Playing the ball out from the back – Progress Report

September 6, 2018

What on earth is going on with Emery?

We are a Harry Arter miss away from being the laughing stock of the Premier League. If the Cardiff player had scored from the gift that Cech presented him early in the weekend’s game, the Arsenal Blogsphere would have gone into melt down. The number of visits to this site and every other would have gone through the roof because that is what happens when we lose – every single Arsenal moaner comes out of the woodwork. As it happens, Arter missed and we won so as very close as we came to being the laughing stock, we are not and traffic in Blogsphere is very light; that’s to say, it is just me writing this and you reading it.

So what is Emery trying to achieve giving seemingly suicidal instructions to play it out from the back in the way he is? I have ventured the idea that the purpose is to draw the opposition forward with the aim of being able to pass the ball past them in the hope of releasing our forwards with more space to work in and therefore a greater chance of scoring?

It can hardly be said that the tactic is working smoothly as it often resembles something from a Keystone Kop movie but ironically one of the by-products is that the opposition are drawn even further forward in the hope of exploiting our errors and this in turn frees up even more space for our strikers.

This understandably drew humorous comments suggesting that if things continue like this the whole of the opposition will be camped just outside our eighteen yard line and all Cech will have to do is to chip the ball over them to give one of our attackers a free run on goal.

Chas raised the more serious question of: weren’t we playing out from the back last season? The answer to which in my view is, err, yes but I would add importantly: not in the same way. Notice how extreme Unai Emery has taken it: Cech is playing the ball out to Mustafi and Sokratis who are almost standing next to their respective corner flags. They are so far back, the opposition, who are also trying to do their own version of the high press, are drawn to the ball. Both our defenders then play the ball back to Cech. This is repeated during which the opposition have moved even further down the pitch which is the cue for Cech to play the ball past the advanced opponents and start the basis of an attack. The flaw in this, as we know, is that Cech keeps on fluffing his lines and giving the ball away, creating heart stopping viewing.

Hmmmmmm

It was very different last year. If we got a goal kick, Cech would either hoof it long or if he played it short to say Bellerin, he in turn would try and move it down the field as quick as he could. By this time, and in either case, the opposition would have formed two lines of five with their goal keeper behind them otherwise known as — The Bus. We all remember what would happen then; we would pass the ball backwards and forwards across the pitch just outside the opponents eighteen yard line trying to find a way past before losing possession and then having to chase back like demons trying to stop a breakaway goal.

Anything, anything but a return to the monotony of that model has got to be the reason why Arsenal supporters are remaining so calm and tolerant of such comedic incidents. If those kinds of errors had happened last season, uh I don’t want to think about the size and scale of the melt down.

Emery has more room to manoeuvre among the Arsenal faithful than he probably realises, the divisions among the support are still fresh in the mind and the idea of returning to them is, I am sure, something that should delayed for as long as possible.

Emery does have the choice, of course, he could play Leno. Many have pointed to Guardiola’s first season and the ruthless way that he dealt with Joe Hart. It was thought that England’s ex could not play the ball with his feet the way Pep wanted and because of that he was shipped out. Guardiola then went on to sign Claudio Bravo and we all know how that worked out.

Back to Emery, yes he could have followed the Guardiola route or, as the Basque has done, give the old guard a chance to try and carry out his new way of doing things. Will Cech be able to adapt? It’s not looking good and we are going to see exactly what we have in reserve when we get to see Leno in the Caribou and the Europa. I like the choice that Emery has made of being slower in making radical change; big decisions on Ozil, Ramsey and Cech do not need to be rushed.

Guardiola took over a better squad and far greater spending power; he would have almost certainly been given the brief of your job is to the win the CL. Fanciful things like that might have swirled around the heads of our incoming Spanish contingent but there is a Gulf between the two clubs. In our case drastic change too quickly could have caused drastic problems, not something that would have been missed by the Arsenal hierarchy and as such I feel confident that an equally serious but far more down to earth message was made loud and clear to our incoming manager: no matter what you do always remember one thing – Arsenal do not do relegation.

