The BIG little
An Arsenal blog from a coach’s perspective
I just open Twitter. I just closed Twitter.
I’m a big fan of this app mostly out of appreciation for the friends that I have met through it. Without it, it would’ve been much harder to become an Arsenal writer. Diving into Twitter on days like this is never a good idea. I knew it, but I did it anyway. When Arsenal disappoint, they don’t usually look so meek and unlikely to come back so a place like Twitter can be educational if you follow the right people. You get to find out smart peoples opinion on what needs to be tweaked. If understanding the game and what’s going on is your fancy then those days can be super enlightening. On the very rare occasion that we look this meek and unlikely to score, because we live in 2024, a place like Twitter is like a rage room. There are very few who choose to pause, think and discuss how you can go from being one of the best teams in Europe a few weeks ago to useless a few weeks later.
There is always the possibility that we were over exaggerating and took one too many happy pills a few weeks ago, but I don’t think so. We probably just need to tweak our adjectives and put the word ‘potentially’ in front of them.
At times like this, the truth is often in the grey area that gets very little interest. I’ve made the deliberate effort to try to live there over the years because I’m probably in search of truth and the land of reality over relying on emotions. It’s hard to get it right when you are emotional. A classic example of that would be if I tell you that I’m writing this as Max jumps up and tells me that Semenyo has put Bournemouth 1-0 up. Sixty minutes later and the world looks like it hasn’t yet exploded. Kadioglu has just put Brighton up too. If I relied on emotion then I’d want to sell Jurrien Timber and buy one of our summer pursuits in Kadioglu in January because today that sounds like a good idea. It’s not a good idea, though.
So, what did go wrong today?
There is a short list of things that I have spotted.
- Firstly, pay attention to those people who sound so smart and get 50,000 retweets due to the addiction to a thought born out of anger. Then check out the person who gets one retweet, but has actually unearthed the truth. There should be a community note for those people who say things like,’Havertz isn’t good enough to be our striker.’ If these people don’t share this opinion before the game and haven’t shared an opinion suggesting this along the way, then I think they need to be ignored. Twitter isn’t a place of bravery, at least not in the world of football. The accepted norm is anger from a huge wave of ‘couch coaches.’
- After having Arteta at the club for a while now, his greatest need of improvement is in-game management. The angry head would say that he’s ‘rubbish.’ If we calm down and look at the whole rather than just a part, we’ll see that the better description is that ‘on occasion he is too slow to react.’ There is also a fair concern that seniority supersedes what the game needs. Again, there has to be accurate balance in this. His first sub was bringing on the player that probably everybody was screaming for and he did it at a reasonable time. There have been times recently when he could’ve been braver and started him. That wasn’t necessarily today, even though I would’ve liked it, but I have to admit that I didn’t share that opinion with anybody before the game and so I’d also be a ‘couch coach’ if I share it now. Maybe Arteta does not want to give the players the impression that he doesn’t trust them if he were to make quick substitutions? I’ve learnt that as a coach. You have to be patient and give people an opportunity to show you that you are right or wrong and much like the title of this blog, you see where I’m going when I say that the little things make a big difference in this league.
- My biggest concern, and one that I actually commented on in August, was that we have left ourselves short in attack
I have to admit that I thought that signing Raheem Sterling was a good option. I saw him as hugely motivated, in his prime and plenty talented enough to match his desire to prove a point. It’s hard to say that it hasn’t worked out so far because he’s been given such few opportunities, but he clearly isn’t trusted in the way that we would hope that an attacking signing would be. He is yet to be trusted to transform our rotation and game-winning chances. I think that this is mostly to do with his lack of desire to defend. We all know that Arteta is not gonna stand for that and he shouldn’t. The trouble is though that he will have known this before he signed and so this loan signing looks more like a signing based on the best of what’s left, rather than what the club wanted. I think that they might admit to this anyway, as I think it’s obvious because Sterling was available all summer.
I also have to recognize that the club is cautious and only wants certain players. There is only a small group of players who are available and can improve our options. If the one that we really want might be available in January or next summer then I understand waiting. So, I’m not saying that it’s a mistake because we are only three months in and I’m trying to live in reality, but it does look like it might’ve been a gamble that does not go our way. I thought that signing of Viktor Gyokeres was Arsenal’s number one priority this summer and said it often. Not only is he very good but he is the profile that we need. A player who even if he had a slow start like Havertz did, would be such a distraction for opponents defenders due to his insistence on scoring that others would benefit in the process. I was undecided on a winger, but Mo Kudus was the best of my suggestions. Again, I’m not in a place where I can say that this was an error because I lived through football in the 90s and I have to remember that modern football coaches are spoiled for choice, and most would pine for a chance to coach a good team like Arsenal. Our nervousness and desire to get upset so quickly affects us so greatly and we focus on all of the ‘what if’s.’
