Ten steps: how Newcastle coped with Arsenal in the centre of midfield (whilst playing a 4-4-2)
Not many sides keep a clean sheet against Arsenal. Newcastle’s 1-0 win at the Emirates was only the second time Arsene Wenger’s side have failed to score this season.
Note – this article originally featured photos from the match, which have had to be removed for copyright reasons.
Cesc Fabregas gave the ball away far too often and didn’t look fit, and on the rare occasions he plays badly, Arsenal struggle.
Still, one shouldn’t overlook the performance of Newcastle United. Not only did they manage to contain Arsenal in the centre of the pitch, they managed to do so whilst playing two strikers, albeit with one (Shola Ameobi) playing practically as a midfielder, moving goalside of Arsenal’s midfield when Newcastle lost the ball.
They restricted Arsenal to just three shots on target in the game, despite the fact Arsene Wenger’s side were trailing for 45 minutes, in desperate need of a goal.
How did they do it? Here’s ten key points.
1. Tracking Fabregas deep…
2. …and up the pitch
3. Defending narrow
4. Keeping narrowness in possession
5. Barton defensive work
6. Compact
7. Link player
8. Communication
9. Winning tackles
Another basic thing Newcastle did very well. The challenges around Newcastle’s penalty area, in particular, is a sea of blue – 23 out of 28 tackles in Newcastle’s third of the pitch were successful.
10. Calm passing in the centre of the pitch
Tiote was not just a defensive battler, he was composed and reliable on the ball, misplacing only one pass in the game
Ten steps: how Newcastle coped with Arsenal in the centre of midfield (whilst playing a 4-4-2)
I was really impressed by Tiote. First time I’ve watched him closely and he was outstanding. Super on the ball and single-handedly stopped the Arsenal midfield breaking through. Top stuff.
Snap!
Excellent analysis. Tiote sure is shaping up to be a quality signing. The new Makelele? Hughton deserves a lot of credit for those tactical decisions and the team sure did work hard to keep positionally aware and tactically committed.
Newcastle were very well organised. Probably the best organised team at the Emirates this season. They got their goal, got lucky a couple of times, and didn’t deserve to lose. Danny Simpson & Luis Enrique were outstanding as was Tioté. The goalkeeper also made a really important save.
Despite all this, Arsenal had enough chances to not lose. There was a clear lack of quality in the final 3rd despite having had all our best attacking players on the pitch.
In the first 30 minutes of the game, Arsenal created multiple promising situations by playing Nasri in between the lines where he got a lot of time and space earlier on. Unfortunately these didn’t even lead to shots on goal, something we’ve seen too often this season and which is worrisome.
For the last 20 minutes of the game, it was clear Arsenal had run out of ideas, and resorted to the much vaunted plan B, hoofing it long to Bendtner. This failed woefully, especially as the players seemed slow to get around to contest 2nd balls. Only on one situation did this come close to working, it led to Bendtner being played in but the pass was long and Krul claimed.
Good article, and a few points I would like to raise from it.
Why the hell is there even doubt about Hughton’s future? The mere fact there is doubt is ridiculous. Hughton is without question a very good manager, tactically he is good, he’s getting the best out of players other Toon managers couldn’t get the best out of, and he’s getting results time and time again.
Tiote is a very good player, I remember a passing stat of his from the Everton game, think it might have been on this site, but he made about 40 passes in a game, and he didn’t waste a single one. Yes, most of them probably were sideways and backwards, but that’s still a very impressive stat. So obviously he is comfortable in posession, but he offers everything you’d expect from a defensive midfielder, he works hard, he carries out man marking jobs, he’s strong and he makes tackles, can’t ask for much more really.
Number five is a very interesting diagram. The defensive side of a wingers game these days is massively important, and the diagram highlights this perfectly. The right back (Simpson in this case) is required to tuck in, but Barton fills the gap that he has left, bascially making a five in defence when defending, but a five in midfield at all other parts of the game. It’s something I’m familiar with, as I play right back for my side, and when I tuck into a central position, I demand the right midfielder fills the space and occupies his defensive duties. I’m pleased this has been raised!
