5 ways that Mikel Arteta has improved Arsenal already

2. The defence is compact and organised

David Luiz was the man of the match against Manchester United but he wasn’t the only bright performer on this night. Sokratis Papastathopoulos was also bright and he made a number of important tackles throughout the match. They played like traditional defenders but what was most important was their organisation.

When one defender moved, as did the other. This sounds simple to most football fans but for Arsenal defenders in particular, this is a revelation. For years at the Emirates Stadium there has been little to no communication and last night, it showed how much a little talking can do to the back line.

3. The attackers are pressing but they’re pressing efficiently

One of the key features of some of the best sides in the world, including not-least Liverpool, it the pressing nature of their forwards. It goes without saying that having hunger to win back the ball in the final third and taking advantage of defensive mistakes leads to an increase in goals.

However, it’s all well and good pressing in numbers but what good is that when you’re pressing like headless chickens? This was a key problem whenever Arsenal tried to utilise this philosophy in the past.

So, how do you press efficiently? Well, this is where the rocket science football kicks in and we as fans will never really understand why. A simple explanation would be to simply to plug the right gaps, if you excuse the cliché and jargon.

What I mean by this is, sometimes, you don’t have to be relentlessly chasing after the ball as an attacker but rather making sure the easiest passes are blocked off for the opposing team.

This is what Arsenal attackers were doing yesterday and it’s why the likes of Mesut Ozil and Pierre-Emerick preserved their energy while winning back possession more than they are accustomed to.