Comments on: Schalke 04 overload their right to hurt and stop Arsenal

By: Shavid

Shavid — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 15:47:33 +0000

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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By: Tee Song

Tee Song — Sun, 04 Nov 2012 16:05:51 +0000

@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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By: kv

kv — Sat, 03 Nov 2012 08:46:45 +0000

@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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By: Tee Song

Tee Song — Sun, 28 Oct 2012 03:09:27 +0000

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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By: dean smith

dean smith — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 01:12:26 +0000

Over*

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By: dean smith

dean smith — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 01:09:28 +0000

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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By: Yosh One

Yosh One — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 23:25:20 +0000

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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