Arteta’s non-negotiables rip Norwich for four

For nearly two hours yesterday I had the privilege to just watch a meaningless game, to put aside the ugliness of the world right now, and just watch some men move a ball around on a field. It wasn’t the most beautiful game I’ve ever seen, they weren’t the absolute best in the world, it wasn’t even a great contest between two equally pitted opponents – there weren’t even moments of great drama as each team battled for superiority or defended an onslaught gravely. It was just a comfortable win for the team that I love and somehow that gave me a moment in time where all the world’s problems were put in “time out”.

From start to finish, it was a thoroughly enjoyable contest. The result, perfect (4-0). The goals scored were a combination of hard work, preparation, and straight up smart play – so again, perfect. Every player played well and I won’t hear any slander about any of them. Tactically, Mikel Arteta got everything right. And even the referee didn’t have too bad a game.

Arteta deployed a 343 for the third time in a row. This time the back three were David Luiz, Mustafi, and Kolasinac – with David Luiz anchoring the middle and the other two on either side.

One thing that’s happening with Arsenal since the restart is that Arteta is using a fullback in the center back position – specifically the left center back spot. What he’s doing here is providing the team with a naturally left-footed player in the back. This may seem like a minor (or maybe even unimportant) tactic but having a left-footed player in the left sided defensive positions gives the defenders an extra half-step in cover and provides the team with a player who can make left footed passes on that side, which means quicker passing in the back, better switching play, and a diverse range of passing.

I think Arteta will return to a back two when he has Pablo Mari back but until then I suspect that we will see a back three because of this better range of passing.

The back three also allows Arsenal’s midfield to move forward more. By providing some coverage down the wings, the central midfielders can push up, so long as the wingbacks push in. We saw that time and again yesterday with Hector Bellerin and Kieran Tierney taking up some rather unusual positions as the midfield duo of Xhaka and Ceballos got forward. It’s still quite a work in progress and I suspect that it will be a full year before the players understand the system (because there were gaps at times) but it is a system which could (and did) lead to much-needed goals from midfield.

Arsenal’s first goal, however, came from pressure. Arsenal pressed Norwich 172 times (to their 137) and (critically) outworked Norwich in the passing lanes – winning 13 interceptions to Norwich’s 3 and blocking 15 passes to their 14.

So what? Well, doing all of that while having a lead and commanding most of the possession is “what”. One thing that we have seen from Arsenal over the last two years is a tendency to drop off after they take a lead. Emery’s tactics demanded it, actually, and allowed teams to just flood our box and pound the net until they got an equalizer. That’s a physically and mentally demanding way to play football. But it’s also demoralizing because when you do have the ball, you only get it for a few seconds, the rest of the time you’re chasing after shadows. And if you concede (when you concede), then everyone’s angry, frustrated, and let down.

“Playing on the front foot” means actively trying to win the ball back. You want possession because you want to dominate the game. That’s much more fun for players and fans. It’s also, statistically, more likely to produce wins.

So, what Arteta did yesterday was told his players to cover passing lanes, press, and trap Norwich into making errors. And the first goal came off that exact maneuver.

The basic commentary says that Auba closed down on Krul with extraordinary pace, that pace flustered Krul, he made a dumb decision, and tried to nutmeg Aubameyang. The commentators mentioned Auba’s “pace” which bothered Tim Krul, but it was a combination of smart tactics which actually produced the turnover.

Auba presses high on the left and follows the backpass to Krul, but at a slightly oblique angle. Krul sees a second Arsenal defender right in the passing lane (essentially in his eye line) and upfield all of his men are marked. Instead of making a quick pass out to the right, he tries to meg Auba, who wins the tackle.

It’s definitely an error by Krul but one which the system helps to produce. It’s simplistic to suggest that Auba’s “pace” was what won that ball back. If Auba presses all alone, Krul easily makes a pass out.

The second goal illustrates the importance of a back three here as well. David Luiz has all day on the ball, Xhaka and Ceballos move up, Tierney moves way up and Norwich are caught trying to figure out why they aren’t covering anyone. David Luiz plumps a HUGE ball forward, Tierney slides to Auba, who smartly picks out Xhaka for the left-footed goal. You can see the Norwich players looking dejected: no one had followed Xhaka because his marker had been left up top trying to figure out why no one was closing David Luiz.

The third goal was again born from pressure and smart positioning. Norwich have a throw in their half, Arsenal press every player, their midfielder panics and tries to play a ball back to the center half but Auba is perfectly positioned to pick it up and smartly places the ball around the keeper.

