By Merl
April 27 2026
The two games against Manchester City demonstrated that a well-coached side playing Circulation Football beat a poorly coached Arsenal playing Crab Football.
Lessons learnt
Mikel Arteta needs to evolve from his Safety First ArtetaBall 4.0 to ArtetaBall 5.0 Attacking Football with better ball circulation. Winning remaining five games with better GD and “Goal For” against Man City is crucial to winning or losing the title now.
Carlo Ancelotti “Quiet Leadership” (2017)
Ancelotti had the problem of fitting four great players, Pirlo, Seedorf, Rui Costa and Kaka into three places in the team. Eventually he came up with the diamond where Pirlo and Kaka exchanged places, Pirlo deeper and Kaka more forward. The 4-4-2 diamond system turned Kaka into the World Player of the Year by him playing at the top of the diamond and simultaneously, scoring more and creating more assists while allowing the team to win.
Andrea Pirlo?Ancelotti was talking with Andrea Pirlo about how to find someone to fill a deep-lying midfield position. Pirlo simply said to Ancelotti, “I can do this.” Ancelotti was worried that for three years he had played as an attacking midfielder and didn’t know whether he had the mentally to change his position.
Pirlo was not a physically powerful player. Instead of scaring him away on the new defensive responsibilities this role would have, Ancelotti spoke mostly about the attacking demands of the role, how he would be the focal point of the team, the game-changer.
Later, Ancelotti was able to make Pirlo feel comfortable and dispel any doubts about his capability to do it by explaining that the defensive situation was not so difficult. “I only need you to be in the right position,” Ancelotti said. “You don’t have to press, you don’t have to tackle, but you must track and be goal-side when it is necessary.” He doesn’t have to be Claudio Gentile, after all.
Ancelotti explained to Pirlo his importance in being able to organize the play of the team, how playing deeper would allow him to have more space compared to other attacking midfielders.
Pirlo was smart and recognized a potential new career path for himself, becoming one of the best deep-lying playmakers in world football and using his talents in the right role for the team. Andrea Pirlo defines “regista”.
Martin Odegaard as Regista
Martin Odegaard fine positioning, mobility, vision and the awareness of available options made him Arsenal only creative playmaker. His first touch is first class and his killer passes frequently put the forwards into shooting positions close to the opposition’s goal.
During the attacking phase, his ability to analyse the tactical situations and to recognize the positioning of his teammates and the opponents quickly and the available free spaces before receiving the ball, led him also to gain extremely high percentage passing accuracy.
Frequently, Odegaard took advantage of the available space on the right, often created by Saka cutting inward or dropping deeper or White or Timber running along the line. Odegaard had developed telepathic understanding with Saka in each other movement. Their quick one-two and instant layoff between them are a joy to watch.
During the defensive phase, Odegaard would take up the appropriate defensive positions in order for the pressing to be successful. He would fill every gap that was created in the right-side defensive line caused by defenders caught high-up on the pitch. He has the engine to run up and down the pitch to track the forward runs of his direct opponent.
This makes Odegaard a perfect regista to beat man-marking at final third where he is always pressed instantly by two or three defenders forcing him to pass backward as the only safe option.
We have five midfielders – Odegaard, Eze, Rice, Zubimendi and Norgaard – and only 3 spots in the team. Eze is an attacking midfielder, a maverick, free to roam across the line with his unpredictability and trickery, creating a split-second of opening to shoot at goal. He is a trequartista and superb in playing at final third, behind the forward and in support of a central striker.
4-3-3 generally functions with a playmaker, an attacking midfielder and a defensive midfielder DCM. The best DCM is Declan Rice and he is not a no. 8 due to his lack of football intelligence like Eze and Odegaard. Rice as a no. 8 slows down fast transition with his instinctive urge to drive the ball forward for a few seconds before passing. This kills off transition with defenders getting back into position and formed a low block of 10 men in the box. Rice is a worldclass DCM with his fine anticipation and always in position to stop counterattacks and in position to intercept passes or instantly pressing ball receiver. His beat attribute is his engine to go box-to-box all day and his accurate long passes to flanks and over the top. Arteta needs to coach Rice to execute quick transition with first-touch passes to Odegaard or Eze or wingers or forward-line. When both Eze and Odegaard are attacking the box, Rice is the sweeper behind them and a shield in front of Back-4 to anticipate quick balls launched down the flank behind our attacking fullback.
Two Trequartista in Eze and Saka
A healthy Odegaard, fully recovered from two seasons of injuries, is the key to our attacking ability. And a fit Saka in early May will boost Arsenal attacking prowess further with Odegaard developing plays from deep, linking with Eze to attack the final third.
Ancelotti varied his diamond 4-4-2 to Christmas Tree 4-3-2-1 when he had only one healthy striker with Kaka and either Rui Costa or Seedorf joining Kaka as two trequartista.
Saka is the key to play 4-3-2-1 with both Eze and Saka roaming from flank to centre to support the lone striker (Havertz or Gyokeres?). Both Eze and Saka are unpredictable in their movements cutting into centre, and both of them have the ability to create an instant of clear shooting chance and shooting quickly. With Odegaard coming in deep to support them, Rice sweeping behind them, Arteta has the option to replace Zubi with an attacking midfielder like Dowman or Jesus late in the second half to score more goals. Alternatively, Arteta may start “1-2” with Gyokeres, Eze and Havertz (or Jesus as RW) with Rice, Odegaard and Saka behind them. This is an attacking formation with five midfielders whose mission is to score 3 or more goals for a superior GD and “Goal For”.
Who Dares Wins
"Qui audet adipiscitur", which directly conveys the meaning that those who take bold action achieve success. (from Wikipedia). But the question is how brave is Mikel Arteta in taking bold actions to score more goals to win remaining five league games.
Will it be – Who dares who wins?
Bookmark or share this story with:
Related Articles:
ArtetaBall 5.0: Qui audet adipiscitur
Discussion started by Arsenal Times , 27/04/2026 21:52
Arsenal Times
27/04/2026 21:52
What do you think? You can have your say by posting below.
If you do not already have an account Click here to Register.
Flava
27/04/2026 21:52
Apologies to Merl, he sent that to me before the Newcastle game.
Boston Gooner
27/04/2026 21:55
Odegaard is crap.
We need to get what money we can for him.
"𝗜𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁. 𝗜𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗱, 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴."
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2026:04:27:21:57:08 by Boston Gooner.
Sorry, only registered users may post in this forum.