Amongst Mikel Arteta’s nice teaching triumphs throughout his spell at Arsenal is his capability to seek out options and drawback resolve. The absence of Martin Odegaard to damage posed a big concern to Arteta and his staff. For consecutive away matches at Spurs, Atalanta and Manchester Metropolis, the latter with ten males for near an hour, pragmatism reigned. Arsenal gritted their enamel and relied on their off-ball form and endeavour to take 5 factors from these three video games.
Final week, I posed the query as to how Arsenal would exchange Odegaard throughout a block of three house video games, the place they might count on larger territory and extra possession. In that article, I posited that Arsenal couldn’t repeat the pragmatic method in opposition to Leicester, PSG and Southampton. With a kind of video games nonetheless to play, it’s honest to say that I used to be most likely off kilter.
Arsenal have largely performed the identical system with the identical personnel, with Trossard and Havertz forming a type of false 9 partnership the place it’s tough to differentiate who’s increased and who’s decrease at anyone time. (And generally Havertz is stationed proper out on the correct wing). They’ve largely caught with this type of 4411 formation with Trossard and Havertz alternating, however with some changes across the edges.
The total-backs are turning up in ever stranger locations as Arsenal look to construct out in a field form with the underside left nook of that field, specifically, rotating repeatedly. However it’s the partnership between Havertz and Trossard that propelled the Gunners to creating over 4 objectives value of XG in opposition to Leicester on Saturday and the pair mixed to open the scoring in opposition to PSG.
Each are hybrid gamers, no one actually is aware of whether or not Havertz is a 9, a ten or an 8. No person actually is aware of whether or not Trossard is a centre-forward, a winger or a deeper mendacity ahead. The reality, for each, is that they’re all these issues relying on the part of play. The staff is concurrently strikerless and striker….full?
The mixture between Trossard and Havertz for the opening aim in opposition to PSG is a very good instance of this and calls to thoughts Alexis Sanchez’s header away at Leicester Metropolis again in September 2015, assisted with a chipped cross from the left half-space by Mesut Ozil.
As Trossard cuts in to cross right here, Havertz is just not in a centre-forward place, he’s the place you’d count on an attacking central midfielder to be. The run he makes may simply have been made by a peak Aaron Ramsey.
In simply two seconds, Havertz has seen the scenario unfolding and made a run from deep into the realm. The power of Havertz and Trossard enjoying in such fluid positions is that opposing centre-halves typically have no one apparent to mark, as @ThatGooner units out properly under. Havertz is usually enjoying the Odegaard function when the ball bears proper however when it bears left, he’s entering into the realm to smell out possibilities.
Flooding the first part by working with no nominal #9, and due to this fact excluding PSG’s CBs, meant PSG’s attackers have been all the time caught between two males (typically the AM & the DM). pic.twitter.com/5JQEZXH1UX
— PM (@ThatGooner) October 2, 2024
The damage to Odegaard may have been a big trauma however the coach and the staff tailored and located one other method to play, banking on the partnership of a pair of gamers for whom fluidity is a pleasure not a chore. It provides one other string to Arsenal’s bow they usually have discovered some new patterns and strengthened some partnerships. They nonetheless have Mikel Merino so as to add to this burgeoning combine as properly.
Arsenal’s total fluidity and problem to learn for opponents has been aided by the addition of a pair of full-backs too in Jurrien Timber and Riccardo Calafiori. Each are primarily new additions even when Timber really arrived final summer season and I believe my TL;DR evaluation is that they symbolize upgrades on Takehiro Tomiyasu and Oleksandr Zinchenko, each of whom simply can not keep match typically sufficient to affect the staff sufficiently.
The left-back slot felt just a little unsatisfactory final season, Arsenal had a variety of robust 7/10 choices however lacked a bona fide ‘left-sided Ben White’ high quality. Tomiyasu, Zinchenko and, due to accidents to each (and Timber) Kiwior timeshared the function. Nevertheless it all the time felt just a little bit like a query mark on the teamsheet, one of many locations your eye would drift to see who had been chosen for a selected sport.
Zinchenko helped to revolutionise the best way that Arsenal performed when he arrived two summers in the past, drifting in-field as a left-sided six alongside Thomas Partey on the base of the Arsenal midfield. The issue was two-fold. One was the Ukrainian’s patchy health report, the opposite was that, after some time, the sample of Zinchenko inverting grew to become predictable and opponents adjusted.
Arsenal’s reply has been to vary issues up just a little. For a begin, Calafiori is clearly snug enjoying in additional central areas however his actual expertise is driving the ball into house, which poses groups a special drawback and provides the staff one thing rather less static in opposition to deep block defences. The staff can also be rotating positions in build-up within the backside left of that field form.
As Arsenal construct from the again early on within the PSG sport, we will see Califiori in a parallel line to Thomas Partey in midfield, which is precisely the place one would possibly discover Zinchenko in the identical scenario.
As Arsenal proceed to go round in their very own third, we will see Califiori continues to be in that midfield place with Rice pushing out to the outside of the staff. It’s from this sequence that PSG are ultimately attracted so excessive up the pitch that Raya practically finds Martinelli within the PSG space with an excellent lengthy go.
Clips of us repeatedly breaking down PSG’s press final night time.
Fairly fluid 2-2-2 centrally, all the time occupying the halfspace channels and pinning the deep flank areas for (largely) Trossard and Timber to use.pic.twitter.com/DqAcafBspU
— PM (@ThatGooner) October 2, 2024
But when Arsenal construct right here, later within the half, it’s Rice who involves the left six place to construct out with Calafiori out on the outside. There may be a lot larger interchange in that zone now. Jurrien Timber has additionally added one thing important to the combination from right-back. Firstly, his presence signifies that Ben White not has to play video games holding his severed leg in one in every of his fingers insisting, ‘aye, tis however a scratch.’
White has been one in every of Arsenal’s most constant and dependable performers since he arrived in 2021 however even his place is not secure. Zinchenko and Jesus, very similar to Ramsdale final season, function pertinent reminders to the squad that, when competitors is excessive, you may in a short time go from lead singer to roadie.
Towards Leicester, Timber had 4 tackles (joint highest within the staff), 9 shot creating actions (second most), 53 carries (third most), 96 touches (third most), eight recoveries (second most) and wasn’t dispossessed all afternoon. He brings a punchiness and aggression to the function and the truth that the White, Odegaard and Saka triumvirate has had 66% of its constituent components taken with out producing any dialogue or concern says so much in regards to the high quality of Timber (and Havertz’s) shows.
If I had one reservation, it could be that I don’t understand how Arsenal would adapt to a Havertz damage, it’s merely inconceivable to think about the staff with out him. The try to signal Benjamin Sesko throughout the summer season means that Arteta looks like he wants, at minimal, a replicant of Havertz’s bodily qualities within the ahead line. However total, it feels as if the coach and the staff are including layers to their method and we’ve got nonetheless seen valuable little of Merino and Sterling but.
