Jamie Carragher has said that there are similarities between Arsenal and Manchester United managers, Mikel Arteta and Erik ten Hag respectively, in terms of how they prioritized pragmaticism during their tenures initially.
Both tacticians are renowned for playing an eye-catching brand of football, that is inspired by Pep Guardiola’s ‘juego de posición’ philosophy, which is colloquially referred to as ‘JDP.’
However, Jamie Carragher is right in pointing out that both Arteta and Ten Hag sacrificed their vision for results as they seemingly did not have the talent to execute their plans to the fullest.
Initially, Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal particularly impressed during the side’s FA Cup triumph, as they defended deep and caused sides like Chelsea and Manchester City major headaches in transition on their way to winning the trophy.
Similarly, the United boss has also incorporated a counter-attacking style against some of the big boys, such as Man City, Liverpool and Arsenal, which has worked to a tee.
As seen in the Spaniard’s case, the early days of his Gunners side were far from their final form, in terms of both tactical implementation and personnel.
However, football remains a results business, at the end of the day.
And now, Jamie Carragher has pointed how both Mikel Arteta and Erik ten Hag are similar in this respect.
Jamie Carragher points out similarities between Mikel Arteta and Erik ten Hag
In his column for the Telegraph, Carragher writes how Arteta and Ten Hag are similar, “We are yet to see the [Erik] Ten Hag blueprint from Ajax, which is all about domination of the ball. [Manchester] United’s best moments this season, the victories over Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester City especially were built on organised defence and counter-attack.”
“United played ‘underdog football’ in those matches. Those results could have gone either way, but unlike last season, United were competitive and found a way to use their assets to hurt the opponent, helped by the resurgence of Marcus Rashford to make their own luck.”
“That is the only way they can hurt Arsenal at the Emirates, too. Ten Hag deserves admiration for seeing that and structuring the side accordingly.”
“He has compromised his footballing vision to get the most out of the squad he has inherited.”
“Mikel Arteta did the same when he first took over at Arsenal, beating big teams in the FA Cup by soaking up pressure and hitting them on the break.”
Carragher also points out the similarities between both coaches in how they axed big dressing room figures, saying, “Like Ten Hag with Cristiano Ronaldo, Arteta sent a message that he would accept no nonsense from any of his players, taking on and getting rid of high-earning, star names like Mesut Ozil and Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang.”
Ultimately, Jamie Carragher does seem to have a point about how similar Mikel Arteta and Erik ten Hag are in some ways.
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