Thomas Vermaelen’s poor positioning keeps costing Arsenal cheap goals
There’s little doubt that Thomas Vermalen has been a good signing for Arsenal. Lacking a top-class centre-back last year, Arsene Wenger did brilliantly to dispose of Kolo Toure and bring in the Belgian – and made a profit by doing so.
Vermaelen is extremely popular with the Arsenal fans because he’s the type of player they haven’t signed in recent years – a tall, strong defender who enjoys getting tough tackles in and competing in the air. His early-season goalscoring form made him an instant hit, and he’ll probably win ’signing of the season’ in many pundits’ end-of-season awards.
But in recent weeks Vermalen’s positioning has been suspect. In fact, it’s been more than suspect, it’s been very poor. The most frustrating thing is that he keeps making the same mistake – he comes too far up the pitch to challenge for the ball, and leaves a huge space in the centre of defence for an opposition forward to exploit.
Example One: Manchester United (home), 31st January:
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The first thing to note is that Vermaelen’s central defensive partner, William Gallas has charged forward to join the attack, and is circled in (1), meaning Vermaelen is the sole centre-back. When the ball breaks to Michael Carrick in the centre of midfield in (2), Wayne Rooney (just out of shot to the right) is beginning a run towards the ball. Despite the fact that Alex Song (circled) is occupying that space, Vermaelen follows Rooney’s run (3) – Rooney is marked in blue, Vermaelen in red. This leaves the entire centre of Arsenal’s defence unmanned, and Park (marked in green) sees this. After Carrick’s through ball, Park has a free run on goal (4) and puts United into a 0-3 lead. Game over.
Vermaelen is attracted to the forward, ball over the top, free run on goal, Arsenal concede.
Example Two: West Ham (home), 20th March
A slightly strange one here, because the player Vermaelen is attracted to is the same one who gets in behind. Vermaelen was perhaps expecting a ball to feet and so gets tight to his man, but the long ball is lofted over the top, where 33-year-old Guillermo Franco outpaces Vermaelen, the Belgian brings him down, concedes a penalty and is sent-off.
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Vermaelen is attracted to the forward, ball over the top, free run on goal, Arsenal concede a penalty.
Example Three: Barcelona (home), 31st March
Granted, Vermalen and Alex Song had never played together in the centre of defence before, so the excuse that they don’t have an understanding is perhaps acceptable. Nevertheless, Vermaelen should have been the one taking charge. In (1) as Xavi has the ball, Arsenal’s defensive line is fine, Vermaelen and Song are holding a good defensive line level with each other. In (2), by the time the ball has been played, Vermaelen has run three or four yards forward to try and pick up Lionel Messi. The ball, however, has been played over the top and Ibrahimovic runs onto the ball.
Vermaelen attracted to the forward, ball over the top, relatively free run on goal, Arsenal concede.
And from the same night:
Criticizing him for the first goal that night is harsh, but it fits the pattern. Vermaelen is too concerned with Messi in front of him, and is completely unaware of Ibrahimovic’s run in behind.
Vermaelen attracted to the forward, ball over the top, free run on goal, Arsenal concede.
Example Four: Barcelona (away), 6th April
Finally, away in the Nou Camp. A long ball from Milito in the defence is played towards Messi (blue) rushing onto the ball. Vermaelen (red) charges forward to try and win the ball in the air (1) but it breaks loose. Messi continues his forward run, Vermaelen is out of position and has to try and turn 180 degrees and make up ten yards on Messi (2).
And so again – Vermaelen attracted to the forward, ball over the top, free run on goal, Arsenal concede.
This isn’t a character assassination on Vermaelen. He’s had a very good season and is unquestionably a top-notch player – and at the age of 24 and in his first season in the Premiership, he is still learning. But he keeps making the same unforgivable error and it is costing Arsenal time and time again – he’s too eager to fly into challenges high up the pitch when he should be keeping his position in the centre of defence.
For a central defender to make such basic positional errors is the equivalent of a striker missing five penalties or a goalkeeper dropping five crosses at an opponent’s feet – and it’s amazing that he’s escaped criticism for it in the mainstream media.
Perhaps he is used to playing alongside more of a sweeper who will cover behind him, or perhaps he is simply following instructions from his manager. But regardless, the tactic is plainly not working, because Arsenal keep conceding goals in the same way.
Edit, 00:28, 10th April:
Since there has been so much discussion in the comments section about the second Ibrahimovic goal, here is the clip:
Thomas Vermaelen’s poor positioning keeps costing Arsenal cheap goals
I suppose in respect to the Barca games he was told to stay tight to Messi to prevent him from running at the defence with the ball… More a question of poor midfield positioning? If Messi were being picked up by Denilison/Diaby etc then Vermalean wouldn’t feel the need to rush out of defence, predicting a ball to Messi’s feet?
I would agree that as soon as messi drops a little deeper he becomes the holding midfielders man to mark. However surely vermaelen should let diaby/denilson know that messi has dropped deep and pass the player on whilst staying in position. Even if he isnt marking messi i think vermaelen plays the most important role in making sure that messi is marked. He has to communicate with the midfield. They can see whats behind them.
Really enjoyed the article
What’s interesting about everyone’s comments to this very astute blog is the blame is mostly on Vermaelen. Center back is very much a position effective most with a good understanding. Vermaelen will be better next season when we replace Gallas and Silvestre.
The irony I find is we won the FA CUP in 2005 in a defensive role. We got to the final of CL in 2006 by not conceding a goal for 10 matches!!! Surely that should tell Wenger something about his tactics and being defensivly sound!
The failure of the midfield to pick up the attacker that drops deep does not absolve the defender of abdicating his position to try and put a challenge in. Arsenal’s prospects are much better if the forward controls the ball and starts running at a well positioned Vermaelen with Song snapping at his heels (i.e., Vermaelen does not have to dispossess the forward, merely hold him up long enough for help to arrive), than they are if Vermaelen chances his arm on the halfway line running the risk of giving the forward a free run on goal should the gamble fail.
JIMI, this is certainly a point. With reference to the barca game, you only have to look at Messi’s first goal (no one has tracked him, put him under pressure, or made life difficult for him to get his own rebound off of Silvestre and hammer it home) and Messi’s second goal (the guy just walked into the Arsenal box, took 10ft pass off of a man in the box without pressure and slotted home.)
Vermaelen was at fault for the third, but he is trying to make up for other people (which we all know you shouldn’t do) but there ARE problems in front of him.
Song was sorely missed at Barca. I’m not sure he is the finished product though.
To compare Messi to the greats after this game, I think was unjustifie and media hype. The guy (well on form, granted) scored goals as a result of some shocking defensive errors. Make them out of nothing, he didn’t!
If you watch the video closely, you can see Varmalean indicating to Song to check Ibrahimovic’s run(just for a split second)and as the article said, he needs a defender with him who is more of a sweeper which Song could be if he actually was a defender. And Song is his partner on most of these occasions, Gallas also falls short on these qualities (even though he’s vastly improved this season). So he needs another partner and also of course be more aware. The main culprit here is Denilson and HIS positioning sense. Vermelaen is usually trying to fill the void that Denilson leaves in front of the backline and pays fro it dearly. Arsenal need a new DMC immediately also to negate the negativity that Denilson’s game brings into the match, too many back-passes and 50-50 balls just murders the fluidity that Arsenal need to play at their optimum level.
You have made a good point in some of the cases, BUT example 3 is stretching it (Arsenal v Barca at Emirates).
With Ibra’s 2 goals this is clearly due to bad positioning by Song. In his defense, he’s not a central defender, but look at the images you have posted and ask yourself – in both cases – who was Song marking? He’s not playing as a sweeper, but even if he was, he should have been behind the central Barca striker, not 5/10 yards to his side.
If Ibra was between Song and the right fullback, you might have sympathy, but not when the ball is coming in from the centre left side (from Arsenal’s POV) and Ibra is to Song’s left as well. That enables Song to have a sight of both the ball and Ibra, yet he fails to get tight on both occasions.
(Tactical point: it would be harder if Ibra was to Song’s right and the ball to his left as Ibra could drift away with less chance of Song noticing or make a run across him – this is something you’ll find Filipo Inzaghi was a master off. If the ball switched from one side to the other, he would always switch over to the opposite side to where the ball was on the field and stay away from the line of sight between the defender and the ball).
It might be a case that Vermaelen had been told to keep tight to Messi and Gallas to Ibra, but once Gallas went off and Song filled in, the instructions didn’t get relayed. However, that seems unlikely in a professional team, so I’m guessing it’s just a lack of experience by Song.
The other cases were pretty spot on. At the time when watching those games I couldn’t quite believe he had charged forward but thought “there must be someone behind him” only to see there was no-one.
As this is his tendency, you’d be betting that well-drilled teams like Man U and Barca were looking for those situations and knew to recognise the pattern.
Arsenal look far too brittle against the break. Against Man City early in the season, Clichy lost a 50-50 and it was all over within seconds. It happens time and again and Vermaelen is only part of the problem.
His compulsion to get tight to attackers and attack every ball as early as possible may be because, due to his relatively moderate pace and height for a central defender, he wants to gain every advantage he can. Carragher was a bit similar to this for Liverpool. When he moved across from full-back he continued to mark like a full-back, getting too tight, isolated or square on on many occasions, notably against Henry. However, playing alongside a ball-winner like Hyypia, he soon learned how to sweep up and cover and is excellent at it now. Odds are Vermaelen will develop better positional sense as he matures. The worrying thing for Arsenal is that Wenger hasn’t addressed it already.
In the Barcelona game, Emirates first example.
Is it a case where he rushed forward 5 yards or just stood his ground? It appears that the rest of the Arsenal back four are backing off? Hence, Vermaelen’s primary instinct is to follow the man without concentrating on the defensive line. This allows a big hole behind him which the better teams are exposing.
As you state, this could be ‘full back thinking’ where the instinct is much more to mark the opponent.
Just looked at youtube of the goal. Looked like they had that move planned. Xavi waited with the ball (not enough Arsenal MF pressing)with Ibrahimovic right between Arsenal’s CB’s, looking to run behind Vermaelen. Good analysis of the opposition by Barca.
It’s funny you should mention Carragher, as when reading this I was reminded of the Arsenal 4-4 game, where he essentially did the complete opposite. He refused to step up to Arshavin who subsequently used the space quite effectively.
First of all, congratulations to you excellent website, just found out about it yesterday.
Also, excellent and absolutely valid observation about Vermaelen! I have been watching Arsenal closely this season and the more goals he was scoring as a defender the more I was beginning to get worried about his defensive coverage. Of course, the lazy English media instantly labelled him a world-class defender based on his goals (!) when it was plain to see even in fall 2009 that he has a lot to learn in the art of defending.
For me, the real test of his abilities and positional (lack of) sense came in the game against Chelsea in November (?) 2009 in the Premiership. He was marking Drogba and Arsenal conceded what, 2 goals from Didier?! Also, if I remember right, Vermaelen scored an own goal when trying to clear the cross in front of the big Ivorian. Of course, for the first goal the media blamed Sagna not being able to prevent Ashley Cole from crossing the ball, the second goal was an unfortunate (?) own-goal and the third a free-kick. But, again, he was involved directly in 2 conceded goals.
