I found some of the good faith talk around the increase in set pieces and direct play in the Premier League interesting this season. It is normal for football to move in trends and cycles, some lasting longer than others. (Remember that three-month period in 2016-2017 when everyone started playing a back three and promptly stopped?)
Some have discussed how healthy set piece indexing is for the game as an entertainment product. I don’t think we as Arsenal fans should be too sensitive to the good faith talk about this (really, the bad faith talk and trolling should be ignored). Football often changes or adapts its rules in response to optimization.
The backpass law, introduced in 1992, is a good example of this. Teams began turning the clock back further and further on the goalkeeper, to the detriment of the product, and the backpass law was an excellent innovation that improved the game endlessly. So I understand when people ask whether the increased emphasis on set plays is becoming a detriment to the game.
Clive and Elliot had a really good chat about it this Patreon podcast rather this. They talked about how teams are looking more closely at set pieces as a direct response to an increase in low and mid defensive blocks, and how discouraging set pieces simply encourages more defensive play.
At some point, teams will certainly start to think about how they try to limit the number of corners and free-kicks they give to Arsenal, and that could mean acting higher up the pitch. According to FBRef, Arsenal averaged 1.89 shot-creating actions per 90 from deadballs last season and that has risen to 2.16 this season.
It is also worth noting that the schedule plays a big role in this. The ever-increasing game load means there is less time for coaching pattern play; players are stuck in a cycle of playing and recovering, playing and recovering. Setpieces can be coached quite efficiently and I think Arsenal’s skill with them has led other teams to take them more seriously.
I don’t think Arsenal’s skill at set pieces is any more of a problem for them than Liverpool’s reliance on Mo Salah or City on Erling Haaland for goals. Having a regular, repeatable route to goal is a good thing, especially as Arsenal are likely to lack a striker who can put up the kind of numbers that the aforementioned players have managed for years.
However, I definitely think Arsenal need to get better at creating chances in open play if they want to become the champions that many have made them out to be. The data tells you what your eyes tell you. Arsenal have struggled to break down teams in open play in recent weeks and that is a wrinkle that needs to be ironed out. I think there are a number of explanations for this.
First and foremost, teams tend to move against Arsenal. The team’s excellent defensive performance is mainly due to its work rate, organization out of possession and a dominant, boa constrictor playing style. It is also because opponents have become so deep that they simply can no longer threaten Arsenal on the counter-attack.
I suspect the lack of fluidity in open play is largely due to availability. After the Carabao Cup win over Brighton, Mikel Arteta said: ‘We have a lot of injured players in the front line, so we could see that we have depth. But today we already had problems with some positions and it is October.’
Havertz, Madueke, Jesus, Odegaard and Martinelli were not available for that game. Saka has only played the full 90 minutes three times this season. There is a lot of talent missing there. The summer signings of Eberechi Eze and Viktor Gyokeres have reduced the impact of those absences, but these are new players learning to play in a new team and often playing together as a sort of 10 and 9 combination.
A look at the defending champions shows that attackers need time to acclimatize to a new team, regardless of their quality. Arsenal probably had to offload Gyokeres and I wasn’t at all surprised that Arteta kept him wrapped in cotton wool for the entire match against Brighton, with three away games in seven days ahead.
A scenario where Havertz and Gyokeres (and Jesus?) can share the game and Madueke can eat up some of those minutes that Saka has been unable to play of late would certainly lead to a bigger threat, not least from the bench. It’s probably no big surprise that long-serving strikers such as Trossard and Martinelli have achieved good results so far this season.
I also think the profile of some of the players Arsenal are missing has an impact. At the end of the last international break I wrote a piece suggesting that we shouldn’t be blasé about Martin Odegaard’s absence. I have a pet theory that Arsenal almost always need at least one of Havertz or Odegaard in the team, as I explained in that blog.
‘I think Odegaard’s absence is even more problematic if Kai Havertz is also absent. Not only do I think Havertz would have been an option in Odegaard’s position – as he was when the captain had an ankle injury last season – but he is also a ‘two-way player’ whose application on and off the ball is roughly equal.”
Odegaard and Havertz are connective tissue players and I don’t think Arsenal ‘flow’ as well without them, especially in the case of Odegaard who is so important at every stage of the build-up. Arsenal finished the 1-0 win over Crystal Palace with a front line of Trossard, Martinelli and Gyokeres with Merino behind them.
They are all valuable players, but they are also all more or less ‘final action’ type players. The combination of those four lacks a bit of lubrication, if you know what I mean. Eze’s winning goal in that match shows his quality, but at this stage I also think Eze is a ‘moments’ player (which is also very valuable), but he doesn’t have anything like the minute-to-minute involvement that players like Odegaard and Havertz have.
In short, I think it’s true that Arsenal don’t ‘flow’ in open play as much as we’d like. I also think this problem can be solved with better health in attack and continued integration of new players. The away win in the Champions League at Athletic Club in September left Arsenal with a trio of players consisting entirely of summer signings. I think that ‘flow’ will come back, but I also think that it should come back soon.
#Power #stands