Guardiola was keen to distance himself from Arsenal’s success under former Manchester City assistant Arteta ahead of their FA Cup tie
Pep Guardiola worked with Mikel Arteta at City (Image: Getty Images for Premier League)
The idea that Pep Guardiola has influenced Arsenal’s tactics under Mikel Arteta is ‘bull****’, according to the Manchester City boss.
With Arteta’s Arsenal side leading the way in the Premier League – and on course to equal the 100-point mark he helped City achieve in 2018 – the Gunners arrive at the Etihad on Friday for a tantalising FA Cup clash between the top two sides in the country. Guardiola disagreed with Arteta when he said Friday’s tie would have knock-on effects on the two league meetings coming up before the end of the season but stopped short of claiming any responsibility for Arsenal’s success.
The leaders of the Premier League and Championship are managed by former Guardiola apprentices – Arteta and Vincent Kompany – and the innovative tactics employed by the City boss can sometimes be seen in Arsenal’s play. Still, Guardiola insisted that any success is down to Arteta and his staff, not him.
“With Arsenal, it belongs exclusively to him [Arteta]. The influence [of me] on Arsenal’s success? Zero, zero, zero,” Guardiola said defiantly.
“What I see in Arsenal and many things happening belongs to Mikel and his people. The many things they do belongs to them so I would like to say, ‘Yeah, what they do is because I teach him’. Bull****. I want to compete with them and want to see tomorrow how far we are from his team. The distance we have. I know how to perform.”
Pressed further, Guardiola did accept that Arteta has adapted some aspects of his approach at City, although he used the example of his admiration for Liverpool as proof that ‘copying’ another tactic isn’t possible.
“If you tell me they send the full-back inside with Oleks, we start doing that together here – yeah,” he explained.
“They play in the pockets with [Granit] Xhaka… yeah. They play with wingers higher than the midfielders, like us – yeah. But all the methodology, the process, with the character, the mentality, the set pieces, a thousand million things – that belongs to them. I am not there. I am 52 years old – I have never been in Arsenal.
“My biggest influence is Johan Cruyff but many, many things I do, I learned. I was in Germany and I learned many things playing with [Philipp] Lahm or [David] Alaba. I learn a lot but we play with [Erling] Haaland now and before with [Lionel] Messi and it’s completely different. That’s why what Arsenal does belongs to them because the players they have are different.
“I learn a lot watching Liverpool. A lot. I watched a lot because they have been the biggest rival in the last years and will come back sooner or later. I tried to copy some of that. If I like it and I feel it and I can adapt with the players. Not because they have success so I copy and paste. No. Always my teams belong to me. I feel it, it’s mine. Every day is different.”
Guardiola was also full of praise for Arsenal’s tactics this season, saying he ‘feels’ a combination of qualities that makes them a formidable opponent for the cup clash and also in the title race.
He said: “I see many times, they control many aspects of the game, not just in the tactics way but character away [from home], to play inside or outside, drop a striker or not, the movement of [Bukayo] Saka or [Gabriel] Martinelli, how they make a build-up or go direct, I’m not just talking about this stuff.
“There are many things to do to make 50 points, you don’t make 50 points with just a good build-up or good pressing or good crossing or good deliveries. There are many things to make 50 points. I have felt it, and they have it.”
