Mikel Arteta Arsenal truth clearer than ever and Gareth Southgate is proving it with England

It might seem that the sentiment regarding both England manager Gareth Southgate and Arsenal’s equivalent Mikel Arteta could not be more different after the Three Lions put on one of their worst European Championship performances in the 1-1 draw with Denmark. However, on paper, there does not appear to be many differences between them.

Both have taken their respective sides to levels not seen for many years. In the case of England, they have reached their first competitive tournament final for the first time in 55 years while Arsenal have returned to the title race for two successive seasons not seen since close to 20 years ago under Arsene Wenger’s Invincibles who the current team outscored and won more matches than as they finished just two points behind Manchester City.

So why then is there such a different feeling about the two coaches? Well, for starters watch an Arsenal game and watch an England game and the bulk of the answers will become relatively apparent early on.

While Arsenal create plenty of chances and tend to look to consolidate their leads with sizeable victories as seen throughout the season, a goal under Southgate is followed by a timid and defensive follow-up which leads to nervous games and like we saw against Denmark a disappointing draw. Arteta has worked hard to establish principles in his side and has not been afraid to make tough calls with his squad which have positively impacted the side.

While Southgate has sometimes shown some decent nous with calls not to call up certain players or even hook off Harry Kane in yesterday’s game when he was offering little, but the entire England team has lacked balance and the failure to call up a natural left-back despite the presence of Tyrick Mitchell, for instance, is costing the Three Lions.

Ben White has opted not to be made available for selection after a report by The Athletic revealed that an incident involving assistant manager Steve Holland proceeded to him leaving early from the Qatar World Cup. White would be a serious asset to this squad but bridges are certainly not in a good place.

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White has flourished under Arteta, converting him from a centre-half to a right-back as he became arguably the league’s best in 2024. Arteta has found balance in his side with inverted full-backs and a midfield which sees Declan Rice moved into a box-to-box role.

Rice struggled against Denmark playing at the base of a midfield which included Trent Alexander-Arnold who has not shown much in Germany this summer. With a player as talented as Adam Wharton on the bench, and another midfielder in Kobbie Mainoo also available, many are asking why Southgate is shoehorning the Liverpool right-back into his starting eleven.

England have reached a World Cup semi-final and a European Championship final because of the quality of the players on offer, in spite of the mitigations of their manager. Whereas Arteta has found a way to harmonise his group and extract the best from them, arguably seeing a higher level of performance than what most have expected.

The Spaniard has improved players like Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka, helping them reach levels of world-class description. Has Southgate ever got the best from any of his players lent to him at the international level?

Some might argue that he has much less time to work with these players, but I would argue that this is the requirement of an international coach. Every other coach in the space has the same restrictions of time and yet see how Didier Deschamps extracted the best from his French side and look to Vicente del Bosque who brought together the best of Barcelona and Real Madrid among some others like David Silva, Jordi Alba and Cesc Fabregas.

The mad thing is that England could still win the tournament and yet it would not change the view that a change of manager is likely the best thing for the squad. Whereas Arteta’s continual progression of his Arsenal side has earned him a new deal with greater expectations but plenty of optimism that he is indeed the right man to lead them forwards.