Arsenal beat Newcastle 2-0 in a contest which was overshadowed by Arlo White and Rebecca Lowe breathlessly reporting on the protests in Manchester.
NBC decided to amplify the protests and showed them on a split screen here in the States. What I saw of the game was just glimpses, at about 1/4 normal size, since most of my attention was glued on the guy with his pants hanging out, tossing tripods.
Predictably NBC labeled the protests “very bad” and “disgraceful”. Predictable, because these protests hit their bottom line. The protestors against the Super League were good, again, predictable because it improved their bottom line.
Then then recapped and recapped the recap of the protests whilst amping up their hyperbole. Arlo White did a live broadcast from his cell phone – to cash in on that “gritty reporter” angle. Rebecca Lowe called for the cops to come in and sure enough they did, which then sparked the violence.
Possibly the most disgraceful and tin-eared comment from the NBC crew was when they compared the protests to the 80s hooligans. Either they didn’t know anything about the 80s hooligans – which I doubt since they are all of the right age and all from England – or it was a deliberate smear. In case my readers here don’t know much about the hooligans and hooligan culture I will simply point out that many of them were simply criminal gangs and psychopaths. I’ve read Steaming In and Among the Thugs – both books glorified accounts of hooliganism but the important point is that there was almost always a criminal element at the core of most firms.
Of course, folks will point out that the fan protests against the Glazers were crimes: property damage, trespassing, and (checks notes) not wearing masks. All true, but not quite on the level of drug dealing, prostitution, and other vice crimes that a lot of firms were (and still are) actively pursuing.
It was also interesting to see so many of my American followers getting fired up about this protest and contrast to the English readers who seemed non-plussed. It struck me that the protests were a lot like a game day. Maybe one which had gotten a little more unruly than normal but I’ve been to many matches in which the fans were on edge, destroyed property, and confronted the police. I’ve never been to one where there was a pitch invasion but it happens in England a few times a year.
In Munich, before the Bayern-Arsenal match, hundreds of Arsenal fans gathered outside the Hoffbrau Haus. We smashed bottles on the cobblestones, chanted and generally made a massive nuisance of ourselves. Probably not the greatest moment ever, nor the worst. We were bad guests. For Arsenal-Tottenham matches these skirmishes, property damage, and real violence are the norm.
Does any of that justify what the protestors did? Not really. But I hope it gives some context. At least they were doing all of that stuff for a good reason this time, rather than just because they were drunk and wanted a punch up.
The thing that bothered me about all the coverage is that – while they were covering it, to the point of pushing aside their main product – they kept harping about how this isn’t the right way to protest. I suppose you could be of the mind that protesting the Glazers ownership of Man U is dumb and pointless. Not an opinion I happen to share. But if you do want to send a message to the Glazers, hashtags and marches to the stadium aren’t going to really get noticed. Had the protestors just marched with signs or paid for an airplane to fly over the stadium, the broadcasters would have simply said “that’s neat” and left us to our game.
But disrupting the broadcast, stopping the game going forward, that has an impact. That’s not something that can be easily swept under the rug. That’s something that they had to cover. It’s news. It’s a big story. I’m not suggesting that anyone go out and break the law, don’t go cause property damage, don’t fight the cops (they have more and better weapons than you). But it was a meaningful protest because it got noticed.
And for the first half it was non-violent. The fans were running around, acting like asshats and throwing tripods. But the stewards in the stadium were awesome. They de-escalated things wonderfully, to the point of even giving back the underwear man’s shoe. Once the cops showed up, that’s when things turned nasty. Force begets force.
For the match, what I saw of it was really boring. Allan Saint-Maximin dribbled a lot and Arsenal did their thing where they rigidly try to get the ball into scoring positions.
