David Sneyd
JUST AFTER DECLAN Rice joined Arsenal in the summer of 2023, he was asked in an interview with Sky Sports about the tactical demands under new manager Mikel Arteta.
The midfielder was in the door a few weeks after his €100 million-plus move from West Ham United was finally sealed.
Rice wasn’t there long enough to earn the trust of the club’s Labrador, named Win, who has the run of the training ground.
But his eyes had been opened. Arsenal and Arteta provided enlightenment.
“It’s crazy. It’s honestly crazy. I’m already seeing football in a completely different way. You think you know football growing up and when you play, but when you meet managers like Mikel, you realise you don’t really know anything about football. There are different styles and different ways of playing that I’ve never experienced before,” Rice said.
He may well have even posted it to LinkedIn for an update on the working culture of his new environment.
Given Rice is a product of English football’s great academy renaissance, which began with the introduction of increased investment and greater emphasis on technical skills, it’s fair to say that Arteta has indeed opened his eyes to the beauty and intricacies of one of football’s maligned artforms: the long throw.
Not since former Stoke City boss Tony Pulis discovered Rory Delap and some of his teammates betting £50 on who could throw the ball the furthest at the end of training has a manager
The stakes were far greater in this Champions League semi-final second leg with PSG, but Arteta went all in on Thomas Partey’s ability to slingshot the ball into the penalty area.
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The final act of Arsenal’s desperate, desperate attempt at salvation summed up their complete ineptitude on the cusp of club football’s biggest stage.
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There were 95 minutes on the clock. Arsenal trailed 3-1 on aggregate and anything at this point would still only be mere consolation.
A throw in that was in line with the edge of the PSG penalty box. Partey trudged over, the burden heavy and his shoulders burning after a tireless – tiresome – night with the ball in his hands.
Arsenal piled bodies forward. One last go. [insert sad womp womp sound effect here]
The ball barely made it into the box.
It was on such a sad, sorry descent that it was the perfect height for Vitinha – the first PSG defender in the box – to connect with a fierce clearance. Maybe if he’d connected with his penalty kick with half as much purpose earlier in the night Arteta wouldn’t even have bothered to force the ignominy on Partey of taking another long throw.
It was no wonder he could barely penetrate the PSG box by that stage. The tactic of using him to launch it was evident from the very start of the game.
Yes, Arsenal looked threatening initially, forcing Gianluigi Donnarumma into one exceptional close-range save from Gabriel Martinelli and another from further out when captain Martin Odegaard reacted quickest to a breaking ball on the edge of the area and fired a low shot between three PSG defender.
The giant Italian goalkeeper arched his neck to gauge its direction and anticipated to his left. It was a fine save, although he looked on helplessly when Rice rose above Marquinhos and glanced a header inches wide from a clipped Jurrien Timber cross.
Arsenal’s confidence levels were rising and Partey’s long throws were central to the gameplan. The problem? PSG didn’t wilt.
Like any side that has dealt with such an onslaught those in the defence quickly adapted and anticipated the trajectory and threat level. Arteta was found out.
When Arsenal did eventually get their consolation through Bukayo Saka it came after a long ball into space was chased down by Leandro Trossard. Such was the over emphasis on a slingshot, Arsenal seemingly failed to realise the effect of route one given PSG right back Achraf Hakimi was so often pushed further forward – as was emphasised for his part in the award of that missed penalty and also by scoring their second goal of the night to kill the tie on 72 minutes.
But it was the opening goal on 27 minutes, against the run of play if you’re judging by set-piece threat, that ended up draining Arsenal of so much belief.
Rice was panicked into a foul, PSG delivered a free-kick from the left wing to the back post, and Arsenal made two basic errors.
Firstly, Partey attempted to clear his lines by putting the ball back into a central area.
The second mistake was failing to adhere to one of the game’s parables: win your second ball.
Again, Arsenal didn’t. Fabian Ruiz feinted to follow the initial cross all the way in before dropping back to the edge of the area in hope of picking up that second ball.
It paid off, a delightful shimmy to evade Martinelli allowing him the space to fire a left-footed shot into the net.
Arteta had no legitimate tactic for a last throw of the dice from then on because he had showed his only hand from the beginning.
Live by the set-piece, die by the set-piece.