Written by LB

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Posted by Bongo

Give the new guys a try, Unai!

September 5, 2018

Hopefully most AAers are prepared to give Dick a real chance to get things right before they decry too much his tactics or methods.

I for one am looking for, amongst many other things, a change in attacking style. For many of the last five to ten years of the Wenger era we heard regularly from pundits and other “experts” the phrases……..

“typical Arsenal trying to walk the ball into the net”

or

“Arsenal – always trying to score the perfect goal”.

And as we know occasionally we managed to do just that!! Witness Jack W. against Norwich. But, for me, in the last two seasons we often seemed to do away with the “ball into the net” bit entirely!

Passing for passing sake drives me mad! If you receive the ball over a short distance as, say a midfielder, from a defender or fellow midfielder, it’s not compulsory to play it back to him, once, twice, three times. You are not playing that one touch game in a circle where you try to make twenty passes, or nutmeg one of the players in the middle, so you can then make a high pitched stupid noise in unison to ridicule him.

Instead you have a choice. Receive the ball on the half turn, sense where the nearest opponent is and sometimes “turn”, then get your head up and look for a pass forward with a sense of urgency. This is one of the reasons I loved Santi so much, and felt of all the players missed most in those two seasons, his was by far the most serious loss.

I nearly left the conversation on the site post Sunday’s game to the regulars, as I didn’t feel I could add much to the debate. But then, like some kind of soft drug addict, I was suckered in by two things.

Firstly, LB’s question to himself,  which player “is decisive and moves the ball forward quicker than most any other player?” (like Manshitty and to some extent, Totteringham, I thought)

………the answer he said, was Guendouzi.

Added to this I have my own question. Who does the same, and is also more accurate than both Ramsey or Xhaka?

……….and the answer for me, is Torreira.

Play them both and alongside each other.

The second trigger for me was the degree of praise offered by a number of respected regulars to both Xhaka and Ramsey for their Sunday performances. I have a follow up question to any and all, but especially the statisticians. Of the 162 total passes made by Ramsey and Xhaka on Sunday, how many had no influence whatsoever on the game whether successful or not?

Play the new generation Dick, as part of the new chapter for our Club, and see how it goes.

Written by LBG

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Posted by Bongo

Time to sort the Flaky Defence

September 4, 2018

Perhaps the main factor in Arsenal dropping out of the Champions League top 4 places in the last two seasons of Arsene Wenger’s reign was the number of goals we were shipping. We conceded 44 goals in 2016/17 and a monstrous 51 big ones in 2017/18.

At the other end, there hasn’t been too much of a change in terms of goals scored in recent years, so if your defence becomes more porous, it seems likely you’ll win less games and accumulate less points.

New manager, new methods. Unai Emery arrives in North London and what does he see?

Firstly, two fairly recently signed, exciting, shiny new goal-scoring strikers in Auba and Laca (no offence, Danny).

He also looks at his attacking midfield options. Mkhitaryan still cementing his place but looking class, Mesut signed on for another stretch at the best club in the world and Aaron Ramsey itching to find out where his future lies. Alex Iwobi also lies in waiting as he moves towards his peak years. No shortage of talent up front, then.

Defensive midfield has lacked (well according to blog wisdom, anyway) a proper DM for years. Granit Xhaka passes the ball beautifully (for the most part) but lacks pace and mobility defensively. Mo Elneny has a great engine but hasn’t really plugged that gap in front of the back four. Attempts to use Ramsey as part of the central midfield have often left us short as he goes walkabout in search of a goal. Jack never quite cut it either for one reason or another and was finally deemed surplus to requirements. On the bright side, two new recruits Torreira and Guendouzi look very promising and, in addition, Ainsley Maitland-Niles has really started to look like a fixture in the first team set-up.

At the back, Emery would have immediately wished that Laurent Koscielny hadn’t torn his ankle tendon apart, as he oozes class when fit. (Maybe Kos can come back from injury with his Achilles problems finally behind him for the first time in years – fingers crossed). New signing  Sokratis from Dortmund, along with the much-maligned Mustafi, are the obvious experienced partners in central defence. Mavropanos and Holding are yet to force their way into serious contention and Calum Chambers was presumably granted his loan move because of wanting regular first team football.

