A Lesson in Trust
An Arsenal blog from a coach’s perspective.
Trust in Kiwior (Credit to Stu Macfarlane, Arsena//Getty)
Right as Arsenal kicked off, I left my office begrudgingly to give my team talk to my High School team before their big Regional game. Max stayed to watch and kept running upstairs to sneakily show me his fingers when we scored. There were certainly three strong fish pumps that happened that my boys probably thought was me celebrating something that I said. I think that they think that I’m weird anyway, so nothing changed there.
Shortly before our team talk, my assistant coaches who are much smarter than me, told me to let our captains decide who should play goalkeeper in the big game. We have two goalkeepers who are worthy, and it was a really tough decision.
I told my assistant coaches to take the captains outside and ask them who they trusted the most. That was my small piece of genius input and then they took care of the rest.
Because I am 30 years removed from playing in this kind of games, I sometimes forget that although I often think that I know best, my galaxy brain ideas are not what the boys are thinking and because I coach a team of boys who largely do not watch the game, change makes them feel uncomfortable. That every once in a while, I remember that when I played, I always had an opinion. The coach never asked me, but I always had an opinion that I thought was worth listening to. I was of course, just one of a squad of players, and so when I came out of my little bubble of one, I realized that there were another 17 boys that probably had a valuable opinion, also. So, every once in a while, I remember how smart it is to ask my players how they feel about certain things that I plan on doing. I’ve also grown smart enough to understand that if I don’t then they will rarely tell me because they don’t want to come across as fearful or not trusting in my coaching.
I thought that Rob Holding had been playing rather well recently. I stand by that. Now that I’ve seen the game without Rob Holding, I feel that the lightbulb just came back on. I think the way that I actually felt was that Rob Holding was playing rather well for Rob Holding’s level.
Actually playing well
To be fair to myself, it was obvious to me that the entire structure of our team was recently designed around Rob Holding’s lack. We had to step back 10–15 yards. Saliba and the others could play close to the halfway line and still recover. It’s amazing how one player not having turning speed or pace alters everything, but as we saw opponents will instantly pick on a player like Holding if they see his name on the team sheet.
So, we stepped back all those yards. This, of course, has a knock-on effect. It stops us from being as confident in our high press. If they bypass our press, like City did, then they can find themselves in an ocean of grass as our back four backs up to its box to protect the ball played behind them. Thomas Partey then looks like a man all alone with a smoke flare on a private island.
Then all of a sudden, enter Jacob Kiwior. The man whose dog has a replica jersey.
There was a risk that was evidenced by the fact that nobody thought it was going to happen. Not only was his first start five games away from potentially winning a title, but he was asked to play on the other side of central defence than he normally plays.
If Rob Holding’s participation affected the entire structure of the team, why did we have to wait for Kiwior? I’m not complaining. I actually put out a tweet before the game stating that Arteta was in a no-win situation. If it worked, then people would complain that he didn’t do it before. If it went wrong, people would ask what on earth he was doing!
I stand by this.
I will excuse myself and all of the other Arsenal fans that didn’t think of this either because we’ve only seen Kiwior once, and I don’t think there is any Arsenal fan that can claim that they were keeping an eye on Spezia’s centre back offerings. Hard for all of us to be so sure about this change yet thankfully Arteta gets to see what’s going on at London Colney.
Played very well – Fearless!
What I liked about Kiwior’s performance against Chelsea was that he seemed fearless. He seemed to be unafraid of mistakes. Most players in his situation go halfway. The doubt makes some pause for half a second and that is the half a second that kills them.
Apart from the fact that he played very well, I will now get to my main point about 1500 words later.….
I was listening to the ArsenalVision podcast instant reaction on the way to work this morning before I had actually seen the game. As I often mention, I try not to do this because I don’t want to copycat any of their thoughts. I couldn’t help myself on this occasion. When I saw the game, I saw exactly what they were talking about. Clive Palmer once again nailed it. I don’t want to take credit as he said it first, but it was obvious that our players played with a renewed belief largely because they trusted the player at right centre back. They came towards him to get the ball; they stood in gaps that they wouldn’t do for Rob Holding because they trusted him and the pace of his passing. The defenders played their normal distances from each other rather than close to each other in case something was about to go wrong. I loved what Clive said when he commented that the players will show you who the good players are.