Against MU in january as you have rightly pointed out, he was awful and against Barcelona, well, he was simply absymal. One of the worst defensive performances I have seen for a long time in the Champions League knock-out stages. Yes, Silvestre was terrible in the second match, but Vermaelen was terrible in both legs… Arsene really needs to sort out his whole defense but to give the guy a little break, the midfield cover is non-existent when Arsenal are playing the big teams. Song, Diaby and Denilson are all juniors when I compare them to Vieira or Gilberto Silva or Petit of old, and I guess it doesn’t help that Arsene Wenger doesn’t show much interest in the defensive side of the team set-up. Real shame in my point-of-view as the Gunners have potential to become great but not like this.
Indeed, I agree there. I don’t even think Silvestre was that bad, to be honest. He’s always going to get stick from Arsenal fans being a United reject etc, and the fact he hasn’t got the ‘He’s still young and learning’ excuse like 80% of the Arsenal side, but I thought he was less at fault than Vermaelen was.
“Arsene really needs to sort out his whole defense but to give the guy a little break, the midfield cover is non-existent when Arsenal are playing the big teams”. That, to me is where Arsenal’s defensive frailties stem from. Unfortunately for Vermaelen, he is left exposed and it seem that he is to blame, or he ends up making the mistake that leads to the goal. But what happened before the final pass was made or say three or four passes befor the ball ends up in the back of the net?
Take for example against Barca, Ibra’s first goal. Xavi is allowed to run (stroll) from just inside Arsenal’s half with the ball. Messi, who is ultimately the second striker, admittedly he drifts all over the park and plays very deep, is marked by Vermaelen (man marking?) and when he very subtelly moves from a strikers position back into MF, Vermaelen involuntarily follows him and is drawn out of position. Now if the midfielders were doing what they get paid to do they would either have picked up either Xavi or Messi.
Watching the clip again, Xavi takes about 5 seconds from the moment he receives the ball to when he chips it over the Arsenal defense and into Ibra’s path. Surely that is enough time for Denilson or Diaby to either get tight or make a tackle. You can also clearly see that as Vermaelen leaves his position, he signals to Song to cover Ibra as he is going with Messi. So he knows what he is doing, but his midfielders haven’t left him much of a choice, and he leave the defense at risk, but only after the midfield has left the defenders exposed. Song, on the other hand, then tries to play Ibra into an offside position by also stepping up. The end result, as we know, is a goal.
I don’t watch all Arsenal’s games so I can’t argue his case for some of the other incidents. Maybe he was guilty as has been pointed out, but maybe the main problem is what happen before the play even reaches Vermaelen and not so much himself.
He will be back stronger, better and wiser next season. These goals are a pity, but he is still young. If his posistioning and rutine doesn’t get any better over the next seasons Wenger always have the option of making him a midfielder.
He is really good with the ball.
Absolutely agree! At present he would be a much better alternative for defensive midfielder scoring the odd long-range goal to help out his team and generally being much closer to the opposing goal to shoot.
The question is though: if Vermaelen is no good for a classy CB role, who is? Djorou?
I’m taking this to a new level:
Wenger should use Vermaelen in midfield and have him make lethal runs into the box to meet crosses. Arsenal sends lots of good crosses in every game, but far too often they are cleared på strong, aggresive center-backs. Arsenal should get our own aggresive center-back into the box.
Against Wolves not long ago, Arsenal had 32 crosses that didn’t find its man in the box. ZM should perhaps make an article about the bad crossing and cross-meeting at Arsenal.
Makes me want to smack Sagna upside the head, does this. Just keep the blasted ball, don’t throw it pointlessly into the box!
Silly to criticise Sagna. He wouldn’t do it if he was not asked to by his boss.
When I was watching the Arsenal – Barcelona game and saw Messi’s third goal, I just knew someone had made this exact mistake. I cannot believe it when players at this level allow space to be created so cheaply. Once Vermaelen learns this he will turn from a very good player into a great player.
While I can see your point, I think you and others have misdiagnosed what is happening. In essence, his crucial mistake is that “he comes too far up the pitch to challenge for the ball, and leaves a huge space in the centre of defence for an opposition forward to exploit.” So the question is, why is he doing this?
Vermaelen’s strengths are his aerial ability, strong and firm tackles, tenacity and his closing down speed. If you have watched him closely, you will see he has cat-like quickness when running linearly. However, he has tight hips and cannot change direction very quickly (natural for tall centre backs who tend to maintain a high centre of gravity). He and Gallas switch roles but Vermaelen tends to be more of the ‘aggressor’ and plays a bit higher then Gallas because he is quicker / younger.
The presumed role of Centre Backs are that they are supposed to be cautious in decision-making for tackling and rarely ever push up field because of the lack of coverage. They tend to stay in a relatively static position with limited tactical movement – unless patterns exist (which is why Lucio makes runs and Demichelis pushes into the midfield space). The reason for this being that the defensive midfielder is primarily responsible cutting off the angles and necessary space of the passer while (slowly moving up) to pressure him. The problem is, Alex Song cannot do this. Song is not quick enough and positionally smart enough and has difficulty tracking back in counter-attacks.
As a result of this, Vermaelen is forced to use his natural strength of closing down the opposition by pressuring the passer or whomever has the ball – when played in the space just above the defensive midfielder. When an error occurs, he looks like the bad guy even though what he did was the right thing. You have pointed out a couple of mistakes but are costly for Arsenal, but any Gunners fan will tell you that Vermaelen has made hundreds of strong tackles when closing down opponents – more apparent in Premier League games then Champions League.
I do agree with your point that Vermaelen is still maturing as a player and his tactical astuteness is coming with age, however, having played both Defensive Midfielder and Centre Back, I understand the requirements for each and Song is leaving his teammates out to dry.
I understand your point but whatever the defensive deficiencies of Arsenal’s midfielders, a centre back cannot step in and attempt to do their job for them. As you said, he has read the situation well and intercepted many times this season, but repeatedly attempting this will lead to goal scoring opportunities. Even if the ratio is 10 successful inteptions to 1 goal chance conceded, this is not acceptable as it is systematic and will therefore be targeted by opposition teams. As a centre back, it is more important for him to protect his goal, it is up to Song and Wenger to fulfill the midfield’s defensive duties.
“When an error occurs, he looks like the bad guy even though what he did was the right thing.”
It’s an interesting point but I don’t think it stands up. Following Rooney into his own half was unquestionably the wrong thing to do. It was suicidal. The same applies to the incident leading to Messi’s third goal.
The incidents leading to Ibrahimovic’s goal don’t concern the defensive midfielder enough to exonerate Vermaelen either – Messi was pretty much playing as a forward, Vermaelen just got drawn to him. And the West Ham penalty incident – well, he just got himself in a bad position and then was outpaced.
Of course he’s made hundreds of strong tackles, hence why the article makes the point that he’s had a good season, but he’s also made numerous mistakes. There’s been literally no discussion of these mistakes whatsoever, the consensus is that he hasn’t put a foot wrong all season.
The only issue I have with all this is that if ”the incidents leading to Ibrahimovic’s goal don’t concern the defensive midfielder enough to exonerate Vermaelen.. Messi was pretty much playing as a forward” then, if say Vermaelen hadn’t followed him, wouldn’t we be reading a piece about how Arsenal had allowed Messi freedom to play in between the lines ?
It’s a fair point. As I said in the piece about the second leg, I would have played with two holding midfielders solidly in front of the back four to try and deny Messi the space there, but that’s Wenger’s decision rather than Vermaelen’s.
A more knowledgeable coach than me would be able to outline the standard practice for dealing with a player in that position, but either way I can’t see that a single centre-back suddenly charging forward on his own towards the player is going to be the solution, it’s always going to leave space in behind, and for Arsenal to be beaten twice with just a long, straight ball from the halfway line is really quite bad.
Obviously the natural urge is to get tight to Messi and stop him turning, but not to the extent that you leave your defence that exposed.
YOu have raised a strong and good point for contention.
Incidentally I see Real Madrid play with two central defensive midfielders and a stay-back Centre half, but that only allows Xavi to push forward and look at Barca’s first goal–Messi just gets behind an apparently centreback Abliol to score the first goal.
Yes, TV’s style may create space, it is a risky tactics, but it often works in EPL, not 100% as you point out, yet with a weak central midfield defence–Song the only player to break the opponents’ attack, instead of having Gilberto Silva and Veiera like old times, I will exonerate TV.
mcgie76 makes some good points on the positioning of Song. He could have dropped a little when seeing Xavi with so much time on the ball.
The problem with Example 3 is that Vermaelen did what he was supposed to do – he closed down his nearest attacker as the ball was played. The issue is Song, who was WAY too flat, and the right back, who also played too flat. If Song had dropped 5 yards off Vermaelen, and the right back had dropped 5 yards off song, there would have been plenty of depth for them to cope with the ball over the top. Similarly, in coaching the principle is that if the ball is unpressured, the backline should immediately drop 5-10 yards until the ball IS pressured, and in that sense, Diaby was still the most important factor in the concession of that goal. If he pressed Xavi properly, that long pass never gets made. Almost all teams play zonal defending, and given that, it is churlish to hold one player responsible when there is usually a chain of inaction that costs goals, almost always beginning with the nearest player to the ball.
Well said, fact is though Vermaelen took a risk that the ball would go to Messi with the hope that the others would cover if the risk didn’t come off. The fact he took the risk is no bad thing. The fact he takes it so often and with the unfounded assumption that the rest of the defensive unit are able to cover would appear to be the real problem.
Song constantly takes up poor positions or charges up field, leaving no cover (though I suppose that’s Diaby/Fabregas’s fault in part) and he’s not even remotely pacey or mobile either, which is how Flamini got away with similar mistakes.
Still, most Arsenal fans name him as world class and vital to the team these days.
Arsenal fans’ opinions on their own players are generally ludicrous.
Oi! who do you go for then you git?
What do you expect, fans are fans and see only what they want to see.
I am an Arsenal fan and we need to cheer our team even if they are not doing well, you do not expect us to wash our dirty linen in public, do you?
Regarding the Vermaelen issue, the guy is still learning just as the Midfielders in front of him.
He is actually constantly exposed, no cover from the midfielders in front of him (Gilberto or even Flamini to a reasonable extent did provide this cover for the defence in the past) and you would also expect him to be cautioned by the more experienced Gallas, but we have not seen this happen.
Generally,we do not have an exceptional Holding Midfielder or an Invincible wall and I think that is why we have not seen the best from Vermaelen…
In a way I found Example 2 the worst of the lot because of how close Xavi is, and how near to goal the defence is. To break the line, not knowing where the ball was headed, with the ball that close was inviting disaster. Xavi’s ball was over the top, but he was what, 20 metres from Ibrahimovic when he played it.
(And I volunteer to chip in to buy ZM a copy of Adobe Illustrator, on the proviso that he never touches MS Paint again.)
