Mikel Arteta has come under criticism at Arsenal over the years for the weirdest reasons.
From his team talks as seen on the Amazon All or Nothing documentary to showing passion on the touchline, some people just seem to have a problem with whatever the Arsenal manager does.
What’s really annoying for Gooners is the fact that other managers don’t come under the same scrutiny when they do something similar, or worse.
Liverpool manager Arne Slot has made a comment now that hasn’t been blown up by the pundits. But if Arteta had done the same, they would’ve destroyed him with criticism.
Be honest, what would be your first reaction if Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta got punished for stepping outside his technical area?
Arne Slot’s bizarre claim is worse than anything Mikel Arteta has ever said
Slot is under a bit of pressure at Liverpool.
The Reds won the Premier League title in his debut season, and he deserves enormous credit for that after barely spending any money in the summer of 2024.
A year later, however, Slot spent an absolute fortune on new signings, and his side are 14 points below leaders Arsenal ahead of their game on Thursday night.
In his press conference, Slot made a claim about the type of football he prefers, but he seemed to complain that most teams Liverpool face just don’t play his way.
He said, as per The Times: “My football is Paris Saint-Germain v Liverpool, Liverpool v Paris Saint-Germain.
“That is how I would love to have every single game, but you need to have two teams to have an open game of football and not all these things that don’t make a game of football nice.
“Against Fulham, I don’t think many people thought it was a joy to watch. I have said many times I found our games against Paris Saint-Germain a joy to watch.
“So compare these games with each other and ask yourself why one is a joy to watch and the other is harder to watch.”
Be honest. Do you think pundits treat Mikel Arteta differently compared to other managers?
Mikel Arteta would come under serious criticism if he said something similar to Arne Slot
Slot’s comments really are strange.
He’s not wrong to say that he likes a certain type of football, but to claim that the philosophy other managers use to do the best for their own clubs is ‘not nice’ is wrong on so many levels.
An open game usually hands an advantage to Liverpool. They will come out on top more often than in such fixtures, which is exactly why Slot prefers that.
Arsenal have an advantage in open games as well, but teams refuse to play that way because they know they would get hammered.
Even the great Pep Guardiola parked the bus against the Gunners as that was the best way for his side to avoid defeat.
If Arteta had come out and complained about the opposition’s style of play, we’re sure that the likes of Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher would’ve slammed him to no end.
Slot, on the other hand, gets away with it, like he has done many times already this season.
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