Mikel Arteta’s pledge to rotate his goalkeepers, not just between matches but during them, would be the latest tactical innovation dreamt up by an adventurous coach and one of the most probing minds in the game.
If Arteta had floated the idea in his early months at Arsenal, when the doubters were emboldened and his critics closing in, the reaction might have been something closer to ridicule. Now, on the back of a renaissance at the Emirates and an aggressive summer transfer window, Arteta’s zanier ploys give pause for thought.
And why not? Football is inherently a conservative sport, often suspicious of new ideas, but the game’s most influential coaches have always found ways to be one step ahead. Pep Guardiola imposed the six-second rule
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