An Arsenal blog from a coach’s perspective
I was really encouraged by that performance. Really excited to see some much needed improvements. Then I went online and I seem to be one of the only ones out there that thought that the Almighty Carrot game was a big positive.
Everybody else seems wrapped up in the score line and some of the finishing.
The second half seemed like a grand opportunity to play at 50% and save legs as they were essentially no threat. I would’ve told my team to drop the energy levels.
The first half looked like an obvious reflection of what they had been practicing at the training ground. For far too long we have been ignoring the space behind the defence. Seeing an Arsenal player one on one with a goalkeeper was a birthday present. Linked to that has been the need for an attacking midfielder to turn on his first touch and play it behind with his second. Odegaard’s balletic/ice dancing style of receiving the ball is aesthetically pleasing to the eye as he caresses a ball like a seal in it’s prime, yet it cuts off the easiest route to goal.
As I’ve mentioned recently, I’ve just started coaching my new High School team here in Tennessee. I can be a talker so I told myself that my personal improvement was to use far less words. Not just because I need to anyway but because the attention span of a modern day teenager has shrunk drastically and especially after listening in class for 7 hours. I found a way to simplify my communication and put what I’m going to teach them into simple categories.
IMG 8967
IMG 8967
I realised that the word ‘care’ covers everything in football from your desire to play for the team and not yourself to listening to the coaches advice. The word ‘respect’ covers a plethora of their experiences on and off the field from respecting the referee (really hard to do in TN) to respecting each other. I boiled the game itself down to two words…. ‘easy’ and ‘difficult.’ When our opponent has possession we have to make it difficult for them. From not diving in to win a ball you can’t win to being willing to sacrifice your body to block a shot. The ‘easy’ part is well, easy. What is the easiest way to score a goal. Is it to go alone or is it to pass and move? Is it to make over 10 passes in any direction and be patient or is it to dink the ball over the top of a high defence. If you are a coach, I highly recommend the next thought…. We play 11 v 11 without goals. Just ‘keep away.’ They see the value in not always going forward and having patience because there is no target. Then we play with goals and when they attack at the wrong time I remind them how they got the ball into a shooting position without forcing it and losing it.
The word ‘trust’ is to inform the players that a coach picks the players that he trusts. How do you get his trust? Do what he taught you.
The results will be season changing as almost every other HS team in TN plays north and runs north and south. It will be interesting to see what they do against a team that plays like mine.
Arsenal have certainly conquered the first three words better than any other team I can point to. You can never tell anyone on this current Arsenal team that they don’t care as they played The Almighty Carrot as if it was City at home. As far as ‘caring’ is concerned, anyway. The same goes for ‘respect.’ Arsenal are arguably the best team in world football at making it ‘difficult’ for you simply because of the respect they have for their leaders and how much Arteta has promoted the importance of his standards. There is no better example than watching Arsenal recover in transition. Full sprint. Make it as difficult as possible.
The ‘easy’ part has been conquered as a general style. Not only are we excellent at keeping possession but unlike almost every other team, we refuse to just ‘toss balls into the box’ like almost every other football team, ever. However….
The single biggest problem at Arsenal Football Club, amongst a very short list, is the creation of easy chances.
The Almighty Carrot game was a step in the right direction.
Havertz was far more willing to play forward quickly. As an Arsenal striker he’s more aware than anyone else of making runs that aren’t even observed or observed, but not attempted. The turn and pass to VG was so un-Arsenal, unfortunately. So simple. So much more ‘easy.’ The balls behind continued in the first half, especially from Norgaard and White. They didn’t just happen, most were successful.
If I was to guess what happened after the United game, I’d say that the players encouraged the coach to trust their elite skills. I think they convinced him that even though playing directly can cause transition if unsuccessful, that they could make it worth it. Arsenal have so many players that can dink, chip, drive or lift the ball over a defence but haven’t had the chains loosened to where they feel safe to not be over-analyzed if it doesn’t work. Ask yourself if a player like Declan Rice with his unreal technique, ever tries to go over the top? If he can put corner after corner through a hula hoop, I bet he can become an assist merchant if unchained.
