An Arsenal blog from a coach’s perspective
Analyzing an elite game of football is a time consuming task. The amount of detail rises. The coaches know that the margins are smaller and so the margins themselves become the focus for the coaching staff.
Talking about the space that Nico O’Reilly had to progress the ball in the second half is interesting. As is the tactic of leaving Saliba one on one with Haaland so Gabi could man mark Cherki. There are many others and maybe that’s for later.
I’ve always tried to find the story of the game. The reason why what happened, happened.
I think there were two main storylines. Neither are new stories.
The first was the finishing. Not so much the comparison in the two teams, but simply that Arsenal are still to convince that their attacking abilities are anywhere close to their abilities to defend. I still believe that Arteta needs to simplify attacking. We take too long to move the ball forward and recycle. we have a group of players that can play one touch football, but don’t. Our defenders pass the ball around the back in three passes rather than skipping a player or two out. If we had more verticality at times, not always, then our opponents wouldn’t be able to get in shape. Our wingers are all inverted which leads to the request for them to score back post benders which have been rare this season rather than using one winger at least to play on his natural side, beat the full back on the outside and create tap in opportunities for a striker in VG that would score far more if we leant into his strength.
Against City, Martinelli was brought on perhaps to threatentheir high line, but we never played him the ball and I only saw one proactive run.
I know what Arteta is doing. He sees a league with far two many games for the most successful and he doesn’t want his team to have to play exhausting basketball games. He is right in that. So, he focuses on control which means that we want our opponents to all retreat into their half into a compact shape that is then very hard to pass your way out of because space is dramatically reduced. This makes sense too. It’s a good idea and has got us as far as competing in every competition and being recognized as one of the best. Many fans want a complete change of style because this style is dull and frustrating. I don’t want a complete change. I want balance. I want a team that can understand when they have been given an opportunity to score a far more simple goal. Arsenal are blessed with having Odegaard who can organize and execute a very effective press. When we do steal the ball, we slow down rather than play vertically. We have two thieves in midfield. Two of the best there are. When Zubi gets close he frequently dispossess opponents. If there was an award for ‘Snuffing Out Attacks,’ then Rice would be the Ballon d’Or winner of that trophy almost every year. Yet when these two thieves perform their robbery, we get in a Ford Fiesta and drive in 2nd gear around the town rather than jumping in an Audi and driving straight down the motorway.
Making the argument that we don’t yet have an elite attack is fair. It is also fair to say that we have never got the best out of Martinelli and Gyokeres to name two. If we had done so then considering the amount of minutes they’ve both had, we would have the league wrapped up by now.
It has taken too long to address both in the market and on the coaching field. Arsenal don’t have enough players who have finishing in their top three attributes. As an example, we don’t expect Odegaard to have finishing as his number one threat but 1 goal in half a season simply isn’t good enough.
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The fact that the others haven’t helped compounds the problem and shines a bright neon light on what needs to change.
Which is the priority though? Creating easier chances or buying/training elite finishing? I’d say that the former would take care of both problems but the latter has to be addressed because it’s not just a one player issue. Firstly, Arteta has to prioritize attacking at training. If we didn’t do another defensive drill at training for the rest of the season, I’m sure that we would be fine as we have clearly come as close to perfecting this as is possible. Then ensure that the attackers and midfielders that you sign in the summer are better in front of goal than what we have. This might be why Arsenal are being linked with Atalanta goalscoring midfielder, Ederson.
Football at its simplest is a game where all the details lead to the moment. The point. The whole point. Can you put the ball in the goal. This is not our specialty and it needs to be or we will always struggle, even if we win.
What is more likely to happen is that we will focus on recruitment because Mikel will see this stat and that is fair enough.
The player chosen will likely be one that can help in build up as well as be an expert finisher. I’m not convinced that this is possible though. I often think that the fact that Haaland is such a reliable finisher is because he is physically fresh.
