Jose Mourinho has admitted he loves what manager Mikel Areta is doing at Arsenal and has also praised him for using Jakub Kiwior as a left-back.
The Gunners are top of the Premier League table having played one more game than Manchester City, and leaving Etihad Stadium with a point last month following a goalless draw appealed to the former Manchester United manager.
A loss against the reigning champions would have been damaging, and Mourinho was impressed with the defensive display he saw from the Gunners.
“I am happy because I like the kid,” Mourinho told the Daily Telegraph.
“And I am happy everything goes for him. But the way they [Arsenal] played to get that point – and the way the media spoke about a magic strategy.
“In my time, it was not a magic strategy, and I won at Manchester City a few times. But it was not an amazing strategy. It was a defensive game. Park the bus. Park the double bus. It was a different perspective.
Mourinho also pointed out how Arsenal have been playing plenty of natural centre-backs across other positions just to have much-needed defensive compactness.
“Look to Manchester City, look to Arsenal – just to give two examples. How many central defenders do they have in the team?” he continued.
“Sometimes they have six. As a matter of principle. Then they play in other positions. They play right-back, left-back, they play midfield. But they play with five or six central defenders on the pitch. Why? If I am a journalist I would ask the manager.”
“They feel the need for defensive stability and a defensive compactness.”
Mourinho claims the reason Arteta uses Kiwior as a left-back is because his physicality is useful in winning duels and defending set-pieces, and the 24-year-old has played more in the position than centre-back.