Arteta has Arsenal playing defense from the front

One thing that I despised about Emeryball was the passivity. What we know for a fact is that Arsenal were one of the least aggressive defensive teams in the League and that as a direct result they allowed the opponents to take over 16 shots a game.

There was at least a game-plan in a sense. The idea was to stay compact and allow opponents to shoot low percentage shots (from outside the box). And when the team did attack there was almost no effort to win the ball back when we lost it. The instructions, instead, were to sprint back to the 18 yard box as fast as possible, a phenomenon that drove many viewers crazy.

But ironically, by trying to play defensive football Emery’s Arsenal ended up piling huge pressure on his defense which then gifted errors and goals to the opponents. You probably won’t believe me when I tell you that this defensive passivity is one of the hallmarks of a Sam Allardyce team. His teams rarely had possession and also rarely made defensive actions.

And since Arteta took over, Arsenal’s shots allowed per game has dropped from 16.1 to 10.25. That’s having played against Chelsea and Man U – teams which Emery’s Arsenal gave up 13 and 16 shots to in this fixture last season.

What Arteta has done is taken the first step on his road to recovery for the team. He’s convinced the forwards to play defense. If you recall, this is exactly what I wanted Arteta to do two years ago when I wrote that piece about how Arsenal needed a culture change and a DM to compete. Back then I noticed that Ozil and the other forwards at Arsenal were simply not putting in the defensive work on par with their contemporaries.

It’s one of the most impressive facts about Klopp and Guardiola’s work as managers that they are able to get superstar forwards to do the dirty work of pressing and tackling. But it’s also completely logical: if you are winning the ball high up the pitch you are greatly increasing the chances of scoring while also protecting your defenders and limiting the opposition’s shots.

And so far, that’s exactly what Arteta has done at Arsenal.

Now, of course you’re going to say “small sample size” and yes, that’s correct but I don’t really care. I will watch this and see if the trend continues as I suspect it will.

Simply put the front four attackers (Ozil, Pepe, Auba, and Laca) have increased their defensive actions (blocks, interceptions, and tackles) from an average of 9.25 defensive actions per game to 16.9. This increase of 7.7 defensive actions per game correlates with an overall increase in BITs by the team of 7.3. So in short, the team is playing the same way, but Arteta has the forwards playing defense finally.

Aubameyang puts in the most work. He’s averaging 6.75 BITs per game right now. That’s up from 2.9 under Emery/Ljungberg. Auba is actually quite the aggressive tackler – he likes to get a foot in up front. He’s attempted 13 tackles in his 4 League matches under Arteta. Of course, one of those was late and he got a red card but I hope that won’t slow him down.

Ozil’s still the worst, or least active, and his numbers have seen a modest increase of just 1.9 to 2.8 but what’s funny here is that Ozil has only attempted 21 tackles this season, 9 of them in the last four games!

A similar story with Lacazette: he went from 2 BITs per game to 3.75 but just to highlight how much more work he’s doing now, in these last four games, he’s put up 41% of his overall defensive numbers. With Ozil that number increases to 42%. And Pepe has also increased his defensive work from 2.4 to 3.7.

Now with Aubameyang out for a few weeks, Arteta will almost certainly turn to Martinelli and what’s fascinating here is that the young Brazilian is almost a carbon copy of Aubameyang in that regard. It’s difficult to be 100% positive because he’s only played in the Europa League and sporadically in the Premier League, but his per90 stats show me a player who likes to tackle a lot. His BITs per90 are 6.7 – exactly the same as Auba. My guess is that he will put up similar numbers in that regard to Auba.

One more tidbit: Danny Ceballos is another hard-working defender. He attempts the most tackles per90 (5.4) of anyone on the team and while he doesn’t block or intercept as much as he probably could, (combined just 0.5) he would be a major upgrade defensively on Ozil and should be considered for at least some playing time when he’s fully recovered.

Arsenal have a lot of work to do still. The attack isn’t quite as cohesive as we would like and that’s largely down to the oddness of Arsenal’s midfield. But I feel like Arteta is taking steps with this team, building up their defending first, and then he’ll move on to attack.

