Tactical analysis: Arsenal – Tottenham

By Arvind

I’m slowly getting through all the games that we’ve played. Hopefully sooner rather than later, I will get through them all and be able to write about the recent league games instead of older ones. Until then, bear with me and I do think all these games offer some interesting insight into how we have played. This time it’s the big Tottenham game which we won 1-0.

Arsenal attack:

The game started off with Rosicky running the game as he usually does in every big game. I’ve hardly ever seen the guy have a bad game when he starts a big game. It’s all because he presses so well at the top end of the pitch. Then you have Cazorla is a similar type of player, except that he looks to keep the ball a bit more than Rosicky. Cazorla drifted all over the pitch here – he rarely stayed on the left wing. He had quite a good start to the game especially with a couple of good free kicks. The goal was a very simple goal. Rosicky got the ball in midfield, Theo stayed onside, ball to the inside right channel Giroud made a near post run..precise cross and a neat finish. It’s actually these kind of repetitive goals, where you do not have to think too much but know exactly what to do are the ones we have to continue to be more efficient at. The wonder goals like at Norwich City are all great but these are the ones that matter most..because the probability of getting these right is much higher. The rest of the half really, apart from an excellent tackle by Lloris to deny Walcott..the game was played completely in midfield with neither side looking like they would score. The second half .. Walcott was through again and denied by Lloris.. and Monreal missed an opportunity to score soon after coming on, but really there isn’t much more I can write about in an attacking sense. It was a cagey defensive game – played entirely in midfield. So I’ll talk more about that instead.

Arsenal defense:

Giroud did a ton of defending this game. Winning headers and holding the ball up, running back to win the ball, blocking in his own box and defending corners and all this after scoring the winning goal – this was a clear MOTM performance for me. Theo doesn’t “properly” defend enough for me. As in, I understand he has to stay high enough up the pitch so he can use his speed and score goals..but when he does drop back I don’t think he gets tight enough to his man to prevent a cross coming in. Still he’s so good on the counter and has become quite efficient with his passing in the final third so it makes sense to start him. Specially considering that we’re playing on the counter most of the time..his role becomes important. Still I wish he got a little tighter. Cazorla had a funny game, his workrate was quite high but he gave away an unusual number of balls in midfield. He had some moments of brilliance of course and his two-footedness is a joy to watch but him and Ramsey who has an unbelievable engine both made quite a few bad passes. They weren’t punished as the team overall kept its shape and had multiple lines of defense. Ramsey still holds on to the ball a bit too much at times for my liking but unlike the years that have gone by, he’s so much more confident that he’s actually doing really good things with or without the ball. I counted at least 3 really good tackles that he made..good clean tackles. As did Rosicky.. he’s just a joy to watch play..even in defense.

Once Flamini came on and I thought he had a great game in the DM slot, he was helped by the fact that Ramsey sat much deeper in the 2nd half and Rosicky stayed up. This meant a sacrifice offensively but it definitely made Arsenal much more solid. The 2 foot tackle could have easily got a red in my opinion – I think what saved him was that it was made in a place where there was empty space, the player hadn’t yet arrived. If Rose (I think) had already been present and Flamini had dived in, I’d have no hesitation giving him a red. That apart, he had a great game too.

Per and Kos were excellent as usual – it’s amazing how a good CB pairing can help the entire team do well. It’s tough on TV5 not being able to come into the team but there’s no way you can break this partnership up unless there’s an injury. Jenkinson had a nervy start as usual and got skinned on the right thrice in the first 10 minutes, but overall considering he was told he would play very late, he did well and as is always the case grew into the game. Gibbs had a fantastic game and was up and down the left wing the entire game. The Monreal substitution is an interesting one as he’s more often than not played ahead of Gibbs and obviously has enough quality on the ball to play in the attacking third.

Szcz made a fantastic save late on to keep Defoe out somehow and he seems so much calmer these days while still retaining the eccentric streak which a lot of great keepers seem to have.

Spurs had a lot of space to play in, specially in the 2^nd half and more after Capoue went off injured. Lamela in particular got on to the ball too much for my liking and I’d love to see us close space down better than we did in this game. Yes, we didn’t concede..and well done, but there’s definitely moments where we were lucky in this game.

Summary

This game was all about Arsenal keeping the ball and playing almost the entire game on the counter. We’ve become better at soaking pressure up in midfield and then breaking on the counter. The whole idea of the counter is a smart one, because teams have looked to do that to Arsenal for years by putting 10 men behind the ball and hitting us with a long ball on the counter. By playing on the counter, Arsenal are essentially telling the other team – “Go on..lets see if you can play football”. And when they do play, at times we will concede but we’re also likely to score more. This game was a strange game..it was definitely one where the intensity was high but where Spurs despite having a lot of the ball weren’t efficient enough at all in the final third.

I’ve done 5 games now and I can draw a few small conclusions – overall. As I do the other games I’ll update this list.

–          Teams attack our right side a lot. Sagna while still great seems to lose a few more races than he used to. Jenkinson needs to start games better.

–          Gibbs needs to play the safer pass more. He’s a LB, an excellent one and a bit more focus on defending even while going forward would be great.

–          Everyone kick Wilshere. Period.

–          Ramsey hogs the ball a lot but is also scoring and doing everything right so all is well.

–          Giroud is now very close to being a world class forward. I hope Arsenal can keep him away from Bayern Munich in the next 2 years and get him to sign a new deal.

–          Likewise Kos. Can we keep him away from Barcelona next year when Puyol hangs his boots up? I hope so.

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Earlier posts

• He’s got no hair, but we don’t care: Steve Bould
• Lost a battle, but the war goes on
• Away to United: the preview
• Is there a level playing ground and who cares?
• The officials for the match at Old Trafford
• What makes a team title contenders