They trusted Kiwior even though he’s a newbie that doesn’t speak the language. We are a passing team who does almost everything intentionally. We needed yesterday. We needed Kiwior to do what he did and now we have to stop ourselves from being tempted to look back into April and wonder if the nerves and the team structure could’ve been avoided if the Polish chap from Spezia would’ve played.
POSITIVES:
Positive rotation
– there is a more frequent rotation that we need to keep secret in the run-in. Probably unlikely to happen now because our first two goals are a product of a passing pattern that was hugely effective. Trossard coming inside, and Xhaka going outside is so intelligent if you don’t put the label ‘left winger’ on Granit. I will shortly be writing an in-depth piece on what Arteta is doing but one of the changes we see in the modern game under him is that players play in spaces. They play in areas rather than in positions. The intelligence in getting Xhaka isolated on the left wing is a kind of weird genius. I think it can only be done by a coach that teaches his players about the spaces, areas, zones. Otherwise, the players would give him the wide-eyed emoji look when he told Granit to rotate to the left wing. The genius is simple. Granit Xhaka’s superpower is his wonderful left footed ground passes over 20 to 30 yards. Trossard and Martinelli don’t have his left foot and so it makes perfect sense that they rotate leaving Xhaka’s to fizz a ball that he normally plays vertically, but now plays laterally into Odegaard to finish.
– in my podcast that I will get back to hopefully in the next week or two, I talk about a ‘sliding doors’ moment in the game. I think it’s interesting to try to locate the moment where the game swung one way or the other. In this game, I think it was, yet another wonderful Ramsdale save. You might remember Chelsea‘s first chance when Chilwell got into the box on the left-hand side and hit a shot to the far post. After watching how woeful Chelsea were, it seems somewhat silly to claim that this could’ve changed the game up. That is exactly how football goes though. Chelsea were woeful because they were woeful and also because we didn’t allow them to fill their buckets of confidence. If Chilwell scores, the bucket fills up. The feeling that Chelsea gets is probably larger than we realize because they’ve only scored one goal in eight games or something ridiculous like that. Taking the lead against Arsenal might have been their turning point.
Pivotal player (Image credit to Pricey Arsenal.)
– What an interesting player Zinchenko is. He has clearly been a pivotal piece in our success this season. On and off the field. What is so interesting to me is that he gives an almost identical performance every game. He gets more touches than anybody else, consistently wins headers and intercepts balls. He is technically as close to perfect as anyone in world football. He plays two or three incredible passes that open up the game. He also has at least one and sometimes two or three defensive brain farts. I wouldn’t swap him for anybody though. What I would do though is start thinking about putting Kieron Tierney in the game before the brain fart happens. As I said, one game is a replica of another for Zinchenko, and he rarely escapes the last 30 minutes of the game without giving us the poops at least once. Not sure if it is overconfidence, cockiness, or he is just a natural risk taker, but he’s not a newbie and apparently this is his mode. Might be hard to change.
– much like Kiwior, Jorginho probably needed to be playing more in April. Back end of the season and the opportunity to win a title is his expertise that almost nobody else in our squad has. Much of my persuasion is based on simply how I feel, and I think often that focusing on how players feel rather than statistics and opinion is the way it should be. The novel at the beginning of this blog I suppose was ultimately about how a group of players felt and how they feel now. We have to learn that in the month of April that the mental side becomes twice as important.
Jorghino – Should have featured more in April
– A little more Kiwior love…. You’ve heard this before, but I just don’t understand why professional footballers aren’t all two footed. Seems like a prerequisite to me but I’ve talked about this many times before so I will stop. Kiwior is two footed and therefore fits better than we probably thought he would on the right side of the central two. He isn’t just able to use his right foot, he chose to use it when he didn’t have to. Such an asset for a player and such an attraction for a coach.
– I’m not sure if I’ve ever mentioned how impressive it is but Odegaard uses his body so incredibly well to shield the ball. It is such an automatic for him, but any time an opponent comes close to the ball his body is in between. Saka does something different, but also very intelligent with his shielding. He also puts the ball on the outside of his left foot and tempts players to kick through his foot and risk a penalty kick. He also faints to come towards the ball when it has been played to him and therefore a step that deceives defenders and allows it to come across his body. Both top players with details that help separate them from the ordinary.