Arsenal’s rigidity is something that Tim Stillman and Carlon Carpenter have pointed out but I’ve not noticed much until recently. Carlon calls the “practiced patterns of play” and they are evident now when I watch Arsenal. We seem to struggle with creativity and creating unplanned or chaotic attacking sequences. The ones we do get are often on breakaways but even there, I feel like we often hold the ball up and wait for a specific pattern to emerge.
What I think’s happening here is that Arteta is actually a bit scared of chaotic attacks because they can lead to chaotic defending. He wants his players in certain positions if we lose the ball. And it works for the most part. Arsenal’s defense is better, less chaotic. I’m not saying it’s perfect so please don’t go there.
This explains why Arteta was always yelling at the players early on. It also explains why Arteta didn’t care much for Ozil: Ozil was a chaos agent. Ozil’s great strength was his football brain. He was a space eater. Constantly filling voids and causing imbalances. Under a coach who literally wants a guy to go here and do this, all he brings to the party is his touch. They were like fire and water.
Perhaps this will pay off in the long run. Maybe next year we will be so good at these patterns that we will score lots of goals. But I tend to think that actually, this rigidity will backfire. You need to have some patterns, but also the more regulated you make the attack, the easier it is for the opponents to pick apart.
I also think there’s a bit of the Ozil problem with Aubameyang. Auba has done everything that the boss has asked and has sacrificed shooting and scoring for it. Arteta’s practiced patterns of play require the left-sided guy to do certain things, specific moves in build-up and getting into certain positions on the edge of the box but not making those long runs behind which are his bread and butter. Plus that left-wide forward needs to defend the length of the pitch. These are things that Auba’s not great at, but he does them anyway.
What Auba is great at is getting himself into scoring positions. If you’ve ever played against one of these guys you know that while they can be mediocre at a lot of things, this one skill is nearly impossible to defend against, because he’s playing off of you and your movement. Auba does that when he’s freed up. But the problem is that Arteta seems reticent to give him that license. Yesterday we saw glimpses of it and he scored an incredible goal. If you look at the data this season, Auba’s only had 8 total non-penalty big chances and an npxG of just 8 with 8 non-penalty goals scored. That’s not happening because “his legs are gone” or the even more disrespectful “he doesn’t care since he signed that new deal”. He’s simply not getting shots.
It’s gotten better for him post-boxing day but if you want Auba scoring (and we should all want Auba scoring) you gotta feed the beast.
There are some who complain that “scoring is all that he does” or that he doesn’t offer as much to the team as others do and while that is vaguely true (he does press a lot) it’s how he’s been his whole career. He’s never been some great take on forward, he’s not a corner/set play monster, he’s not a hold-up forward, and he’s definitely not a false 9. He’s a goal-poacher. One of the best ever. And either you play him and play to his strengths or, frankly, we need to move him on (which we won’t be able to do on his salary.) Also, we fans need to stop complaining about him. It’s Arteta’s system which is killing his goals, not his “mind” or whatever.
Anyway, big game on Thursday. I hope Arteta feeds the beast but I really doubt he will.
Whilst I advocate keeping the pressure on the Kroenke ownership, in no way would I condone a protest at The Emirates on Thursday similar to those seen at Old Toilet yesterday.
EUFA are a different animal to the EPL and/or FA, who won’t punish the home team by awarding the points to Liverpool. If the EL match is postponed in similar circumstances, I would fully expect Arsenal to be thrown out of the competition and the place in the final handed to our opponents.
Peaceful protest by fans is fine, but violence should not be condoned by any genuine supporter.
