Former Newcastle United striker Alan Shearer has now given his verdict on the behaviour of Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta.
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has developed a reputation for his touchline antics.
The Spanish coach is an animated presence on the side of the pitch. He can usually be seen gesticulating widely, barking instructions, and roaming beyond the boundaries of his technical area.
This behaviour has not always been met with approval. Broadcaster Richard Keys has previously criticised Arteta for the exuberance of his celebrations, for instance. Michael Owen is another to have taken aim at Arteta this season, when he took issue with some of the manager’s comments on the standards of Premier League officiating.
Arteta is far from being the only Premier League manager to cut an animated touchline presence, as the same accusations could easily also be levelled at Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola. The manager may well feel that his antics help to fire up his players on the pitch and the fans inside the Emirates Stadium. He will certainly be conscious of the energy and message that his body language emits.
The Spaniard is unlikely to change, this behaviour is clearly in his nature and part of his management style. If Arsenal’s outstanding recent form is anything to go by, it clearly works for his players too.
Alan Shearer takes aim at Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta
Writing in The Athletic, Alan Shearer has now had his say on what he sees from Arteta in the dugout. The former striker stated, “this article is more about the relationship between manager and team during games and how much pantomime that contains. Arteta, for example, is exhausting to watch, a whirling dervish constantly urging his players to move forward or drop back, as if conducting their every move. Do the histrionics and constant hand-waving work? Results suggest so, although I’m not convinced about how much of it will actually sink in when the game is moving, the pace is blinding, and the atmosphere electric.”
He continued to observe, “that emotion is genuine, but the setup around it is artificial. Arteta puts himself front and centre, but Ange Postecoglou and Eddie Howe do the same with Tottenham Hotspur and Newcastle United, albeit in a very different way. Neither Postecoglou nor Howe are demonstrative — quite the opposite — but they rarely budge from their technical areas. It is not a coincidence. As leaders, they put themselves front of shop, there to protect their players and soak up any flak.”
What works for Eddie Howe at Newcastle United and for Ange Postecoglou at Tottenham Hotspur clearly isn’t what works for Arteta. In any case, neither the Magpies or Spurs are up there with Arsenal in the Premier League title race.
One thing Arteta does have to be conscious of, though, is not pushing his touchline behaviour so far that it draws the ire of referees. The last thing that the Gunners need is for the manager to have to spend time in the stands due to a suspension during this Premier League season run-in.
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