It was in photoshop, not paint! And I like the badly drawn rings…
Ha, well if you like badly drawn rings, you’re doing a fine job! (but if you’ve got a copy of illustrator you can import the photo on the bottom layer, and do all kinds of nice things to the photo on another layer, then export the whole thing for the web…)
Anyway, carry on.
We should buy him Andy Townsend’s Tactic Truck!
Oh my god, Andy Townsend…Now there’s a prick!
But honestly, how did that guy end up where he is? Who’s brother/father/son/husband is he at ITV?
I agree with the point you have made but with the suspect defensive record Arsenal had prior to his arrival and him becoming an instant hit (means more responsibility) he has taken (or being made) to look after the promionent threats like the Rooneys, Drogbas and Messis. I think this will come to him once he and the team around him matures. Arsenal overall have not shown great ability when they loose the ball and are counter attacked. Most of the goals they concede are pretty soft and a young team can improve just that much in a given time frame.
Are they really that young? Is being “young” really an excuse? Remember Ajax winning the 1995 CL with an average squad and first team age of around 22?! Conceding just 2 goals all the way? Wenger’s excuse is his team being young, Ferguson’s excuse is the referees, it just gets tiring after a while…
Ajax’ average age was 23, I believe, and they were one of the best and most consistent team I have seen. In truth, Rijkaard and Blind were experienced players in crucial positions but, nevertheless, their example shows that being young should not be an excuse.
And just to mention,average age of Barcelona’s first 11 that started in London is just a year older than Arsenal’s first 11 in that game while in Barcelona it was a difference of less than a year.
Guyz where in the world of football does young relates to age. Febregas is 22 and he is very experienced as he has played many sesons with and against the best. Look at his goal scoring exploits this season. Messi is 21 but has played so many seasons at the top level with the best in the business around him. Remember when Barca played against Jose’s Chelsea, Messi’s best contribution was to get a Chelsea player sent off. A few more seasons on and look where he is, not because he added to his skills but more because he added to his intelligence. Vermaelen is not that experienced as he has less than 1 season under his belt in the toughest league. I hope he learns a few things from Sol coz with Vermaelen and Gallas the Belgian looks the leader.
Experience was also not a trademark of that Ajax team. Still, they worked like a clockwork.
You have made your point well and I see that my initial theory about this being a tactical ploy doesn’t really hold up.
Most of these errors are happening when Arsenal are playing against one striker. They seem to be confused about who is the marker and who is cover.I think Vermaelen doesn’t trust the players around him to do their jobs so he panics a little bit and tries to do it all.
I am surprised you didnt show the Chelsea game where he and Clichy went towards the same man even though it was clearly Clichy’s zone and they left Drogba on his own. That was a clear sign to me that he was trying to do too much.
Arsenal’s haphazard defending does not help matters and all their defensive players have been guilty of making the same mistakes this season. So Wenger is still responsible for not making corrections.
Nice work.
Great article.
I think Vermaelen is still learning a lot and after a few years, he won’t make this mistake anymore. Wenger surely knows this, but at this moment he has no alternatives.. And against top teams like Barcelona and Manchester United, the opponent knows very well how to bring Vermaelen out of his position. It’s a risk for Arsenal, but after a few years he will know how to play against them.
At least I hope so, because he’ll have to become a very important player for Arsenal and Belgium. I have noticed that Advocaat uses Vermaelen as a left back, maybe because of this problem, or maybe because he doesn’t have other players for that position (and Belgium has good players on the central position). I’m absolutely sure he will become a great leader and who knows maybe he’ll be the new captain if Fabregas leaves.
It’s harsh to blame Vermaelen for each and every single goal. Rooney and Messi, if you know, are not your run of the mill players. They’re world class, and probably the only way to reduce their influence is to give them no space. Messi was kept largely kept quite in the first leg (admittedly his close control and dribbling was still visible when he beat other players).
I suggest you watch the second half of the First Leg again, because we changed our defensive pattern. Vermaelen was told to push up and stick to Messi, while Song was supposed to mark Ibrahimovic and/or cover for Vermaelen. The fault lies in the other players of the team, namely the midfield, and in Barca’s case, Song. How many times have you seen Vidic track forwards to the half line (and then knee him in the back, that dirty prick!). However the difference is that United’s midfield/fullbacks are ready to cover for him, and they rarely concede in the corner. Yet Vidic is touted to be one of the best CBs, while you criticize Vermaelen.
The only case you might have is his bombing forward. Again, Song/Gallas are told to cover for him. However his mistake was to go forward even when he didn’t have anyone to cover for him. Inexperience.
“It’s harsh to blame Vermaelen for each and every single goal. Rooney and Messi, if you know, are not your run of the mill players…Messi was kept largely kept quite in the first leg”
Of course he was quiet, because Vermaelen was so concerned with him and left space in behind. That’s the point, surely?
I take your point, they’re two of the best players in the world. But Vermaelen overcompensated for their ability and left Almunia exposed – it wasn’t even their skill that beat Vermaelen, it was their reputation. There was no need whatsoever to track Rooney into his own half, for example, and Arsenal were completely undone by two basic passes.
That’s your opinion, but I disagree with it. Rooney is as dangerous when he is deep than he is when he is high up the pitch. If he had been able to pick out a pass for say, Nani, and had Nani scored, I am sure you would have pointed out his failure to track Rooney as a mistake in this article. Fact of the matter is, if you wanted, you could have typed out an article on how Terry and Ferdinand are not world class because of the absolutely comical errors they have made this year. It just seems to me that you don’t like Vermaelen getting the praise.
“Of course he was quiet, because Vermaelen was so concerned with him and left space in behind. That’s the point, surely?”
Surely you would be more concerned about trying to keep the arguably BPOTY from working his magic? It was Song’s fault that he was not tighter to Ibrahimovic. Infact for the second goal, Song had a clear view of Ibra making the run, yet took ages to react.
If you’re the sole defender, and the lone striker makes a run deep into his own midfield, you don’t track him and leave your defence unattended. That’s just very very basic.
Why would I not like Vermaelen getting the praise? What a bizarre comment.
The West Ham/Barca away incidents are simply poor defending, unless your sure to win the ball you have to stay goal-side of your man. So is the Manure goal where either Song or Vermalen have to go with Park. Instead they both get attracted to Rooney and the ball, Park runs free.
Song is ultimately at fault for both home CL goals IMO due to him not covering Ibra’s movements. I think Vermalen had to press Messi for the 1st Barca goal – A. Because the midfield trio are effectively just standing in space and B. You just can’t let him have the ball to turn and run at you. Song should track Ibra for this goal. Vermalen would have been wrong side to get back at him anyway and Song should know this…
For the 2nd if you look closely, Song points to Ibra to say “Vermalen, Watch this player” Denilson then asks Vermalen to watch Messi and Vermalen points to Ibra to say “Song, Watch this player” by then it’s too late and he’s in on goal.
This lack of communication is apparent in most of these incidents. Perhaps this is due to a lack of a real leader at the back, or just inexperience. I hasten to add that the midfield don’t make this any easier with the lack of pressing/marking.
I think Song and Vermalen have been our best players this season (besides Cesc) and they will learn how to defend better. All goals come from defensive mistakes and until you see a team with 0 goals against you’ll never find a perfect defender.
Great article BTW.
It’s a good article, and during the Manchester game I was screaming at my computer seeing how TV was moving so far up field. However, for the Barca game, I feel that you left something out with regards to the Arsenal offside trap.
After weathering the initial storm (or hurricane more like it), and then making space for themselves the Arsenal defence was able to play an offside trap that neutralized the threat from Ibra. Gallas is taken off shortly before the half and Song moves into the defence. In the second half, Song is caught looking at the ball, and not the runner (Ibra). Instead of moving forward to catch the runner offside, or drop back to cover the goal, he stayed where he was until Ibra receives and runs goal-wards.
As your analysis shows, it’s more complicated than what I just posted, but I’m seeing in Arsenal is a problem with the offside trap, and with fullbacks being too far back (I think Messi’s fourth exploited this), and I’m just wondering if this is something you’ve noted as well.
I agree Vermaelen may be over-enthusiastic, charging forward to track dangerous strikers such as Drogba Rooney and Messi down, hence leaving behind a gap in the center of defence. But isn’t that a good trait for a CB? Persistent and Hardworking? Confident maybe?
He just needs to distinguish between being hardworking and alert, and being over enthusiastic and paranoid. Which basically means he needs more experience playing for Arsenal with the other Gunners, and basic communication.
Interesting… I’ve never noticed this before.
I rate him highly, although this article clearly shows that Arsene needs to do something about it. Maybe he should instruct Gallas to play more of a deeper role?
I think the majority would agree that Vermaelen is not the type of defender you’d have to stay deep while on the attack. He’s better in attack than Gallas is, and so surely’ you’d expect Gallas to be the one left at the back?
Tactics need to be questioned.
Great post as usual. I would only quibble with the West Ham example: watched it live and in numerous replays, and I don’t see how it was a penalty at all, TV won the ball fairly and touched Franco more lightly than one kisses an infant. Given that, I must also disagree with your characterization that he was outpaced.
Besides that, though, I concur with your assessment. The trouble is that all the Arsenal “defensive” players (Song and the 1st choice back 4) like to get forward, which would be fine if they always made sure they had adequate cover – but they don’t.
I agree about the penalty decision, but I don’t think that forgives the positional error – he did let Franco get in behind him. I think he may have got the ball, but if you’re having to lunge like that as the last defender from a hopeful lob played over the top, something’s gone wrong.
while i think you do make an effort to highlight his positioning, i think it’s a little over the top to blame him for all the goals mentioned above. for the 2 against barca at the emirates, when he tracks/is attracted to messi, song should be alert and mark the other striker, ibrahimovic of course. it is song’s failure to do so on 2 occasions that result in the goal. but song is not a CB by default so there you go.
i attribute it to poor communication on the pitch, as well as the poor covering of midfielders. to say his positioning is poor would be too harsh an assessment, as he has been fine earlier parts of the season. apart from the west ham penalty which he conceded, he is as much in the wrong as his fellow defenders. wrong to single him out.
I actually think it’s a bit harsh to pin the blame entirely on Thomas Vermaelen for at least two of those examples. When you defend, you defend as a team. What we see in example one and example three is the stopper-cover system of Arsenal not working as it should do as well as other players not performing their defensive responsibilities.
In the Manchester United game, Vermaelen has made the decision to track the danger man, Rooney, who’s in the form of his life, into the other half. He knows that United are going to give the ball to him. If he wins the ball, then he can launch an attack. Granted, to launch attacks is not his role in the side but at the same time he is trying to stop Rooney from receiving the ball. Song, the defensive midfielder, does not cover for Vermaelen. He does not track the run of Park. If you look in the fourth screenshot of that example, there are three players around Rooney including both Vermaelen AND Song. Song was also attracted to Rooney, but forgot about Park who running from midfield. He is also to blame for that goal.