Every system and design has a flaw or two, doesn’t it? When Wenger had his team full of creative sprites just run around and be themselves it resulted in beautiful intricate passes and goals, and also a predictable stream of high leverage opportunities behind it. We had decades of condescension about a Arsenal walking the ball into the net, not earning the right to play, and just generally not knowing how to defend. So then we hired a safety first manager and ran him out of town after it became clear he didn’t intend to release the handbrake. Then we turned to the apprentice and facsimile of one of the only managers ever to sustain both a high level offense and a high level defense in the same team, never mind that it was with the assistance of Leo Messi and the financial muscle of Spain’s, Germany’s and England’s financially dominant institutions. So we take that guy’s star pupil, who also happens to be a former player and club captain with an infallible reputation for professionalism and work ethic, and ask him to come in and make the team stop leaking goals but also make it look good. It’s the equivalent of the Jets drafting a quarterback, any quarterback, and hoping he is the “answer.” There are no answers, only team work, leadership, and smart team building the long term payoff or lack thereof. Arsenal hasn’t had any of that.
He inherited a dysfunctional front office, a squad full of expensive misfits, out of proportion expectations of a global fan base of millions in an era of unprecedented scrutiny, the acrimony between said fan base and the absentee owners, Mesut Ozil’s albatross of a contract and smooth PR skills, and he is facing a domestic competition more fierce and flush with cash than ever before. And he is doing it all amidst a pandemic. Despite all that he’s managed to give us a major trophy and three of the most exciting attacking players since Jack Wilshere have come through under his watch. Give the man a medal, I say.
I wouldn’t give him a medal, but I would agree it’s harsh to judge his performance given the chaos (to borrow a phrase from today’s post) around him. I think Arteta/Edu should get at least until next December to see where things are heading, regardless of whether we win the Europa League or not.
We are headed where Arteta’s vision and leadership can take us. If the whole of Arsenal pulls in one direction, we can achieve something unique that few managers have ever had a chance to build: a lasting, successful expression of themselves on the pitch. I back Arteta to build something great if given the chance. The alternative is got back on the Spursian merry go round of chasing the rapidly shifting winds of public opinion and looking for quick fixes. They only emerged from their decades long quagmire, however briefly, when they bought into Pochettino and what he was trying to do. Then when it stopped going so well they blamed him and now look where they are. And yes I know our results as of this moment are not better. But we have a vision we are consolidating while they try to find the funds to pay for Jose’s latest exorbitant severance package.
It’s really quite extraordinary. How Spursy. Pochettino was canned in November, cast aside mere months after taking Spurs to the CL final in May of the same year!! And Levy thought Mourinho could do better… you can’t put a tyrant in charge of a republic. That was Poch’s team and without him they lost their identity and purpose.
arteta may have a vision but we don’t know that he’s got the managerial skill and leadership to pull this off. if he’s the leader he needs to be, he’ll get everyone on board pulling the same direction; that’s what leaders do. if he’s the manager he needs to be, he’ll maximize what he has; that’s what manager’s do.
My prediction is that we will be in relegation form in December.
That’s pretty pessimistic. Saka, ESR, Tierney, Martinelli and Gabriel will all be one year older and presumably continuing to improve. Pepe has, for me at least, gotten better. Partey never got going.
Assuming Odegaard will be too pricey and Ceballos is off, AMN and possibly Willock get sold, we might be able to afford Bissouma to rotate in with Partey and Xhaka and maybe have funds to find an actual (home-grown) left-back to cover for Tierney. It’s hard to see how we finish worse next year, unless you think Arteta is an unmitigated disaster of a manager, which he’s not. He’s flawed, but he’s no Alan Pardew.
Tim isn’t being pessimistic, just being a realist. With the pedigree of talent at his disposal, he’s got no excuse finishing outside the European spaces in the league. After a year and half at the helm, he still doesn’t know his best 11. Constantly chopping and changing, complete lack of identity. He is a poor man and game manager, unable to play to the strength of his stars. Unless we want to hide our heads in the sand, all signs point to Mikel being bang average. He doesn’t even get in my list of top 10 managers in the league. I hope am proven wrong.
