Tag Archives: Lucas Torreira

Why is Arsenal “midfield saviour” now at a career crossroads?

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Upon arriving from Sampdoria two summers ago, Lucas Torreira was heralded as the man to fill the void in Arsenal’s midfield as a tough tackling, tenacious ball-winner. He was the midfield saviour.

For a while, he was exactly that, excelling with five consecutive Man of the Match performances during the Gunners’ 22-game unbeaten run at the start of the 2018-19 season.

Sadly, Torreira struggled to replicate those consistent, high-quality displays after being shifted inexplicably into a more advanced role under Unai Emery. The endless tactical tinkering of Torreira’s position knocked the Uruguayan’s confidence, which he is yet to regain. 

Read on below for our breakdown of what Mikel Arteta should do with Torreira as he embarks on a rigorous rebuild at Arsenal.

Initially a regular feature in Arteta’s starting XI after the Spaniard took over at Arsenal in December, Torreira was used more and more sparingly as the season progressed. An ankle injury suffered at Portsmouth in March saw him sidelined for four months but, after working his way back to full fitness, Torreira started only one of six possible Premier League matches. 

His absence can be explained by the emergence of Dani Ceballos and Granit Xhaka as a central midfield pairing in a 3-4-3, Arteta’s preferred system throughout Project Restart. 

Ceballos, who initially struggled to settle on loan from Real Madrid, put in some instrumental performances as a deep-lying playmaker. These were most notable in the FA Cup, where he scored the winner in the quarter-final and was one of Arsenal’s key players in the final, helping the Gunners to lift the trophy for a record 14th time. 

Xhaka, after the ugly incident that saw him booed off the pitch against Crystal Palace in October, has been a revelation under Arteta. Able to control games with his accurate range of passing, the Swiss international has enjoyed a renaissance at Arsenal when it previously looked like he would never play another game for the club. 

This leaves Torreira as the lone jazz record in a collection otherwise full of opera. 

Arteta has attempted to restructure a midfield that was left in ruins following Emery’s chaotic attempt at implementing a gegenpress. This fits Xhaka and Ceballos perfectly. Both are very functional players who can be reliable and dependable in 

Arteta’s 3-4-3. 

Torreira however, is more of a wild card who can win tackles, harass opponents and shuttle energetically from box to box. This explains his aforementioned success under Emery, where Arsenal looked to counter-press opponents far more regularly. Playing in a high-tempo system, Torreira was far more effective. 

The 24-year-old would not be the ideal player to fulfil a holding role in the variant of the 

4-3-3 that Arteta oversaw with Pep Guardiola at Manchester City. His lack of positional awareness as he seeks to win back possession leaves him vulnerable at times, meaning he would be useful next to Xhaka, who could sit in front of the back four, in a 4-2-3-1. Should Arteta be willing to give this shape another chance, then Torreira could play a pivotal role in that system. 

Presently, Torreira’s chances of being a regular starter at Arsenal are slim, and he has attracted interest from multiple clubs in Italy. Arteta used a three-man defence in the recent friendly against MK Dons, and is thought to favour that system moving forward, leaving no space for the diminutive midfielder. 

However, the unfruitful attempts to secure the services of Ceballos from Real Madrid, as well as Thomas Partey from neighbours Atletico, mean that Arsenal should hold fire before sanctioning the sale of Torreira.

Zac Campbell

Doesn’t score, doesn’t create, can’t defend: What does the Arsenal midfield actually do?

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What exactly does the Arsenal midfield do?

https://twitter.com/Clockend88/status/1275148703058313220

One thing they do not do is score goals.

Mesut Ozil (1) and Lucas Torreira (1) are the only midfielders who have contributed a league goal this season.

Dani Ceballos, Granit Xhaka, Matteo Guendouzi and Joe Willock have all yet to score a league this season.

The problem with Arsenal’s midfield is what else are they actually doing?

Liverpool are running away with the league this season and their midfield contribute little in terms of goals.

Georginio Wijnaldum and Jordan Henderson have 3 each, as does Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, whilst Fabinho has just one league goal. They are certainly not putting in Frank Lampard of Steven Gerrard type figures.

But there job in the team is not to get forward and score goals.

Jurgen Klopp as a hard working midfield that covers a lot of ground, limiting the opponents chances. They have conceded just 21 goals this season.

A big threat for Liverpool is their full backs.

Trent Alexander-Arnold has 12 in the league this season (2nd most), whilst Andrew Roberston has 7 (9th).

Liverpool use their midfielders to cover the full backs as the bomb forward.

Henderson and Fabinho are often found at right or left back during an attack, whilst Alexander-Arnold is putting in a cross which leads to a goal.

But Arsenal’s midfield does not provide much defensive cover.

Too often this season (and previous seasons) it has been too easy to cut through Arsenal’s midfield, to get at the defence. And when was the last time a midfielder covered his full back when bombing forward? It just does not happen.