In the Barcelona game, for the first goal; Messi is in a striker’s position. Vermaelen gets tight to him, knowing that you cannot allow Messi to receive the ball to feet in those areas. He’s nullifying that threat. He leaves a gap for Ibrahimovic, who was not tracked by Song. When Vermaalen goes to “stop”, his partner need to “cover” which he did not do. For the second goal, Vermalen again is limiting the space for Messi. A number of mistakes are occuring around him. Firstly, no one is closing down Xavi and forcing him to go backwards or sideways (he cannot pass to Messi because Vermaelen is tight on him). Secondly, Vermaelen is actually forced to close the danger man down because the midfielders are not picking up Messi as he drops deep into a pocket of space. Thirdly, the covering centre back again does not track the run of the free man.
What are your thoughts on this?
Exactly. In short, this article is making a mountain out of a molehill.
Four goals and one penalty conceded in exactly the same is not ‘making a mountain out of a molehill’. You can argue that Vermaelen is not to blame, but you can’t argue that it isn’t an issue whatsoever.
That’s what i’m saying. Vermaelen has his faults, but you make it look like it’s the sole reason why Arsenal’s defense isn’t working properly, and as if he makes elementary mistakes.
No, he isn’t. He’s showing four goals and a penalty. That’s not “the sole reason why Arsenal’s defense isn’t working properly”. He’s right in every way. It’s not Vermaalen’s job to go and mark someone in the opposition’s half or to go and mark Messi way outside his own penalty area, leaving the one he should mark, Ibrahimovic (since Vermaalen has the strength to deal with him), completely open. And don’t blame Song for that goal. If Song had moved towards Ibrahimovic, he would’ve created more space in the center and surely they would’ve tried to exploit that.
“In the Manchester United game, Vermaelen has made the decision to track the danger man, Rooney, who’s in the form of his life, into the other half. He knows that United are going to give the ball to him. If he wins the ball, then he can launch an attack”
The key is precisely the decision-making, weighing the pros and cons. If he wins the ball back, he can ‘launch an attack’ with 11 United men behind the ball while, should he fail, he leaves a gaping hole behind him. The potential cons of making that move clearly outweight the potential pros, which is why it was an extremely poor decision.
You also say that Song is to blame, but it is precisely the 3rd shot that suggests that Song has moved to close Rooney down and has his back to Vermaelen, whereby he has no means of knowing the Belgian’s position and should not be expecting him to be closing down Rooney.
Surely Song could have just looked over his shoulder to see where Vermaelen and Rooney were, especially if he was not sure. That way, if he was not expecting it he can still react more accordingly to the situation. If there’s gap, he needs to fill it. Also, if there’s no time to look then surely someone should tell him that someone is coming up behind him.
It’s not pinning the blame entirely on Vermaelen. For the United goal, Clichy should have covered, for the Barca goal at the Emirates, Song should have covered. Nevertheless Vermaelen’s dodgy positioning was the main cause, I think.
United’s entire system that day was based upon midfield runners and a false nine. If one centre-back is high up the pitch and the other one follows the false nine into a midfield position, it is leaving the defence unmanned and completely playing into United’s hands – that is unarguable. Just because Rooney is in the form of his life, it doesn’t mean he should be tracked by the same player wherever he goes. As soon as he goes that deep (and with no covering defender with Gallas up the pitch) then Vermaelen has to let him go free. Of the examples listed above, the United one is where Vermaelen is most at fault.
Again, Vermaelen should be tracking Messi, yes, but not to the extent that he turns such an easy ball over the top into a goalscoring opportunity. He doesn’t just follow Messi up the pitch, he suddenly makes a five-yard dash towards him as the ball is being played and creates a huge hole in the centre of the defence which makes it impossible to turn and spin for the ball in behind. Again, Song can be partially blamed, but he’s not used to playing at centre-back. The goal wouldn’t have happened had Song not covered better, but equally it wouldn’t have happened had Vermaelen not dashed forward suddenly when Xavi was about to play the ball.
“It’s not pinning the blame entirely on Vermaelen.”
The fact that you wrote an article explaining specifically the faults in Vermalen’s defensive play and no one elses does suggest otherwise, at least in my point my view.
Throughout the whole season, Vermaelen has done more good than bad with the way he has played and that is discouting his goals (though there is no denying they have played a big part in how people view him). To pick examples that occured pretty far apart from eachother (baring of course the Barcelona game) as evidence that Vermaelen is consistantly costing Arsenal goals is not entirely convincing to me, especially when we can all go into a lot of detail about what Arsenal should have done defensively as a unit.
Not every goal is completely the fault of Vermaelen, but he is at least partially at fault for each goal, and majorly at fault for some. That’s fair.
The goals are not “pretty far apart”, they’re within the space of just over two months. The West Ham incident was only 11 days before the first Barca one! To pinpoint five separate mistakes in two months would be perhaps slightly critical, but the fact that it is the same mistake each time means the mistakes become more blatant and more salient.
He has of course done more good than bad, I think the article acknowledges that quite clearly, “He’s had a very good season and is unquestionably a top-notch player”.
Nevertheless, it’s the sad reality of playing at centre-back that merely doing ‘more good than bad’ is not enough. If a centre-back does 90% of stuff right, and 10% of things wrong, I’m afraid he’s not a top-class centre-back. Not saying that is the case with Vermaelen, but the argument there is flawed.
While discussing TV for the first goal of Barca @ Emirates, we are all missing the crucial point of Almunia being out of position. Even when Ibra collects the ball and runs into space, it was a difficult angle to score had Almunia not rushed in and would have provided time for Song to cover up. I see it more as Almunia’s fault rather than TV
Yes, I noticed that too..but shouldn’t the coach/manager notice that and correct it?
It’s a bit of two things really. Poor decisions by Vermaelen, but equally the poor defending in front of him. Admittedly, Messi is a genius in finding those what 2, 3 meters of space between the 2 lines where the midfielders and defenders have a hard time deciding who needs to pick him up, but I think Arsenals DMs do a generally poor job of closing down that area of the pitch. Not saying that Vermaelen reacts well to the situation, but if I were him I’d be a little out of sorts too. The goal against ManU and the 3rd goal for Messi are pretty much inexcusable though.
I agree with this critics on Vermaelen but you can also blame Arsene Wenger. Vermaelen likes to push forward a little bit too much and leaves space but if everyone would do that (as Barca-defenders do) than Arsenal would have the ball much quicker. Its a dutch (Cruyff) style of defending which is not strange for Vermaelen as he was with Ajax. But I agree he was to ‘blind’ going forward in those matches. Im sure he will learn.
When looking at average position charts for Arsenal games there is a pattern of Vermaelen being higher than Gallas. When Campbell plays it is even more extreme. I think part of the problem is there is a little bit of a stopper/sweeper dynamic between Vermaelen and Gallas, which works pretty well. This probably contributes to his tackle success rate when he rushes into midfield, because Gallas covers the space and eliminates the over the top option from the man with the ball. If Gallas weren’t doing his job so well, Vermaelen would be caught out a lot more.
The problem seems to come when Gallas is out of position (after a corner) or not on the field (Song has some of the fault for Ibra’s first goal in example 3). Vermaelen needs to have more awareness of when his partner can cover for him, and when he can’t.
One other point – maybe its just me, but in the first picture of example 3 the spacing between Vermaelen and Song looks too great. Clichy is pinched in well, and Vermaelen is positioned about right, but Song and Sagna need to come over and reduce the space between the defenders so that the back line can cover one another. Vermaelen should not have followed Messi while no pressure was being applied to Xavi, but if Xavi plays the ball to Messi instead of over the top then Vermaelen will have to step out anyway while the pass is en route to try and pressure Messi’s turn. At this point Song and Clichy need to be dropping in behind him to provide cover.
Very good point about Gallas. Vermaelen has got the plaudits this season but personally I think Gallas has had the better campaign.
Also agree about the distance in example 3. The distance between Vermaelen and Song seems greater than the distance between Song and Sagna, which shouldn’t be the case in that situation.
Interesting piece. Wenger certainly went mental when he got drawn for the second Barcelona goal at home. What your image doesn’t show is the time that the Arsenal midfield stood looking at Xavi without making a challenge, and I think this is a factor. Xavi had the ball, we didn’t try to win it back and I think that was a contributing factor to Vermaelen’s decision to go forward, anticipating the short pass to Messi. Impetuousness of youth, perhaps, but I do wonder if he’s been under instruction to try and win it quickly and high up the pitch, allowing the older/slower/more experienced defender to cover given that most of the time he’s been playing with Gallas, Campbell or Silvestre.
I think it’s a case that he needs to learn to read the game a bit better, to know when to go and when to hold, and that’ll come with time. He’s still young in the life of a centre-half. Good analysis though.
Yeah, the lack of pressure on Xavi was pretty shocking and certainly a factor. I didn’t really understand what Arsenal’s central midfielders were doing in that game, to be honest. Not pressuring Xavi, not looking to block the route off to Messi.
That’s the thing, ZM fails to see that our defense was more of Vermaelen man marking Messi and Song/Gallas doing the covering. So his pushing up to track Messi wasn’t a mistake, it was part of the plan. I say again, Messi isn’t an average player, you need to be tight to him. The blame lies with the midfield for not pressing, and for Song for not being alert/aware.
I’m not failing to see it, I understand it perfectly. The point is that he was drawn to Messi TOO much. Attempting to run towards him when the ball is being chipped over the top is pretty poor defending. If you watch the replay, Messi managed to sprint straight past Vermaelen anyway, so even if you’re claiming that he was doing his job in picking up Messi, he wasn’t doing it well.
Considering the side of the pitch the ball was coming from, Vermaelen should be slightly in front of Song, but not by that much.
The midfield and Song were also at fault, but so too was Vermaelen.
I think the blame on Song is pretty harsh. In the two photos it looks pretty clear what he should have done, but that’s happened in a split second. One instant Vermaelen is holding the line, and if Ibrahimovic comes over as he has done, Song is able to pass him on to Vermaelen. Then the next instant Vermaelen has basically taken a punt on Messi getting the ball, broken the line and gone out to meet him. Further, Song is already at the line of the near post when the ball is played, and that’s enough for the distant CB: if they hold the line it’s 3v3 in the 30m from the post to the touch line. Going further leaves the right back as the only defender in front of goal. Song didn’t need to follow Ibrahimovic until Vermaelan dashed out of the line.
Also, the midfield line is pretty solid in the first photo. I imagine they’ve been told to not leave too much space behind them and they’ve done that. As a result Xavi has time on the ball. But there’s not really an opening until Vermaelen goes AWOL. Messi could have got the ball to feet, but there is time for the Arsenal midfielder nearest to camera to recover, he’s only 3-4 metres away and Messi has his back to goal.
Finally, there was no need for Vermaelen to gamble on covering Messi. Even Lionel Messi is not a clear threat from there, 30m out, back to goal and surrounded by 3 Arsenal players.
He wasn’t surrounded though. Song and Clichy couldn’t have helped TV much if he’d received it and turned, since they were occupied by Pedro & Ibra.
That was a general problem though. Barca’s lopsided formation just overmanned Arsenal on their left, and Wenger never reacted/wanted to react to it.
