Schalke 04 overload their right to hurt and stop Arsenal
Arsenal’s season so far may be summed up by the quibbles in agreeing a contract with Theo Walcott. Last night, though, it was another striker converted to a winger who made the difference. Jefferson Farfan, playing on Schalke’s right, created the goal that secured 2-0 victory and was a constant menace with his running. The Peruvian showed great promise as a youngster playing as a striker, attracting the attentions of Arsene Wenger, but coach Huub Stevens, who managed him at PSV Eindhoven, took him with him and has since used him mainly as a dangerous winger. Together with Atsuto Uchida, they were a thorn in the side of Arsenal.
Schalke overload the right
Schalke’s success mainly came from the right-hand side where they could double up and at times, even triple up on Andre Santos who had a bad game. It wasn’t necessarily all his fault; he was left suicidally isolated from much of the game and had to contend with the late runs of Uchida – who should normally be picked up by the left-winger – and Farfan’s touchline-hugging.
So strong were Schalke on that side that 50% of their attacks came from the right. It probably wasn’t a predetermined tactic to exploit Santos but it was most certainly a concious one – they just have better players on that side.
Focusing down the right-hand side wasn’t just an attacking move; it was also a defensive one as Schalke knew Arsenal are also best when combining down their left. Therefore, whenever Arsenal picked up the ball on that side, Marco Höger shuffled towards his right to close the Gunners down. Indeed, he isn’t necessarily Schalke’s first-choice midfielder – that’s spot goes to Jermaine Jones – but considering his good performance in the weekend against Borussia Dortmund, Huub Stevens made a deal with his two midfielder that he will give both players a half each. Höger would begin the first and set the tempo of high pressing and Jones would simply pick up where he left off in the second-half. It’s probably fair to say Höger didn’t all succeed; Stevens was unhappy at the “passive” start Schalke made (although he praised the organisation) but after 30 minutes, the Germans finally got into the game and imposed their true style. When Serge Gnabry lost the ball in the lead up to Schalke’s second, it was Roman Neustädter who nipped in with the interception and Jermaine Jones who lead the charge for the counter-attack.
Cazorla-Podolski
If Schalke are clearly stronger attacking down their right, then Arsenal have their most fruitless passages of play when attacking down their left-hand side. However, that was also part of their problem at The Emirates.
If anything, Arsenal tried to get too much out of the Cazorla-Podolski dynamic that has been the most visible feature of their play this season. That they persisted, though last night, was quite baffling considering Schalke were constantly marauding down that flank while Arsenal seemed more preoccupied getting correct certain idiosyncrasies of their game.
The key to Santi Cazorla’s game is that he plays with freedom, gliding across the final third and making clever, vertical runs to get into space. Podolski on the other hand, thrives whenever Cazorla gets near him, attempting to use his quick passing and low centre of gravity to play little give-and-goes. The problem was, Cazorla too often started wider than Podolski an as such, it became a case of the two players getting too close to each other. And instead of Podolski making runs in the channels inside of left, he was only really able to get through on the outside.
There might have been two reasons that contributed towards this: 1) Schalke defended so well around their box that Arsenal’s joy could only come from the wide-areas but just as Norwich denied them, so did they. 2) With Aaron Ramsey drifting inside anyway, areas on the right side that Cazorla usually likes to operate were already occupied. However, this point is slightly a moot one. Because, like the dynamic with Podolski, Cazorla could still have drifted wide. Indeed, on a couple of instances he did link-up with Ramsey, it looked promising. It might be, though, that Cazorla prefers to pick up the ball with his body angled to play hence his predilection to slanting to the left.
It was defensively, though, that the Cazorla-Podolski dynamic affected the team the most. With Podolski given freedom of sort to drift inside and then Cazorla take up his position out wide, it often left no one getting back to help Santos. Indeed, Santi Cazorla was asked increasingly to drop back as the two interchanged in the attacking phase yet neither really wanted to get back to defend. At one point, Cazorla threw up his arms at the absence of a player filling in while Thomas Vermaelen seemed to signal to Francis Coquelin to cover. The young midfielder often did but with Steve Bould’s creed defending in two banks of four, he was perhaps unwilling to sacrifice the base that two central-midfielders give, therefore the onus was on one of Podolski or Cazorla to get back. It often left Arsenal a mess positionally down the left flank.
Arsenal’s problems
Arsenal’s problems are well documented; it seems like everyone has an opinion. Except, Arsenal’s AGM this morning shed little light on the problems with playing staff beyond the need for a new striker. At various points against Schalke, Arsenal tried three players different players up front with Podolski often interchanging to take up the second striker or centre-forward position. It was though, Gervinho, who played the role for most of the match with little impact. His movement was uncertain and jerky while his take-ons were often unsuccessful. The Ivorian looks better as a forward when drifting in between the left centre-back and the left-back as he did v Manchester City and he started that way until Arsenal began to play more down their left.
