goals stupidly, I have got to be strong at the back and defensive’.
“The invincible season we had some strong defenders. For you not to lose, you can’t concede goals. You don’t concede goals and you’ve got a good chance of winning the game. That’s what it is, strong defenders that don’t concede, a good goalkeeper, then after you can play the way you want to play, with the attacking players we’ve got, we are always going to create chances.
“I don’t get the playing more defensive (narrative). After a couple of tough weeks, people just try to find things. [Kai] Havertz was not a problem two, three weeks ago, now we need a nine, he’s a problem.”
Aliadiere is still optimistic about Arsenal’s Premier League title chances and is confident Liverpool’s form will dip.
“I don’t think Liverpool are going to carry on the way they’ve been. I think they will drop points. Look at Man City, they are struggling.
“It’s getting harder and harder the Premier League. You’ve got teams spending more money, bringing better players. Look at Aston Villa, look at Newcastle. You go to Villa Park now and you think it’s going to be a tough game. They’re (Chelsea) coming back.”
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