The other major change was flair and unpredictability. This was also huge because….
The second biggest problem at Arsenal Football Club is unpredictability.
I haven’t seen so many creative risks in all the games this season than we had in the first half. The best being Norgaard’s flick between his legs as the pre-assist for the third goal. Again, we have a collection of the world’s best players. There are about 7 of them that could claim to be the best in their position. Why wouldn’t you trust this level of player to be creative?
We can only hope that this was an arranged practice run, not simply a fun day off where street football was encouraged to lighten the mood. That all of the first half improvements were because of a permanent change coming, not because we were playing the Almighty Carrot.
Havertz:
The ultimate Swiss Army knife player. I’d forgotten that he can do pretty much everything to an 8/10 level. Doesn’t really specialize in any of it, but a player who others simply describe as a ‘good footballer.’ Clearly his biggest moments came when he showed the directness that we wish Odegaard showed more frequently, but his 50 Minute performance showed a little of all the tools in his knife. He is going to stand out and be appreciated more because his competition are more specialized.
I thought he was the best player on the field. His best game for the club by far. He is similar to Havertz in the fact that he is also a Swiss Army knife. More of a 7/10 at everything. Another ‘good footballer.’ If he had more speed and athleticism then he would be an 8/10 player. He’d likely be more trusted by Arteta too. Not only did we see creativity from him but his passing weight and range was impressive. I really hope that he is trusted more by Arteta as Zubimendi has likely played more minutes than most and could break down. Norgaard deserves and is perfectly capable of starting at least half of the league games without us feeling like we missed MZ.
I wonder if his scattered end product is simply the ‘Theo Walcott disease?’ Theo, alongside other rapid players, had hugely inconsistent end product especially when in a crossing position because he never really slowed his wheels down enough to control his action. Madueke is fast but more so, quick. When he is executing his shot/cross, his legs need to slow down so his brain can process what his eyes are seeing. A player with elite potential that needs to consider this if he wants to fulfill it.
Is he too laid back? Is football too easy for him? Do we need to give it a rest because 80% of footballers would love to have his composure under pressure. I think we are going to have to understand that he is a ‘moments’ player. He’s not going to control and boss games, even though he could. When you watch the extended highlights though, there are so many magic moments that he creates with his quality.
I’m not even sure if you can say that he is simply better technically than others. He’s probably on par with most good players but because he’s cooler than Will Smith, he can execute better than the 80%. I’m not sure that I’ve seen a player so reliable at getting shots on target than him. That is the hardest technique to execute because of the pressure and the butterflies, yet he has laser focus.
As much as he has been the issue recently, it is important that balance is struck. He has lacked goal threat and he got in the box frequently. If he would’ve headed the ball using his whole body rather than just his neck muscles he likely scores both headers. He doesn’t run through the ball when he headers it, as you should. He uses more the woodpecker approach. He also tried his cheeky lift passes over the top, opening up his can of skills and showing that he was ok with failure.
Slowly, he is impacting games with more consistency. His touches, runs, using his body, speed etc.., are getting some airtime. With Kai back maybe his shoulders can relax and that might make his thunder touches less stormy. I noticed that he was more alert in the box. This was because he didn’t plant his feet and watch. A top striker always keeps his feet moving in the box so his brain doesn’t freeze when the opportunity arises. If I had some time with VG, I’d show him his posture when he has the ball. He is very upright which greatly affects his mobility to jink past players or to execute with subtlety. Watch him.
Academy players:
Brando Bailey Joseph is electric. He is probably the quickest player at the club at all levels. Ife Ibrahim is a clone of Abou Diaby. Both players have a shot at Arsenal especially Ibrahim, because those type of players are rare.
That was his best game this season. His passing was a big danger and danger is what he hasn’t offered this season. His driving runs and ability to use his midfielders eye have largely vanished. Competition in his spot is intense but I hope we see him again soon.
I didn’t realize it was this rough. I wonder if this was brought up post-United?
I’m out of time today, but this is plenty. We will know if the directness and added flair/risk is real on Saturday.