It might be worth a punt now for Wenger to go back to what was his Plan A and use Lukas Podolski as a number 9. Certain they could do with his individuality and spontaneity around the box which is lacking throughout the team, let alone up front. Indeed, that touches on the wider issues of what really is Arsenal’s problem. That their play is too predictable at times and that was summed up by the way they tried to force Cazorla to interact more with Podolski. It might be that Cazorla tried to force it on himself. But that may be futile because the relative freedom that the team played with at the start of the season stemmed from the unfamiliarity they had with each other and thus, established patterns were still yet to be formed. It’s dangerous for Arsenal to fall into habits that are too obvious.
It’s probably too early to expect too much out of Jack Wilshere, Abou Diaby, Tomas Rosicky and even Theo Walcott considering he has one foot on the way out. But the fact it, they give Arsenal something different to break out of the passive passing. Against Schalke, that was the problem; because they lacked penetration, that drive (perhaps a chance now for Ramsey to play in the middle given that he made some good runs?) they needed to pass the ball even better than they are now and hope that that may open up space (indeed, after the Norwich defeat, Mikel Arteta preached more “patience” with the ball). In the meantime, though, Arsenal will have to find the resolve within themselves to get out of this period of impotency.
Filed under: Match Analysis
Tagged: Cazorla, Match Analysis, Podolski, Santos, Schalke 04
Excellent analysis. You’ve articulated many points that I hazily felt.
I was baffled how same problems that have surfaced in Norwich game was left unamended. I mean, frailty of Santos-Poldi axis defensively was clearly visible from that game.
Also, anybody who watches couple of Schalke games would notice that Farfan-Uchida combo is one of their main attacking channels.
Not doing anything about flaw that was exposed in the weekend, and predictably have been exploited is inexcusable.
I believe we should deploy Gerv on left, since he is more willing defender. Also, he can hug the sideline and still be somewhat effective, giving inside-outside balance with Santos.
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What do u feel is bigger issue arsenal end product of the years or the system they defend/ player being naïve in defending at times e.g by keep going forward leaving space, when they have been giving warnings that the team they are facing could score any minute( santos v Schalke)
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Over*
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There are several problems with the Santos-Poldi combination on the left. Firstly, Santos’ defending, both from a positional sense and just one v one defending a man in possession, is suspect. Combine that with TV5′s aggressive nature in trying to win the ball and his irrepressible desire to bomb forward and the entire left side of defense can be a shambles. Poldi, as a left winger, is being asked to shore up that flank defensively with two players who can be drawn out of position. And yet, he’s also being asked to get forward into scoring positions. It’s an impossible task and what ends up happening is that Poldi doesn’t get into scoring positions often and yet still has tremendous ground to cover to track back. It also places a tremendous amount of pressure on the left midfielder (Ramsey vs Norwich, Coq vs Schalke and Wilshere vs QPR) who often has to cover that flank but if he does, leaves the entire middle to Arteta. Gibbs certainly gives a much more solid defensive platform and allows Lukas a little more freedom.
However, even with Gibbs’ return, I have a bigger issue with how Podolski is being used. You’re correct that Podolski played as a central striker for Cologne and in the previous two Bundesliga seasons scored 31 goals with an 18% conversion rate. Bould observed that he is an excellent finisher in practice. And yet at a time when we’re having problems scoring, we’re asking a potentially good goalscorer to defend the flank and help with the buildup play through the midfield, thus taking him away from goal. In our past three games, he’s had three shots. I really think that we need to get Podolski in front of goal more often.
Given the players we have available, I think we’re well suited lining up 4-3-1-2 with Poldi and Giroud (or Gervinho or Walcott) up top, Cazorla given a free role behind and a solid base of three central midfielders in Arteta, Ramsey, and Wilshere. Or if you want, to satisfy those traditionalists, call it 4-4-2 but with a diamond midfield. It frees Poldi of deeper defensive responsibilities, puts him in front of goal and, for devastating transitions, allows him to be high up the pitch when we gain possession. Santi can roam sideline to sideline to find space. The fullbacks, as in the current system, are required to go forward to provide width but it’ll be easier for three midfielders to cover the gaps behind the fullbacks. And the midfielders can take it in turns to make late runs from deep, something which a lot of our deeper midfielders are good at. Ramsey, Arteta, Diaby, can all be dangerous in that role. Defensively, Santi would simply drop in line with the other midfielders to play two banks of four, exactly how we’re currently lining up defensively. But with Poldi up top with Giroud, our counterattacking will be better. Whatever we do, we have to get Podolski getting more shooting chances.