Nice analysis. However you are only looking at one side of the story.
The way vermaelen presses up quickly is exactly the reason we have done so well this season snuffing out attacks from opposition before they’ve really started.
He anticipates well and presses the player receiving the ball and either interepts or tackles as soon as the player touches the ball. This has been incredibly effective all season.
Cherry picking a few errors with his style of defending is harsh to say the least. Even the great Tony Adams made errors but overall he was effective as is Vermaelen
Good stuff. I’ve been looking forward to reading some defensive analysis. More please!
Only issue I have with this article is you don’t explain what *should* be happening, only saying what did happen and then saying this is a mistake.
For example in the third example, Messi is between the lines and Vermaelen, incorrectly you say, goes to mark him. Allowing Messi to receive the ball and run at a defence is obviously a very, very bad idea, so who *should* have been picking up Messi in that case, if not Vermaelen?
More explanation for those of us who don’t know what should be happening would be good!
Love the site though!
A ways up Mcgie makes a point about defenders immediately dropping off 5-10 yards when the man with the ball is uncovered (no pressure). That is a good point, and pretty standard stuff for a flat 4 defense.
The idea is, if you have pressure on the man with the ball he can’t easily make the over the top pass into the space behind you. The best he can do is make a deep diagonal pass towards one of the corner flags, which gives the center backs a favorable angle to chase and close on any wingers or forwards running onto the ball – unless its Walcott, then your screwed. So if there is pressure then Vermaelen can follow Messi a little ways, but not too far before passing him off to a midfielder. If there isn’t pressure, then the man with the ball can do exactly what Xavi does, so you have to drop off to reduce the space between the back line and goalkeeper (sweeper keeper?) until someone can close down the man with the ball. Once pressure is on him, you can change direction and close the space between the defense and the midfield, or just hold a line. Pretty basic stuff.
So if I’m in Vermaelen’s shoes I’m dropping off a little bit, hopefully with the hole back line, and probably screaming at Diaby to close down Xavi. I’m probably also screaming at Denilson to move towards Messi since there isn’t any immediate threat in his zone. I know, this opens up Denilson’s zone for someone else to run into, but that threat is secondary to the one Messi poses, just like the threat of Messi receiving and turning is secondary to the ball over the top to Ibra. If Denilson moves over he can help put pressure on Messi if he receives the ball, as well as backup Diaby if Xavi beats him on the dribble.
Now, let’s say the back line drops off, no one is covering Messi, and Xavi plays him the ball and he turns. Granted, this is a terrible position to be in – one of the worst. Now Vermaelen does probably have to run out and try to close Messi quickly, and it is up to Clichy and Song to pinch together behind him to give cover. You might argue that this is a horrendous scenario to be in, and Messi will probably just dribble past Vermaelen and Clichy, and then win a PK off of Song, but at least you have a chance to stop him. Ball over the top to Ibra? Almunia’s on his own.
Did the midfield screw-up by not pressuring Xavi? Absolutely. Did Song screw up by not covering Vermaelen and tracking Ibra? Definately. Did Clichy ball watch the whole time? Looks that way. But did Vermaelen also make a bad decision, and one that he makes repeatedly? I think so.
The real villian here is Wenger. As much as I respect him as a manager, I think his defenders tend to be poorly drilled and don’t anticipate each others actions very well. Since he himself was a sweeper I’d guess that in his mind the right decisions are so plain to see that he has a hard time understanding why he needs to work on it with his players.
SG – good point about Wenger. He perhaps doesn’t see the need to coach defense as much as, say, Mourinho, who played in goal, I think? So his concern is more with the ball, probably because he was a ball-playing sweeper (rather than the old style thumper). There’s no doubting his ability to coach attack and possession, but I have had access to his training sessions and while he does an awful lot of 1v1 attack and defense, he rarely seems to go into group drills to work on defensive aspects according to his system and formation.
Great post, some really interesting points there not covered in the original article.
I agree 100% with what you say about Messi. Like with Rooney, there’s a need to get tight, but you can’t focus your defending so much around one forward that you leave your entire defence open for someone else.
Thanks for the explanation. Few questions.
First, which defender is supposed to decide the backline needs to drop back? Because without that dropping back it seems like Vermaelen could’ve held his ground and Arsenal still would’ve conceded simply because Song totally lost Ibra. At best Vermaelen might have been able to catch up to him, right?
Second, shouldn’t Song + Sagna/Clichy be adequate for a ball over the top in that situation? I could understand if you’re facing a really fast player in that situation that you need to drop deep, but it seems that should be adequate for Ibrahimovic..
Third, don’t the likes of Vidic do the same thing? Is it just that Arsenal have a higher line at the time?
But if Vermaelen had held his ground, he would have headed away Xavi’s pass, right? I’m not sure Xavi would have even played the pass had Vermaelen started to move forward – Messi’s slight movement, Vermaelen’s following, Ibra’s dart across and Xavi’s ball are all so well timed I almost think it seems like a deliberate ploy from Barca. That said, it’s probably just what happens when you get three great football minds together.
I think Clichy and Sagna were both rightly concerned about their wingers, to be fair.
The theory behind Vermaelen playing slightly further forward is not wrong at all, and yeah Vidic/Ferdinand and Terry/Carvalho are examples of where this kind of defending has worked well. But Vermaelen just seems to get himself too far forward and then be prone to the ball over the top.
“But if Vermaelen had held his ground, he would have headed away Xavi’s pass, right? I’m not sure Xavi would have even played the pass had Vermaelen started to move forward – Messi’s slight movement, Vermaelen’s following, Ibra’s dart across and Xavi’s ball are all so well timed I almost think it seems like a deliberate ploy from Barca.”
The pass to Messi is on, so if TV hadn’t pushed up presumably he would’ve passed to a free Messi.
“I think Clichy and Sagna were both rightly concerned about their wingers, to be fair.”
Well yeah, in the end they just seem undermanned. There are 4 Barca players at Arsenal’s backline or between the backline/midfield, with Xavi given all the time in the world to make a pass. What do you think Arsenal should’ve been doing to avoid that? Just Diaby going to press Xavi?
“The theory behind Vermaelen playing slightly further forward is not wrong at all, and yeah Vidic/Ferdinand and Terry/Carvalho are examples of where this kind of defending has worked well. But Vermaelen just seems to get himself too far forward and then be prone to the ball over the top.”
Yeah I’m just wondering how much these things are TV’s fault vs everyone else. Clearly something Arsenal are doing is going horribly wrong.
Was this happening when Gallas was fit?
You’re always in two minds as a center back; whether to stand your ground and not leave your defense exposed or whether to move forward to make that tackle that prevents an attack or goal. It is more about positioning and intelligent play than anything else. More importantly, a center back should NEVER leave his defense exposed unless he has adequate cover. As a center back I some times leave my position to tackle a forward moving midfielder but I never do this unless I have somebody else marking the striker upfront. A CB should always remember is primary duty to mark the Forward and other duties are secondary.
I was worried at the beginning of the season when Vermaelen kept moving into the midfield to win the ball, however, as the season progressed i realized that Gallas was doing a great job at covering his vacant position. That was excellent play and it worked for us. Without Gallas at the back to mop up, Vermaelen should have restrained his movements more and stayed at the Back (against Man U & vs Barcelona when Song was the last man; Song is not as effective as Gallas and, possibly, Sol Campbell as the last man). Let’s remember that Gallas played with Vermaelen in the first half so he reverted to his usual playing system during the game (as the aggressor).
It would be easy to slag off Vermaelen for his poor decision making which, I admit, where apparent in both Barcelona goals in the first leg. Though we have to remember that Vermaelen’s play has worked very well in the past and he needs time to improve his decision-making skills. It is quite unfortunate that he’s learning his lesson during crucial games.
After looking at the clip a few times, surely that goal is primarily Song’s fault? It’s a ball barely over the top, Song should have dealt with it or at least delayed Ibra long enough, but he’s absolutely miles from Ibra.
Song’s position certainly isn’t great and he should have been covering better. But when Vermaelen points at him, and when the ball is being played, is Ibra not closer to Vermaelen, and in his zone?
“First, which defender is supposed to decide the backline needs to drop back”
Ideally, no one decides. Everyone recognizes the situation and reacts. But to get this kind of collective reaction between a back 4 you have to practice it – drills have to be run where different scenarios are presented and the players are expected to move in unison according to how the coach wants them to react. You could let an experienced defender captain the defense and play like a sweeper, which I would expect Gallas kind of does, but even this isn’t fast enough. The players just have to know. Its Wenger’s job to make sure they know.
To quote Bruce Lee from Enter the Dragon, “When the opponent expands, I contract. When he contracts, I expand. And when there is an opportunity, I do not hit. {raises his fist} It hits all by itself.”
Personally, I think that Song has the most fault on the first goal by Ibra. That said, Song doesn’t play center back, and he is unlikely to repeat the error in another game. So there isn’t much point harping on it.
Vermaelen, while less at fault on that particular goal than Song, does have a pattern, will probably have many opportunities to repeat it, therefore it is worth discussing.
Correct. What was ignored was that Barca had not used any sort of long through ball in the first half and Vermaelen’s first priority was always to stop Messi, which in the first game Arsenal did. It was simple a damned if you do damned if you don’t situation.
In my opinion Vermaelen is quite similar in style to Walter Samuel; both are strong, six foot – reasonably short for a centre back – aggressive centre backs. It will be interesting to note the way Samuel defends against Barca in the semi-final. Probably, in contrast to Arsenal, the Inter defenders will not find themselves playing such a dangerously high line.
On that note, it is worth pointing out that the passers playing the ball over the top in example three, I think one was Xavi, were afforded far too much time and space. If you’re going to step up and play such an aggressive line, then surely it has to be matched by harrying and pressing from the defending midfielders and forwards?
It has to be a case of lesson learned for the Arsenal team and for Vermaelen.
[...] Thomas Vermaelen’s poor positioning keeps costing Arsenal goals “There’s little doubt that Thomas Vermalen has been a good signing for Arsenal. Lacking a top-class centre-back last year, Arsene Wenger did brilliantly to dispose of Kolo Toure and bring in the Belgian – and made a profit by doing so. Vermaelen is extremely popular with the Arsenal fans because he’s the type of player they haven’t signed in recent years – a tall, strong defender who enjoys getting tough tackles in and competing in the air. His early-season goalscoring form made him an instant hit, and he’ll probably win ’signing of the season’ in many pundits’ end-of-season awards.” (Zonal Marking) [...]
Great article, but I want to make a point about the example from the Man United game; if I recall correctly, their 3rd goal came after an Arsenal corner, so both Vermaelen and Gallas were up for the corner.
I’m 95% sure that’s not the case, I remember watching the replay and Gallas plays the ball to the right, then goes for the return by charging forward to join the attack, and then stays there. I don’t have a video to show it, but I’m very sure of it.
Blaming Vermaelen for the Zlatam goal from the Xavi pass is unfair.I think Xavi was given too much space throughout the game by the Arsenal midfield.The pass shouldn’t have been made in the first place?