As for Arsenal, poor. There never going to win the league with a defence of Koscielny, Squillaci and Clichy, and Johan Djorou as back up. Fabregas is a quality player, but Wenger putting him in at all costs is sacrificing the main strengths of another player, unfortunately in this case, Samir Nasri. Nasri has been in the form of his Arsenal career playing in the advanced midfield role, so Wenger decides to stick him out on the left, a position where he is far less effective.
Good points there mate. Hughton deserves a decent shot at the job. He also comes across as a decent bloke too. I do not think he will be sacked but he is on a rolling 12 month contract which does kind of make sense in this day and age.
Snap too on the Tiote comment!
And on Nasri you are right. He does seem very comfortable in that No. 10 role that Fabregas takes up. Transfers and/or their failure have interesting effects on a side. Whilst it seemed like a great thing that Fab stayed it has meant that he seems somehow above the team and is obviously only captain as a way to sate his ego. If he would have gone this summer Nasri would have stepped in, as he has due to the injuries anyway, and everyone would have said “Fabregas who?”. Plus he is much much better at penalties than Fabregas but because Fab is the more senior man at the club he gets first dibs. Rather like Lampard and Drogba (who should always take Chelsea’s penalties these days).
ha i think you should stick to talking about newcastle!
nasri has hardly ever played centrally, and his best performances have come from the right hand side. to suggest that fabregas is somehow surplus to requirements because we have nasri is absolute rubbish.
as is the following comment – “(fabregas) is obviously only captain as a way to sate his ego”
no, he is captain because he’s one of the best players Arsenal have ever had, and he leads by example. he had an awful game against newcastle, the worst i have ever seen him play, struggling as he is with injury. this, i would suggest, along with a goalkeeping error, was a far bigger reason for newcastle winning as opposed to anything that newcastle actually did themselves.
arsenal have beaten teams playing this negative way many, many times before, and it’s not the case that newcastle did it so much better than the rest. it just so happened that not one of our creative players was in the right form/condition to make the breakthrough. and then fabianski just gave newcastle the goal which won the game.
and, to correct another mistake, it’s not the case that nasri is much better at penalties than fabregas. i can remember fabregas missing two penalties – so 8 out of 10 is not necessarily a worse record than 3 out of 3. if fabregas thought nasri was a better penalty taker he would give them to nasri – he is the sort of player who couldn’t care who scores, he just wants to win. which is another reason why he is captain.
i wouldn’t read too much into this victory against a woeful arsenal side on the day. west brom actually looked a far, far superior side to newcastle – they should have won by 4 or 5. hopefully supporters of newcastle will continue to be supportive of hughton when they slide down the table
I will address your points one by one:
1. Nasri playing centrally – I am willing to defer on this issue but still think there is something to be said that Nasri has been brilliant, in the main, so far this season when Fabregas has been out of the side. See my comment to Luke below.
2. On the captaincy – I was being slightly over the top there but I do not think he would be Captain if he was at another club. Wenger wants to keep him and, in my opinion, a good way of doing that is co-opting said player into the ethos of the club, making them feel the big man, and the best way to do this is to provide someone with the Captain’s armband. It happened when the vultures were circling around Henry a few years ago after Viera left. Saying that I suppose no one else really deserves it in the current Arsenal side…maybe Alex Song perhaps?
3. On Newcastle deserving credit – I think you are wrong there. ZM clearly demonstrates how they set themselves up and how they then delivered by sticking to the plan and actually winning. Ok you can blame the GK for the cock up but would Arsenal fans really have been happy with a 0-0 draw anyway? Its not like you were swarming all over them. It was simply a case of Arsenal being poor and Newcastle playing at their best.
4. On penalties – Again this was slightly tongue in cheek but seeing Nasri take those kicks this season I kept thinking how cool and collected he looks when he is standing there – a brilliant penalty taker. He is certainly a better finisher than Fabregas and I would suggest a better bet to take penalties. I still stand by the fact that Fabregas is the big man on campus at Ashburton Grove and as a result he dictates these little power games.
5. Reading anything into it – I think it is possible to read a few things into this actually: a) Arsenal will not win the league this season (and maybe never again under Wenger); and b) Newcastle will not get relegated. Come May we will see if these predictions have come right!