Qq

51 comments

  1. Had no idea about Danny Onions’ tackles!

    I can’t tell you how much more relaxing it is to watch Arsenal now that the league / top four is basically finished for us, and all that’s left to do is spot signs of a different and better direction. Really looking forward to next season.

    1. Ceballos is interesting because it’s all or nothing with him in the tackle. He wins possession 1.49 times p90 which is 4th highest at Arsenal but also is dribbled past 2.84 times p90 the most at Arsenal. I suspect that this is simply down to experience.

      Bellerin is 2nd worst at being dribbled (2.76) in PL play but is almost never dribbled in EL.

      1. Ceballos is weak. Generally, I like him, but when he showed up the first thing I thought is that he needs 10-12lbs of muscle on his frame. So what happens when you’re weak(er) is you have problems with closing distance, planting, pivoting and changing direction at speed because that requires deep flexion in the knees and hips to decelerate and then power to accelerate again. Hence the challenges with getting dribbled past. I have reservations about his ability to help with the pressing – he has energy and fitness and reads the game well, but Guardiola, and Klopp especially, are careful to recruit naturally athletic players to employ the pressing style precisely because the need to pivot and change directions at top speed while chasing the ball is so critical.

        1. Hit the nail on the head. This is where our recruitment missed the mark completely. It seems we disregard the importance of agility in players ….. what you describe as “pivoting and changing direction” quickly particularly when defending. A classical example of such a player is N’golo Kante. Our nearest to that is Torreira but he lacks body strength. Our furtherest away from that is Xhaka, followed by Guendz. To me that’s why their combo is doomed to fail.

        2. Nothing wrong with Danny’s pivoting. It’s just that he can only do it on one of his feet! Dude is the most one-footed player I’ve seen. He’s like the anti-Cazorla.

          1. Liam Brady was more one footed and he was an all time great. He could open a can of peas with his left foot. His right leg was for standing on only. A magician, nonetheless.

        3. Ceballos is also very flat footed. Watch him run and his feet are at “10 to 2”. I can’t think of many athletes who run like that for the simple reason it is inefficient

    2. Further evidence that he’s just not up to speed: very low interceptions/blocks numbers. Could mean that he’s not reading the game properly.

      1. Is he someone who could improve noticeably next season? Or will he never have the physicality for this? A weak first season may be to our advantage if it means his asking price is lower than it would otherwise be.

    3. It’s Ceballos though… not Cebollas. Though both have the effect of making me cry sometimes.

      1. cebolla – Wiktionary
        Noun. cebolla f (plural cebolles) onion (a monocotyledonous plant of genus Allium allied to garlic, used as vegetable and spice.)

  2. Aubamayang was playing central under Emery more, now Laca is in the middle Auba has to do more defensive duties covering the left back.
    Laca has a more difficult role in he has to work the two centre halves so they play keepball with the goalie making it hard fir him to close three down.
    Ozil is Ozil and just needs a gentle kick up the backside every now and then or perhaps let him watch his performances after games.
    Pepe came into thev side when lazyness and confidence was at a low so he is now actually starting to realise what work rate you need to gain an advantage in the premiership.
    Martinelli is just a natural grafter and hopefully he won’t lose that ethic.
    all in all starting to get results from the effort so a spiral upwards please.

  3. I first remember reading about this strategy when Barcelona dominated world football. For me it was astonishing that Messi, Eto’o, Henry on average made more fouls than Puyol, Milito and Marquez. And that was also Guardiola.

    1. I suspect this strategy also requires very early fouling to prevent counter attacks if you don’t win the ball back quickly, will we see that at Arsenal?

  4. “(Aubameyang) attempted 13 tackles in his 4 League matches under Arteta. Of course, one of those was late and he got a red card but I hope that won’t slow him down”.
    ________________________
    My thoughts exactly. I saw wise-after-the-event gooners saying that it was “not necessary” for him to make that tackle, and I hope that he is not listening to them, despite being well plugged in to social media. He needs to hear that he was unlucky with timing and execution, but that the intent was spot on.

    He looked crestfallen, and Arteta was the first to publicly remind everyone that he is not a dirty player.

    I’m pleased with what I’ve seen from Mikel, small sample size and all.