The second issue that greatly affected the game was the pre-game decision that Anthony Taylor had made to not be the reason that the game swung one way or another. This was obvious to me. Rather than simply reffing each moment on its merit, all the key decisions were wrong. Khusanov shoved Kai over. A simple red card decision. Gabriel should have seen red and the fact that if Haaland would’ve rolled around he would’ve gone, is a sad truth about the state of officiating. The winning goal was only scored because Haaland pulled Gabriel out of the way before finishing. such an obvious advantage gained and embarrassing that VAR haven’t even tried to check all the angles.
What is always so frustrating is that if the UK media don’t choose refereeing decisions as the narrative, then anybody who does is shot down. Anthony Taylor made the game about him with non-decisions, whilst trying to not be the story. It is all so very messed up.
POSITIVES:
Saliba:
What an incredible performance. Given a tougher task than any defender has been given against Haaland and he was so good. As mentioned earlier, Saliba was left one on one against arguably the worlds most dangerous striker. It almost doesn’t make sense. Saliba isn’t as polite as he used to be. Hyper aggressive, never flustered and in total control of his job.
There is a strong argument that Arsenal have the world’s best two centre backs.
Kai:
Although we are disappointed that he missed two big chances, he did so much well that needs to be applauded. He is so much quicker than people realize and I wish he would’ve taken off earlier to beat Bernardo to the ball. Donnaruma didn’t know as he paused. Credit to Havertz for seeing the perfect opportunity to press hard.
Mosquera:
That was a real test. Marking their most dangerous player whilst on a yellow card and with constant pressure. He was smart to back off a step so as to not be tempted to tackle.
Hincapie:
After the summer window, Arsenal will own an entire back four of defenders who can handle any player by themselves. That is so rare in football and is a huge compliment to the recruiting staff and coaches for finding and training them in the details needed to be that good in one on one situations. Timber is the king followed by three princes in Hincapie, Saliba and Gabriel.
NEEDS:
Martinelli:
That might be the end of Martinelli. If true, it’s a big shame because he has the athletic and technical gifts to have gone up levels, but remains one of the only AFC players that hasn’t really improved.
I got the impression that he had something else on his mind. there were rumours about his agent chatting with PSG last week. I’m sure Martinelli didn’t expect another CL contender to be interested.
His major sin was pressing a keeper who had the ball in his hands and being more concerned about Guehi than O’Reilly who subsequently ran box to box to set up the winning goal. Arsenal now have 3 wingers that are inconsistent. What I hope we don’t see but could in May, is that PSG can rely on 4 wingers who show more goal threat and impact than Trossard, Madueke and Martinelli. That is the level and could be the difference this year. Football has changed in that wingers are expected to contribute 10+ goals per season and the same number of assists. Our crew are just too scattered and unreliable at this level and when your rivals are streets ahead, you have to respond.
Madueke:
I wonder if Arteta will persist with Madueke or sell him before his value drops more. Cutting your losses and being as ruthless as he has stated that he will be, but hasn’t really followed through on. Madueke might be seen as a market opportunity and if somebody wants to give us our money back then we take it. I can see Arsenal selling at least 1 big player this summer and because inconsistency has troubled our entire front line, I wouldn’t be surprised if Madueke or Gyokeres disappear.
Arteta:
I’m really surprised that Arteta didn’t move Rice to the right side. City were running riot on that side and we needed legs. a strange decision.
FINAL THOUGHT:
Arsenal still have a 50/50 chance of winning the league. Most of City’s opponents have Europe to play for and a few of them would be qualifying for the first time. Arsenal have the return of Kai and Odegaard to help us alongside the possible return of Saka, Calafiori and Timber. Eze is in form and having our most creative player in form could be the spark to infect others. Rodri possibly being out is their most important player missing and so I think there are more twists. It also can’t be forgotten that we look like a team returning to form ourselves.
I’m predicting that Merino will come back and win the league for Arsenal.