Crossing without finishing (Positives Needs & Hopes) [CHE 1-1 ARS]

‘Crossing without finishing’

An Arsenal blog from a coach’s perspective

For those that live in the United Kingdom, you might be familiar with a playground game called ‘Headers and Volleys.’ I say ‘playground’ but we played it everywhere. We played it before school. We played it during playtime. We played it during field hockey practice when the coach wasn’t looking and we definitely played it down the rec after school. Not every day as we had many games we played, but this was the favourite.

I think it was a boy thing. Boys always like a challenge and Headers and Volleys wasn’t easy. Unless you were Paul McInerney, who was stronger than everybody, so we were scared to get in his way. There was also a guy called Mike McDonald. This talented chap had a wicked left footed volley that was more deadly than a rifle when your squirrel hunting. I don’t go squirrel hunting by the way, but if I did, I’d use my foot. British footballers are therefore rather proficient at heading and volleying and finishing in general. Certainly compared to the kids in the US where I live now who are not allowed to head to the ball until they are 11 and volleying hasn’t been taught by anybody in the history of this country. I don’t believe finishing on the ground is much better because the macho nature of teenagers here means that when they learn to kick the ball over the crossbar, they get overly excited and until they stop playing the game at the age of 18 they will hit everything with maximum power because they all do. To be fair to them, many of them have grown up playing American football and so kicking a ball over a bar is more instinctual to many.

Having moved away from England, I’m not sure if the game is still played, but I’d imagine that spare time is sucked up by technology nowadays.

The game against Chelsea was ultimately decided by a lack rather than a gain. The crossing was actually of a very high level, but the finishing lacked a variety of things. That list included timing of runs, choice of finisher, utilization of power over accuracy and players hiding behind opponents.

I felt sorry for Saka, Martinelli, Madueke and Neto because all four of them should have gotten at least one assist. All four produced at least one perfect cross. This was particularly impressive in a game where fallbacks were far more dominant than wingers. It felt like the players in the middle did not expect Cucurella, for example, to allow Saka to cross the ball so when Saka finally got the best of him, which was rare, there seemed to be a delay in the finishers belief that it was even arriving. The first rule of playing in the attack is to always anticipate the best case scenario. Always believe the ball is coming to you, so if it does, you will be ready. This is of course difficult to do in reality as chances are sparse at the highest level.

The game itself had many interesting facets that could’ve been chosen as my opening piece but ultimately it was a game with a fair score line between two teams playing close to their best, but not at their best. It should have been won by an opportunist unfortunately the opportunist took the day off.

Credit: Arsenal.com

POSITIVES:

Partey:

Nobody’s really in the mood to talk about positives at Arsenal right now because even though the performances are good enough to have more points, points are too important in England because somebody seems to always get greedy.

Thomas Partey is having an ever improving and influential season. His fitness was what he needed to prove, and even though we are only three months in, he has played more than almost anybody else and improved his defensive weaknesses. His ability to play in all four directions separates him from Rice right now who is capable but reluctant.

Merino: 

Fans have already started to write off Merino. Utterly ridiculous. He’s probably played a total of four games for the club. His ability and desire in the box has been seen, but his general play has been criticized for being too slow. As somebody who tries to find balance, I can see where that is a fair criticism. What I also see was very much in evidence at Stamford Bridge. Declan Rice would’ve played a little faster but in a negative direction. There were two or three times where Merino turned towards his defenders only to twist the other way and deceive two Chelsea players with a line breaking pass they didn’t think was coming. He exudes calmness, seems to have such great confidence in his technical ability and his performance in Spain in particular wasn’t a fluke. You don’t become the highest dual winner in Europe just by having a good season. He’s been asked to stand in different positions, playing different positions and understand a new textbook and yet we criticize him for slower decision-making. Box to box midfielders are rare in this day and age yet we have one in him and the others can be put in the same category, also. Most teams have to be satisfied with a ball playing central midfielder or a defensive specialist, not both. Let Mikel Merino come to the boil so we can see a fully cooked version before judging him.

