Cesc Fabregas has praised Mikel Arteta for wanting to impose his own style on the team, but has reminded the Arsenal manager that some Jose Mourinho-style pragmatism could be useful for him.
Arsenal have looked good in some games this campaign, but they have also struggled to maintain the fine form in the Premier League.
The gunners lost early in the season to Manchester City and Liverpool but losses to Leicester City and Aston Villa have followed and they are just 11th in the table.
Arteta is trying to stamp his authority on the team and has imposed a ball-playing style, which has caused mistakes for them in defence and has also seen them struggle to create enough chances going forward.
However, Fabregas has faith Arteta’s tactics, and has urged him not to abandon it entirely in search of results, but the former Arsenal star knows that results must improve as soon as possible and he must find a balance.
‘That’s they key nowadays, especially from what I’ve seen in the last four or five years with coaches that I’ve had,’ Cesc Fabregas told 90min.com.
‘They come with an idea, they try to start with that idea, but as soon as something goes wrong, they become a little bit… not scared, but they prefer to get results and get confidence, rather than keep going with their philosophy or their ideas and lose.
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‘Like [Jose] Mourinho always used to say, you need to be pragmatic. Maybe at the beginning nowadays, you do need to get results first, I don’t deny that, but you have to have the personality.
‘For example, someone like Patrick Vieira at Nice. I followed him at New York City and now at Nice for a few years. He has a young squad but he goes with his philosophy no matter what. He likes to play.
‘He knows that the kids will make mistakes, but he says ‘If you make a mistake, it’s on me’. He has the personality to not change. You will not see Vieira going 4-4-2 in a defensive way or something like that because he always believes in his players and his methodology. It’s very nice to see coaches like this.’
