There is a definite style to Emery’s attack.
Sorry if that’s a bit abrupt. I’ve never been good at openings.
Anyway, there’s a definite style to Emery’s attack. And I like it.
What’s not to like? Players dribbling at defenders with speed, dropping the ball off to a second attacker who crosses into space for a third player (or even the original player) to get the ball and score with their first touch? Magnificent. Arsenal already have two strong goal of the season candidates in under 10 matches.
There is no question that Emery has Arsenal’s guns firing. People are already suggesting that Özil is back to full pötential and players like Bellerin and Iwobi look like they have found a new lease on life.
In nine matches, Bellerin already has 4 assists. That’s one more than all of last season, though since that was a ship sinking in the maelstrom of Wenger’s final season that’s not a fair comparison. A more apt comparison is the season before, when he had 4 assists. Or his breakout season, 2015/16 when he had 5. The point here is that it’s clear that Emery has Bellerin in top form.
And while Iwobi isn’t getting the gross stats (1 goal and 1 assist) his underlying stats are the best on the team and is clearly (according to the all-important “eye test”) a much better player than last season. He puts this down to a newfound freedom,
“The manager has just given me the confidence to express myself and to believe in my ability, which I have been trying to show. In training, too, he is always letting me try new things – be positive, be direct and prove it in the games. It is working for me so I just have to keep it going.
“Do I feel like a better player than a year ago? I’d just say I am more confident. I feel that even if I make a mistake, I am able to go again. I think that is the difference between me last year and this year.”
Of all the things that Wenger was known for, giving players freedom to express themselves was top of the list. But instead of a criticism of Wenger (per se) I think Iwobi was exposing the tension in the squad in those last two seasons under Wenger. Wenger wanted to win. The players wanted to win. But the team was so error-prone and fans were so quick to grumble in the stadium (or protest, or outright boo) that there must have been a lot of fear of failure in the squad.
You could see it every time someone ghosted past Xhaka and his teammates looked around in frustration. And you could read about it in the papers like that time they leaked a meeting in which the senior players basically said “we are on our own here.”
Emery’s remit (terrible transition) this season was to reanimate the careers of several players, among them Bellerin and Iwobi. The cynic in me sees this as the club trying to recover some lost wealth at the end of the Wenger era but even if we sell off these players, in the interim it’s going to be amazing to watch them in attack.
The one thing that has me “worried” is the defense. Emery’s teams have never proven themselves to be defensively solid. In his last season at Sevilla his team allowed more shots than any other team in la Liga. At PSG he couldn’t put away a 4-goal lead against Barcelona in the Champions League. And here at Arsenal, despite playing two “defensive” midfielders (or at least two deep-lying midfielders) we still look as open as ever before and have allowed by far the most shots of any of the top clubs and have the most saves of any of the top clubs.
Perhaps that’s down to personnel. A lot of folks put all the blame on Arsenal’s defensive woes on the doorstep of giant screechy goofball Mustafi. I don’t blame him as much and instead see the problems starting in midfield, where I don’t think he’s gotten the chemistry right quite yet and I’m apparently the only person still unconvinced by Torreira. Especially Torreira partnered with Xh*ka.
I like Torreira’s enthusiasm. I like that he’ll try to head-tackle the ball away. But he is tiny. He’s often shrugged off on tackles. And he seems to be a few steps off pace still. Of course, he does have to cover for Granit, who still believes good defending is pulling a shirt or stepping on a foot. So, I’m not at all saying “Torreira is crap”. Just that I’m not all in on this player yet.
Beside midfield we were also told that Emery wanted to press from the front, which we haven’t seen much of. Emery’s tried a variety of “press-ish” players in the Ozil role, notably Ramsey, in order to get that started but so far it looks like he’s settled on Ozil instead of the press. Not that I think that’s an awful thing, if you’re going to have an Ozil on your team, you might like to use him in the middle because WOW GOALS.
I should be clear: I am not expecting Emery to turn miracles overnight and fix a defense that allowed a club record (Premier League) number of goals last season. I don’t expect Mustafi, Granit, Torreira to be suddenly solid at the back and I can’t reasonably expect that Arsenal will be a smooth, organized press (while also being an unleashed 69 gun attack) in just a few months of his tenure. These are all just kind of low level aches in my molars. Dull pains that I hope disappear in history as the Emery revolution gathers pace.