– I love that I saw two new corners. It’s important if we are going to have a specific set play coach, that we change up what we are going to do. I think we might see the corner before the end of the season that went to the top corner of the box and then ended with a curling shot to the far post.
– We have started to play more one touch passing now. You’ll notice if you watch closely that this is only possible with the correct pace of pass. In order to do this, you have to take 30% off your pass. If you fizz it to a player, then they won’t be able to one touch it. We are very attracted to the fizzed pass these days but forget that it takes away the one touch option for the player receiving it.
– maybe the biggest positive was that we saw a window into perhaps the most important long-term improvement for the team. Our team needs to become more ruthless. At 2-0 we didn’t stop, and we poured it on and two became three. The first quarter of the second half you could see that we were trying to get a fourth also.
NEEDS:
I am going to lay off Arsenal in this area today. Might be fun to pick on Chelsea.
Why are Chelsea so incredibly flooded with talented players in a squad of 35 yet so ruddy terrible right now? Personally, I think it is a commercial for bad coaching. Frank Lampard might’ve been a legendary player, and he was, but he clearly does not have even close to the levels to be able to coach elite players. He either doesn’t understand the modern game or he’s trying to coach the modern game with a part time knowledge. Elite players will find you out and you will be mocked. Either way, Chelsea have given up. In the first half I cannot remember watching a Chelsea team play with such little ball progression. It was as if they were told that they were going to get a spanking if the ball went across the halfway line.
On top of this, there is very little compactness in their defending. I felt sorry for Kanté, as he has played in such good teams, and he must be wondering what an earth is going on around him. To be fair to Chelsea, you can see that Enzo is a top player. The top player that went to the wrong club and signed an eight-year contract.
What an absolute car crash of an approach Todd Boehly has taken, and it may bury Chelsea, which is fine by me.
HOPES:
– do I think that Arsenal can still win the title? I think it’s possible, but unlikely. Probably the same as how you feel. What gives me the most hope though is that our structure is unique in that others either have none or part of one. We are also the best in the league in our effort off the ball. There isn’t a team in the league that is this consistent as we are in their desire to win the ball back quickly. Effort always give hope to fans.
– I watch Napoli play last weekend. They were supposed to win the league at home but conceded late. I wanted to report back that Victor Osimhen is the absolute real deal. I’m not sure how I feel about getting a First Choice Striker when we’ve just invested in Gabriel Jesus, and he has largely had a hugely successful first season. The thing that I cannot shake though, is that our coach has talked about the need for him to be ruthless as well as the team. Giving the impression that some decisions might seem harsh, but important if we want to go up to the next level. I’m not talking about ditching Gabriel Jesus, but we absolutely do need a target man option in our squad. Osimhen is an absolute menace of a player. The kind of player that you cannot take your eyes away from. So effective in so many areas of the game and so many areas of the field. The big advantage that he would give us if we were able to acquire him is his ability and especially his desire in the air in the box. That is a glaring absence in our current group.
Diaby links
– I was thrilled to see the Arsenal linked to Moussa Diaby. I have a list of players that I would choose this summer and he is my first-choice winger. There are lots of good options, but nobody makes more sense than Diaby. Whoever we sign, they are unlikely to be first choice, but imagine having a lightning-fast winger come on in the last 25 minutes of games. Not just that, but a player that can play equally on both wings. That is what he is.
FINAL THOUGHT:
I was a little scared that we were going to peter out this season. I actually started looking below in the table to make sure that we couldn’t be caught. The three points was vital against Chelsea but after the game is finished, I can see clearly now. Not only do I want to push City but I really needed Arsenal to make me proud again. I’ve spent 7/8 of the season feeling so incredibly proud of the team that I support because we have done so many things the right way on and off the field. So much fun to watch and such an easy team to get behind.
Former Highbury regular. Moved to TN, USA in ’99. Married with 3 kids. Coached in UK and US for 27 years.
Mike McDonald Soccer Academy in Morristown TN, Olympic Development coach, Regional Premier League Champion.
Hey Mike, when are you going to write about the Newcastle match?
Can’t wait.