This is literally how I’ve wanted Arsenal to play for two years and it’s been frustrating having to watch them fart around pretending to be some Allardycian side for so long. I’m not saying the transformation is complete, far from it, but the direction Arteta wants to take this team is clear as daylight.

The other thing that’s abundantly clear is that if you’re a player who doesn’t want to give maximum effort for the team – both in training and on the pitch – then you won’t be playing for Arteta. He said that at the outset – ‘these are non-negotiables’ – and repeated them in not so many words this week. He’s gone back a bit on why he benched Ozil and Guendouzi but that’s his prerogative and I stand with him. If a player can’t meet those standards, well, then I guess he can bake under a parasol. It doesn’t matter how sweet your touch or how large your paycheck. I do wonder how long the unwanted players will be willing to sit around collecting a paycheck, doing nothing?

The fourth goal was a surprise. Arteta has spoken highly of Cedric Soares this week; especially commending his “final ball”. And one thing you may have noticed by now is that Arteta loves a good cross into the final third, something which Soares is good at with both feet. But I don’t think anyone expected Soares to score with his chocolate leg on his debut, I sure didn’t.

All that said, I am not putting too any expectations into the rest of the season. Arsenal have six matches left to play (7 inc. the FA Cup – maybe more) and the next four are against Wolves, Leicester, Tottenham, and Liverpool (followed by the FA Cup semi-final against Man City). It’s as tough a run of games as can be and yet, my only expectation from all this is for Arsenal to keep trying to play the way we did against Norwich. I don’t expect them to win, score 4 goals, or even really to be very good at what Arteta is having them do. I just want to see them keep trying, keep putting in the effort, and keep growing as a team.

That would be a welcome respite.

Qq

37 comments

  1. In the second half, Arsenal gave up possession from almost every throw in they had. That may be a detail, but I think details make for success

  2. Great post, in no small part due to all of us needing some positives.

    It’s been infuriating to hear commentators simplify the goal scored by Nketiah against Southampton and Auba’s goal in this match as “lucky.” Like you, I look at those goals and see tactics, application, skill and talent. Thank you for making that point more eloquently than I could.

    I suspect this upcoming run of games is going to be a bit sobering, but maybe we can surprise some people. As long as we continue to set out with smart, pro active game plan and the players make a real go of executing that plan, I will be happy. At least a bit.

  3. I probably enjoyed the game more than I should have. The execution of Arteta’s plan might not have been perfect, but I was very excited by the details and the intentions of each and every action the players made. We did play against the bottom side in the league, but we are firmly in the process of “building/developing to compete”.

    I say that because in football, there are 3 stages for a big clubs to be, and Arsenal have been confused about where they stand for too long. These three stages are:

    1. Competing club
    This is where we were about half a decade ago, and for a long time under Arsene. This is where a team has the necessary quality in players, an effective playing philosophy and quality management at all levels. These sides are not guaranteed to win everything, but they are amongst the clear favorites for anything they compete for. Examples of these sides at elite level football are Man City, Liverpool, Bayern, Barcelona and both Madrid clubs, but this also applies to teams in weaker leagues, like Celtic in Scotland, Ajax and PSV in the Netherlands, and PSG in France.

    Winning is not what puts you amongst these sides, because luck usually plays a big role when they meet each other on the field and across a season, but they are good enough to effectively compete.

    2. Surviving clubs
    Sides that are surviving are usually sides on the slide after their peak competitive years. These are sides that are no longer working to improve, but fighting to maintain. An example of this is Man United after Ferguson left them. Ferguson left United with an ageing squad that had just won the title but was on the decline, they tried to maintain their standing in football by throwing money at quality players (Dimaria, Pogba, Ibra, Mata, Lukaku, Falcao, etc…) to stay at that level, but its almost impossible to arrest that slide, so you try your best to stay competitive, to survive as a relevant competitor. Liverpool under Rafa were the same, spending vast sums of money on any player who showed an inkling of quality, but ended up like United, trying to survive as a relevant competitor but its like quick sand. If you are standing still, you are not improving and while others catch up, overtake you or stretch their lead over you.

    My biggest issue with Emery was that he came in as a specialist at surviving. His coaching seemed to show him as a lover of this stage. His Arsenal side never showed anything but a survivors mentality. The type of mentality where you take what you can and protect it with all your might, but Arsenal were already trying to survive during Arsene’s last years. Arsene’s constant changing in formations, buying players like Perez and Gabriel, and not using them, moving players to different positions and a lack of planning in contracts showed he had no plan, he was just trying to hold on and survive.

    Now, if Arsene’s side was heading downwards and he was actively trying to stop it, Emery seemed to liked and sought out that very situation for his Arsenal and PSG sides. To the point where he seemed to create issues out of nowhere for his own teams to contend with, whilst maintaining the chaos of trying to survive.