Indeed, but just because the midfield wasn’t pressing, that doesn’t exonerate Vermaelen. Xavi should have been closed down, but such a simple chip over the top shouldn’t be catching out Arsenal’s defence once, let alone twice.
A basic top level coaching rule is if there is pressure all around the pitch/towards the ball then everyone can step up, squeeze the space and apply pressure all over the pitch.
A rule I have learnt playing for and then coaching a professional team is if the opposition is in there own half, then apply little or no pressure on the ball, once they step into our half, apply pressure enough to hassle and rush the opponent but not too close, and once they break into the last half of our half, apply full pressure and get the ball back.
Regardless of if our midfield closed down Xavi or not, they didn’t, TV should have recognised this and not applied any pressure/moved forward. If there is pressure from Diaby/Denilson for instance Xavi wouldn’t have been able to play that ball, and TV could have stepped up. Since there was no pressure, he should have held, seen the run Ibra was making, and backtracked. Also there should have been some communication from firstly TV to get a midfielder to screen/stand 5 yards in front of Messi’s line of pass, to stop the ball getting played into Messi short, and there should of been communication from Song and ALMUNIA to warn TV of Ibra’s run.
All good points Mike. The communication from the GK is another important point, but I get the impression whenever I watch Arsenal that Almunia is not the most talkative or demanding of keepers. In contrast, Reina for Liverpool is always talking to his defenders. My main point is that there is a number of players at fault for that third example goal, and not just TV, as culpable as he may be.
“and there should of been communication from Song and ALMUNIA to warn TV of Ibra’s run.”
Well Song couldn’t warn him since he was ballwatching and had no idea what Ibra was doing!
Vermaelen seems to instruct Song to pick up Ibra as he moves forward, but it seems more of an afterthought once he’s already made his mind up about what HE is doing.
Besides, since Song is the one with the better view of things (ie being the CB on the ‘opposite’ side to where the ball is) shouldn’t he be the one instructing?
What is the standard protocol for who picks up a forward who drops between the lines? I mean, who *should* have been going to Messi as he dropped off TV?
And regardless of any mistakes made in this one, I think you’ve really just got to credit Barca here. Messi drops off a touch, Ibra makes the run behind, Xavi picks the pass, all in ~1 second.
I think its the responsibility of the deeper centre midfielder playing in the “Song” role. As TV saw Messi drop, I think he should of made a midfielder aware—But as he saw he was tricked by Messi- Don’t under estimate Messi’s off the ball movement either towards the ball. He moved which drew TV out which allowed Ibra to get in behind TV.
I don’t think anyone has to go touch tight towards Messi. As long as a midfielder is in between Xavi and Messi..Xavi can’t get that ball to Messi, unless he trys something very difficult and chips it in the air.
Also bear in mind there’s nothing to say Xavi wouldn’t have been able to play exactly the same ball with TV in position. Song was still late in getting across, Almunia wasn’t communication and if the ball was right, then TV would have been missed out either way.
On another day, Barca are so clever, TV would have been drawn inside, Song would have gone with Ibra, and then ball would have been reversed inside Song and Sagna to Keita or someone else- Which also highlights the point if everyone is meant to follow the runners early like Song on Ibra then your leaving space everywhere. It’s a lot easier to communicate and pass players onto each other and hold positions.
Yeah, thats Vermaelen’s mistake there. First one I think is more of Almunia’s fault, if anyone’s, because Song has him covered
Great site, great post: ZM, the Guardian ran a short story regarding the views of three managers who have beaten Barca, as to how they did it. Your (excellent) examples are all from games against the very best opposition. Can one imagine TV is trying to fulfil the manager’s plan? Certainly in the second Barca game, as long as the wheels were still on, it looked to me as if Wenger had set out a concerted strategy to press all the opposing players all the time. Playing in England however Arsenal have been able to tikitak through just about everything and so have not needed to raise their pressing and the compactness it requires to Barca levels of fitness both mental and physical. I think your purpose turns on the notion that the manager is trying to make something more than kickabout, so as to enable the team to win, so I would like to see, TV’s predicament in the light of AW’s thinking, as far as it can be descried. Also, has TV had this problem against lesser teams?
rmdaze
Vermaelen has been doing this for the whole season and there has been no problem with him doing it. The only difference is that he had competent defenders around him knew that if he stepped up, they would need to come round and cover the hole that is left behind him. Song and Silvestre didn’t do that and it resulted in us conceding a few goals.
Vermaelen has dropped a little in form. But I am going to blame that on him playing every single game this season in the League bar one, and him playing with a different partner every week.
Vermaelen has been aggressive throughout the whole season and it’s precisely that quality which has improved our defence exponentially. The problem was the lack of covering ability from Gallas’s replacements. In saying that, Vermaelen could have been alot more composed but in reality we lacked bite and he was one of the few who immediately challenged the ball carrier when they entered his vicinity.
In a fully functioning team Vermaelen will be awesome. He’s got an impossible job at the moment. Our defenders have it more difficult than just about anywhere else. There are one or two small faults in his game – occasionally losing his man at set-pieces, and he does get drawn out a little too easily sometimes, but, all-in-all he’s the kind of defender coaches dream about. He has literally everything you’d want a top class centre back to have, and a fantastic attitude to boot.
He’s had a great debut season, better than most people expected and will only get better with more experience and no defender or defence is perfect but with Vermaelen ours is a hell of alot better. So, I think, Vermaelen isn’t a liability. He’s a victim of a defensive unit that needs better protection and coaching probably.
He’s an agressive cb that isn’t afraid to put the attackers under pressure. After the barca match, we, supporters all moaned about a lack of agressive and quick pressing and now the one player capable of doing that, gets criticized? From me? No way.
If Verm was john terry’s partner, chelsea would’ve won the league in last year’s december…
Interesting article, though. And awesome website.
Was this an issue when he had Gallas covering for him? In all but one of these goals Gallas is not on the pitch.
I don’t really remember the earlier goals well enough to say for sure.
If so not adjusting to a new partner might be the worst problem.
[...] Marking have an interesting analysis of Thomas Vermaelen’s defending. It’s certainly true he has a tendency to get very close to his man and we’ve seen in [...]
I agree with most of your analysis.
However if Vermaelen comes short to close down for example Messi in the third example you give, then Song must cover him and therefore sagna must also shuffle accross. this did not happen which is why Ibrahimovic was able to get in.
If a centre back moves forward out of the line, then the other centre back and full back should drop to compact the space. Especially, especially (i’m saying it twice for extra effect) if you’re marking the nest player ion the world. I would rather Vermarlen get tight to messi than let him have the ball in space 40 yards from goal with time to turn and run at him.
having said this, his decision to come and try to win the ball which then led to the fantastic ’scoop finish’ from Messi over Almunia, was a poor one.
I would therefore say that Vermaelen needs to work on his decision making a bit more. I’m happy with him in general in his positioning, he is aggressive in trying to win the ball back which is great, but he needs to just hold his position sometimes.
basically he needs to nail down a bit more ‘when to press and when to drop’
You forgot Pienaars goal for Everton at the grove
I get the feeling, Arsene has given instructions for Vermaelen to press/attempt intercept (as this is his strong accolade) to the dangerous frontman and Gallas is supposed to be there on cover along with full back.
The reason Barcelona scored the first goal is not just because of Vermaelen, it was down to basic forward interplay by messi and zlatan (one show feet making sure they come in between midfield line and defensive line to draw marking centre back) and one make the run in behind (zlatan)-vermaelen had to follow messi in my oppinion (if he didnt the ball would have gone to messi as the ball through would not have been on for zlatan-yes they may not have scored-but with messi’s capabilities on ball on his favoured left foot it could easily have been the same outcome)-the problem was that song (shifted to cb due to gallas injury) should have been tucked round closer to zlatan-if song had done that he could have delayed the play to allow vermaelen time and midfield time to recover and get men behind ball-unfortunatley that didnt happen.
As for the Man u goal (park) again he had to press as there was a 2 v 1 situation on song so he had to make an attempt to prevent man u advancing-the problem here was down to arsenal pushing both full backs on and not having enough cover on. Had clichy and sagna been back too they would have tucked in to cover (again basics) but due to them not being there vermaelen had to press other wise it would have been 2 v 1 on him too.
The problem is not with vermaelens positioning and pressing but with the cover that doesnt come in behind him or not having enough support to allow him to play to his strengths.
completely agree.
If Vermaelen moves out of the defensive line to intercept then the other defenders must get compact behind him.
Great site here, and finally a blogsite comments section filled with sensible, intelligent, thought out analysis and debate. Perhaps Vermaelen’s eagerness to come and win the ball is partly a result of a lack of trust in players around him? Diaby an Denilson have both had tendencies to become spectators in big games this season, this has left Song exposed in the midfield. Vermaelen perhaps reacts too quickly sometimes. But an excellent player at 23 and hopefully will improve.
I’d say we really missed Campbell in both legs against Barcelona. There were concerns about his legs, but you don’t need pace when you know where to stand. He would also have the ability to position other players by talking to them, telling them when to close down, when to drop in.
Fair comments, apart from criticism for Ibrawotsitvitch’s goals.In both cases Song should have been closer to Vermaelen and therefor covering the attacker. Song was more to blame for those two goals
I absolutely agree. Vermaelen waved at Song, but he didn’t react quick enough.
First of all, I just discovered this site and what an amazing one it seems to be! Looking forward tremendously to reading through the archives.
I think that Vermaelen getting too far forward is an unfortunate by-product of being schooled in the Ajax system. At Ajax, they employ forward defending; defenders push up to press the opponent very far up the pitch. The objective is to box the opponent in on a small strip of space, have them lose the ball swiftly and being relative close to the goal to set up your new attack. This works well in the dearth of quality that is the current Eredivisie, but as your examples point out, against better opposition this gets found out.
I think Vermaelen just got used to playing with Gallas. He didn’t get this much criticism early in the season is probably because the way he played then, and is currently still playing now, actually worked when Gallas was his partner. The fact that he’s had 3 different central defensive partners after Gallas’ injury means that none of the 3 are able to develop a proper understanding with him.
I disagree with the analysis, whilst excellently argued, it may not fit into the whole tactical role. Vermaelen is quite simply playing a stopper centre-half role. His job is to man mark and force his marker out of the dangerous centreforward position and into midfield and attempt to stop throughballs and nip the problem in the bud. Hence, he is farther up field, allowing Gallas or Song in those examples to cover behind.
Furthermore, the two Barcelona goals were Song’s fault in my eyes. He should been marking Ibrahimovich because Messi had drifted inside, thereby being Vermaelens repsonsibility (Clichy couldn’t follow Messi inwards otherwise Alves would run riot) so it was Song’s job to cover behind, he didn’t and Arsenal were exposed. I will conced the Man Utd goal, Vermaelen was at fault. But if we were to scrutinise every centrehalf performance from the top 3 clubs we could attribute a number of goals to each one, and point dropping goals. John Terry has been responsible for numerous big game goals. Ferdinand and Vidic the same.
