‘Talkin’ bout an evolution’

An Arsenal blog from a coach’s perspective

Tracy Chapman reminds me of the time that I moved to America. She was so good. Not sure where she is now. I’ll look her up.

Anyway, she has nothing to do with what I’m thinking. The title reminded me of her.

I watched Gabriel lingering in the box and scoring, and I had a flashback.

My first club team in Tennessee was the Lakeway Kickers. I remember we were in Nashville and we were playing a tournament semifinal. I had a centre back called Matt Craine. An outstanding young player and a natural born leader. He was never shy about telling me what he thought needed to happen or just going ahead and doing it. I forget if it was his idea or my idea to stick him up front as we were struggling to get the goal that we needed to go to the final. Either way, it happened, he scored, and we went to the final.

I’d like to think that creativity is my thing and so my mind is always trying to evolve the game that I love. Since that moment, if my attackers are not getting it done, I will always at least consider sending the bullies up top. I’ve always been too much of a fantasist and wanting my teams to play like Arsenal. That would include not lumping it to the bullies in the box. After a while, I reminded myself that I wasn’t coaching Arsenal and that these were 15-year-old boys. I also reminded myself that the biggest weakness of an American soccer player is heading. They aren’t allowed to head of the ball until they are 11 years old and when they do, they are still afraid and their technique is miles off. So, if you live on crossing the ball in the air or simply lumping it forward, then you get a lot of joy if a short-term victory is what you are after.

The Premier League is obviously a completely different level, but I’ve always thought that there is room for a potential evolution of the game where teams send up their most aggressive, strongest, and best aerial players upfront.

A defender simply has a different mentality. When the ball comes into their box, they feel that they ‘must’ get it.

Strikers ‘hope’ that they can get it. So, if you send players in the box who are bigger, stronger more aggressive, and have a ‘must’ mentality than you are likely to cause chaos at the very least.

I have to rewatch the game to know if Gabriel being in that position looked like a tactic. 

What I want to propose though is that maybe it should be an evolutionary new Mikel Arteta tactic.

We’ve had overlapping full backs, inverted full backs, roaming left backs and Sheffield United’s attacking center backs.

This would be a bold move by Arteta as football has become more cautious, and with the ‘Juego de posicion’ mentality of considering defense when you are attacking, most coaches would not touch this.

I would though.

I think that they are moments, periods and games that you can rotate players to where a player like Gabriel can arrive late in the box and his presence on the halfway line is covered by a full back. It’s not as if full backs aren’t found all over the place these days so they would be the free player to utilize going in the opposite direction. Arsenal’s full backs are both centre backs by trade so it’s not as if you’re taking a risk by leaving Eboue at centre back.

I would move the attacking midfielder and somehow get the centre back to play behind the striker. If I’m going to bother taking a risk then I’m not going  to have him standing in the box being marked by somebody equally as big, strong and aggressive. I want him running from deep and attacking the ball.

Maybe like we saw at the end, move your left back to centre back and your left winger to left back and move your attacking midfielder to the left wing, temporarily.

Would be lovely to see us horseshoe to Martin Odegaard on the left wing and watching his delicious left foot find a player like Gabriel more often.

All of this might sound like I’ve had too much to drink, but I will put all $17.36 that I have in the bank on the fact that somebody is going to bring this in and others will copy.

Arteta is constantly evolving as he is fully aware that in a coaches world where analysts are a plenty, you have to provide the element of surprise.

Gabriel, Konsa and Saliba to score 5 open play goals by the end of the season. 

There, I said it. Would be wild.

POSITIVES:

Eze:

Did I spot him more active? Looking like he wanted to provoke the game rather than wait for it to come to him.

What was different was that when the ball went past him, either because he was tackled or bypassed by a short pass, he reacted so much quicker to press it. To defend him, there probably hasn’t been many players who have had to adapt their mentality and game quite as drastically as he has since he signed from Palace.

He was the star of the show in an average team that had a little expectation. He proved that he is the man for the big games in the very few opportunities he had there. He spent the majority of his career without the ball as he’s never played for a big team before us. That’s a whole lot of practice without the ball, but not actually defending. He clearly got into a groove that when his team doesn’t have the ball, he is excused. Then he comes to Arsenal and everything reverses. He has to fight for his place. He has to defend or he doesn’t play. Doesn’t track his runner and then doesn’t play for 2 1/2 months. He has to demand the ball rather than be given it like a constant birthday present. 

One of him and Noni will grab this Saka–less opportunity and potentially be a first choice pick. Honestly, if it is Tzolis, a player with less attributes, then these two need to have a serious look in the mirror.

