Aaron Arsenal
JF-Expert Member
- Jul 24, 2014
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ART OF TEAMWORK Mikel Arteta uses clever 3-4-3 to attack with solid 4-5-1 in defence to bring success to Arsenal
AFTER far too long, we are finally seeing Arsenal players sacrifice themselves for the good of the team.
Instead of playing as individuals, they are now doing things that are not necessarily to their own benefit.
Under boss Mikel Arteta we have seen a real willingness to be pragmatic, playing the situation at hand.
As their performance against Chelsea illustrated, he has already completely changed the thought-processes in that side.
Despite having an extra man for the final 17 minutes after Mateo Kovacic’s sending off, the Gunners only had 40 per cent possession.
Whereas in years gone by Arsenal always wanted to dominate the ball — leaving themselves wide open all too often — Arteta is not afraid to let the opposition dictate with the ball.
And while Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang deservedly grabbed the headlines, the selfless work of Alexandre Lacazette should not go unnoticed.
As the average position map shows, the Frenchman (No 9) played a lot deeper than he would naturally want to.
A player who generally does his best work in the box, Lacazette played a selfless role for the good of the team. Similar to what Roberto Firmino does at Liverpool, he dropped deep and used that clever movement to drag a Chelsea centre-back out.
All of a sudden the space is then there for Aubameyang and Nicolas Pepe to burst into — and you do not want to be in a foot race with them.
Aubameyang and Lacazette are both starring under Arteta
Danny Higginbotham was writing exclusively for Sun Sport
It is also worth mentioning that whereas previous managers struggled, Arteta has found a system to get both Aubameyang and Lacazette into the same side.
And don’t forget, it was Lacazette’s unselfish run that created the space for Aubameyang to score his second.
I have also been very impressed by the tactical flexibility shown by Arteta.
They played a 3-4-3 when attacking, but seamlessly switched to a back four without the ball. So when defending you had Kieran Tierney (No 3) tucking in alongside David Luiz (No 23) and Rob Holding (No 16), with Hector Bellerin (No 2) dropping in at right-back.
Tierney had the licence then to go and join the attack, allowing Ainsley Maitland-Niles to become a winger — causing Cesar Azpilicueta all sorts of problems.
Key to all of this are the two sitting midfielders, Granit Xhaka (No 34) and Dani Ceballos (No 8) — two more examples of players showing restraint for the good of the team.
Under Arteta they are finally changing their ways, content to ask questions by sitting deeper.
To create this identity in a short space of time will have taken hours of work on the training ground — something that Arteta deserves huge credit for.
To foster this new ethos, he has not been afraid to make the tough decisions, as Mesut Ozil and Matteo Guendouzi will testify.
It’s a very simple mantra: if you don’t fit into what is needed for the team, then you won’t play.
And with the semi-final performance against Manchester City and then against Chelsea in the final on Saturday, we are starting to see the fruits of that labour.
There is still a long way to go for Arsenal to be challenging the likes of City and Liverpool.
But given where they were when Arteta was appointed back in December, the future looks very bright
AFTER far too long, we are finally seeing Arsenal players sacrifice themselves for the good of the team.
Instead of playing as individuals, they are now doing things that are not necessarily to their own benefit.
Under boss Mikel Arteta we have seen a real willingness to be pragmatic, playing the situation at hand.
As their performance against Chelsea illustrated, he has already completely changed the thought-processes in that side.
Despite having an extra man for the final 17 minutes after Mateo Kovacic’s sending off, the Gunners only had 40 per cent possession.
Whereas in years gone by Arsenal always wanted to dominate the ball — leaving themselves wide open all too often — Arteta is not afraid to let the opposition dictate with the ball.
And while Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang deservedly grabbed the headlines, the selfless work of Alexandre Lacazette should not go unnoticed.
As the average position map shows, the Frenchman (No 9) played a lot deeper than he would naturally want to.
A player who generally does his best work in the box, Lacazette played a selfless role for the good of the team. Similar to what Roberto Firmino does at Liverpool, he dropped deep and used that clever movement to drag a Chelsea centre-back out.
All of a sudden the space is then there for Aubameyang and Nicolas Pepe to burst into — and you do not want to be in a foot race with them.
Aubameyang and Lacazette are both starring under Arteta
Danny Higginbotham was writing exclusively for Sun Sport
It is also worth mentioning that whereas previous managers struggled, Arteta has found a system to get both Aubameyang and Lacazette into the same side.
And don’t forget, it was Lacazette’s unselfish run that created the space for Aubameyang to score his second.
I have also been very impressed by the tactical flexibility shown by Arteta.
They played a 3-4-3 when attacking, but seamlessly switched to a back four without the ball. So when defending you had Kieran Tierney (No 3) tucking in alongside David Luiz (No 23) and Rob Holding (No 16), with Hector Bellerin (No 2) dropping in at right-back.
Tierney had the licence then to go and join the attack, allowing Ainsley Maitland-Niles to become a winger — causing Cesar Azpilicueta all sorts of problems.
Key to all of this are the two sitting midfielders, Granit Xhaka (No 34) and Dani Ceballos (No 8) — two more examples of players showing restraint for the good of the team.
Under Arteta they are finally changing their ways, content to ask questions by sitting deeper.
To create this identity in a short space of time will have taken hours of work on the training ground — something that Arteta deserves huge credit for.
To foster this new ethos, he has not been afraid to make the tough decisions, as Mesut Ozil and Matteo Guendouzi will testify.
It’s a very simple mantra: if you don’t fit into what is needed for the team, then you won’t play.
And with the semi-final performance against Manchester City and then against Chelsea in the final on Saturday, we are starting to see the fruits of that labour.
There is still a long way to go for Arsenal to be challenging the likes of City and Liverpool.
But given where they were when Arteta was appointed back in December, the future looks very bright