    3. Building/Developing to compete
    I and many more on the continent of Africa fell in love with Arsenal because of this stage. The Arsenal side of 07/08 was developed from the end of the Invincibles era till they came of age in a big way and captured the imaginations of so many people around the world.

    It is the best journey, emotionally, to watch a side select a particular playing philosophy, develop young talent around respected and consistent senior players, create some camaraderieship within the dressing room and have an inspirational central figure to outline the principles that the side stands for, go from strength to strength, until they are a side that falls in the competing bracket. Sides like Liverpool, Dortmund, Leipzig and Atletico Madrid have taken this path. It is full of great performances and some very miserable ones, but they are part of developing.

    Right now it feels like we have finally defined where we stand and our intentions as a club. There are still some backroom and boardroom issues to be solved, but with time they will hopefully be sorted. For now, we see clear standards for players, and many who cant reach those standards will fall by the wayside. We see clear plans, within which some details will fail and they will also be discarded, whilst new tactical solutions will present themselves in games, and later form part of the overall plan.

    Its exciting to see this side finally take the steps towards being great again in the future, rather than trying to be big right now. It will take time, but it will be worth it and it will be sustained.

    So, good or bad, I am all in for the journey. From all I have seen so far, In Arteta I trust.

  4. Our FA Cup win Sunday was not very convincing IMO. We were ragged and lucky to advance, with the defense looking more suspect than ever. But a late goal by Dani really turned things around and it carried over to yesterday’s match. Granted, it’s bottom of the table Norwich, but it’s the first time we have looked dangerous and domintaing, as you said. Nice to have some football joy. As much as we all believe Arteta has done well, the scoring/shooting/chances haven’t born it out until yesterday. Finally there is something to build on here.

  5. The good side is that Arsenal superiority was never in dobt. The flip side is it was against Norwich the rock-bottom team. It was great to see us playing with mojo an score four.
    For the next four games…. who knows..
    these are strong teams but beatable maybe except L’poll. Three win would make me happy but I could live with win and a draw.

    1. And hey, maybe we can beat Liverpool after all. By the looks of their first half against City today, they’re on vacation!

      1. I strongly suspect that Klopp would have made it very clear to them after the game, that they are not! Don’t expect any favours.

  6. Meanwhile Sp*&s lose to a strong Sheffield United side. Another St. Totteringham’s Day would be a decent consolation prize to this strangest of seasons.

    1. You know, it really would. And weirdly (for me, but not for the players, I’m sure), another consolation prize would be not qualifying for the Europa League. United (or Sheffield or Wolves) are more than welcome to that utterly insipid competition. It’s a pathetic UEFA money-grab. I want none of that distraction next season.

      1. Amen. From your lips to their ears. Other than whatever money we earn, I f&%king hate that competition. And the money may not be worth it given the status of the Europe’s “B league”, fact that all the big players want CL, the hardships of travel to exotic places like Baku and Ashkabet, and frankly s%$t 2nd tier football played grounds which could hold up to my yellow, ant-hill infested lawn.

  7. qualifying and winning the europa league is worth £90 million plus gate money and higher sponsorship revenue..
    probably worth having a go

  8. Nah.

    Also, really £90m up for grabs? Seems way too high. In prize money alone, it looks like the most you can get (if you win every single match of the competition including the final) would seem to be only about £20m. I know there are some other things built in to that like coefficient and market shares, so, for example, apparently Chelsea got £39m total for their involvement (as winners) last year.

    I’ll take a break from huffing and puffing against Ostersunds and FC Burgerland on Thursday nights, thank you very much. Arteta has a lot more to worry about, and I really believe he and the team would benefit from having more time on the training ground instead of on airplanes every three days next season.

    Like I said, I’m sure the players (and many fans) feel differently. Maybe. Maybe they can’t wait to grind their shins on frozen tundra in an also-ran competition! Haaaaaarrrrrrrr.

  9. It includes the qualifying for the next seasons champions league as winners.

    1. Yeah, I just don’t see it. I know positivity is up after thrashing the mighty Norwich, but if you take an objective look at this squad and where the team is at, we’re not a team that’s going to win the Europa League, and frankly we’d be embarrassed in the CL.

      I’m looking at this as an 18-month thing. I’m expecting a lot of inconsistency over the next little while. Arteta needs time, the players need time, and we need different players, too. I’m setting ALL my hopes SKY HIGH for the 2021-2022 season, though.

  10. Thanks for the post and prolonged positivity! I think Arteta has solved our left sided thrown in woes. Let Tierney take them! Always been a weakness for Kola!

