Arteta has perfect balance between defence and attack

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Over my morning coffee in Slovenia, I ended up down a little bit of a twitter rabbit hole involving Spurs fans and William Saliba.

Following the Frenchman’s comments that he sees himself as one of the best 3 central defenders in the Premier League, the replies were full of our cousins up the road claiming he would not get into their back two.

The responses from Arsenal fans were easy to predict – Tottenham conceded twice as many goals as Arsenal so clearly he would get in. And this is where it took a turn.

“But Mikel lines up ultra defensive with four centre backs and two defensive midfielders. If he played the attacking football Ange does, Saliba would be exposed”.

It was a comment that had me spitting out my breakfast (not sure what pastry it was but it was lovely).

Last season we scored 91 league goals. The lost on our history. Meanwhile Spurs scored 74. This kind of fact blows out the view that Spurs play more attacking football than us.

We also conceded just 29 goals last season, against Tottenham’s 61.

This highlights Arteta has a fantastic balance between attack and defence – we score loads and don’t concede, whilst Ange is happy to sacrifice clean sheets in the quest of goals, but that quest is rarely a successful one.

I will leave the deep tactical analysis to others, but with the pace of Saliba and Gabriel, combined with David Raya’s starting position, we defend the half way line. Add in that defensive shield in midfield and we are often looking to win the ball back in the opponents half.

That means teams struggle to transition to get the ball to the edge of our box, let alone get into a clear goal scoring position.

It also means when we win the ball back, we rarely have the full length of the pitch to go when attacking – a big reason why we are scoring more goals.

The criticism of Spurs fans about Arteta’s “defensive” tactics is laughable, considering just how many goals we score under him.

It really is baffling that scoring loads, conceding not many, and having a team that works hard to win the ball back is now a source of criticism.

Maybe if they had a manager who could make his team well organised in defence and attack they wouldn’t have won just 2 of the last 7 games in 2023/24.

We will continue to add to our squad this summer, recruiting both defensive and attacking players as Arteta looks to maintain the balance.

And for those wondering, I actually think Saliba is the best defender in the league.

Keenos

Two Arsenal players that should never play together again

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Oleksandr Zinchenko and Kai Havertz are, individually, fantastic players. But on the pitch at the same time they are kryptonite to each other.

Aston Villa was the only blot on the copy book in our title run-in, and ultimately it was those dropped points at home that were the difference between Manchester City and Arsenal.

Fans blamed Mikel Arteta for the defeat, and pointed to the “tactical error” of starting Oleksandr Zinchenko at left back and Kai Havertz in midfield.

Arsenal were on an 11 game unbeaten run in the Premier League before Villa. In just one of those games had Arteta selected Havertz in midfield and Zinchenko at left back – the first of the run against Crytal Palace.

Four of the 10 games we lost last season had Havertz playing midfield and Zincheko left back. That is 40% of games, more than double our loss ratio for the entire season (19%).

Considering Arteta is a man that loves his stats, he would be looking at that and realise that Havertz in midfield and Zinchenko in defence does not work.

But that is not to say either should be sold or are not good enough!

It is the combination that does not work. And for clarity, I am talking about when we play Havertz in the left hand side midfield position, not upfront. When played as a 9, I have no issue them starting together!

Zinchenko inverted

In 2022/23, Olexsander Zinchenko was a revelation playing that inverted full back role. The Ukrainian was a bit reason behind our first half of the season form.

This season it did not quite click. He looked exposed defensively and it felt like he was constantly out of position. This was not his fault.

Zinchenko was playing the role Arteta had asked him to. The drop in form was due to a personnel change rather than because Zinchenko was in poor form.

Missing Xhaka

Zinchenko was often covered when he dropped deep by Granit Xhaka.

Last season Xhaka was immense in that more advanced position – but what did not receive as much acclaim was his defensive work.

One look at Xhaka’s heat map from last season will make you realise he actually spent very little time playing centrally. He was fairly wide left and often found himself deeper and wide covering Zinchenko.

Exposed left hand side

Kai Havertz is more offensively minded than Xhaka. His natural inclination is not to notice that Zinchenko has gone centrally and to drop deep to cover him, but to play further forward and look for an attacking opportunity. This can leave that left hand side exposed.

This decision making might well be through instruction – that Arteta felt cover for Zinchenko was not required so instructed Havertz to remain higher up. The hope then would have been for Gabriel to cover out wide, with William Saliba and Ben White shifting inside.

But a smart centre forward would recognise this and sit on Gabriel, forcing him to stay central. And in turn that would leave the left hand side exposed as Gabriel Martinelli would be the only man out there.

In the past, Trent Alexander-Arnold has looked exposed at right back for Liverpool, and this is because of the way Jurgen Klopp lined up his midfield.

Liverpool were at their best when they played Jordan Henderson just inside of Trent. The former England-international would then do Trent’s defensive work at right back.

So what for the future?

Zinchenko still has a future at left back, but it has to be when Declan Rice (or another more defensive minded midfielder) is playing in that more advanced left hand position. Rice out left in that Xhaka role certainly made the left hand side of the pitch look more solid last season.

If Arteta wants to go with Rice as the sole defensive midfielder, and Kai Havertz ahead, we then need to go with the more defensive option of either Takehiro Tomiyasu or Jurrien Timber. That will mean Zinchenko on the bench.

Oddly, the most natural replacement for Xhaka in our squad is Zinchenko. I can certainly see him playing in that more advanced 8, with Declan Rice behind him and Kai Havertz ahead…

Final thoughts

Havertz and Zinchenko do not work. It leaves the left hand side exposed. If Zinchenko starts, we need someone more defensive minded ahead of him.

Have a good Thursday.

Keenos

Door open for Chido Obi-Martin to leave

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Afternoon from Riga!

What a great city this is. Plenty to see and do. And does is not yet over run with stag do’s. Would highly recommend those looking for a city break to look into the Latvian capital.

Tomorrow I continue my summer holidays with a flight to Slovenia and a visit to Ljubljana and Lake Bled.

A questionable source has claimed Arsenal teenager Chido Obi-Martin is on talks to join Bayern Munich having rejected an offer from Arsenal.

The replies to the Tweet were filled with so called Arsenal saying things like “Arteta has not given him the chance. He is right to leave“ and “this would give Arteta an eye opener”.

I am not sure how fans can criticise Mikel Arteta for not playing a 16-year-old kid.

Yes, Obi Martin is a talent, but he has not yet made an impact in the PL2 (U23 level). He is a kid and should be allowed to progress from youth team to senior football at the right pace.

We blogged recently about how Obi Martin is not yet ready for the first team, despite his goals at U18 level.

For fans to blame Arteta if he departs just shows they still have an agenda against the manager that has taken us so far already!

If Obi Martin does leave, he will not be leaving for first team football. He will not start regularly for Bayern Munich. They will likely loan him out for 2 seasons just like Arsenal plan too.

I hope he decides to stay on, but as with Omari Hutchison he will quickly learn that it is not Arsenal holding him back.

Too many young players are hyped up and want to run before they can walk. They are poorly advised by people looking to make a quick buck rather than prioritising a young players long term career.

The door is open for him to leave. I have seen better youngsters before depart and go on to do nothing. We need to stop pretending that every kid that comes through is going to be a superstar.

Aso we need to stop acting like we are the only club that may lose a teenage star in the making.

From Cesc Fabregas (Barcelona) to Paul Pogba (Man U), Jadon Sancho (Man City) and Jamel Musiala (Chelsea), many a teenager has failed to sign their first professional contract and gone elsewhere.

And ultimately, Obi Martin has only been with us for 2-years after we poached him from Denmark.

Keenos