  5. An Emery side down a player to CP away at Selhurst would have lost all three points.

    We kept out composure, Auba and the club will take our lumps and we will move on, I am convinced, an improving team. Not steadily, perhaps in fits and starts but improving nonetheless under a manager who will get us sorted out.

    It’s happening.

    1. We played well– after the RC. Outshot Palace with 2 that ought or might have been winners (Pepe off the post. Luiz on the corner header.) Front foot and going for the points. Reminded of the early-00s when the team would almost always find the way to a result when at 10-men.

  6. bravo, tim. another great piece.

    philosophically, i believe the best way to get defensive production from your forwards is to give them specific defensive responsibilities. if they know the team is expecting them to do those things and they see how effective their actions are, they’ll be more willing to do defensive actions. the problem under emery is arsenal’s attackers seemed not to have any defensive responsibilities, hence no role in the defensive strategy.

    also, if you take away the BITs, they can still develop situations. in the chelsea game, the arsenal attackers forced the chelsea defenders to be playmakers…..something they were clearly uncomfortable trying to do. as a result, they created nothing before lampard changed their approach.

    off the ball, mkhi was one of the best at taking up smart positions. nelson and pepe have a lot to learn but they’re still young. if arteta can get those boys up to speed on their positions, arsenal will be incredibly formidable defenders from the front.

  7. as a coach, i’ve probably subconsciously copied much of what klopp does. one defensive duty my wide strikers have is, in the attacking half, ensure the ball isn’t played outside of them. if you watch liverpool play, the ball almost never get’s played to the fullbacks. this approach denies opposition the second principle of attack which is width. they have to play on a skinny field and through those three marginally talented yet hard working liverpool center mids. if the opponent gets it wrong, a counter can happen very quickly, which is very stressful.

    is this approach easy to defeat? sometimes, but it can look different every time and this approach forces the opponents to find a solution or have a difficult game. this is about strategy and has little to do with talent. it’s why everyone wonders why a player like jordan henderson looks so good; the strategy is meant to make them look good and to stress opposition players. i’m not going to get too coachy, but that’s an example of how giving attackers direction can help the team even without them performing any defensive action.

    1. As a coach as well, it seems we have opposite instructions with regards to pressing – I want my players to force the opposition to the outside when pressing, use the touchline as an added defender, box defenders into the corners. One cardinal rule of football is don’t allow the other team to build through the middle. So I instruct my wingers to angle their pressing outwards so they can’t play it back to the CB and have to look for a midfielder, who, if we’re doing it right, has one of our players hanging all over them and we can jump the lane and intercept the pass, make ’em hear footsteps, etc.

      I see the opposite from Liverpool – most of their turnovers are created when opposition has been trapped wide.

      It’s one criticism I had with Emery’s coaching – we seemed to be interested in building up through the flanks, walking into blind alleys when playing teams that pressed us, forced to retreat and recirculate the ball via the CB’s. Arteta, by giving Torreira more of a role, has reinstituted the build-through-the-middle ethos and allows us more penetration and direct play.

    2. If you’re forcing your opponents to funnel play through the middle doesnt that imply you are counting on your excellent midfield to win the duels since the opponent is playing through the middle? Seems counter intuitive if your midfield has Jordan Henderson, who I agree isn’t very good. I do think Wijnaldum is very underrated.

    3. i appreciate the replies, boys. understand, my preferred strategy is not the only way. likewise, these are merely guidelines and players have to be able to make decisions based on the situation as they see it. also, this isn’t really a press.

      first, recall i said that i like to force everything to the middle on their half, not my own. second, if you allow them to use the entire width of the field, they’ll spread you out too thin to properly compress the field. third, if a fullback gets the ball in the wide area and he’s behind the wide striker, the striker has no cover and there’s nothing stopping that fullback carrying the ball all the way to midfield unless one of the center mids comes all the way to the wide area to cover said striker.

      on the flip side, channeling to the center of the pitch (on their half) turns a 60 meter wide field into a 20-30 meter wide field. if the wide striker get’s beat, it doesn’t matter because he has help from the entire rest of the team who are all in the central area of the pitch. the center forward can drop in and the other wide striker can pinch over. likewise, all 3 center mids are in the middle of the pitch and in a position to either man mark, get in passing lanes, or put pressure on the ball because the field is so narrow. that doesn’t even include the defenders. with that, i have the back line compress the field vertically, meaning the 120×60 meter field is now a 25×25 meter grid and all ten of my outfield players are in that grid. everything an opponent want’s to do is gonna be tough as they have to play through those ten guys.

