Seriously, how many of us could have honestly envisaged him becoming one of our best and most important player when we signed him? Some said it was nothing more than a panic buy and he was said to be past his best after some serious injuries. He has been nothing short of brilliant for us, especially in the whole of 2012. When he got injured against Wigan in the final part of last season, our whole midfield fell apart. His ability to just sit and control the pace game is class and he has already formed a great understanding with Santi Cazorla. After Song's exit, he has been played in a deeper midfield position and he has slotted in there without any hesitation and because of his ability on the ball, he can still find the killer pass like he did for Gervinho's first goal against Southampton. The only worry is that we might be over-reliant on him, maybe Wilshere's return will ease that problem. This thread is just to wax lyrical's about the other Spanish maestro.
Nice to see a non-spam thread About Arteta however, i agree 100% with your sentiments. We paid 10 million for him, but if we judge his performances for us, he's worth 10 times what we paid for him. Our spanish duo are the key to this team's success, but he's such an intelligent player. i've said it numerous times before, but i'll say it again. Best "panic buy" ever.
I was unsure of the signing, because of his injury record. Shows that Le Boss knows far more than i do.
Just happened upon this thread as it was on the home page but...he is a fantastic player. If he was English he'd definitely have been an understudy to the hugely successful kick and rush duo of Lampard and Gerrard.
I knew you could lock thread but I didnt know you could delete them, the amount of wum articles on the United board says it all really
http://hereisthecity.com/2012/09/16/mikel-arteta-missing-link-in-search-for-elusive-silverware/ Interesting article which pretty much echos SuperJack's sentiments.
When we signed Arteta how many of us thought he would end up playing as our most 'defensive' midfielder and doing that role so well?? At Everton he was more of an attacking playmaker but I think Wenger has given him a role that really brings out the best in him. We all knew he was good in posession but I'm surprised just how good he is at winning back the ball also. For me though Carzorla has been nothing short of sensational in our opening games.
He started as a DM and played that way until he ended up at Rangers where, being their best player, he was given a fairly free role and began to show his attacking abilities too.
Correct me if I am wrong but Arteta was a defending midfielder for most of his career in Barca, PSG and Real Sociedad. This is his natural role.
Apparently so, I was not awaire of that. Makes sense though. If you look at him now (compared to 3-4 years ago) he looks to have bulked up a bit and although perhaps lost a little bit of pace he's now physically better suited to the DM role IMO.
I remember clearly the doom mongers crying about 'panic buy' 'injury prone' Arteta. Citing it as an example of how far we had fallen and a demonstration of our lack of ambition and willingness to accept 2nd best. And they wonder why they got such short shrift ?
Don't forget we came within minutes of not getting Arteta in that transfer window. Imagine what would have happened last season if that deal hadn't gone through..
