Jamie Carragher has been talking about Arsenal. (Photo by Catherine Ivill/Getty Images)
Jamie Carragher has doubled down on his stance Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal are turning into a Jose Mourinho-style team as the Gunners attempt to win a first Premier League title in 20 years.
Arsenal’s title hopes were dealt another blow on Saturday as the north London outfit suffered a 1-0 defeat at Newcastle. That’s gone Arteta’s team are seven points behind leaders Liverpool after ten games and it doesn’t look likely that they will end their wait for an English top-flight title this season.
The Gunners were heavily criticized for their performance at St James’ Park as they looked flat and without ideas. On top of that, Arsenal haven’t been at their best defensively, something the north London outfit prided themselves on last season.
Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher admitted earlier in the campaign that Arteta’s side are turning into a Jose Mourinho-style outfit and the former Liverpool star has now doubled down on that comment.
“Listen, Pep Guardiola and Jose Mourinho are the two most dominant and successful managers of the last 15 to 20 years,” Carragher said. Sky Sports before Fulham’s game with Brentford.
“But they are at both ends of the spectrum in terms of the style of football. Look at the players brought here; what is the style they want to achieve? He is morphing into Jose Mourinho.
“Now, again, it’s not a criticism of Arsenal or Mikel Arteta. It’s an analysis because this is a guy who has won the Premier League three times. Arsenal haven’t won the Premier League for 20 years, so is where it takes them.
“But if you think about Jose Mourinho as a manager, if he took over my club, what would he think he was getting? My first thing would be to think that my team will be strong defensively. There is no doubt about it.
“Arsenal are strong defensively. (Also) height and strength and power in my team. We just highlighted that about the size and power of this Arsenal team. That’s what you get from Mourinho. That’s what you get from Arsenal right now.”
“He’s morphing into Jose Mourinho”?@Carra23 Do you think Mikel Arteta is trying to use a ‘Mourinho approach’ to win the Premier League? pic.twitter.com/LaTtFOVJm9
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Jamie Carragher has a trophy at Arsenal
After explaining this, Caragher went on to say that the difference between a Mourinho team and an Arteta team is that the Portuguese manager wins trophies.
Arsenal have won the FA Cup during the Spaniard’s reign but, since returning to the top of the Premier League, the north London club have yet to add to their trophy cabinet.
“The one thing we also have to say Arsenal are not like Jose Mourinho is winning trophies,” Carragher said. Now, if Jose Mourinho is watching tonight and sees that, he’ll say, “But I win trophies.”
“At the moment, Arsenal have not won any trophies. They’ve been fantastic. The football they have played has been fantastic and how they are doing.
“But anyone who thinks I’ve just plugged this Jose Mourinho thing to create some sort of negativity around Arsenal… They’re analyzing exactly where Arsenal are going.”