      this is why the fabled geggenpress is so effective. they make the field small, meaning it’s easier to cover team mates, tighter passing lanes for opponents, and less running. this is why liverpool can play every three days and not miss a beat. it’s why, despite losing their starting keeper, central defender, cdm and center forward, they are still so difficult to score on. they’re a freaking machine; they’re like the borg.

      it all starts with the strikers involvement in developing the situation defensively. who cares if the ball goes backwards to their center back or keeper? can their center backs penetrate or create a goal from their penalty box? like i tell my players, “i don’t know, but that would be amazing to see. let’s find out!” and you make them do the work. if they do it, make them do it again and again. if they do it all game, you shake their hand at the end and give them their props because they’re going to be famous.

      1. I guess we’ll agree to disagree. Bielsa, one of the earliest proponents of high pressing in the other team’s end, has described it as imagining a diamond in the middle of the field – the top and bottom points at each penalty spot and the side points about 5 yards off the touch line at half… his instructions are to keep the opposition out of that diamond. Pack the middle, press outwards, use the touchline as an added defender. In the middle of the park the opposition has 360 deg to work with, on the sides only 270 deg and if you’re pressing with two players you can restrict the opposition action to 90 deg – virtually one passing lane that can be jumped then by a third player.

  8. Martinelli replacing Auba is the mist obvious choice, but not the only one. Saka can step in, and with his recent experience as left back, we can expect a more mature contribution to the defensive phase. Nelson can also play on the left, and Arteta so far has shown that he values him.

    Ceballos’ tackles stats are good, but I don’t expect him to replace Özil. As it has been said, he is not a 10. Maybe he can replace Torreira (if needed) or Xhaka (if the recent conversations with Arteta didn’t make him undropable)

  9. Top four is unlikely, we need to get some minutes for our prospects so I like Sako for some upcoming matches. Just a fabulously talented kid and so fun to watch on his day. And of course Laca too, has to sieze the day and work out of his funk.

  10. What was really encouraging for me in the CP match was that we seemed to have found an extra gear when we went down to 10 men and created more chances than CP (after the intial shock). That would have never happened under Emery and I have to give credit to Arteta for making a positive substitution by bringing in Martinelli because he knew he needed to protect the full backs as well as give the team a chance to score. It almost worked.

  11. I would really like to read a post about what Tim thinks was good/positive about Emeryball. There are so many negatives, but is there anything or a few things that Emery did well or which were positive Tim?

    1. What do you think yourself Delvin?

      Personally I struggled to find any positives about his reign (boring football, terrible attack, terrible defense, brittle, no fight, sidelining good players, asking players to play in weird positions, buying expensive players and then not playing them etc) but I’m genuinely not very knowledgeable on the technical side so there might have been good stuff I missed.

      1. To tell the truth, I have such disdain for his system, tactics and general approach to football, that it might have blinded me to the positives of his reign. I do know that the players worked harder than they any Arsenal side I had seen in a decade. Maybe that might be it?

        I want to see his next job, because without my emotional attachment to the team he is coaching, maybe I could take a better look at what he really brings as a manager.

  12. Am somewhat a recent visitor to this blog. Must say never seen such intelligent interaction among any other blogs. Senhor Tim researches extensively apparently and all is quite technical . Maybe guess the reason there are no daily posts, but posts at important times.

    1. Thank you!

      I used to post every day but after 10 years of doing this that meant posting the same stuff over and over again.

      I don’t post rumor mill stuff – unless it’s to take a giant dump on them.