  11. Great post Tim

    Certainly a great game for us to watch. Lots of positives to take from the team energy and effort. Arteta has definitely improved the overall attitude and commitment of the squad which is something Emery could not do. I like the idea of dropping players who don’t really have that same level of commitment. Unfortunately commitment and energy can only take you so far. Hopefully the clubs hierarchy will make a lot of good decisions in the next couple of years. Chelsea rebuilt after the Lampard/Drogba years and Liverpool have certainly rebuilt successfully so it can be done. It will take time and I am sure there will be some other missteps along the way .

  12. We should always strive to finish as high up the PL table as we can. If the result is involvement in the B-grade UEFA competition then it offers, like the league cup, an opportunity to give the youngsters more competitive game time and should they progress to the latter stages then we can beef up the team with a few first team players. I never take the philosophy that we should duck out of tournaments. There aren’t sufficient competitive opportunities for fringe players to learn their trade without loans and these can too often still leave them without adequate game time.

    1. Of course. The team should strive to finish as high as possible, and I’m sure they will. I simply mean that if we didn’t qualify for that stench of a competition, I would be more than AOK with it.

  13. Auba is tied for the league lead in goals scored again without much in the way of help from the rest of his team in term of creativity or service. He has been awesome. Really good players usually find a way to be effective

  14. I just read that Juve is trying to move Aaron Ramsey. If rumors are true they tried to send him to Tottenham as part of an exchange deal. We could probably get Aaron back if we wanted. However, I think its going to be tough for Juve to find any team willing to take on his weekly wages.

    1. I’d be very surprised “if we want”. Always like him as a player, but on his wages you’re not going to get value for money. I can’t imagine he will end up at Spurs either. He’s on a very nice contract, thank you very much. All he needs to do is sit it out. Probably end up as the Italian equivalent of Mesut Ozil. Who wouldn’t do the same?

  15. That was a critical win. Europa league 6 pointer. No ozil, Pepe or Guendouzi in the match day squad. Arteta using his best most committed defensive players and setting up the team with a defense first mentality and it’s working.

    1. Apparently his wife is just about to give birth! That’s what I am reading anyway. Pepe’s play has shown progress recently. It’s quite clear Arteta sees something in him. I don’t see anybody else holding down the right wing spot.
      Miki maybe (that was a joke)

  16. I do like how a bit of cricketing terminology is now used in football commentary now to denote playing aggressively and with attacking intent – namely “playing on the front foot”.
    I know cricket followers here will know the exact meaning of “playing on the front foot”.
    Nice to see Tim still flying the flag for AFC on the blog – my first visit here in a number of years.

    1. I’m not sure about that particular terminology, however. The “forward defensive” is played on the front foot. Not the most aggressive of strokes.

      1. As a batsman your 2 options when faced by a delivery are to play with your weight forward (shots like the forward defensive plus various front foot drives) as you feel you can take the ball early due to the delivery not being especially hostile (mainly due to not being fast enough).
        Playing on the back foot would mean the opposition bowler is quick enough for you to be forced backward in your crease as you need a fraction more time to react and therefore play more defensively, eg play the backward defensive shot. That’s how I read it anyway.
        I’m sure better informed cricketers will correct me! As Geoffrey Boycott would say “It’s a sideways on game”.

  17. good win yesterday. before kickoff, i looked at the form chart for wolves and they had close wins against bad teams since the restart, teams arsenal had thrashed, so i was confident arsenal would win…and they needed that win.

    logistically, molineux seems a very large pitch. arsenal could have used that width to spread wolves more than they did but it didn’t matter much. secondly, arsenal moved the incredibly ball slow, which hampered the attack. third, adama could have had a brace but he didn’t score at all. fourth, this seemed like a game for mesut and, especially, guendouzi but they weren’t available and, in the end, arsenal didn’t need them.

    i thought arteta was brilliant with his substitutions. happy for saka to get his first in the prem via a fortunate deflection that fell rather sweetly for his left peg. equally happy for lacazette, who had a world class play for his goal. first, his first touch on the long ball that he settled and played wide. then his run to coady’s blind spot before attacking the ball at the near post past coady with another neat first touch…simply world class center forward play. lastly, the finish was a typical lacazette finish. arteta is asking the center forwards to do a lot of running so i’m impressed with the way he’s managing eddie and laca. happy for the way the team played for each other.

  18. Josh

    I suspect Mesut and Guendouzi were “not available” because they don’t really fit with the way Arteta wants the team to play right now.

    1. Guendouzi applies pressure and plays the way Arteta wants. Arteta dropped him because of a blow up in training.

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