And one day, when he’s got everything sorted out and Torreira is the Player of the Year , you’ll be able to say “remember when 7amkickoff was worried about the Arsenal defense? HA! What a fool.” Heck, I’ll say it right along with you. I’m never shy to admit when I’m wrong.
But this is how I feel: the attack is magnificent, the defense is.. ehh.
But of course, Emery must be given time to get this exactly how he wants it. And I’m all in for that.
So much of out attack goes through Bellerin now, that if you stop him getting forward, you cut off an important supply route for us. If Im an opposing coach, I jdouble team him when he has the ball at RB. It of course creates an Iwobi/Monreal/ Kolasinac dynamic on the left, which isnt bad either. Iwobi could easily have had two more assists, and I think that he’s got a few “pre-assists.” Hector’s defending is getting better too. He wasn’t very good at stopping that shot against Leicester, but his overall improvement there is undeniable.
Spot on about the Mesut trade-off. Against Leicester he had his best game for us, and one of the best attacking displays Ive ever seen from an Arsenal forward. But while it’s becoming a bit tiresome to state it, hard-pressing Liverpool will be a test for him, and for us. It’s probably not possible to bring the level of invention he brought against the Foxes AND the energy that Emery requires. So you make a trade off. Mesut also needs to bring it more consistently. In big games often he supplies neither the energy nor the invention at 10, and when that happens, we stutter. When we have him and Xhaka centrally and we’re being pressed to death, we become more open.
But, credit to out No 10, he’s forged a terrific understanding with the two strikers and with Hector. It looks like a symphony. They look like they finish each others’ sentences. A not-much-talked-about part of the 3rd goal was Lacazette reading Ozil’s mind to perfection. That high-speed manoeuvre could have broken down if Laca wasnt on the same vibe. Glorious to watch.
Torreira? Not up to speed fully on this league, but Im happy with him. I’ve only seen one team bully him off the ball all game, and that was Watford. Apart from that, he’s held his own. He reads really well, and sniffs out danger well for someone so young. He always seems to be in the right place at the right moment… unlike Xhaka, who always seems a micro-beat behind the play. He does a lot of tidying up, positionally and with loose balls. He can pass too. See that ball to Ozil for the famous third goal. There’s a stat floating about for when he’s on the field for us, versus when he isn’t. It shows that we do far better with him in the side.
Mustafi’s been alright these past few games. I think that a much underrated factor has been the calming influence of Leno.
Agree with that last sentence. As a matter of fact, if you have watched any of the post game interviews, you will notice that Mustafi has mentioned Leno twice now. He has appeared a little less jumpy with Leno behind him. although I don’t expect Mustafi to suddenly become a good defender overnight, that extra bit of confidence seems to have helped him. Maybe it’s just the German connection.
Watching Maguire on the 3rd goal made me feel sad for the guy. He tracks back hard to keep up with the blistering attack, then barrels toward Ozil to close him down, but Ozil’s dummy freezes him momentarily. Then he realizes Ozil is in behind, and wheels around to try to catch him, but he’s too late. Maguire gives up chasing and his shoulders droop. He can only stand and watch in dismay as Ozil flicks to Auba and it’s 3-1. He just looked like this lumbering Frankenstein next to Ozil’s gazelle ballet.
Three cheers for this comment!
I like our progress thus far and the fact that we constantly score 2+goals in games. I don’t mind giving up shots to opponents as long as its individual xG numbers are low. Moving from individual brilliance to collective effort on goals has been a progress recently. More repeatable. We still do a fair amount of counter pressing when we lose the ball. Pressing opponents when they are in possession will be sorted once he gets his combinations right. Most impressive above everything from Emery is his man management. Results helped a fair bit but I guess he learned his lessons from Neymar fiasco. There is no 2nd squad, seniority or assured spot in the team. This gives him tactical flexibility and promotes an environment for players to improve.
Should Emery start Xhaka at left back to make room for Torreira-Guendouzi in midfield? If we think Xhaka sucks at defense, I’m not sure moving him further back is the solution…but if it worked out it would solve two of our problems (the other one being finding a successor for Monreal).