Raya:

I was having a discussion with myself last night. Who is the best player at Arsenal? Actually, what is more important is who is the most effective, consistent and most valuable to the team. I’ve always preferred the American system of rewarding the Most Valuable Player over the best. If you are the best at something it does not speak to your effort or ability to repeat. It simply talks about your ceiling. David Raya is most certainly now in the conversation for being the most valuable player at Arsenal. If he’s not in goal then we would be selecting a goalkeeper who’s never played for the club or a youngster who is promising but far below his level. They say that you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone and I can only hope that he stays fit because we may just find out that he is actually the most valuable player at Arsenal football club even though it seems like the answer should be Saliba, Odegaard or Saka.

Arteta:

Well done Mikel for changing to a 4-1-4-1 defensive shape in the second half to nullify all 3 of Lavia, Caicedo and Palmer from progressing the ball in their areas. None of the 3 had any large impact on the game to Mikel’s credit.

Maresca:

My friends and I played a game before the season started where we made a bunch of predictions. One prediction was which manager would be fired first. I said Maresca because, well it’s Chelsea. I wouldn’t say that he has transformed Chelsea, but I would admit to him given them organization and clarity. I’m sure it wasn’t his choice to have a squad of 73 players, but he has streamlined it by almost acting like his squad has 25 and largely ignoring a large chunk of them until Carabao Cup games show up. If Chelsea continue this way, they should finish in the top four. What was lost this summer in all of the hilarity at them spending like it was Black Friday was that they have a bloody good squad and it’s young with much potential. Their weaknesses are not talent related but likely more to do with age balance and their fantastic tendency to be unrealistically impatient. The bench has a similar level of talent to the players on the field. What is interesting is that there is nobody at Chelsea yet who you would put in the top 50 players in the world yet almost all of them are 8 out of 10 with the potential to go higher. When analyzing Arsenal, once in a while, I think it’s fair to mention that the opponent was one of the biggest factors in our dropping points. Specifically, Cucurella and Gusto with a sprinkling of the expensive chap in central midfield who had the ‘yellow card immunity ‘ticket.

Sanchez:

After complimenting Chelsea it’s only fair to wonder how Chelsea bought almost every GK in Europe this summer and that Robert Sanchez is their best option. What on earth was he doing on the goal! He was almost taunting Martinelli to hit it near post and the shot didn’t even have to be particularly good.

Odegaard:

We didn’t expect Odegaard to be brilliant as he’s returning but were blessed with a magical pass to Martinelli. What was even more unexpected was that he could play the whole game. That he had even more pressing energy than anyone on either team in the last 1/3rd of the game. A guy who is serious about leading.

Credit: Arsenal.com

NEEDS:

Declan Rice:

In my head, I always compare central midfielders to Cesc Fabregas, as he always amazed me. Not particularly athletic and certainly not strong, but proved the point that awareness is more important in football. Watching him off the ball you’d see him scan at least every two seconds to position himself correctly, as well as looking for colour. This might be Declan Rice’s weakness. He is somewhat of a superhero, but I think it’s fair to say that he is overly safe in possession. He’s getting criticized for it playing for England and now for Arsenal and some of that is right especially because on both teams, he is surrounded by players who are elite and braver. What is difficult is that learning to scan is a habit rather than a skill and one that is hard to improve upon at his age and level. It’s something that should be instinctual. If you watch him when the ball is in his vicinity he might occasionally scan, but his options are limited to his peripheral vision, whereas somebody like Cesc always knew if there was a forward pass available.

I don’t know what his instructions are when he is playing left eight but I never feel like he is going to score. He might get approximately five goals this season but the way Arsenal play the player in that position is so far advanced that his number should be higher. Havertz is obviously our main target, but often isn’t in the box. Saka has improved his heading but not to where you expect him to score in the air. Martinelli is rather good, but for some reason we don’t utilize his aerial ability. Odegaard is a non-factor in this area. Then you come back to Declan Rice. He is an aerial monster and yet is not getting in the areas to prove this. I understand that he’s also the best on the team in defensive transition and so you almost want two of him. One to attack the ball in the box and one to hang outside and stop the counterattack. Perhaps the solution is simple and it’s Merino. He isn’t quite as athletic on the counterattack and maybe the plan is for him to be the target for the late run into the box. I just wish that we had a structure that would allow both of them to attack the box at least in certain game states.

Fitness:

I think that it is fair as part of the analysis that we consider that a handful of the players out there were not 100% fit. Timber will be getting closer but he was struggling in the second half. Rice has a broken toe and Saka has been carrying something. Havertz is overplayed not because of poor coaching decisions but due to his superiority over the other options. Odegaard can only be at about 60% even though somehow he played the entire game. Ben White has perennially got some kind of knock but refuses to not play.