  13. Interesting post Tim. I think the passivity that was Emery ball was much more a function of many the players not playing with energy and not executing for Emery rather then radically different tactical instruction. For example you mentioned Martinelli and Ceballos having strong defensive stats and yet I don’t think Ceballos has played a single minute for Arteta and martinelli has hardly played. Emery would have given both players the same instructions as he gave the other forwards and yet both players had strong defensive stats. I think the difference was those 2 players had not yet fallen into the mental funk and passivity that had become the norm during the last years of Wenger and the Emery/Ljundberg era. Credit to Arteta for getting the players to increase their energy and work rate. At least so far they seem to “give a damn” which certainly wasn’t usually feeling you got watching them play under Wenger/Emery/Ljundberg. There were a couple of short lived false dawns under Emery and I suspect the positive trend will level out at some point. Long term I think Arteta is going to need a significant squad rebuilding project and bring in his own players similar to what Klopp helped engineer in Liverpool.

    1. i think i get you now, bill. arsenal players played with energy under emery. they’re professional, meaning they’re going to do their jobs. however, work can be miserable if you have a leader that provides no direction or too much direction. it was emery’s job to get the best out of the arsenal players, providing them with direction, purpose, and motivation and he failed, more than likely on the direction front.

      all students/players aren’t the same meaning, you hold them to the same standard but you probably shouldn’t treat them the same. it’s the manager’s job to figure out what’s best for his players, not force-feed them all the same thing the same way.

      if you teach a student “why”, it’s often easier for them to remember “what”. a manager can’t create every possible scenario that a player might see in every game situation. players have to make decisions based on situations they face on the field. that’s easier if they know the “why”.

      last, i learned long ago that if you want someone to do something, simply tell them what to do, don’t tell them how to do it; unless they struggle and need help. it is possible to over-coach the creativity out of a player.

      bottom line, emery was either vague or inundating…likely a combination of the two. i believe he knows the game but lacks the personality and versatility to lead a team.

    2. Nope, Bill, it was the Emery system. In some competitions and matches we pressed (notably the EL where Martinelli had high pressures stats) but for the vast majority of this season we played low block, low pressure football.

      Sorry dude.

  14. I have always thought the problem with in depth football analysis is the fact that it’s highly subjective and we tend to see what we expect or hope to see and we tend to over think a lot. For example Jack Action and Joshuad both seem like experienced observers and yet if I read their comments correctly when they analyze how Liverpool execute their pressing tactics they see very different things. One thinks they funnel the ball towards the middle and the other thinks they create the turnovers by trapping the ball out wide. We see what we hope and expect to see.

    I think Klopp is a great manager but I don’t believe that he is great because he is smarter then most other top managers. Everyone in the world knows exactly how Klopp’s Liverpool team or Pep’s teams are going to play but no one is able to successfully counter what they do because both Pep or Klopp have really good players but even more important is their unique ability to motivate his players to play with energy and to execute on a consistent basis. Having really good players who always seem to be highly motivated and able to consistently execute whatever tactical set up they use is an unbeatable combination.

    1. neither jack or i are wrong. liverpool do multiple things based on the situation. sure, they would trap a ball in the wide area as that’s a very tiny space to work with and a very sound approach but they do that at certain times, not all the time. the “funnel” approach, as you guys call it, that i employ is done by klopp as a more general rule.

      a difference between jack and i might be that i watch every dortmund game as well every arsenal game. however, i don’t watch every liverpool game. i developed my current strategy back in ’07 and incorporated a lot of what i saw klopp do at dortmund to my strategy. klopp’s liverpool are likely more refined than klopp’s dortmund. what’s consistent is that he’s beating big-money man city just like he beat big-money bayern.

      1. It must depend partly on the opposition. Some teams like to build their attacks from wide positions, some like to go central. Basically, you want to force the opposition into areas of the field where they’re less comfortable.

    2. Good point, Bill.
      We “selectively gather evidence to confirm an already held belief.”
      We are all as bad as each other.

  15. As fans we seem to forget under Emery:
    The 4:2 result against spurs. Where players showed aggression and togetherness. (I personally want to see more of this in yer face attitude).

    The isolation of ozil (many fans seemed to be behind that move at the time).

    The isolation of mustafi (again. Everyone thought this was great)

    Personally i think those last 2 points were what actually killed him off. Playing to the fan base too much which resulted in a toxic dressing room.

    I for one cant say a bad word against mustafi. He has remained professional and respectful throughout. Sometimes it just doesnt work out.

    Likewise, Emery showed class on his exit. Maybe its time the fanbase remembered the arsenal principals laid down all those years ago in the marble halls.

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