Monreal and Kolasinac on the left plus Bellerin and new recruit, Lichtsteiner have the full back positions covered, if not spectacularly.

So, back to Unai’s main focus in taking over the Arsenal playing side, sort the defence and the rest will follow, surely. Now we all know that football is a team game and therefore a team which defends well does so as a whole. The new manager likes a high pressing game and a high defensive line. He also prefers the goalkeeper to play the ball out from the back.

The latter tactic has already produced some heart-stopping moments for us Gooners. LB has suggested, with tongue firmly in cheek, that Petr Cech’s comical efforts so far have been deliberate to draw the parked bus out of position. Wouldn’t it be great if that were true!

So, our first four games (admittedly with two against top 6 teams) we have let in 8 goals, an average of two per game. At that rate we are on course to concede 76 goals! The back four virtually pick themselves what with injuries and a seeming reluctance to field Stephan Lichsteiner early in the season. In addition, Lucas Torreira has not been used, except from the bench, to plug the many holes at the back. Maybe he’ll get his first full start after the god awful interlull.

The manager has to be given time for his new ideas to sink in, which will hopefully lead to us defending better as a collective unit,  but I’m really looking forward to our first clean sheet. 🙂

chas

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Posted by Bongo

Sticky Taffy Pudding – Cardiff ratings

September 3, 2018

Well, the world feels a whole lot better having beaten Cardiff than had we drawn. We got there in the end but not after more stressful defending nightmares. The image that came to mind was of a group of eleven men dressed in red and white Father Christmas outfits arriving in Cardiff bearing gifts (or should that be goals) for all the poor local children who had gone without for so long. The only thing missing from the cartoon was big white bushy beards.

Mustafi’s bullet header opened the scoring

I am really tempted to say that everything new that Emery has introduced is causing downright panic and everything that was already there is working really well. The attack was already there and it is getting closer to firing on all cylinders. First rate goals from Aubameyang and Lacazette back this up. Was the defence any better last season? Mah, maybe not. Was the midfield cover of the defence better last season, mah also maybe not? Perhaps, I should have said that I was tempted to say that ‘almost’ everything that Emery has introduced has caused downright panic.

The obvious example is the insistence of Emery to have Cech play the ball out to players waiting near the corner flags only to have it passed back to the keeper who continually deals with it like a hot potato and on more than one occasion passed it out badly creating a goal scoring opportunity for the opposition.

You might expect that I am going to rip into Emery at this point but you would be wrong. Let’s ask: if all this manoeuvre went well and Cech had the foot skills to carry this off what is Emery trying to achieve? I obviously can’t be certain but what I can see happening is that the opposition are being drawn forward and are staying there in the hope of exploiting an error; this in turn, creates space beyond these advanced opposition players which gives our attackers incredibly valuable and extremely important extra space to operate in up front.

Not convinced? Did West Ham and Cardiff park the bus, surely we would have expected them to do so, it certainly would have happened last season, so why didn’t it – because they were cleverly manoeuvred away from it.

If this turns out to be right then Unai Emery deserves a lot of praise but in the mean time watching Arsenal has become a viewing past time that should be avoided by the faint-hearted.

Laca celebrating Auba’s goal – Photo by Geoff CADDICK / AFP

This obviously is a work in progress but I would bet a barrel of Danish herrings that that is exactly what Leno has been brought in to do. The new keeper will be slowly introduced through the Europa and the Caribou and by the end of the season or, if not, by Christmas he will be our number one keeper. Why not start with him now? Woooo, hold your horses, too much change too quickly can be very risky. Cech is still a fine keeper and after the ten minutes at the start of the game and ten minutes after the restart he reverts back into an absolute first class keeper.

Two wins in two games and apart from some Keystone moments there are some real signs of progress being made. Perhaps I should have been tempted to have said that quite a few things that Emery is doing are working. Lol.

Do you want me to describe the game? Is there a need? Mah, we all saw it.