So I think to judge a centrehalf alone is unfair, they’re in the position whereby any mistake or risk that doesn’t go their way will be punished. Rather, you ned to judge a centrehalf on how solid the back four is. Vermaelen’s entrance into Arsenal has improved it enough for him to be considered a very good centrehalf. Arsenal’s conceeding of goals is probably better attributed to the poor form of Gael Clichy and Sagna for periods of the season, and injuries and constant changing of Vermaelen’s partner.
Generally the critics is acceptable although there are some doubts.
Think about this, Vermaelen’s weakness is exploited normally (or only) by top class teams (Here apparently by Barca and United). Why? Because only when facing these teams Arsenal will easily lost their control in front of their defense line and leave spaces between centre backs and DM. Yes, he made the same mistakes and some goals were conceded, But how can a centre back do too much good when the midfield is lost control and you have space to be exploited both in front of and behind of you? Probably a pair of world-class centre backs like Baresi and Mussi can do something, but apparently Vermaelen is not a world-class centre back. Gallas is much better than him in centre-back position, but how old is Vermaelen and how much does he cost Arsenal? How many matches has Vermaelen missed this season? Conceding 34 goals in 33 games in the league is not good, but is not too bad either. 10M to get a player who can play through the whole season, doesn’t take a very high salary, have a good fighting spirit, and provides some good physical power to the team is a good signing to me (though maybe not the ’signing of the year’). The biggest problem for Arsenal’s defense at this moment is not Vermaelen (though he needs to improve himself), but decent DMs (no Denilson anymore!) and one or two CBs who is not so injury prone.
Another word. This statement ‘Arsenal fans’ opinions on their own players are generally ludicrous.’ is quite laughable. Where is the statistics (which is the evidence) for ZM to draw this conclusion? Will changing ‘Arsenal fans” to ‘Benfica fans” or ‘Soviet’s Wing fans” feel any wrong? Frankly speaking, if fans don’t have a little bit bias, then that will be ludicrous.
Perhaps this is not to do with Vermaelen’s positional errors, but instead, Lionel Messi’s intelligence and his ability to effect the game without the touching the ball (an ability Wayne Rooney has picked up, but previously mastered by Dennis Bergkamp and Diego Maradona). The thinking behind it is that it is a win-win situation for the team. If untracked, the second striker may have a free run into space where they can build up momentum. Or, whenever the second striker (Messi or even Rooney in this case) drops deep, if the defender follows him, space is left in behind for the other striker or penetrating midfielders, and in that case the playmaker (Carrick or Xavi) can thread a ball through. And in both events, they stem from a deep-lying playmaker being given time and space to thread a pass like that. Although, on paper it looks like it is Vermaelen’s error, the truth is that he is compensating for his midfielders poor defensive play. Had Messi been tracked by a midfielder, Vermaelen would not have been sucked out of position. Had Xavi been closed down effectively, he would not have the time and space to play such a wonderful pass.
There is an interesting statistic data but I cannot remember it accurately. When Ibrahimovic and Messi both are playing, Messi spends >100 minutes to score a goal; when Ibrahimovic is absent, Messi spends 55 minutes for a goal. Since sometimes Ibrahimovic is rested on purpose, this data is not entirely representative, but, the difference is interesting anyway.
It’s not just Messi; it’s the entire team that struggles. Ibra’s lack of movement makes it easy for defenses. Even if he’s replaced with seemingly ineffective strikers (Henry or Bojan), Barca appear far more dangerous. That’s why Mourinho said that although Ibra was a great player, Inter would be a better team without him.
Great site & article. Enjoyed reading everyones analysis.
congratulations for your great web
I believe that the auther correctly points to vermaelen recent mistakes but he forgets to points that most of them occurred when gallas has been injuried and almunia/fabaski recent farce thereby not only has vermaelen felt (or has been instructed) to lead the defence, but he also had to cover for the failure of goal keeper errors/loss of confidence and a very ordinary DM in Song. Although i love song as an arsenal player unfortunately he is not mobile nor tactically acute to marshall the midfield which is why constantly against tactical teams we are found out. It is Arsene responsibility to not only develop the players technical abilities i.e passing, shooting, crossing etc… but he must drills each players role when they concide possesion i.e the positioning and suppression of counter attacks.
You’re always in two minds as a center back; whether to stand your ground and not leave your defense exposed or whether to move forward to make that tackle that prevents an attack or goal. It is more about positioning and intelligent play than anything else. More importantly, a center back should NEVER leave his defense exposed unless he has adequate cover. As a center back I some times leave my position to tackle a forward moving midfielder but I never do this unless I have somebody else marking the striker upfront. A CB should always remember is primary duty to mark the Forward and other duties are secondary.
I was worried at the beginning of the season when Vermaelen kept moving into the midfield to win the ball, however, as the season progressed i realized that Gallas was doing a great job at covering his vacant position. That was excellent play and it worked for us. Without Gallas at the back to mop up, Vermaelen should have restrained his movements more and stayed at the Back (against Man U & vs Barcelona when Song was the last man; Song is not as effective as Gallas and, possibly, Sol Campbell as the last man). Let’s remember that Gallas played with Vermaelen in the first half so he reverted to his usual playing system during the game (as the aggressor).
It would be easy to slag off Vermaelen for his poor decision making which, I admit, where apparent in both Barcelona goals in the first leg. Though we have to remember that Vermaelen’s play has worked very well in the past and he needs time to improve his decision-making skills. It is quite unfortunate that he’s learning his lesson during crucial games.
Oops, looks like I posted this twice.
great article. ive pointed out the same vermaelen errors since the arsenal CL group away game against celtics. however that night, whenever he rushed up to a player, he managed to tackle the player with the ball in time and the ball was cleared up field. that night, the whole arsenal team played efficiently, closing down opponents in packs and pressuring them off the ball. lately, he has not been that lucky, adding to the arsenal players lost that urgency and work ethic, probably their believe too, to push and close down opponents, with injuries to key players, they simply lost communication on the field. players should have talked to each other, point out things they need to do but since i believe wenger just let the players play and learn things on their own, they are unable to develop the ‘brotherhood’ amongst them on the field.
so now vermaelen gets impatient with his immature, younger midfielders, tried to do things on his own and gets punished. this team is bit by bit crumbling down, at least in the teamwork department IMO. wenger i believe, is spoiling them too much and picking favourites when in truth, he needs to shout at them more or befriend them like guardiola is doing at barca. he is so afraid to break the players feelings that he is actually sacrificing the team itself.
oh, and to all the arsenal fans ; arsenal loosing to barca is not to be ashamed of. they ARE the reigning best team on the planet and arsenal still up there in the League is to me, down to luck. chelsea and manU squandered time and time again to let us catch up on them so, lets count our blessings and may wenger or whoever the next arsenal manager might be in this summer, strengthen and gel the team up, especially defensively. another at least 4 to 5 quality, experienced addition might do it since there should be 1 or 2 current players be leaving.
ZonalMarking, I like that you respond to people’s comments. Just don’t let the irresponsible and irrational comments make you lose your cool! Keep up the good work.
On your final Vermaelen video you can see him anticipating the ball over the top – he widens his arms in a push up motion, but Clihcy does not push up and plays Ibrahimov online. This is a clear case of miscommunication. I believe the faul here lies with the left-back not concentrating. This should be ironed out on the training pitch, but Wenger evidently doesn’t bother, because all season long Arsenal are being caught out because one player or other is not pushing up with the rest of the defence. Seeing as Vermaelen is the centre back, the full backs should be looking along the line and ensuring they are ahead of him, not behind.
same thing happened against everton when pienaar came on a 1-on-1 against almunia. Vermaelen runs forward, over the half-line mark to attack the guy with the ball leaving pienaar alone. The guy with the ball shoots the ball past vermaelen and pienaar is free on charge for a goal.
Interesting. Not a lot more can be said on top of the article and peoples comments, but I do find the idea of making Vermaelen a defensive midfielder very intriguing.
It would seem to play to his strength of going tight and intercepting alongside utilising his ball playing skills, heading ability and shooting capacity. Song, Vermaelen and Fabregas as a midfield three makes me a little excitable to be honest.
[...] (I want to call it Zonal Marketing) provided some insanely in depth coverage of Vermaelen’s poor positioning (via Arseblog). I don’t know that I’ve ever seen someone do such great analysis on a [...]
ZM, any chance of getting a better comment system? So difficult to follow new comments on this :/
Agreed. Great site, i’d love to continue commenting as well, but it’s too hard to follow new comments.
I’m disagree with you on most of your observations.
Against West Ham it wasn’t a foul and that’s the end of the matter. Vermaelen went for a ball he didn’t get to it and then got back to cover. It happens all the time!
Against Barca at the Emirates Messi was under control for most of the game and Vermaelen did an excellent job on that front. Song was at fault for allowing Ibrahimovic so much time and space. Both goals are mistakes by Song who isn’t very good at that role. If the back four allows Messi that kind of space he will finish it off himself. It’s ridiculous to criticize Vermaelen for tracking Messi. The Center Back has to go with the striker and then retreat once a midfielder has taken over. It cannot happen in a split second. Song wasn’t marking anyone anyway so how could he allow Ibrahimovic so much space!
At Camp Nou Vermaelen made a mistake in going for the header but if he’d let a Barca player control it and with such a high line, whose to say Messi wouldn’t have run in behind anyway!
I don’t remember the positions for the united goals and don’t really care enough to check it out as your other examples are quite poorly analyzed. This seems like a far fetched post with made up examples just to create a stink.
I appreciate the attempt to look at the details but your football knowledge and understanding of situations doesn’t seem to be good enough.
Interesting article and I have to confess I only read through about half of the replies before I had to give up.
Something that came to mind throughout though: is this not, in part, a problem of a back four, primarily two center backs, playing against a lone forward? Particularly a false 9, in the case of Rooney and Messi. Part of the point of playing with a lone centerforward who drop between the lines is to do exactly this-draw a center half out and create space in behind. And I think it is one of the great modern difficulties for a center half, when the natural instinct (though probably not correct) is to follow the one player you and your CB partner are theoretically directly up against.
For me, ZM is right. The only way to combat the false 9 effect is by playing a strict zonal system with a consistent line. If a CB wanders, the number of players in the midfield (5) means that there are more players tasked with getting in behind. I know this sounds simple, but I feel it should be pointed out that Vermaalen is playing into the hands of the lone forward/false 9. In defense of Vermaalen, who does look a decent player, a more tactically minded coach would instill this in his players. Who closes and when, who provides the cover and how they do it. Wenger does a lot of things well, but tactics is not necessarily one of them.
And I do agree that a fair amount of blame should go to the holding players, as it is their space that Vermaalen is occupying.
slow news day eh! What defender doesnt make mistakes, especially while playing with 3 different partners at the centre of defense over a 2 month period! Jeez, hes been a fuckin rock for us this season, often trying too damn hard and trying to do too much. Every once in a while you will get caught out trying to anticipate but read the situation wrong.