So at Arsenal, the midfield does not protect the defence, it also does not score goals.

Barcelona’s peak team that had Sergio Busquets, Xavi and Andrés Iniesta in it did not provide much cover for the defence, and did not score too many goals.

Between them they average a goal every 13 games for Barcelona.

But what they did is create a lot.

There role in the time was to pass the ball in tight spaces until a gap appeared, which lead to goals for Lionel Messi, Samuel Eto’o, David Villa or Neymar. It did not matter that they did not score many when they created so much.

Take Ozil, Xhaka, Torreira, Ceballos, Guendouzi & Willock as a collective.

In 8217 minutes of football, they have scored 2 goals and assisted 7.

That is a goal or assist every 913 minutes.

With 41 goals conceded in 30 games (8th highest), they are clearly also not providing much defensive cover.

So what exactly does Arsenal’s midfield do?

Keenos

Matteo Guendouzi is Arsenal’s most complete midfielder

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Recently I had a discussion with our friends over on YouAreMyArsenal about who Raul Sanllehi should be targeting to replace Granit Xhaka in the long term.

The produced this fantastic scouting report on Ibrahim Sangare; putting the 21-year-old Ivorian central midfielder as a long term replacement for Xhaka.

Whilst Sangare is a fantastic physical specimen, and would certainly add some power into the middle of the park, his passing is an issue.

Xhaka sees more of the ball than any other player at Arsenal. He is the main receiver in midfield when the ball is with the defence, and he starts most of our attacks.

On average last season in the Premier League, Xhaka averaged 77.4 passes a game. No player averaged more. He completed 85.3% of those passes.

Compare that to Sangare who averages just 49 passes a game, completing just 80.3% of them. Xhaka is completing 27 more passes a game on average than Sangare.

Xhaka’s pass completion has to be considered when we are discussing players to replace him.

Whilst it is easy to think that we need a hulking 6ft 3in monster of a midfielder who can break up play, we need that player to be able to pass the ball as he sees so much of it.

We are The Arsenal, not Stoke. A player’s ability on the ball is more important than his destructive impact. If he can not pass, he is useless for 60% of the time in the majority of our games.

At Arsenal you need to be able to pass the ball. That is highlighted in the pass competition of Arsenal’s other 2 central midfield options last season: Lucas Torreira and Matteo Guendouzi.

Last season Torreira averaged 46.8 passes a game, completing 87.4% of them. Guendouzi with 48.4 passes a game at 87.7%.

Both of these players averaged less passes per game than Xhaka, but it has to be taken into account that both came off the bench 10 times in the Premier League last season. Xhaka was averaging more minutes per game.

Xhaka still comes out on top, but the primary reason for this is Unai Emery sets up for the Swiss man to be the 1st receiver off of the defence.

If we are looking at a long term replacement for Granit Xhaka, we should look no further than someone who is already at the club. Matteo Guendouzi.

At just 20-years-old, Guendouzi has quickly established himself as a 1st team regular.

Last season he might have been outpassed by Xhaka, but we have seen him take huge strides forward again this season, including a man of the match performance against Tottenham

This season Guendouzi has completed 88.2% of his passes. A slight improvement but still an improvement.

The Frenchman has still played 2nd fiddle to Xhaka when it comes to how much of the ball they see – Xhaka is averaging an incredible 92 passes per 90 minutes this season.

In terms of his passing, Guendouzi is a more accurate passer than Xhaka, but plays less passes. As his importance to the team continues to grow, expect both of these to grow.

What has been impressive about Guendouzi this season is his defensive shift.

Whilst last season he was bottom of the table defensively, and some rightly labelled him as lazy at times, this season he has stepped up massively.

He is not too far behind Ibrahim Sangare, when it comes to defensive output. And it has to be remembered Sangare plays in a team who do a lot more defending than Arsenal (Toulouse finished 16th last season) – which also explains why Sangare’s total passes is lower.

So in Guendouzi we have a central defender who is over 6ft, whose passing is already amongst the best in the team and getting better, and who has now added a defensive awareness to his game.

Guendouzi could become the complete central midfielder. Capable of being 1st receiver and dictating the play, whilst also putting in the defensive shift of someone less cultured.

The man to replace Granit Xhaka at Arsenal is Matteo Guendouzi.

He is already better defensively than the Swiss midfielder and with time could become a better passer.

Based on the passing statistics, he is not yet ready to take over from Xhaka as 1st receiver, but his pass completion rate does excite me. He gives the ball away less than Xhaka (his biggest criticism).

Xhaka is going nowhere soon. His importance can be seen in those passing statistics. But as Guendouzi’s influence grows, Xhaka’s will naturally shrink.

It will no longer be a question as to “who should replace Xhaka” but “who should partner Guendouzi”. That man could still be Xhaka. It could also be Torreira or Joe Willock.

Guendouzi is very quickly turning into an all round central midfielder, and at 20-years-old will only get better.

Keenos