1) if it’s a choice between fabregas playing centrally and forcing nasri out wide, or nasri playing centrally and no fabregas, then the former is a million times better. obviously this is dependent upon fabregas getting fit, but he might need some poor games to get there. this was one of those poor games. but he was decent against man city, and nasri was terrific from a wide right position in that game.
2) fabregas was named captain a long time ago now, before any talk of him moving on. making someone captain obviously ties them to the club somewhat, but your talk of ‘making them feel like the big man’ is utter rubbish – perhaps this would apply to someone like drogba or ronaldo, but not to a level-headed, intelligent person with a relatively normal sized ego such as fabregas. no one else in the side needs to deserve it, because he deserves it completely. i believe van persie is the vice-captain.
3) In terms of what ZM has highlighted, he could have highlighted similar things from any one of the multitude of games where arsenal have played mostly against 10 men behind the ball, but managed to win. arsenal didn’t manage to win here because a)fabianski made a mistake and b)arsenal’s creative players all failed to produce. there were plenty of times where our players got into potentially dangerous positions – that they failed to produce was out of newcastle’s control.
newcastle’s tactics were completely dependent upon arsenal having a collective off day to get a draw, and a defensive error to get a win. newcastle could have played exactly the same way and would still have lost if a) and b) had not been the case. newcastle therefore deserve credit for taking advantage of a) and b), but that doesn’t negate my point that a) and b) were the main reasons for the result, not newcastle’s tactics.
4)who takes penalties might be about power games at other clubs, but at arsenal it’s about who is most likely to score. fabregas has taken penalties under great pressure before and converted them. it’s misleading to say that nasri is better at them, and is a better finisher, based upon a handful of games in which nasri has been in peak form and fitness, and fabregas the opposite.
5)it’s bad enough making season-long predictions on the basis of one game, but are you seriously suggesting that, from this game alone, we have learnt that arsenal will never win the league under wenger?
of course newcastle are unlikely to go down, that was obvious before this match. and of course arsenal aren’t going to win the league if they regularly produce awful performances.
but taking this match in isolation, we should read nothing into it whatsoever. it’s quite possible to snatch a 1-0 win, against a better side who are in dismal form, yet still go down, and equally it’s quite possible to win the league despite losing a match at home to side you should be beating.
Hi,
Am addressing back your points…
1. Nasri – Brilliant this season, but from the wings mind you.. not through the centre. The tip of the spear has to be Fabregas in a 4-2-3-1 . Fabregas can and has unlocked so many defences through the centre. Didnt we see Nasri struggle last season after Fabregas’ fracture playing in the central role when against strong holding midfielders… Remember Samba from Blackburn away last season ??
2. The captaincy – Fabregas – ~260 first team appearances (Not to mention that he is arguably the best midfielder in England IMHO)already a veteran.. How can he not be captain ??
3. Newcastle were extremely negative.. Like so many teams are at the Emirates.. WBA were much much better..NUFC had no midweek game or a 12 hour flight back from Donetsk.. They were fresh and Arsenal played poor… So the result.. No reading too much into it..
4. Fabregas takes very good penalties. If Nasri also takes an equal number of penalties then we can compare who is the better kick taker.. No point arguing after 3 Nasri penalties..
5. Lets wait for May…
Nasri hasn’t been playing Fabregas’ position this season much at all. All his goals have been coming from the wing. He’s played badly in the middle many times in his Arsenal career yet people keep insisting he’s better there when it’s just completely untrue. The only difference in this match was him playing on the left so Theo can play on the right.
Maybe it is to do with Nasri and Fabregas in the same team and the fact he becomes the creative hub? Plus the fact that he has other, maybe more defensive, players around him when Fabregas is not there and as such does not need to track back and defend? Just a thought.
I don’t see your point, since Fabregas was in the team when Nasri was playing well on the right? Anyway, I don’t understand why there are arguements like this when a fit Fabregas is a better player than Nasri.
Great post.
It’ll be interesting to see how well Newcastle do when they have to cope with a permanent left-winger (the shape didn’t work too well in the first half against Wigan and Charles N’Zogbia for example).