As someone who’s cooled on Xhaka (perhaps irreversibly) I have to say that he did a decent job at LB. Defended well. But playing full back at Arsenal is physically demanding, and I cant see him getting up and down like Bellerin and Monreal. Can you imagine him losing the ball in the opposition third and having to run back to stop a counter?
I have more belief than most in Kolasinac. When he learns to be better positioned defensively, he’ll be a hell of a player.
I think Xh*ka is on his way out. He won’t be playing left back, he was roasted twice in that position and just fouled his man.
Definitely lacks the requisite quickness or reps to fill in there. I only happened in this game because he was the only left footer not named Mesut Ozil in the squad.
But guys, guys, we have bigger problems than Granit Xhaka, don’t we? At least I think we do.
Rumor is that Carl Jenkinson, Uber Gunner and (sort of, kind of) Arsenal player is traveling with the team to Portugal. Jenks will take us to the top.
Nice piece by Tim Stillman on Arseblog, BTW about the rare vicarious treat it is to enjoy that a fellow fanatic actually became a signed player for the team and even scored a goal.
Tim, get another Saburu. Go for the rally one, the WRX with the three differentials. I love that car.
Nah, buy a Toyota Tacoma. Named after your city, looks boss, and goes everywhere.
I used to love the old models. The new ones are just giant cars.
I’m going to look around. Must have AWD, high chassis.
Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV if you’re interested in a plugin hybrid. Biggest selling SUV in Europe and while few AWD systems can match Subaru, the Mitsu is pretty decent.
Or if you don’t really care about your daughter’s college, go for the Range Rover HSE.
I thought we pressed pretty well after going a goal down. I think in the premier league it’s very hard to press for 90 minutes due to the pace of the game. There needs to be phases when we drop back, soak up some pressure and try to hit on the counter. The 2011-2012 Dortmund team did this to perfection at some away games. We have a lot of work to do on this front but I do see an improvement in our movement and understanding of space when we don’t have the ball. Torreira, while I agree that he isn’t fully up to speed with the premier league yet, has actually shown himself to be quite intelligent so far. Just watch his movement in the center of the park. He is always shifting rather than running around or being static (neither of which is desirable). He reads the game pretty well too.
I think torreira deserves more credit for that goal..his pass carved open their defence and it had the right power needed for ozïl to make that sleek flick!
Agree. The most underrated part of that move.
Agree with the concern about the D, but the fifalona game was fixed by a mile, and should not count against him.
Still feels like a Wenger team that needs to outscore the opposition, but the Arsenal have closed out a few ugly wins.
We are becoming Brazil 1970. You score 1, we’ll score 2, you score 2, we’ll score 3 or 4. Defense, defense, we don’t need no stinkin’ defense (Apologies to Humprey Bogart in ‘Treasure of the Sierra Madre’).
I don’t know if it’s as much Emery as the squad he inherited which was not only light on great defenders but also top heavy on great attackers. So he is playing to the strengths of the squad he has. Also I don’t mind a manager prioritizing the attack. That’s what top squads do. It’s much harder to try to score yourself than to be passive and just try not to get beaten; anyone can “coach” the latter. Run hard lads! Put yer foot through it! And if you attack, you leave some gaps. It’s simple economics. Pep’s old teams somehow were both incredibly secure and incredibly potent and while that should be everyone’s blueprint I don’t see a lot of teams that can do that anywhere in the world.
I slightly disagree.. maybe it’s because I really don’t like him both as a person and as a coach.. I just think he’s the attacking minded version of Jose.. he coached Barcelona and they had messi.. the best form of defence for that team was the attack.. they had such a potent attack that they could keep teams back in their halves throughout a game.. when they met the real definition of a balanced squad, they fell off..that Bayern team was a menace both in defence and attack..they had it all!
I know we’ve been playing like s$%t in the first 45 minutes but this is dreary to watch. Could there be two worse teams in football right now than Sporting and Arsenal? Somebody f#@king do something, please!
My Arsenal addiction is powerful enough to make me sit and watch that 1st half, despite so many other things that I could have done to make me feel productive, energized…happy! No, instead I decided to watch insipid football. No one to blame but myself, just venting.
