The Arsenal Way
Very often, on the Arsenal blogosphere we read about ‘The Arsenal Way’. Now this can mean a number of things; the way we do business, the way we recruit youth, the way we do transfers, the way we treat ex-players or simply the way we play.
There are plenty of people who cover the non playing stuff
really well, and much better than I ever can so I’ll stick to what I can write
about. Which is…The Arsenal Way.. on
the pitch. How do we attack? How do we defend? What weaknesses and strengths?
And so on…I’ll let the article speak for itself…
How do Arsenal attack?
Every team in football has 2 or 3 major ways of attacking,
and really very few teams have an awesome Plan B and an awesome Plan C. Normally B and C are variations of Plan A. Yes there can be
tactical switches, but by and large most teams stick to Plan A around 90% of
the time, because they’ve practiced that 90% of the time. Simple really. So
what is Arsenal’s Plan A?
Well, there’s one big tell tale sign to know if Arsenal are
playing well. Its when they retain possession. They might eventually score only
in the 81st minute after being 1-0 down; but if they’re keeping the ball all
over the park..always remember, whether you’re at the game, your TV or your
computer..Arsenal always stand a chance, if they are moving the ball around.
Usually though, if Arsenal play well, they retain possession
and score. Remember the good old days, when we used to score goals for fun down
the left side with Henry drifting off to inside left, Pires going central and
Cole down the wing? It used to be telepathic.
There’s a similar thing developing down the right wing these days, except that its more direct. If Arsenal’s playing well, you’ll see Sagna in the opposition third, Walcott in the inside right channel and RVP drifting around the box. And at least 6 or 7 times out of 10, Arteta and Song will look to find Walcott’s runs or if that’s not on, definitely Sagna’s runs.
Sagna is more a last option though, the key is to get
Walcott into crossing and shooting positions around the box. Not only for RVP,
but also for Rosicky and the left sided forward to get on the end of a deeper
cross. Much like the Newcastle last minute winner..where a deepish cross saw
TV5 get on the end of it. So Plan A is .. hit Walcott as early as you can.. get
runners around the box to score.
If this isn’t working and the opposition is sitting really
deep and Theo’s getting doubled up on, you’ll see that the next thing that
happens is Alex Song further forward than he is, and trying to hit a through
ball or a chipped ball over the top.
And invariably, you won’t see Arteta anywhere near for a
while as he’d have automatically dropped into Song’s role at the back. There
will at this point of time, be a lot of play in central midfield where Rosicky
will drift all over, RVP will drop deeper and
try to drag a CB with him so that Walcott and Gervinho get more space to
run inward.
This is where having someone like RVP who can also create is
so handy. And this is how Arsenal have played primarily until this year. The
reason Walcott is the main weapon this year is, not only coz he has got better,
but also because Cesc and Nasri have both left leaving a hole in midfield to
play keep ball.
So..while we’re still good at it, we’re no longer as awesome
at it as before and have had to look at other ways. And think of it.. Walcott,
AOC, Gervinho, Miyachi(maybe) are all very very quick and very different
players from Cesc, Hleb, Rosicky, Arshavin. They’re all runners.. not keep ball
players. So if they can add a bit more control to their game then it’ll be
awesome.
The third way of attacking is through the LB. This is primarily a one two kind of simple attack which results in Gibbs crossing the ball into the box. If Santos plays it’ll be more on the ground and try to release him as he runs in from deep. But largely if you see Gibbs getting forward too much, it just means that, while he is having a good game..that Arsenal are not having that great a game.
The last option is a Route 1 long ball attack with Chamakh
winning knockdowns and 4 strikers on the pitch. That usually happens when we’re
losing games after 80 minutes, and we’re trying to win through sheer numbers on
the pitch.
Obviously there are variations to this, but our attack
(order) to sum up is – RW to set Theo free, Patient posession game with Song as
the offensive creator and Rosicky linking things, a pure crossing game and
lastly a long ball. Have you seen any other patterns?
And how do Arsenal defend?
Well, simply put..Arsenal do not like to defend. Apart from
Per Mertesacker, I don’t think anyone likes to defend. But none the less there
are a few patterns that you can observe if Arsenal aren’t defending well or
comfortable.
First of all don’t look at the score. It could be 0-0 with
no saves but you can still tell if Arsenal are comfortable or not. Look at where
Sagna and Gibbs are. Have you seen them forward in the last 10 minutes? If not,
that’s a straight sign that Arsenal are under pressure and can concede.
If they are getting forward, are they getting forward too
much? Specially on the left side. Have you seen diagonal balls from the
opposition Lbs, a long ball from the opposition CB’s or a simple 1-2 pass into
the LB position..leading to Vermaelen being dragged out of position once too
often? It means the LB is not getting back in time and a goal from a cross is
imminent. The same logic is true on the right but Sagna gets caught out far
lesser.
How many interceptions in Koscielny making on the last pass
for the opposition? While that means he is having a great game, it almost
certainly means that our possession game has gone and we’re under pressure. So
if you see TV and LK both happily bombing forward or standing near the half
line, we’re mostly mostly okay. Yes there’s a chance that a long ball will
catch us out though if these 2 play.
If Mertesacker plays though, watch out for a much more
composed game and a relatively more defensive game out from the back, and fewer
long balls lost. So if we’re playing Stoke and Blackburn and the Hoof boys Per
is hugely crucial as he’s not going to go ball playing up field like TV and LK.
And if you see even Mertesacker upfield trying to create, that just means
Arsenal are struggling, else he won’t be there..100%.
Lastly..and its a more obvious point that when both
fullbacks are upfield trying to keep the ball, Alex Song will sit and make it a
back 3. If we’re playing high up the pitch, and you see Song also join in, just
pray that we don’t lose the ball. It could be trouble.
Other minor interesting points are the team selection, if
you see Benayoun and Rosicky both start, it means that Arsenal think the
opposition is going to be an attacking threat and feel that both these players
are needed for their keep ball and their work rate. Don’t moan about how AOC
should come on for either of these two. It won’t happen. We’ll sacrifice a
striker maybe but not Rosicky or Yossi. The longer those two are on the pitch,
you know its one of two things..Arsenal don’t need a goal urgently and want to
play keep ball OR the opposition is ripping us up for a change.
Conclusion:
So that guys and gals is the Arsenal way from my view in front of a TV set. What do you think?