4. Similar to my second point, is the thought that Arteta is putting out the wrong profile of team. If you were to describe our current team, it is built to dominate physically. The issue isn’t so much that we didn’t need to dominate physically against Newcastle because it’s arguably the most physical game of the season but that we needed balance. We had plenty enough physically dominant players to not have to worry about this physical game, but did we have enough technical ball progressers and attacking threats?
5. Is there a change of mindset that needs to be communicated to the players? I like and understand our style, but we are reluctant to take risks. More to the point, we are only using a percentage of our player’s creativity in order to sacrifice for the concept of team play. A good example would be Merino. He’s getting a lot of stick today which is incredibly shortsighted, especially after his impressive goal midweek. What we haven’t seen yet is that he has a wand of a left foot. Has he been encouraged to use it and take a risk and play a difficult pass that he’s capable of? It seems like everything he does is safe which has us retaining possession but not creating as much.
Part of the ‘BIG little’ is finding the balance between having control in games and not having to exhaust yourself by playing an end to end basketball game, but also trusting your players and encouraging them to play a creative and difficult pass if they feel like they are capable of doing so. The balance lies in whether that creativity and risk is the right area of the field. If you are inaccurate, then are you risking a dangerous transition. I think this is an area we could be better in because I think that we have plenty of players with elite passing ability, it’s not just Odegaard. Thomas Partey is capable. So is Declan Rice. So is Trossard. Martinelli has very good crossing ability, as does Saka. If you ever get the opportunity to watch these players playing football just for fun you’ll see buckets of imagination and skill. The modern game doesn’t really require this, or maybe it does?
If I have the opportunity to coach at this level that would be one of the first things that I would introduce. Back when I played football, it wasn’t difficult to open up a defense, but now the game is dominated by fear more than anything else so team shape wins the day when the coach is trying to decide on his training session. Newcastle defended extremely well and we needed some high level of creativity to break them because they seemed to have 15 players on the field. We needed a risk taker if for no other reason than to get a penalty kick against a team who will tackle you at full speed in any area of the pitch.
If your head is about to explode I suggest you watch any other team. Any of them. They might be currently more effective in the final third but maybe they are inconsistent? Maybe they don’t follow their leader? Maybe they are quickly aging.? Maybe they are unstructured and unserious? Arsenal don’t have any big problems. Arsenal are stuck in a few little areas. Unfortunately, those little things can be a big problem on game day.
POSITIVES:
Trossard:
I’m not going to pick on Trossard. He was clearly out late with Phil and family. Halloween is more important to some than others and Phil lost today too. Never noticed Leo’s ears before and I only though he was about 1/2 inch smaller than Phil.
Errors:
It will be lost in the cloud of unimportance, but we were technically very secure. The errors were minimal and almost absent until Zinchenko came on. In the first half in particular, we looked quite threatening until it came to creating chances. This is a positive simply because we have not looked quite so confident and secure in our possession recently. A small step in this particular direction.
Nwaneri:
His stock continues to rise. Losing the game and being the first player to come on is a first for him. He didn’t change the game and was as mediocre as the others, but that won’t be noticed because it was a team issue in the second half. As we are in somewhat of a slump, the cries not so much for him, but for his skill set have opened the door to a golden opportunity for him to accelerate his career. Most people thought that he would be a bit player this season and maybe he will be. If he could grab this opportunity, of which he will certainly be given minutes, then he could launch his career regardless of Odegaard’s return.
Newcastle:
I don’t really like Newcastle, but it’s not because I don’t respect them. It’s just the fan dislike because whenever we play them the referees seem to forget that it’s not American football. Newcastle know that and use that to their advantage. To be fair to them they put on a clinic in how to play 4-5–1. They worked supremely hard to switch their block from wing to wing so that Saka and Martinelli both were at least double teamed. It was our fault that we didn’t move the ball quicker in order to diminish their effort. The goal was a goal from the 90’s. It shouldn’t be, but it’s rare to see a one touch cross and one so accurate. Initially, I thought there was not a lot that we could have done about it but looking back Gabriel was zonally defending at the front post and Saliba wasn’t even close to Isak.