I didn’t see the first half but certainly a very creditable win away to Sporting who have a terrific home record. Welbeck with the laser nutmeg for the win! That cool finish with the game on the line was so unlike him and must’ve felt amazing for him. I’m starting to think maybe we need to offer him a new contract at this rate.
By the sounds of things Mkhi was having issues tracking his FB in this game, so same as Monday against Chilwell. He seems to have sorted that out by the end of the game. I can’t remember Arsenal looking this secure with a narrow win, and that’s with Granit Xhaka at left back!
By the sounds of things as well, Torreira stabilized things in the middle of the park and the quick hook for ElNeny, who hardly gets a game these days, augurs poorly for his Arsenal future. Ramsey was his usual hard working but ineffectual self in that #10 role that I still don’t think suits him but that he adores. See above, the chicken bones don’t paint a pretty picture for his future in red and white.
Man of the match? Mesut Ozil. Exactly.
First half, talk about sublime to the scrappy. We were clearly second best, and Socratis was lucky to stay on the pitch after getting a fistful of shirt as last man. Torreira brought instant control when he came on, and he made us play. The No. 9 Acuna (playing LWB) had Lichtsteiner on toast. Mhiki wasnt good, Auba wasn’t good, Licht wasn’t good, Ramsey wasn’t much better, and Guendouzi thought he had more time on the ball than he actually did. Holding gave the ball away dangerously, and Xhaka booted a backpass to the keeper straight out of touch for a corner.
We got better, though, and deserved our goal. Everyone perked up… Mhki excepted, and Guendouzi especially. Torreira’s ball circulation and positional astuteness was the key.
Agreed Guen was lingering on the ball a lot today. Lost possession a few times.
Dribbling rather than making the quick pass, and slowing any attack that resulted. A little disappointed in him.
Yes, Ozil was missed, but I think we also missed Laca till he came on at the end. His link up play is seriously underappreciated. Little touches and movement that open things up. Auba is strong and fast, but for this offense, Laca is becoming instrumental. Glad he got the rest, though.
I don’t care that Torreira is diminutive. He gives us something we have been sorely lacking in a midfielder for a long time and that’s positional discipline. That in itself fixes a lot of our midfield issues.
My memory fails me… who was the esteemed member of this forum who consistently told us that Torreira was overrated and would be a liability for us?
Hoping he will do the manly thing and ‘fess up, post a humble mea culpa on here, and bow down before our diminutive Uruguayan midfield general.
I think Torreira is still a work in progress and that most Arsenal supporters are vastly overrating him. Same thing seems to happen with nearly every player and this tends to go through phases (look at the life and times of one Aaron Ramsey). The wise fan doesn’t gloat about a one to two week “win” and instead waits for him to be an integral part of a multiple trophy winning dynasty.
It’s part of the flaw of modernity: we reach for the top shelf superlatives as soon as possible, losing nuance and subtlety along the way.
Point taken Tim. We’ve achieved approximately nothing yet.
But what both Torreira and Guendouzi have done by supplanting Elneny & Ramsey in the CM positions is they’ve shown us how structural problems can be resolved by getting the right profile of player in the right position. It’s a simple point that’s worth acknowledging.
The poster I’m referring to was adamant that Torreira’s success in Serie A meant nothing and wouldn’t translate to the Premier League. Agree he’s still a work in progress and we haven’t seen a peak-Torreira game yet (saw him described as potentially the best tactical mid after Busquets by one nutty European sportswriter!) but the indicators are positive.
Clearly my hissy fit about the first half had it’s intended effect: we got a result and top the group!
If we do it again in the return fixture, we will guarantee top of group finish and can coast into the knockout rounds resting our best players, while giving much needed minutes to the NKetia’s and Smith Rowe’s of the world. This is good. Thank you Danny.
Someone on one of the pods mentioned that Arsenal has not developed a high press, but has developed a much more coherent ‘middle press’… I was looking for a more dramatic Liverpool-like transformation, but am happily settling for this improved middle press combined with a more dynamic attack…
Hey Tim
When you do your weekly Guardian Long Read, this week you’ll find an exceptional one on South London seventh tier football club Dulwich Hamlet, who were almost made non existent by property developers. Terrific read.