Mesut looks left out of the bromance

Cech: notice that after the first ten minutes of cartoon football he changed back to clearing the ball however he saw fit, this is not a player defying his manager; it is a player carrying out instructions. 8 for his keeping but for his footwork, hmmm, not so much.

Bellerin: I really wanted to say that his crosses into the box continued to improve but they didn’t. The message has finally been received that he needs to be covered when he is advanced and play breaks down; this was done by Guendouzi and then better by Torriera. 5

TAWTH: Good goal; still continues to be a headline star in Arsenal’s defensive comedy show. 6

GB: starting to get his feet under the table, maybe a bit better this week. 5

Monreal: nothing spectacular today, not sure he fully understands what the plan is. 5

Guendouzi: still a bright spot, obviously the player that is not tainted by previous seasons and also seems to be the player that Emery feels he can most easily mould to the way he wants the team to play. 5

Xhaka: someone whisper to him that the food in Italy is very good. 4

Ramsey: no lack of trying, he knows he is getting prime real estate on the pitch; the much sort after terrain where Mesut’s mansion usually sits is not often vacated. He is aware that he is being given a chance and he is doing his best to take it. A bit slow in his manoeuvrings at times which slowed our counter attacks down but on another day he will score a hat trick so all is well really. 7

Ozil: you have to bear in mind that when writing about Mesut I start from a point of thinking that the man can do no wrong. It made me laugh watching Ozil today, shunted out to the right obviously on Emery’s orders he decided that rather than spend another weekend in the sick bay he would tow the line; he stayed out there for 50 minutes and was completely ineffective. Clearly bored of such nonsense, he then reverted back to what Mesut does best – playing where ever he likes and he was magnificent; watch his involvement in the Aubameyang and the Lacazette goals and the play in general around that time. Emery had his opportunity to reassert his control by hooking him off later on. 7

Lacazette: Man of the Match; Emery has man managed him well, the Butcher’s dog was let off the lead from minute one today and he was just dying to get stuck in. 8

Aubameyang: great goal, should do his confidence the world of good. 7

Oh, I have just seen the spud result, there clearly is a god.

Written by LB

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Posted by Bongo

4-3-3 …. Who plays in the front three?

August 31, 2018

Having sorted out our right flank issues on Tuesday plus deciding who should partner Lucas Torreira on Wednesday, it’s time to shift our attention to the business end of the team and the front three.

When you’re taking half chances and scoring at crucial moments in a game, victories look easy. If the boys at the sharp end are misfiring, as against the chavs 2 weeks ago, it doesn’t matter how many golden opportunities are created, you’ll always struggle.

Unai Emery is still moulding the Arsenal players into new shapes but he does seem to favour 4-3-3 (or 4-2-1-3). The front three are a little undefined as yet. Let’s take a look at the runners and riders.

Pierre Emerick Aubameyang – yet to break his duck early on this season after scoring for fun during Arsenal’s tepid second half of last season. Has a career average of about a goal every other game and was prolific for Dortmund. Our most versatile out and out striker which is probably why he gets pushed out to the left flank to accommodate Alexandre Lacazette.

courtesy GK Edits

Alexandre Lacazette – only slightly lower strike rate across his career than Auba, scoring at just under a goal in every two. Perhaps our most natural finisher. He doesn’t seem to score many tap-ins for Arsenal which either says something about the type of chances created by his teammates or about his natural positioning as a striker. Seems to enjoy bouncing off Auba, though maybe the pair are better suited to playing together in a 4-4-2?

Danny Welbeck – Danny appears to be 3rd in the pecking order of strikers, though his physicality could make him an enticing prospect as a powerful left sided attacker. Gets into great scoring positions but often seems to lack that killer instinct in front of the posts. It would appear that when everyone else is fit, he is destined to be our best hope of a goal from the bench, Lord Bendtner style.