NEEDS:
Jason Tindall:
…… looks like one of those cocky car salesman that would refuse to give you your car keys back until you agreed to buy a vehicle, after you’ve let him drive your trade-in. Whilst I’m disrespecting Newcastle coaches, Eddie Howe looks like a cartoon puppet.
Crossing, finishing and the 6 yard box:
There really needs to be a dedication to maximizing our attempts on goal from crossing situations. If you were to describe Arsenal as a team, we create most of our opportunities from wide areas and our two most dangerous players play in those positions. The issue isn’t as much with them, but with the movement in the middle. There are players who are so willing to be available, so early, everywhere else on the field, but are hiding behind opponents and making it difficult if not impossible to find them in the box. We are also not utilizing the 6 yard box and I know that I preach this more than any other aspect of Arsenal’s game, but it is neon. Saka put in a wonderful cross that was a simple tap in and even though many teams suffer from not getting a player in the 6 yard box early enough, this is not Arsenal’s problem. I’m not sure they even had it in mind to attack this area. I understand that the cutback and the back post cross avoid the two centre backs who are normally their tallest, strongest and bravest defenders, but you have to attack the 6 yard box to at least move two of their defenders into that area so as to open it up for the others who are crowded out or hiding.
Use of Kai:
This entire piece of writing has me trying to not exaggerate. Havertz is often very good playing on the right side with Saka. He has been there recently and done well. It wasn’t working today and he still spent too much time out there rather than in the penalty area. The team needed him in that area as Trossard wasn’t having a good game and was almost no threat in the penalty box. Also, we needed the wings to be emptied out so he had more space but it brought more pressure over there and unnecessarily so.
Joelinton:
There are a handful of players in a league that have a free pass. Harry Kane was synonymous with having this lanyard around his neck when he played in England. Joelinton has been given one when he plays us. He ran through the back of Partey and somehow got a free kick for himself. He looked at Havertz and not the ball and intentionally undercut him which could’ve caused major injury. Still no card. There were others, but the thought of digging them up fatigues me. He is one of those players that should be booked before the game starts because he’s inevitable. I’m not a fan of players whose main quality is outside the laws of the game. I’ll admit that I’ve not seen a player in many a year have such a drastic move of position and become so effective leading to making it into the Brazilian squad, but I don’t know that I care enough about his general game. I just care that somebody nicks his free pass when they come to the Emirates.
Weight of pass:
As the second half went on we had a few opportunities for slide rule balls on the right side. They were with good intentions but they were all overhit, which is rare for us. Again, a little problem becoming a big one.
Corner variety:
Even though our corner kicks are better than other teams, we do seem to have a maximum of two corner kicks for each game. Half of the time we only have one and because we seem to get more corner kicks than the rest of the league put together each game we are figured out after the first three. I think Jover needs a larger catalogue and much like American football players, the players will have to remember signals for a larger range of plays.
HOPES:
Inter:
The Champions League is not in an important phase for us. We’ve had a reasonable start and sit in a decent position. The game this week is more about us regaining confidence. Inter Milan are right there with Arsenal competing with Real Madrid, Liverpool, Manchester City, Barcelona, PSG and Bayern Munich as the best teams in Europe. Some of those teams are higher than others and I’d imagine that the argument about whether Arsenal are better than Inter or Inter better than Arsenal, could be a long one. I say all of that to say that we could really make a statement in the Champions League this week.
SCOUT MAX:
Semenyo:
I watched most of City’s game today. Semenyo is not just big, fast and powerful but he makes difficult things look easy. I haven’t yet come to the conclusion that he is definitely the answer to Arsenal’s need for another winger, but I would undoubtedly say that he is in the conversation. Playing for Bournemouth on the wing gives you a few opportunities in each game to dazzle. Playing for Arsenal, as we see with Saka and Martinelli, gives you three times as many and he could rip teams apart.
Taha Ali:
This guy is in his prime and playing at Malmo. I don’t know much about him myself, but his highlights are of a player with a spark. I would wonder why he is playing in Sweden in his prime and I’m sure he’s not what we are looking at but his compilation is at the very least, a very fun watch. He reminds me of Doku. He jerks defenders around with his unpredictability. His value is so low, approximately 1.5 million, that if we cannot get our long-term winger target in January, he might be a gamble worth taking. He looks like one of those players that if you were sent his highlights and told that he was the next best winger in the world, you would believe it. As we know though, highlights tell only a portion of the story. Take a look……
FINAL THOUGHT:
It could be worse. You could be this poor little guy playing his U-12 Academy game for Villareal and having to face Lukaku’s brother. His problem is legitimately big.
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.
It could most definitely be worse. All to play for.