The last three games Newcastle have played have been against three teams (West Ham, Sunderland and Arsenal) who have played without a permanent left-winger. That leaves Simpson free to provide the width on the right which in turn gives Joey Barton more space to manoeuvre in the middle-right area of the pitch.
I think that Newcastle’s defensive frailties will be exposed this season – they have a very competent midfield, yet Simpson, Williamson and Perch are perhaps not of the same quality.
Nevertheless, great performance and a wonderful example of doing the basic things well in order to get a result.
I’m not really sure about Danny Simpson; he didn’t put a foot wrong against Arsenal but there have been plenty of occasions where he has looked naive. That’s just it though really. He has looked inexperienced in the past but now he’s played 109 professional games, 42 of those for Newcastle, so I think he’s only going to get better. At least, he has the potential to. As I’m writing this comment I’m getting more and more enthusiastic about him. I think he’s actually turning into a smart right-back and he will, dare I say, be pushing for an England place in years to come (especially considering how few good English right-backs there are). No? We’ll see. I’m going to say YES!
While it might have been the shape that let Newcastle down against Wigan, it may also have been the personnel. Newcastle had Perch at right-back and Guthrie right-mid for that game – maybe Simpson and Barton would have dealt with N’Zogbia better in the same system? I’d certainly back Simpson over Perch any day. Like most Forest fans, I was delighted when we sold Perch on as he’d been mediocre for a while even in the Championship. In general I do agree with your point though, just not that example.
Yeah, yeah I do agree. But I do think it’d be fair to see how well Guthrie and Perch do in the 4-4-2 system when playing a team without a permanent left-winger before dismissing them completely.
Tiote could be one of the bargains of the season
Tiote was also excellent at Upton Park a couple of weeks ago. Like the rest of the Newcastle team. They pressed selflessly and kept their heads, and let their opponents beat themselves.
Another intriguing write-up from ZM, good to see a side has made the 4-4-2 work against a 4-2-3-1.
it’s misleading to say that newcastle played a 4-4-2. naming two strikers in the line-up is no indication of formation.
a truer reflection would be 4-4-1-1, 4-5-1, or even 4-4-2-0
It is really. 4-4-1-1 would be better
how well is newcastle?? i’ve been watching their results they don’t seem to have come from a second division wich is very good i remember Alan Shearer being one of my favourite strikers when i was younger (i know he doesn’t play anymore)
Great article, i love the change from the usual.
If flappyhandski didn’t screw up I think Arsenal would have won. The blame rests on Wenger though, he deserves to fail miserably and be out of the top four for not buying a goalkeeper. And some defenders. And a decent striker that’s not injured 90% of the time or only good at diving. To hell with Wenger. Arsenal should cut a deal with Barcelona and swap him with Guardiola.
If Fabianski could get his hands as high as Carroll’s head, it would have been 0-0 at half. Face it, Newcastle got the ball, kept the ball, and created chances. Good luck finding a new goalkeeper. And some defenders. And a striker. And a new manager better than Wenger.
If you think that Arsenal’s midfield, supplemented by an entire new team including manager, can beat the just-promoted Magpies’ budget lineup and budget manager, get busy on that, and we’ll see at St. James’ Park.
Buying Shwarzer from Fulham and Mertesacker/Naldo from Werder B. this previous transfer period would have been the best thing arsenal have done in years… but they settled with Fabianski, Squillaci and Konscienly (All players they would be lucky to make the current Newcastle team). Maybe next time…
The problems with Arsenal’s offense (which you so eloquently describe) stem from the relative ineffectiveness of Chamakh (whether that was due to the Newcastle defense or otherwise) and the absence of a true winger among Arsenal’s front three. Ironically, the much maligned Arshavin provides Arsenal a player who can create from the wing/edge of the box. Walcott and Nasri, while excellent, seem a little out of place when they get to that space on the pitch (except on the counterattack).