The coverage of almost anything today is just so much pearl-clutching it’s nauseating. Recency bias colors everything. You’re right, to compare it to hooliganism is disgusting over-sensationalism. I could write a long diatribe about first-world problems I suppose, and how we are so lacking drama in our every day lives to the point where a relatively minor event, 200 protestors, some of them kids, manage to get into the stadium and protest the ownership, this warrants split screen live coverage? Calls from a cell phone like they’re Bernard Shaw hiding under his table in 1991 Baghdad?
Why was the game re-scheduled? I get postponing it an hour or so, but c’mon, there was no security concerns. If there were, then United need to fire their stadium security and Manchester needs a new police force.
I believe it was ultimately postponed because the fans breached the Covid-secure areas of the stadium, and resanitising wasn’t going to get done in time.
There are a lot of reasons in addition to that: the players have very strict dietary schedules as well and had already had their pre-match meal and couldn’t really take another meal at that point.
I was hoping you might post on this topic, Tim, and it’s a very good post, thank you.
Two excellent articles in the Guardian (David Conn) and the Times (Henry Winter) today on the topic just in case anyone wants more info on the depth of hatred here against this new breed (to England) of parasitic owners.
@ Fengunner, you appear to have missed a good chunk of Tim’s writing and the point as to why the Man Utd fans chose the Liverpool game in order to make a point. Not that I think it will happen, but protesting on Thursday is by far the best way to get attention – of the world and more importantly of the Kroenkes. And if UEFA throw us out, so be it, a small cost to pay if it results in the Kroenkes losing money and seriously considering selling.
Slightly off-topic (if the Newcastle-Arsenal game is considered off-topic), I had to roll my eyes at the post-game comments of Steve “Clogger” Bruce regarding Schar’s sending off for a crunching, studs-up tackle on Martinelli. For those of you who missed it, he observed:
“There’s no tackles anymore. I don’t think it deserves a red. Maybe it’s a yellow.
Is it dangerous? Not really. We’re playing Arsenal so you have to get into them. When that stops it becomes very difficult.”
If anyone ever doubted that certain managers instruct their players to intentionally foul us in order to disrupt our play, here it is in plain English. It’s a disgusting practice that leads directly to season or career-ending injuries, and any manager who promotes it should be held accountable. If Bruce’s justification for encouraging dangerous and illegal play is that it is the only way his team can compete, then he should be looking for another line of work.
Remember, this took place in the 90th minute, when there really wasn’t anything left to play for, and targeted one of our better players who is still coming back from a long-term injury. “Maybe it’s a yellow.”?? MAYBE?? Can you imagine his outrage if we had done that to Saint-Maximin?
Agree
Steve Bruce cannot change his stripes. It is right there on his face. His deformed nose symbolizes football from an era where the key attributes of an “English” player is his ability to dish out and survive reducers.
Also I don’t know whether you’re right or wrong regarding Arteta killing Auba – I hope you’re wrong, although suspect you’re probably right.
It’s so sad. Sad for the player, and sad for us. And sadistic for Arteta to have lobbied him to extend his contract if this was his plan
Thoughtful piece Tim. I imagine you received more sensationalised TV coverage in the states. No real drama this side of the pond.
On tactics Tim Stillman has been quite astute. I tend to agree with your take. We like to play out from the back but this comes at the price of allowing the opposition to get into shape. Our registrars then look for openings to initiate a pattern of play. When they can’t find one we recycle the ball in the hope of exposing one. Lots of sideways and backwards passing. As a consequence our football can look staccato and onerous. To use the Wengerism ‘sterile possession‘. Arteta refers to this as ‘control’.
Funnily when we played 3-4-3 and were effectively sh1t-housing the bigger teams there was more pace to our game (think City in the cup and ‘Pool in the league last season).
What I find most interesting is that if you try to heavily prescribe patterns of play, are there actually players that fit such a system? In fact do you even need top quality players when you’re actually removing much of their initiative and spontaneity? Is our transfer business this Summer (ins and outs) going to be based primarily on who follows instructions well and who doesn’t? Worrying times.
