Mikel Arteta: Mr. Consistent is criminally under-rated

Mr. Consistent: Mikel Arteta has slowly but surely gone about his business. (Getty Images)

In the world of football, especially the tiki-taka style, the Xavi’s and Iniesta’s are the cynosure of all the eyes. While they make the key-passes, there is a central midfielder who stays back and provides a protection to the back-four. Arsenal’s Mikel Arteta seems to be redefining that role.

To realise the significance of his role, let us take a look at his career. He came through the Barcelona academy and moved to Paris Saint-Germain. He won the Scottish League with Rangers, followed by a failed spell at Real Sociedad and the subsequent move to Everton, where he played 174 games for the Toffees. All this while, he was acknowledged for his play-making skills rather than for holding back and dictating the tempo and controlling the pace of the game.

At Arsenal though, he has changed his role. Last season, he along with Alex Song provided protection for the back-four while foraging forward. But with the departure of Robin Van Persie and Alex Song, his role at Arsenal changed and he became indispensable. He is now an influential leader on the pitch, and a model professional off it. He is the captain and the penalty taker of the team.

The fact that he hasn’t represented Spain is a travesty. At 31, there is not much scope for improvement but, with a match rating of 7.34 per game, he is the best amongst the central-midfielders at performing the role given to him.

The following tables are based on the statistics of Arsenal players this season.

While Arteta is well behind both Aaron Ramsey and Abou Diaby in the through-balls department, it is a testament to his ability to dictate the game’s tempo.

Arteta has completed 91 percent of his 2734* passes while Ramsey has completed 88% of his 1847* passes in the Premier League. While Ramsey’s best performances have come as a left-sided central midfielder and a center-defensive midfielder, his defensive contributions are still less as compared to Arteta.

28 key passes and 10 crosses across 40 games in the Premier League and the Champions League show that Arteta didn’t have as much of an attacking influence on the team as he had at Everton. But he has more than made up for it, with the heavy duty tackling; he is the closest to what Arsenal has for a defensive midfielder.

While no significant individual weakness has been identified for Arteta, his particular style of play renders Arsenal without a physical presence in their squad. Francis Coquelin and Emmanuel Frimpong aren’t matured enough. But this has to do with Arsene Wenger’s philosophy that in the modern game, there is no need of a defensive midfielder, provided that all contribute in defense, not all players can run around the field for the entire season, unless you are Jurgen Klopp and the team is Borrusia Dortmund.

The reason why fans generally don’t notice Mikel Arteta while playing is that – he sits deep and distributes the play across the width of the ground. This is why his contributions in the Norwich, Fulham and QPR games went unnoticed despite clocking up ratings of 8.01, 8.08 and 8.58 respectively.

His game may not be flashy and particularly eye catching but tactically he is one of the key men of the Gunners’ artillery. But that is what his role has become – that of a regista. Call it an evolution or regression; Arteta has finally come of age for Arsenal.