If and when all of these players hit peak fitness at the same time then the team sheet that looked so powerful on Sunday, will be matched by a team capable of living up to the name on the back of their jerseys.

Communication:

I really didn’t want to go back and analyze Pedro Neto’s goal as it caught me out and caused us pain. It’s almost a huge compliment that Arsenal conceded a goal from a big off ball mistake as those errors are far from regular occurrences. We had to re-shuffle and Saliba ended up at left back in that moment and Rice and Partey needed to communicate as both were not needed to replace him, but did. For some reason that I cannot explain, Martinelli didn’t follow Neto into the ocean of space to at least put pressure on him so I can only imagine that there was a big communication breakdown on this one occasion and we were fully punished for it.

Nwaneri:

Is it boring to suggest that he should’ve replaced either Merino or Saka? None of our players who have a spark had ignited and he was the guy that could provide that.

Arteta needs to be braver in regards to Nwaneri.

Saka:

I wish Saka would attack players at top speed on occasion. I often think that he protects his reputation for not losing possession/great decision making and sacrifices the risk of ‘push and run.’ He’d get more penalty kicks too. How often is Saka taken out? How often does that happen in the box? I can’t even remember the last time he was tripped in the box.

In this particular game he needed the overlap option as Cucurella is an excellent 1 v 1 defender.

Sterling and Jesus:

I’m not sure if these two will be at Arsenal in February. Sterling hasn’t done a whole lot wrong on the field and a few things right but he is obviously not trusted. My best guess is that he doesn’t seem to take off ball work seriously and does it when he feels like it. There is nobody else in our squad that we can say that of and that is a compliment. If that’s the case with Raheem Sterling he must have one massive ego to think that he can play on a team with the best out possession stats and ability in the continent of Europe, and not take part in helping, and expect to play. As for Jesus, he brings the unpredictability that I think that this particular team needs as we are often too robotic in chance creation, but he seems to lose the ball at least 50% of the time. That is one of the seven deadly sins of modern football and certainly in Michael Arteta’s eyes. It may be the reason why we are likely too robotic but he’s weighed it up and thinks that it is better that the other team knows what we are trying to do in the hope that they can’t stop it anyway and sacrifice some flair and risk. Jesus looks like he is trying too hard to impress and he should be more mature than that especially having played under the same coach before. Scoring a brilliant goal off a dribble but giving the ball away 50% of the time put you on the Southampton team, but not the Arsenal one.

Credit: Arsenal.com

HOPES:

Sane:

If the rumor is that we were interested in Leroy Sane this summer are true, I doubt we will go back in for him as the reason for rejection hasn’t really changed. He is still in and out of the Munich team. He would be a wonderful addition to our squad, not only because of his talent, but because he has the X factor that every elite team has to have which is somebody with blistering pace in their squad. They don’t always have to play, but you need that option. He is versatile and can play both sides and I believe he has played striker, also. Perhaps the issue was his wages as his current wage would put him up there with Kai as the highest paid player in the squad. Maybe the club are not willing to do that for a new signing coming into a team where we have six or seven players that could comfortably justify asking for the same amount of money. His contract is up in the summer and so his fee would be minimal, but the wage will be the issue. We obsess over the transfer fee, but the club is often more interested in the wage because of the knock on effect and the potential for a consistent stream of door knocking on the sporting directors office door from players who are getting paid half, but feel that they are better.

Kvaratskhelia at Napoli will likely be an option due to his versatility and two footedness as well as his ability to score as well as create. Alexander Isak is likely the perfect fit, but as I’ve said many times, why would Arsenal get a player from a rival especially their best player. That happens in football, but not much. Mo Kudus would be my choice as I feel like he would have a smaller ego having never played at Arsenal’s level. He has produced such consistency at such a mediocre team and I think that bodes well. He is also Premier League ready.

FINAL THOUGHT:

Arsenal are in a place where their performances are slowly improving, even though the margins have not gone our way to produce the points. In that regard, it would be better if there was no international break, but with Saka and Rice are injured this has come at the perfect time.

Finally, David is a complete Coote. He may be a coote but he also may end up being the catalyst as the final dagger to be able to bin the PGMOL. If so, thank you, you complete coote.

Mike McDonald

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.