Alex Iwobi – a starter against the chavs and hammers, Alex is the go-to player for left side wing duties when Auba is chosen at centre forward. This is probably due to his natural ability to take players on. Bit of a marmite player with some choosing to dismiss him outright.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan – His high work rate and creativity up front seem to have made him one of the first names on Emery’s teamsheet. Expecting him to be constantly helping wingfender Bellerin with defensive duties is too much of an ask. I keep expecting his goals and assists figures to explode once the manager settles on a final plan of attack. Could he play as the tip of a midfield triangle?

Mesut Özil – Mesut doesn’t appear to have found a conclusive position in Unai’s team structure as yet. He seems the man most likely to create a goal-scoring chance with just one pass that we possess. Does he play left side in a front three or the furthest forward of the middle three? Answers on a postcard. I’d imagine he’s hankering for Arsene to appear and to tell him, ‘just play where you like while you dismantle the opposition’.

Aaron Ramsey – the Welsh Messi would also love the free role in any set up. He’s been used as part of a double pivot, as a box-to-boxer, as a number 10 and a right flanker up front. Like Mesut he’s another who doesn’t naturally fit into any particular slot in Unai Emery’s team structure wall chart. Reading LB’s Cardiff match report from November 2013 yesterday reminded us that Aaron has goals in him. Wouldn’t it be great if he could hit double figures again?

https://twitter.com/fumbucker/status/1035133596477079552

Of the other three who had fine pre-seasons, Reiss Nelson would appear to be off to Hoffenheim this week (hopefully just on loan) and Emile Smith Rowe and Eddie Nketiah haven’t made the bench in our first three games.

Similarly to choosing a midfield partner for Lucas Torriera, there will always be an element of mix and match when selecting a front 3 depending on the opposition and if we’re home or away.

On paper an Auba, Laca and Micki combination looks to have the most goals in it. Alexandre hasn’t been chosen to start a 90 minutes up to now and if he was chosen, would it mean Auba moving out to the left wing? Choosing a front three might be based on other factors in addition to goals such as team balance, the fabled high press and workrate. It’ll be interesting to see if Mesut can find a natural slot in the new manager’s plans, perhaps starting on that left side but then dropping into more of a number 10 role at times.

It was only a few weeks ago in pre-season that we were talking about an embarrassment of riches up front but we know it will take time for the new boss to find the right blend.

I’m really looking forward to everything clicking into place soon and for the goals to start raining in – as, I’m sure, are we all.

Thoughts? Who  would you have in our front three?

chas

 

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Posted by Bongo

Is Lichtsteiner the solution to the Bellerin conundrum?

August 28, 2018

Following we have two respected AAers coming to very similar conclusions re: Hector and Stephan. Could this work?

First up, your Copenhagen correspondent……..

Torn apart down the right flank by a very average team. Bellerin struggling. Mustafi and GB too far apart and outpaced.

It is becoming a familiar pattern.

To be fair to Bellerin, he was playing against a very good winger in Antonio and Arnautovic’s movement can cause problems for most defences. Also, as we can see from the graphic below (thank you FGG) UE set up the team so that Bellerin spent most of the game in WHU’s half.

I find this graphic very interesting. Look at the midfield and how compact we are.  Douzi and Xhaka occupy the same area giving Hector no assistance.

I know that Emery is averse to playing a back 3 and prefers the 4-3-2-1 but unless the midfield shield Bellerin we will continue to struggle.

My question is this … If Emery wants Bellerin to play as an attacking right sided MF and almost as a right winger, then why not bring Lichtsteiner in to play at RB? Drop a MF – we do not need Mhiki, Iwobi, Ramsey, Douzi and Xhaka all occupying a narrow space and keep Hector forward, allowing him to protect the Swiss chap, I seem to recall AW doing that by bringing Eboue into midfield.

Unknown.jpeg

Or do we just rely on scoring more than the opposition?

N.B. I know very little about tactics, formations and all that stuff, so the above could be total cobblers. Also, I quite enjoy shouting at the television when a simple lofted ball allows an attacker to go one on one with Cech. 😀

written by Big Raddy

================================================================

Followed swiftly by our Devonian dissector…….

I believe it was LB who once posted this:

……………LACA

AUBA…….MESUT……???

My guess was that the question marks highlighted the lack of a naturally fast right sided attacker.

