Thread by @EBL2017

Arsenal should be held to the standards of the absolute elites.

Why?

Because they are capable of greatness.

For this reason, I critique their 5-1 win away at Sporting. Yes, critique. Arsenal were special, but I believe that they are capable of even more..

A tactical thread 👇

Arsenal pressed in zonal turned man-to-man fashion from Sporting's goal kicks.

As ever, they forced the press to Sporting's left hand-side and Arsenal's right hand-side.

Why?

Because Ødegaard is their best presser. He presses the LCB whilst arcing his run to manage the #6.

Behind that, Thomas Partey is ready to jump to the ball-side #6, but his position is 'half and half'.

That way he can apply pressure to the #6 AND recover & help his teammates pick up second balls if Sporting decide to play over Arsenal's press.

When Partey does lock on to make the press man-to-man, Saliba has to jump to the vacated #10 between the lines.

Arsenal's press goes from zonal to man-to-man and maximum pressure is applied to the ball.

They caused Sporting all sorts of problems from their own goal kicks.

Further back, Arsenal reverted into a more conservative 4-4-2 block against Sporting's famous 3-2-5 shape.

The idea in this moment was for Havertz and Ødegaard to collapse the play on the #6's, Saka & Martinelli to block the lanes into the #8's, & the #6's to manage those #8's.

Arsenal are typically more aggressive in this moment, but Arteta paid maximum respect to Gyökeres.

Mikel ensured Saliba and Gabriel were narrow and together to nullify the threat of Sporting's #9.

As a consequence of this, though, it meant Arsenal had to defend deep at times.

The approach meant that Sporting either had a spare man in front of Arsenal's block.

Or in between Arsenal's block when Havertz jumped from the #6 to the middle centre back, Saka & Martinelli pressed the outside centre backs, Partey jumped to the #6, with Rice was 1v2 centrally.

When Arsenal pressed, Rice was often overloaded because Gabriel did not jump out from the defensive line to back up the press.

This meant that Sporting could evade the press OR hold possession when Arsenal were forced to be passive & could not apply pressure to the centre backs.

Arsenal were 3-0 up at half-time and they won the game 5-1, so people may think it is utterly insane to critique their pressing structure, especially when it was so good from Sporting's goal kicks (and often from back passes in open play), but it felt a little cautious at times.

There is no doubt that Arsenal are uniquely well-drilled when it comes to defending deep, & that is a top quality of theirs, but they were a little too eager to get into that defensive shape as a result of Arteta's tactical approach last night.

They had success when aggressive.

Arteta would no doubt argue that the performance was spectacular and that Arsenal limited Gyökeres, and that is absolutely true, but Sporting had 47% possession in that first half.

Possession is not the be all and end all, but much of that possession was in Arsenal's half.

When the ball is close to your goal, variance is heightened. When the ball is far away from your goal, variance is limited.

That is a very basic principle, and it is one that Arteta and Arsenal live by, and it's why we saw them press aggressively even late in the game.

But, and maybe I'm being too harsh, I think this team is capable of exerting even more control than that.

I think this team should be dominating the ball.

Of course Sporting will always have moments, and you have to defend deep at times, but variance needs to be limited.

More attacks, more chances of scoring. More sustained pressure, more chances of counter-pressing high. More aggressive pressure in the mid-block, more chances of forcing the opposition back and regaining possession.

Gyökeres may be left 1v1, though. And that's the issue.

Arteta opted for maximal aggression and bravery with & without the ball in the context that Gyökeres could not be left alone when Arsenal defended in the mid-block.

Instead, he opted for Rice to manage a 2v1 defensive situation.

That makes a whole lot of sense - it really does.

But I think that that caution can see Arsenal concede control at times.

It can see the opposition hold possession for periods with Arsenal defending deep, and it's not like they have guys like Salah in transition who make up for not having total control (hence Slot's success).

This Arsenal team, with Calafiori, Timber, and Ødegaard (amongst others) making them so ridiculously dynamic are capable of going toe-to-toe with any team in the world with the ball.

The more of it they have, the more they can create, but also the more they can press higher up.

When Arsenal come up against other special forwards that may require 2v1 treatment, Arteta should trust his team to manage those 1v1 battles.

I say this because although that may seem naive, he has some really special players, and conceding control should rarely be an option.

I would write this thread about very few teams because Arsenal were borderline flawless, but Arteta and his team are capable of true greatness, so we must hold them to those standards.

For this team to win in the long-run, control is the way forwards.

But Arteta knows that.

🛑