Coming on as a substitute for Arsenal in their 2-1 win against Crystal Palace on Sunday, Arsenal captain Mikel Arteta had an incredible cameo for the north London club. It was vital for Arsenal to hold on to their lead after losing their Premier League opener to West Ham in a shock defeat at the Emirates — and they did.
With 15 minutes left on the clock and the momentum with Alan Pardew’s side, who were searching for an equaliser, the Spaniard was brought on to replace Alexis Sanchez in a substitution that was clearly made to prevent Arsenal from conceding and regain control of the match. The 33-year-old came on and did not disappoint at all.
In those 15 minutes, amongst other things, the skipper made four successful tackles (out of four attempted) including an 88th minute goal-saving tackle on Lee Chung-yong. While at first glance the number may not seem like much, but let’s put it into perspective.
Francis Coquelin, deemed a revelation and Arsenal’s best defensive midfielder since Gilberto Silva by many, averaged 3.17 successful tackles per 90 minutes last season.
In Sunday’s match-up between Manchester City and Chelsea, Fernandinho made seven successful tackles during the whole 90 minutes, while Nemanja Matić, who was also on the pitch for the complete game, made just two.
To make four successful tackles in just over 15 minutes is something remarkable and speaks volumes as to what an important change it was bringing on Arteta. In fact, it’s not a stretch to imagine that Arsenal would have conceded had he not come on.
What Arteta has, alongside his defensive abilities, is the ability to hold, redistribute and keep possession, which is invaluable in the dying minutes of the game. Moreover, the Spniard is an incredibly smart and experienced player. He has made over 350 top flight appearances with over 100 of those in the Premier League.
He is also perhaps the biggest leader in the team as evidenced by the decision to make him captain. David Moyes, his former manager, once said: “I see Mikel now and when they are having a bit of a huddle he is the one who is the leader and I think they look to him.
“He has taken on a lot of the leadership qualities in that side.”
Arsene Wenger described Arteta as ‘influential and a leader‘, and so have many others including teammates and pundits.
These qualities are what can make Arteta have a small but very important role at the club this season; coming on when Arsenal have the lead to make sure it stays that way.
Arsenal fans are no strangers to the feeling of dominating a game and then conceding a silly goal or two at the end of the match to ruin everything. The UEFA Champions League game against Anderlecht at the Emirates is a perfect example of the north London club not being able to finish a game off. Having taken up a 3-0 lead by half time, the Gunners conceded three goals in the last half an hour, to end up with a disappointing draw (incidentally, Arteta had come off with Arsenal still in the lead and that perhaps played a major part in why Arsenal conceded those goals). Arteta, coming on late into a match when the north Londoner’s desperately need to remain calm, could be pivotal to prevent incidents like those from happening again.
Yes, starters are extremely important for every side, and Arsenal must get another quality defensive midfielder to challenge Francis Coquelin, but never underestimate the ability of an experienced leader to close out games.
Luis Enrique, who won the treble with Barcelona last season, used Xavi Hernández in a similar manner last season. The 35-year-old came on as a substitute for the Spanish club 23 times and they did not lose a single match in which they were already leading when he came on. In total, they lost only 3 matches out of those 23, but in those matches, Barcelona were already losing when the substitution was made.
While a new defensive midfielder could be brought into the side, Arteta’s role would remain. Arsenal are currently being linked with Sevilla’s Grzegorz Krychowiak; a player cut from the same cloth as Coquelin. They’re both great players, but they’re the type that will defend well, stop an attack when it’s coming and get you the ball back but they cannot hold, redistribute, keep possession and give you control of the game like Arteta can, at least not right now.
Thus Coquelin and the new defensive midfielder (if any) would be like-for-like replacements with one most likely coming off for the other, especially since you cannot have two players like that on the pitch at the same time and so they would not have the desired impact on the game like Arteta would. Even if Arsenal were to get a new defensive midfielder in the mould of Arteta, rather than someone similar to Coquelin, he would most probably not have the experience that the Spaniard has in both football generally and the experience of playing with the Arsenal players.
At the end of the day, new defensive midfielder or not, it’s most likely that Mikel Arteta will not be a starter for Arsenal, except in cup games or emergency cases, but the 33-year-old could play a major role for the club from the bench as Arsenal mount a challenge for the Premier League.
