Per Mertesacker: Arteta Is More Intense Than Wenger

Per Mertesacker on how Mikel Arteta compares to the club’s most successful manager…

Former Arsenal skipper Per Mertesacker stated that there are clear differences between the way current manager Mikel Arteta coaches compared to Arsene Wenger, he told Suddeutsche.

Mertesacker played alongside Arteta for five years and now works with the Spaniard in a different capacity, with the former World Cup winner heading up our academy.

Arteta, after a challenging first full season as manager, is currently enjoying a decent run of form and has us sitting fourth at the halfway stage of the campaign for the first time in over 14 months.

While the 39-year-old has had his job title changed from ‘head coach’ to ‘first-team manager’, Mertesacker claims his former teammate is much more hands-on than Wenger was.

After a summer of transition, Arteta is also now guiding the youngest squad in the league on average.

“Mikel has a different knit than Arsene, is intense and focused,” Mertesacker was quoted as saying.

“He tries to be very active as a trainer, to respond to the new generation and to clearly show what is required.

“The current generation needs more requirements, while in my time much more was regulated in dialogue with one another.”

Tinkering with his starting XI in recent seasons translated as a manager not yet sure on who he can trust, those days seem long gone.

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Arteta has made only one change to his last five Premier League teamsheets, one that was enforced due to Takehiro Tomiyasu’s absence with Covid-19.

All the usual metrics show that the former Man City assistant is starting to shape the team in his image and with tangible success. Ahead of our clash at Norwich City, only the champions had picked up more Premier League points since Boxing Day 2020.

Despite that progress, Arteta will inevitably be judged on how the team finishes this campaign.