I kindly disagree with your last paragraph where you question whether a highly prescribed team would benefit from top quality players. Man City are a very structured team, it’s the quality of their player that make it look less structured than it does. I would argue that Arteta system suffers because of variable technical and poor physical level (especially in back half of the team) of our team and he is trying to mitigate some of those deficiencies with his selection and tactical decisions.
Some of these issues have been mitigated since Christmas with the addition of Smith Rowe (who I’d argue would be an archetypal offensive Arteta player), Odegaard, and Martinelli, which has been borne out in better performances and results since Christmas but these are players with little top level experience which results in variable levels of performance.
Arteta mentioned in his initial press conference something to the effect of it is easier to find a glass in your own cupboard than a strangers as you know where it is, he is essentially setting out that he will be implementing a structured system where players know where other players are going to be in different phases of play.
I think player wise we are a long way from where Arteta would like us to be. I think he would love to employ a better pressing game but we don’t have the athletic capability to do so. Which is why we employ a low block in D. This in turn effects how we can attack as teams are better set when we have the ball. We don’t have enough experienced players with the technical ability that are more capable of manipulating defences out of position through dribbling or passing.
I appreciate this is not to everyone’s tastes and that league performances have been variable , but for me I think there have been improvements and we will get better as the younger players get more experience.
You can see preset patterns of attacking play in most of the best coach’s work. When Klopp’s team are on fire it’s a joy to watch them closing passing lanes and forcing turnovers. Where Arteta differs is that he’s imposed very rigid, inflexible systems. Something Tim has written about previously is the passivity of our defence. I’d argue we’re equally passive in attack. You mention that Arteta would like us to be more of a pressing side but we were when he first took over. I’m not sure why he moved away from this.
The other topic worth a mention is our lack of a plan B. We have a skills deficit when it comes to ball carriers. Some of them were sold prior to Arteta joining but others like Guendouzi are out of favour. Additionally we have ceased to be a counter attacking team. This season we’ve completed 1.71 counters per 90 whilst averaging around 4 the previous three seasons. When we can’t progress the ball from defence via either Luiz or Tierney we struggle to create.
Generally I’m very sceptical that with an absence of an identity, well defined game plan, plus some extremely questionable additions last Summer; that Arteta knows what kind of players he wants or has the ability to get them to fulfil their potential.
“Oh I’ve been looking for you
To bring me back to life…
Oh make my heart beat, beat
Come on and feed the beast”
– Arizona
Speaking of feeding the beast for Auba to score, I appreciated Elneny in Beast Mode in the 1st half. Almost scored a brace!
I think we’re all hoping that this performance will bring something positive for Thursday’s Europa League showdown but given the inconsistency all season, I am not holding my breath. Also, Villareal are not Newcastle United.
“I’m so bored with the U.S.A.
But what can I do?”
– The Clash
As far as the Manchester protest is concerned, it’s an expression of frustration and powerlessness. The fans have zero say and for those invoking the Bundesliga 50+1 ownership rule, it’s implementation over there is full of exceptions and loopholes (see RB Leipzig).
Got up at 6:45am to watch the 8am start here. And I get served a game on half a screen for a majority of both halves.
“NBCSN– breathlessly reporting day-drinking misdemeanors!” summarizing during the match. The stadium was breached at four different times apparently. Might have limited it to the first one, maybe two– had NBCSN not given such extensive split screen coverage. Given social media immediacy– and another 90 minutes to ping UK Man U fans? NBCSN should be charged with inciting the later events.
Apparently NBCSN thought somebody was interested in watching public intoxication? As in the second half– it took Auba’s acrobatic goal to finally acquiesce and go back to a full screen of the event that pays the bills at their network.
Twenty-seven years ago this June– NBC Sports broke new ground on screwing up a sports broadcast with a nothingburger: Breaking away from Game 5 of the 1994 NBA Finals Rockets-Knicks tilt.