Ok, the next bit, and this pains me somewhat.

I now have to give credit to a grown up gentleman who I know sits high in East Upper and spends the majority of the ninety minutes putting two Cheesy Wotsits up either nostril, one in each ear, then carefully arranging one Smokey Bacon flavoured Hula Hoop onto the tip of each finger before slowly consuming each salty snack, but here’s the rub, only someone in attendance could have made this comment:

Ants says:
August 26, 2018 at 6:28pm

In the warm up, Bellerin was being passed balls on the right hand side of the box to control and then use to find a runner in the middle. It was exactly as happened for the 1st and 3rd goals.

So there we have it. Goals win games. Bell set up two, while probably being responsible for conceding the one at the wrong end. How about leaving the fashionista up top with the good players and sticking Licht (who can defend) at the back where he belongs?

written by mickydidit89

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Posted by Erik the Red

What we learnt from the weekend

August 27, 2018

At home

Unai Emery’s new Arsenal team is a work in progress being only marginally better than Pellegrini’s hammers.

After much analysis from AA’s reservoir of keen students of the game, it has become clear that the Arsenal right side needs some work. The first and third goals against West Ham came from Bellerin providing width down the flank. Arnautovic’s lucky scuffer from the edge of the box resulted from Anderson being given the freedom of Islington on Arsenal’s right.

Thanks to eagle-eyed observation from fgg, we saw that Xhaka and Douzi both wanted to play left side in the double pivot. (Maybe they assumed Mesut was going to be there). Lucas Torreira provided much better balance and stability when he emerged from the bench. Perhaps Cardiff will see his first full Premier League game?

Our new centre-back combo are like chalk and chalk. Both a little lacking in pace and seeming not to possess any Beckenbauer-like sweeping abilities. But it’s still early days and any long-term relationship needs plenty of effort to drag it through the dodgy times.

Up front, Auba needs a goal and Micki is looking to be settling into a floating attacking role in Emery’s new Arsenal.

Elsewhere

Three teams are still on maximum points. The chavs had a late and spawny victory up in the North East. The scousers made hard work of Brighton – Klopp trying to convince himself that he wasn’t worried because everyone could see Liverpool were the better team. Watford won again, which is odd but Brighton, Burnley, Palace as opponents goes some way to explaining it.

The sugar-coated, Amazon documentary-producing, oil wealth-exploiting boys in sky blue could only draw at Wolves which brought a warm fuzzy feeling to most who might have been watching. Well that’s two points off the guaranteed 114 they were predicted to get at the start of the season. 🙂

Anyone who chose Burnley defenders as good picks in their fantasy team, with Dyche’s team low on goals both scored and conceded last season, will be puzzled by them shipping 7 already and having just one point to show for their efforts. Their European tour might be having negative effects even at this early stage.

Palace losing to Watford yesterday meant that we crept above them into tenth spot and the top half of the table. Not what the media was hoping for at all!

Tonight

Possibly the two most unlikeable teams in the Prem face off at the Old Cowshed this evening. If the spuds win, we can console ourselves with Maureen’s impression of a disconsolate floor mop. If the mancs win, we will see my favourite result from any game involving our execrable neighbours.

But as usual perhaps the best result would be a draw, with a 23 man brawl, points deductions, player suspensions and the odd long-term visit to a sickbay thrown in for good measure. 🙂

chas 

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Posted by Bongo

Fundamentals of Football – How hard can it be?

August 24, 2018

Looking at stats behind the scenes, this post seems to be read on a daily basis, 3 today, 10 yesterday and 17 on Tuesday etc etc. Written in June 2012, I was wondering what is its specific appeal.

Does it come out on top from search engine enquiries?  What, if anything, would you wish to add? A simple game complicated by fools?

I have decided to write this piece in a bid to react to what really makes a good football player (Reactionary to “is this the time to sell Walcott?”) particularly when it comes to delivering in the required playing position. I believe the knowledge of the facts of an issue will result in better formulation of opinions.