Cesc, Vermaelen, Song my 1-2-3 players of the year this season. honorable mention goes to Diaby (still a bit sloppy at times but getting there)
Another thing. When you look at Pic 1 for Barca at Emirates, Messi is dropping deep. However the midfielders cannot see this, as he is BEHIND them. Only the back+Almunia have a clear view of his movement. Denilson is the only one who turns slightly, but he is too far away from Messi in any case. So Vermaelen HAD to track Messi deep, because none of the midfielders could have done it fast enough.
You don’t have to get touch tight to stop the ball getting to them. If Denilson effectively “screens” Messi the ball can’t get to him. There should always be a player especially when in a central three, that acts as an “invisible wall” and try’s to block off the line of pass into the front mans feet. If it doesn’t come naturally to someone like Denilson or Diaby because there not the type of Gilberto/Song midfielder, then TV especially should have been shouting at the midfield to shuffle across or “step left a bit etc” to block off the ball to Messi.
He tried to do it himself at the Emirates and then when for a stupid ball in the Nou Camp in it cost us two goals. Also on I think the second goal at the Nou Camp, Keita played a rubbish cross in, and if clears that with his right foot, the balls going out wide, instead he tried to clear it with the wrong leg, and it when behind him..
Track a player 35 metres out, with his back to goal, not certain to get the ball, thereby leaving a 15m gap in the last line of defence 30 metres from goal in the right-hand channel?
Good luck with that!
Did this get on an arsenal forum or something? Lot of posters seeing this as some kind of personal attack on V whereas it is just a worthy critique of one aspect of his game. Also gooner4lyf, you are wrong. Obviously the author has significant football knowledge. Don’t let your fandom blind you.
Off Topic
Where is the commentar about the game Real-Barca ?
Good article. There is a photograph doing the rounds of a whiteboard in the Manchester City dressing room which Mark Hughes marked up showing City’s tactics against Arsenal earlier in the season. The issue with Vermalen was front and center. It showed a forward making false runs across him to hook him and then retreating with him in tow to create a large space behind him for others to exploit.
Got a link to that whiteboard? Can’t seem to find it anywhere. Thanks.
Yeah I’d be interested in this too.
There were others but they seem to have been taken down
http://i414.photobucket.com/albums/pp230/BillyWardle/075.jpg
http://i414.photobucket.com/albums/pp230/BillyWardle/081.jpg
Thanks very much!
fascinating. thanks.
I say, check Arsenal’s defence tonight. Watch No22, No3, No15 and No18 playing, still reckon Vermaelen the major problem? I don’t think so.
That Arsenal defense was all over the place for the second goal. When a team is that disorganized at the back it’s hard to pinpoint any one player as being at fault more than the others. If anything can be pinpointed, it’s the coaching.
Definitely. When you keep seeing individual errors from different players, you have to question the guy at the top. Even Almunia (who I don’t rate as a top 4 standard keeper) is somewhat a victim of the lack of direction from the coach.
But the article doesn’t say that Vermaelen is ‘the major problem’. Nor does it say Arsenal don’t have problems as a unit. It merely refutes the consensus that Vermaelen has been faultless this season and has been keeping Arsenal’s defence together.
‘But the article doesn’t say that Vermaelen is ‘the major problem’.’
Agreed. In fact, I am not referring your original text, but some comments down there.
“Thomas Vermaelen’s poor positioning keeps costing Arsenal cheap goals”
The headline has a MAJOR implication in it then, lol.
[...] There’s little doubt that Thomas Vermalen has been a good signing for Arsenal. Lacking a top-class centre-back last year, Arsene Wenger did brilliantly to dispose of Kolo Toure and bring in the Belgian – and made a profit by doing so. Vermaelen is extremely popular with the Arsenal fans because he’s the type of player they [...] Zonal Marking [...]
Just wanted to leave a quick comment in support of your article and site in general. I guess I’ll be following 5 blogs every morning now. In response to this specific article, I have to agree and disagree at the same time. I think that Vermaelan’s willingness to come forward and challenge for the ball plays into his Stopper role, that partners every so nicely with Gallas’ Cover Role (I play FM lol). I’m pretty sure that point has already been made, but along with that, I think that without Gallas as his partner, Vermaelan is a bit lost in terms of positioning. I just hope Wenger buys a CB with pace to partner him, or Djourou gets faster?? lol
Forewarned is forearmed.
i say play vermalen as a holding midfielder or support at left beck for clichy or in place of clichy. Buy 2 new CB. Its about time we got two proper defenders not showponnies
Looks like he wants to play DM.(But he doesnt know how to (because he is not supposed to!))
Darren Bent should be signing of the season in ever pundit’s eyes.
[...] TV5 get’s knocked for his positional sense on zonalmarking (I nicked the link from today’s arseblog) but I think a lot of the mistakes have come from his varied partners over the recent weeks. I am bias of course because I love TV5 but I thought Song was too far away from his man on both Barca goals at Ashburton Grove. Over the season TV5 has always attacked the ball and been to one to go forward as Gallas sweeps. It’s a big ask 8 months in to ask him to change that. [...]
[...] Thomas Vermaelen’s poor positioning keeps costing Arsenal cheap goals | Zonal Marking Thought this was a pretty good read that some of you would be interested in. [...]
what ever every one make mistakes vermaelen is the best arsenal defender ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!(and he is my favourite player)
XD),henry.
every football player in the world made mistakes and arsenal not winning the season is not thomas vermaelen faughts.
every great football player made a mistake, pele,mardana,messi,ronaldinho,ronaldo(he isn’t good ut never mind
every one makes mistakes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
you are right
i dont think vermaelen is the ouse to arsenal’s trophy less season,he is a very good player.
THOMAS VERMAELEN IS MY FAVOURITE PLAYER 
: ) 
: ) 
: ) 
: ) 
)))::) 
i can give an example from a game i been in(arsenal 6:2 bluckburn) whoo knows what would of happend if vermaelen wouldnt score a goal? and at everton, 2 against wigan,in the champions legue, maybe arsenal wouldn’t even pass the qulefies without vermaelen, dont go down on him.
he is arsenal’s best defnder!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i think larrrrrrrrrr (LOl
) is write becuase really whoo know what would happend with out all is goals andi like him very much too.
Take it or leave it, Arsenal would have won d title if blessed with three TVs! The guy gives everything to the game – always overworks himself, doing his job, covering for others. Amazing that he scored almost the same number of goals with Arshavin! Fact is, Song is the only Arsenal MF capable of marking in the real sense. Any time the Camerounian is not playing in mf, Varmalen becomes vulnerable. Against Barca, the Belgian started with a non-fit Gallas, then Song and finally Sylvester. You do not put much blames on any defence when Xavi plots a fall. Sometimes, the ingenuity of the creation and quality of execution far outmanouvre the grit of defending. Against Barca we were just too bare to effectively challenge.
Again, TV loves charging forward. Against Blackburn at the Emirates, he cracked in two goals to bring the team back from a potential banana skin. Besides, his boss and team love attacking play. So, dnt blame the poor guy attempting to energise positive play.
However, what TV needs is a younger Campbell to sweep whenever he goes upfield, a real bonecrusher DM to compliment Song and, of course, a quality keeper to time interceptions and save the day when mistakes come, for all teams and players make mistakes. Taken bye and large TV is by far the best Arsenal player this season.
Well yeah but TV is going to an unmarked player/zone (Messi). So Song should be moving into TV’s zone along with Ibra, no? Otherwise Song is just sitting on his arse twiddling his thumbs while TV+Clichy get to deal with Ibra+Messi+Pedro.
What “in his zone”? Vermaelen sticks to Messi. Song covers behind him. What part of these 2 simple mistakes do you do not understand? Seems to me like you’re making the elementary mistakes (in comprehending) than Vermaelen in his defending.
“I think its the responsibility of the deeper centre midfielder playing in the “Song” role. As TV saw Messi drop, I think he should of made a midfielder aware—But as he saw he was tricked by Messi- Don’t under estimate Messi’s off the ball movement either towards the ball. He moved which drew TV out which allowed Ibra to get in behind TV.”
Perhaps Wenger should have “lopsided” his formation to match Barca? Denilson seems rather superfulous in the position he’s in for that goal. Arsenal were trying to deal with Ibra+Messi+Pedro with just Song/TV/Clichy. That seems rather suicidal really. As does not pressing Xavi…
Right, believe this stuff if you want to. I don’t think you’ve watched Arsenal much, you may not know that the 6 ft 1 black spiky haired guy is Alex Song. He has more strength than Vermaelen but not the pace, exactly what Ibrahimovic has. And FYI, Ibra was playing on the left, which would correspond to Arsenal’s right CB = Song according to the way Wenger lined them up.
Also ,see the pictures carefully ffs. There are 3 potential attackers towards the left side, and only 1 towards the right, being watched by Sagna. Why the effing hell should he then not close down Ibrahimovic and rather be concerned about leaving space on the other side?
Because it’s a zonal system. Song could have come across but then there would have been space for another attacker. Same problem.
“you make it look like it’s the sole reason why Arsenal’s defense isn’t working properly”
Not at all, it’s a factor though.
The goal against United and the goal away in the Nou Camp are unquestionably elementary mistakes.
I agree that Almunia is the one who’s most at fault for that goal, but it was Vermaelen who gave Ibrahimovic the space to begin with, he gave Ibrahimovic a chance to score, and Almunia gave Ibrahimovic an even bigger chance to score.
2 simple sentences*. Now I look like an idiot.
Well put.
Another point – how tightly a CB should be marking opponents changes as the line of defense moves closer or further from their own goal. I’ll bet if you go back and watch vidoes of Barcelona you’ll find with their high line Pique and Puyol (not aggressive at all right?) tend to drop off until the attacking team has committed to a pass. Then they close down the man about to receive the ball.
Space for WHICH(bold,underline,italic this part) attacker? The one that would fly from the other end of the pitch? So basically you’re telling me, if Barca were to put 8 attackers constantly near our back 4 line, the midfielders SHOULDN’T drop back to help the back 4, because it’s a ‘zonal system’ and it would leave space for other attackers (yeah like the goalkeeper?). That’s what you’re saying.
@ anonymous
No, I’m saying when defending in a proper zonal system the central defence holds the line vertically unless absolutely necessary to do otherwise, and the defenders pass on marking assignments as players come in and out of their zone.
That’s the whole point of zonal marking: players mark space first, men second. Had Vermaelen been marking his space properly, there’s no need for Song to come across. Song certainly wouldn’t have been expecting Vermaelen to go charging out like that in a split second.
Anyway, you seem to have a bit of a chip on your shoulder, so I’ll leave you to it, anonymous.
@ pc
Messi was moving out of TV’s zone to space between the lines. Only Arsenal know who was supposed to mark Messi in those situations, but if it was TV, then Song obviously messed up by not moving to TV’s zone and staying on Ibra.
Even if it wasn’t TV’s job and he messed up, however, Song’s ballwatching instead of reacting as soon as TV stepped up was rather criminal. Defenders are supposed to cover the other if they get beaten or mess up, after all.
Certainly someone had to mark Messi. As ZM has mentioned many times, allowing Barca space between the lines is committing suicide.