Cesc Fabregas pays Arsenal ultimate compliment as Como eye Premier League title-winning tactic
Cesc Fabregas wants to take a leaf out of Mikel Arteta's book.(Image: Photo by Alex Pantling - UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images)
Cesc Fabregas wants to take a leaf out of Mikel Arteta's book as he looks to give Como an edge in the Serie A title race. The former Arsenal and Chelsea midfielder's side enjoyed a 2-1 win over Parma at the Stadio Giuseppe Sinigaglia on Monday night, extending their unbeaten start to the new Italian top-flight campaign.
A centre-half, Jacobo Ramon, and a left-back, Kaiki Bruno, fired Como to victory, and Fabregas was delighted that two defenders were capable of stepping up to the plate. Although neither goal stemmed from a dead-ball scenario, the Spaniard told reporters after the game that he plans to take a leaf out of Arteta's book.
When quizzed on Bruno, who's currently on loan from Cruzeiro, Fabregas said: "He has already played for the Brazil team, so he has a lot of quality and will help us a great deal.
"He really enjoys defending, and it showed today. He will slowly settle in to give what we are looking for in him. In modern football, it is very important to have defenders who score goals."
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The Como boss continued: "Arsenal won the Premier League largely with goals from defenders and on set plays. If we add this to our capabilities, then it's an advantage."
Last season, when the Gunners won the Premier League, they scored 25 goals from set pieces, including a record 19 from corners. Across all competitions, Arsenal defenders also chipped in with 12 goals, with Gabriel Magalhaes and Jurrien Timber finding the net four times each.
Fabregas added: "This was an important response for the team, because it means I can rely on everyone. I am very happy with the performance. This is an important victory for me as a coach, because I am starting to realise what team we could become.
"There were so many new dynamics to deal with this season. When you have 31 shots on goal and score only once, you know that the opponents will change something to shore up their defence, and that you risk conceding, which we eventually did."
Fabregas has long admired the project at the Emirates Stadium. Last month, when Arsenal hosted Como in a pre-season friendly, he heaped praise on the higher-ups for having 'patience' with Arteta.
"Congratulations to the club in general, starting from seven, eight years ago when they first started with this project," said Fabregas. "Because what you see in football every day, what Arsenal did, especially in the difficult moments, it doesn’t exist.
"I told Edu, I told Andrea [Berta] when I came last year to a Champions League game, I said congratulations to the whole club for the patience, for sticking together, for sticking to the plan when for three years in a row, correct me if I’m wrong, finished eighth, eighth, eighth, fourth year nearly Champions League.
"It was a big disappointment, Tottenham came, you finish fifth, but you keep going because you have a plan, because you have an objective, because you have progression, you keep going forward.
"We lack this in football today. You lose three games, change the coach, he was playing one style, now you play another, at the end of the day I don’t believe in this a lot.
"I’m very lucky I’m in a project, of course with much lower level, the history, everything, but we’re trying to look at the stability Arsenal had, the values, the culture that they are bringing."
Fabregas added: "I think Mikel has done a tremendous job. So I can only wish them the best, really. Because most of the group, these guys, now you talk to them, I don’t know… they’re good guys, they want to play good football, they are respectful, you can see how they stick to the plan all the time.
"Really, I’m super happy to come back here and smell this feeling..."
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