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/texas-sports-nation/rockets/article/Juice-on-the-loose-When-O-J-stole-the-Rockets-13991476.php
But NBC was just refining its methodology for punking viewers in 1994 and here again in 2021. Because even further back– another 26 years– was the The Heidi Bowl in 1968. (From Wikipedia:)The old AFL Oakland Raiders- NY Jets on November 17, 1968, was notable for its exciting finish, in which Oakland scored two touchdowns in the final minute to win the game 43–32. However, a decision by the game’s television broadcaster NBC to break away from its coverage on the East Coast to broadcast the television film Heidi– resulted in many viewers missing the Raiders’ comeback. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heidi_Game
NBC Sports. The Leader In (Punking) Sports (Fans)™
Every game with Arteta as manager leaves me more conflicted. I have been trying to remind my self that I was all in on a “project” with a young manager. It would take time, it would be frustrating, and it would have ups and downs. I suppose living through the reality of this is a lot different than the theory of it.
My biggest gripe is that he just overthinks everything. Seems like he wants to prove intellectual superiority over every manager he faces. The player selections are sometimes absolutely baffling (read – Willian). HIs subs are another head scratcher. But he’s had to deal with ill-timed injuries, and managed through them pretty well. Then add in the roster overhaul he’s done and the other madness of the pandemic and I still lean toward giving him a little more time to see where he can take this team. Maybe he will learn to be less stubborn.
There is so much riding on Thursday. I am far from confident, but knowing the other manager gives me hope.
I have heard on various podcasts that Arteta still has the dressing room, by and large the players like and respect him. That’s not a small feat with an underperforming team and considering the trying circumstances. Balogun re-signing was a bit of a statement on Arteta when he clearly had opportunities to go elsewhere. Agreed, he and Edu need another transfer season to see where this is headed. I think if, as rumours have it, we’re looking at Yves Bissouma in midfield, he and Partey would be one of the better double pivot pairings in the league, I really believe that.
Jack – the locker room aspect is huge. I’m honestly surprised a bit. I think his response to Ozil and the other guys that weren’t on board, plus his stance vs. Auba in the derby commanded respect. Gotta give a first time guy credit for managing through that stuff, along with everything else. Even if we crash out Thursday, I’m not ready to give up on Arteta. November has to show us making big progress and getting consistent. If it doesn’t happen then, there’s no reason to think it will.
Funny LA– I’d started writing a post over the weekend that relates. I’m still all-in on Arteta. Not all of the issues are on him alone. The moving parts involved are many. The mix of youngsters just coming into their own. Oldsters trying to figure out how to contribute still– and frankly, the several not-up-to-it ones we may see the back of this Summer.
Will chalk up my patience for, and will to persevere with Mikel on having seen teams give up on a gem– just before they become one. Bill Belichick was once HC of the Cleveland Browns. Fired. Former Houston HC Gary Kubiak took the Texans won their division last 2 of his last 3 years. Fired him. Two years later wins Super Bowl L with the Denver Broncos. Both first time head coaches who, it turns out– DID figure it out at their next stop.
I still may finish and post that piece I started last weekend.
Would love to see your post JW1!
I think an FA Cup win, plus setting the foundation of a rebuild are major accomplishments for a first timer. Wish we had a more experienced technical director or other wisdom on which he could rely, but I don’t see anyone who’s a top tier coach coming here without KSE promising tons of transfer money – which will never happen. We will need to find up and coming coaches, just like we have to find up and coming players (More often than not) Not sure who’s available that fits the bill.
Great post Tim. Thanks again for all the time and effort you spend on our behalf.
Pretty easy win which was welcomed. Great to Auba score because we need someone who can do that and it looks like Laca will not be available.