The fundamentals of football relates to the following:

1. The Player

2. The Team

3. The Formation

4. The Positions

So we will consider the fundamentals of football within the spectrum of these four key aspects

1. The Player

There are basic requirements needed for an individual to qualify as a football player.

a. Ball Control:

Ball control is primarily the ability to position a ball such that it favours the overall objective of getting a goal. In other words, to get a goal, a player must be able to receive a pass, make a pass and shoot at goal. Basic skills needed here are Foot Control of Ball, Chesting, Heading (Nodding), Kicking (Shooting), and Movement (Running, Jumping, and Sweeping)

b. Ball Possession:

In the event where the opposition has the ball, a player is required to possess the basic ability:  technical or physical or both to dispossess the opponent of the ball for the purpose of gaining or regaining possession. For example Marking and Tackling

c. Team Play:

When it is a game, it only means there is more than one. There is no such game with only one person involved. At least there must be the player and the coach, and in this discourse, there are more than one and thus the necessity for Team play.

d. Knowledge of the rules.

2. The Team

The Team that will play football and win will have the following basic requirements

a. Desire to win: Since football is a game, it is just thus a fact that if there is no desire to win, there is no need to play. Of course somebody will say you can play for pleasure, but I dare ask ‘is there any pleasure in Losing?’ Desire to win or lose will be betrayed by Urgency, Grit, Determination, Belief etc.

b. Tactics: There must be the development of a tactic to overcome the opposition.

c. Tactical discipline: The ability to see out a game according to tactics must be present in a team

d. Knowledge of the rules.

3. The formation

The fundamental requirements of any formation are

a. Departments: Ranging from Defence, to Midfield, to Attack; a formation must possess those three. Each of these three may be sub-divided to accommodate details (Positions).

b. Balance: To assist in the overall objective of overcoming the opposition, the team must be able to achieve result without any department faltering.

4. The Positions

Each Position in The Department, in The Formation and in The Team defines qualities that are fundamental to The Player. Therefore, taking the fundamentals required from a player and defined in the position the player must play are here listed

a. Defence: Stamina, Tackling, Vision, Swiftness, Link-up play, Game Reader

b. Mid-field: Stamina, Tackling, Vision, Swiftness, Link-up play, Hold-up play, Distribution, Dribbling, Game Reader.

c. Attack: Stamina, Tackling, Vision, Swiftness, Dribbling, Finishing,

Considering these fundamentals, to succeed at the top top level like Arsene will normally say, A player must possess all the aforementioned qualities in degrees that qualifies him as a professional and additional qualities that distinguishes him for the position, for the formation, for the team and also not forgetting for the opposition. In reacting to if Theo Walcott is a necessity or a player Arsenal should do away with, I think we need to consider what Theo has that is peculiar to him. Speed, Penetrating run, Accurate pin-pointed cross-in (Grounder or Lofted), and lately superb finishing, I think he is a player suitable for teams playing Highline or generally lack tactical and positional awareness. Also, considering he is 23 years old, I think it is only logical to allow him develop other innate skills that a player can only get as he ages and hope he turns out the kind of player that can show up for any kind of opposition.

I believe with these submissions, we can fairly assess a player and determine if he is suitable for Arsenal or not.

Thank you.

Written by Timmy

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Posted by Bongo

Drop Özil for the sake of the High Press?

August 22, 2018

Below is a comment RC78 wrote on 22/5/18 in response to a question from Micky about Unai Emery’s style of play and what we can expect. RC78 was convinced Mesut would be a sacrificial lamb to Emery’s favoured high press tactic. (So far he has been right about Calum Chambers, Jack and the recruitment of the DM.)

What do you think – would benching the player who creates more chances than anyone else be crazy or make perfect sense in the new system?

Guys – I can tell you all about Emery. The guy is a football fanatic…He is so meticulous and he wants his teams to play with character and aggression. He wants the teams to play:

1. Direct football – get to the box as fast as possible

2. Fast counter attack based on placed attacks

3. High press

At PSG, his desire, attention to details and aggression were not well appreciated by some players. He loves videos and he loves tactical chats.