Third man runs:

Arteta is successfully using the third man run to exit central pressing.  David Moyes’ team are always well set up defensively yet we constantly bypassed it without ever giving the ball away. Arteta knows Moyes well and that helps.

The introduction of one touch passing recently has allowed us to exit these situations as Player C moves unspotted as the defenders eyes are focused on quicker ball movement.

Odegaard:

Have Arsenal ever had a player so comfortable on the ball under pressure than Odegaard? We have been blessed, particularly from the early Wenger years onward with so many wonderful players to admire. Even during the baron spell, we still had many very talented players. I struggle to think of a player who has to play in tighter spaces, as the modern game has bought pressing and increased compact defending, and yet somehow he wiggles out of everything.

When he’s in a crowd he looks like a human piece of spaghetti. Hips made of cooked pasta where others are far more predictable.

He is looking like the most important player in our team again. There are of course many candidates for this, but with our attack really needing an extra creative spark and help in elevating Arsenal to where we need to be, he is the man who is dominating almost every game and creating opportunities or creating opportunities for the final opportunities. 

I think Martin Odegaard has come into his prime. This normally happens when players are a little bit older, but he started a little bit younger.

If he could consistently score between 12 and 15 goals a season, then I think he would be known as the best midfielder in the world.

I erased Merino out of the picture to make Odegaard’s challenge look even more daunting. 

Konsa:

How good are you when you replace a player that is considered by most to be the best defender in the world and yet fans cannot spot the difference?

Also, I’m happy for him when he scored his goal because his performances have deserved a little more spotlight. I think it’s only Arsenal fans that appreciate what he has done since he has arrived because other fans probably see us attack and do very little defending.

One of the best one on one defenders that I’ve seen in a while and in a team that has Jurrien Timber, he looks of the same level in this aspect of the game.

Dowman:

Firstly, his haircut makes him look seven years older. I was really struck today at how secure he is in possession. He will develop I’m sure much like Odegaard and become almost impossible to tackle. As he has to take more risk, it will look a little different but for a 16-year-old to be so frustrating to play against because his every touch keeps the ball away from pressure, is quite a spectacular feat for a boy that should be at home with a Coca-Cola, picking his nose whilst planning how to sneak out of the house.

Gyokeres:

As clunky as he can be on occasion, I believe that there are more occasions where his creativity is opening up opportunities for others. Interestingly, I’m not sure if the flowers that he got for creating Rice’s goal on Wednesday was actually intentional, but it’s getting to where I am not surprised when he is playing others into really good situations.

He does need to have better balance when he is in contact with a defender, but a fairer analysis would also state that they’re probably isn’t a player in the Premier League who should be getting more fouls and is getting very few. He’s not even a complainer. He barely seems to open his mouth during the game, so the referees cannot possibly dislike him. I suppose that if he was not the size of a heavyweight boxer then he would get more fouls.

NEEDS:

White:

Not picking on Ben White for his mistake but just wanted to point out how much it stood out because mistakes like this just don’t happen anymore.

Quite incredible that with football being so much more intense and full of pressing than it ever has been in the history of the game, that there is a team that can exit without ever losing it.

HOPES:

Hoping that this is not a thing. Rice too.

SCOUT MAX:

He’s back!

Check out Ajax’s latest starlet, 17 yr old, Abdellah Ouazane.

Quite spectacular!

Luca Weinhandl:

At just 17, this kid is an absolute tank!

The 6ft 3” central midfielder is currently at Sturm Graz and would be a small risk at a low fee for a player with high potential.

Big, fast, aggressive and blessed with an incredible work rate. He has the physical profile to thrive in the Premier League, and I can already see why he could be an interesting option for Arteta.

What makes him even more exciting is his role in midfield. He operates higher up the pitch, in a position similar to the one Declan Rice.

TWEETS and THOUGHTS:

There is no doubt that Arteta is guilty of being outside of his technical area. He is simply trying to draw attention to the fact that he’s the only one doing it according to the rest of the world when in fact others are as guilty.

The British media has to have an angle to hate on Arsenal. There is very little these days, so his antics on the sideline are the best they have. Especially since we’ve stopped scoring as many set piece goals.

Wy wife found this 😉

and I found this 

I really don’t like Man Utd and this tweet exemplifies their sad state.

Credit to this account. There’s every chance that he is right. Picking periods of the game to accelerate and others to hit the brake.

FINAL THOUGHT:

Fun at Fleetwood, wherever Fleetwood is.

A great chance for Zubi, Mosquera and Viktor to get another opportunity and for Hincapie to get some minutes under his legs as he will be needed.

Like everyone, I will be rooting for Dowman more than anybody else as he might not be in the driving seat right now, but his opportunity to get Saka minutes is as much his as the others.

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.