I have to admit the idea that managers can be held responsible for an individual players form seems to be overestimating the ability of a manager to influence what happens on the pitch. I think players have to take responsibility for their own form and if a player is struggling there is often nothing a manager can do. While I agree that its probably too early to say for sure that Auba has hit the downside of his career arc, I think we have to accept that he is no longer going to be a golden boot contender as a real possibility when we are planning for next season. Giroud stopped scoring goals around age 30 and both Ozil and Sanchez started to drop off in their late 20’s so age 31/32 is certainly not too early to begin to see the drop off. The first thing that starts to fade in many cases is mental rather then physical. For a goal poacher the instinctive ability to be in the right place and right time goes before the legs really start to give out. For a creative player like Ozil the instinctive ability to see small openings no one else sees and make a pass to exploit that opening goes before the pace goes away. A lot of professional golfers say the first thing that goes is the putting which is not physical but the ability to match the speed with the amount of break just seems to fade. Its not the players fault but happens to every player in history at some point.
We all hope that Auba comes back to his best next season because we certainly need someone to step up and score more goals. However, I am not sure we can count of him scoring a lot of goals when we make our plans for next season.
“I think players have to take responsibility for their own form and if a player is struggling there is often nothing a manager can do.”
Come on Bill. He can’t pass himself the ball and play himself in the middle, can he?
I thought we looked really good against Newcastle and if you look back at the season we have looked really good against plenty of teams who are in the lower 1/2 of the table and we have mostly overwhelmed the teams we have played in the Europa league to get to the semifinals. If the problem was purely a bad manager who does not understand football tactics then how do we look good against any teams?
I assume PL managers and their coaching staffs. watch plenty of film and for the most part they know the tendency of players and the strategy their opposition are going to use. Everyone knows how Pep’s, Klopp’s, Fergies or Wengers teams are going to play. You can’t really surprise a competent opposition manager with a new strategy each game. To me the thing which determines a teams success is which team is able to execute their strategy and which does the best job of preventing the opposition from executing their strategy. Pep, Fergie and Wenger don’t win because they have a great new strategy for every game but they win because their players do the best job of executing. We look great as a team against lesser opposition in the PL such as Newcastle or West Brom because our players are better then theirs at executing the strategy and the biggest reason we have struggled against the the better teams in the league is because their players are better then ours.
Pp
The NBC coverage of the OT “invasion” was easily the most heroic journalism since the Iraq war and it put the Network’s Richard Engels’ own kidnapping in Syria in its proper puny context.
How Arlo White managed to stay safe amongst the hordes of barbaric Mancs I’ll never know.
Arteta’s a ‘positional play’ coach. I don’t claim to understand the system* very well, but my rough comprehension goes something like this: the pitch is split into zones, with rules about how many players can be in any zone at one time. Further, players are supposed to avoid being horizontally or vertically aligned with the ball carrier too often, and when one of these rules is ‘broken’ the offending player should rotate to a new position. The end goal of this is to create triangles and put players into space between the lines, and when that’s done well you get Guardiola’s teams: sharp movement, players that are hard to track, lots of openings, lots of goals.
That is to say, I don’t think that the stale attack we’ve seen so often is what Arteta is looking for at all. My feeling with Arsenal is that, at the moment at least, none of this is coming naturally enough. Players are thinking too much and taking too long for their decisions, leading to pretty sterile, drab, static football. When Arteta laments the lack of a pre-season I think this is why – rotations that, for his game to work, should be reflexive and spontaneous are instead laboured and predictable because they simply haven’t become second nature yet. Of course, the alternative explanation is that Arsenal’s squad just might not be particularly suited to this style of play: Auba is only really effective when running off the last defender; Pepe is not particularly tactically astute; Xhaka is immobile; etc.
I think we’ve seen glimpses of Odegaard, Saka and Smith Rowe playing this way, so I wouldn’t say this system needs automatons to work. Quite the opposite, I think players who have a great awareness of space and of the movement of their teammates is required. Whether Arteta can coax this from our squad in time to salvage this season s a very open question, right enough.
*If anyone has better insight into the structure Arteta uses, please correct me!