With him as a coach, I am worried for either Miky or Ozil because there will be space for only one of them in the team. He will move Ramsey up the pitch for sure. He will also heavily rely on Auba and I think Lacaz will have a role to play up front as well so I can see the front three to be:

Ramsey, Auba – Lacaz

He will also want 3 mids with quite an engine so I expect to see Emery keep Xhaka as a starter but in a different role and I think that he will try to recruit a DM and if he doesn’t get the one he wants, he will ask Wilshere to play there so you will have

Xhaka, RECRUIT, Miky OR Xhaka, Jack, Miky

In terms of his full-backs, he relies on attacking minded full backs so expect Bellerin and Koli to be starters

In terms of his CB, he wants 1 old school CB that is strong in the air and on the man and 1 CB that is more modern with pace, positional awareness and good passing range. Expect us to recruit another CB.

Possible team:
Cech – Bellerin, Mavropanos, RECRUIT, Koli – Xhaka, RECRUIT, Miky – Ramsey, Auba – Lacaz

That leaves Wilshere and Ozil on the bench but he will make that team work because all of them are ready to play with heart. They will give him what he wants and they will maximize their potential.

Due back in Drayton Park on Saturday

Expect players like Mustafi, Chambers, Holding, Iwobi to be sidelined.

Expect players like Ozil, Wilshere to be frustrated but to fight for their place.

Expect players like Welbeck, AMN and Nketiah to be given a chance.

The guy is a football freak but he can maximize a team’s potential. With him, I feel that Top 4 is achievable and that a Cup win is on the cards.

Can’t beat Micky in a 30 yard sprint

If our recruitment team can get him a solid CB like Koulibaly (Sokratis – ed), a solid DM like Gueye (Torreira – ed) and maybe 2 promising defenders (1 RB and 1 CB), he will deliver to meet clubs and fans expectations.

Taken from a comment written by RC78

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Posted by Bongo

Gary Neville – Idiot or Savant?

August 21, 2018

Unai Emery’s Arsenal are certainly causing some debate after only 2 games played. Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher squared up on MNF over whether Unai should stick to his guns or settle for a more pragmatic approach.

Read Carragher and Neville’s contretemps in the link below, followed by FGG’s response. 

http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11661/11477992/gary-neville-and-jamie-carraghers-heated-debate-over-unai-emerys-arsenal

I couldn’t agree more with Neville. This is a season for Emery to look at the players and see which ones he can rely on to implement his game plan. I don’t really care where we finish as long as the team play in a way that gives optimism for the future. It will take a few windows and some very astute signings for us to get anywhere near the top 4 next season. You only have to look at the money United have spent and the poor transfer decisions they have made to see how easy it is to slip backwards. Fortunately, I feel the club have put in place a very strong transfer structure with the recent hiring of Mislintat, Sanllehi and Fahmy and that’s something that will give us an advantage moving forward and hopefully allow us to avoid the mistakes United have made.

As for the team right now, I feel Ramsey should be a guaranteed starter and I’m shocked that people leave him out of suggested line ups. I really want to see him play as a 10 on a consistent basis and I feel he has the sort of workrate that Emery would love. He just needs a manager like Emery to focus his runs at the right moments rather than the headless chicken routine he sometimes has. A midfield 3 of Torreira/Geundouzi/Ramsey would be my preferred choice right now with 3 from Özil/Iwobi/Mkhitaryan/Lacazette/Aubameyang playing in front. At home I would be tempted to drop one of Torreira/Geundouzi and play Özil as the 10 and Ramsey deeper.

With the defence, I also have to agree with Neville in that the system is fine, it’s just the application isn’t there sometimes with these players. They’ve shown in the past a tendency to switch off and I think we are seeing some costly mistakes at the moment. The Morata goal was a prime example with the midfield allowing Chelsea far too much space and the defenders not recognising that the ball wasn’t being pressed. I do worry about the football intelligence of some of our players and feel they struggle to read situations for themselves. Hopefully Emery can drill some tactical nous into some of the players, and the ones he can’t, I expect won’t be at the club too long.

Taken from a comment by fatgingergooner

 

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Posted by Bongo

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