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kv Reply:
November 3rd, 2012 at 9:46 am
@Tee Song,
Another solution might be to shift our preference of attack to the right and use Podolski on the left to stretch play. Cazorla tends to drift leftward now but his combinations with Podolski seem one-dimensional and slightly predictable. Even for Germany I think they prefer attacking from the right flank whenever Podolski plays. It is the Schweinsteiger-Ozil-Muller axis that dominates and forms the backbone for their attack. We badly miss a player who can perform the half winger role(Nasri hasn’t really been replaced), we require someone who can cut in from one flank and add variety to our attack. Cazorla on the right could be an option but can’t see Wenger shifting him from the CAM role where he’s been nothing short of spectacular(best in the EPL?).
I agree with you that the 4-3-1-2 is a viable solution keeping our squad in mind. It will benefit Podolski and Walcott the most; they are efficient finishers(esp Podolski as you say) and they’ll definitely profit from being paired with a player like Giroud. But then again, more teams will go two against one on our full backs like how Uchida and Farfan teamed up against Santos. It might be a risk worth taking as we need to start creating proper chances and change things up in attack. Otherwise we are never going to score much and we’ll keep struggling on the offensive end like we’ve been in the last few games.
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Tee Song Reply:
November 4th, 2012 at 5:05 pm
@kv, With Sagna back, we may be able be more effective down the right now and I agree that might balance the side out a little. But right now I think a bigger issue is that we lack the players to play Wenger’s preferred system. The way we play can be thought of as 4-2-2-2 with two out and out strikers up top, one central and one wide (mostly right), two more creative midfielders, one central and one on the opposite flank, and two deeper central midfielders.
The system has worked well with Nasri and Arshavin two seasons ago when Nasri was actually being pushed higher as the secondary forward. Nasri/Arshavin and Walcott paired reasonably well. Last season, Benayoun and Walcott were the combination that worked well for the season ending push for third. This season we have Cazorla central and no one to play the half winger, as you point out. The players we have tried out wide are either out and out strikers like Podolski, Gervinho, and Theo who don’t really play the half winger role, Ramsey who’s not quite the technical quality required and Ox, who while certainly talented but seems rather callow at this stage of his career. It seems the best option would be Rosicky but unsurprisingly he is unavailable due to injury.
Which is why I think we’re more suited to 4-3-1-2. As for our fullbacks being isolated, well they’re isolated the way we’re playing now anyway.
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Shavid Reply:
November 14th, 2012 at 4:47 pm
@Tee Song,
I agree with a lot of what you say, i think it’s important to point out aswell that this season we were attacking more down the left side, when Gibbs was fit. He was providing us with the needed width, his first touch was taking him past defenders down the line thus keeping the pitch as big as possible. He was also getting into the opposition box a lot, and providing a lot of dangerous balls across the box. It was on the right where Jenkinson was tucking in more and being less adventurous.
We almost have the reverse situation now with Santos/Vermaelen at left back and Sagna at right back.
when we attack down the left now, we lack the penetration because whether it’s Santos or Vermaelen they are not positioning themselves wide enough in the first place and their first touch is usually taking them inside, which is making it easy for the opposition.
Wenger needs to tell them that they need to open their body out so they can see more options, and also to provide more penetration and thus more support to Podolski.
Another major issue is the defensive organisation which has definately suffered in the last month or so.
you can see on numerous occasions the back four getting out of position. their favourite trick seems to be pushing up to squeeze the play when they have an opposition player scanning for a pass over the top. Space is vacated and the opposition striker can run in freely. RVP was doing this time and again the other week.
Remember the Valencia chance where it got under his feet and he missed from about a yard out? well if you watch that again you can clearly see Vermaelen point to RVP behind him, (saying to Santos to get round on the cover if he has to) the entire back four then proceed to keep walking forward, even though Young has time to pick a pass….and what happens? RVP finds himself in space between the centre half and fullback and with enough space behind them to exploit the situation. What should happen, is that, as soon as the back four see Young get his head up to scan for a pass over the top, they should stop trying to squeeze the play and should start to drop off slightly, thus reducing the space behind between themselves and the goalkeeper.
They need to ask themselves the following questions: do we want the ball played in behind us to one of the best strikers in the world? or do we want it played in front of us so we can see what is going on and then get pressure on the ball? i know which answer i’d pick.
They need to be more alert, more compact, they need to be far more disciplined and realise that they don’t have to score 4 goals to win a game, they only need to score 1.
To go 2-0 up and lose concentration like they did against Fulham and Schalke is not the level required to represent Arsenal Football Club. At 2-0 you have done enough to win the game. with 15 mins to go till half time you can afford to be a bit more cautious, and even prioritise playing on the counter attack. leave Walcott as the furthest forward, bring Giroud back to tuck in more.
one final point, we have the ball 60-70% of the time in most games so we only have to be disciplined in defence for 30-40% of the time. They need to become more of a unit……and fast.
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