I thought Arshavin looked effective and creative when he came on, and think he could have helped expose Newcastle on the edges. Unfortunately, Arsene has to take the bad (lack of effort, giveaways) with Arshavin to get his creativity.
i think wenger made a big mistake with his selection for this one. he would have been better off sticking with arshavin on the left and nasri on the right – this wasn’t the right time to bring in walcott for so many reasons:
1) enrique is comfortable up against pace, nasri’s skill on the ball would have troubled him more
2) this was always a game where arsenal’s trickery around the edge of the box was going to get them a goal, rather than balls over the top for walcott to chase.
3) newcastle kept possession of the ball far too easily, and walcott does very little to help win it back. nasri is positionally more intelligent without the ball, better at pressing, and more likely to keep it when he has it. the belief of the arsenal players decreased as they saw how easy it was for newcastle to hold on to the ball.
4) newcastle had very little pace going forward. the arsenal defence needed to push right up, reducing the size of the pitch. this would have made it easier to press them, and made the game a tight, technical one in which nasri and arshavin could have made a difference. walcott is more suited to games away from home when we look to make the pitch as big as possible. against this very narrow newcastle, it would have been better to let arshavin and nasri come central and get width from the full-backs. going 4-4-2 would have helped, with nasri and arshavin the two wide players, but this idea seems completely lost on wenger sadly.
overall we didn’t control the game as we should have done, and a contributing factor in this was starting walcott. and the substitutions were poor too – rosicky should surely have been introduced, while putting a half-fit van persie up front on his own, instead of bendtner on with chamakh, was very strange too
Newcastle have played a very high, almost suicidal, defensive line in some of their games this season. that might have been the reason wenger went with walcott in the starting line up.
Tiote was absolutely amazing. Unfortunately for Toon fans, he almost certainly caught Wenger’s eye in that match. Seems like a more cultured version of Song, but being aware of Wenger’s transfer policy… no way.
And btw, Coloccini played one of the best matches I’ve seen from him- well ever. Extremely composed and smart.
Agreed re: Coloccini. I always wondered why/how he struggled when he first moved to Newcastle, but now I think it was more about the reputation that Newcastle had rather than his performances.
Am impressive defensive display by Newcastle and as always fantastic analysis!
excellent stuff as usual. 96% passing accuracy for Tiote per teleg match centre (98% above 44/45 ) is unreal playing for a promoted side away at a top 4 side. Busquets was achieving that at the w cup. some others in Newc team were also v high . nolan 88%, gutierrez 83%, and ameobi 85%. Fabregas was down at 67% ( the lowest of the arsenal team ) .
It’s early days yet, but if Hughton continues in this fashion he will make himself a strong candidate for the England job. And if a man can face the pressure of almost being sacked at newcastle for 2 seasons, then he is better equipped than any other to manage the pressure of the England team
Hughton is Irish! Why would he wanna manage mingland?
ah my bad, didnt know that, But its a top job, which could be the only opportunity to prove himself on the biggest stage. And even if he failed it would be good for his CV, as proved with Mcclaren….put it this way, i wouldnt see him turning it down!
Wonderful stuff, ZM.
Interesting to see that in the last week, 3 teams have denied Arsenal space in the midfield, and they’ve scored a total of 2 goals and conceded 3.
Nasri himself went on record recently and said he’s always seen himself as a central midfielder rather than a wide player. Thats where he played for his last club too, CM.
The defending narrow from Newcastle was the crucial thing, add that to the concentration Newcastle players had on that match and a team can destroy us (atm)
Do narrow defending, expect a poor Clichy or a poor Sagna, and if there’s not Arsha you can pretty much expect a clean sheet for the rival team (of course, we’re leaving the Fabregas factor aside, stats said it was one of the worst matches he’s ever played on an Arsenal shirt, and having awful Fabregas on the pitch is actually worse than having no Fabregas)
Magnific job from Tioté, and undeniable bit of luck for Carroll, or bad luck for us, thanks to Fabianski hesitation (but to be fair, he was free)
And of course, congrats to Newcastle, i think they were lucky, yes, but we didn’t deserve anything from that match, again our lack of clinical finishing kills us, and it hurts a lot more knowing that if we’ve beaten certain two just promoted teams, both at home, we’d be at the top of the table right now…
T_T
and why was fabregas so poor? it wasnt just chance, it was the fact tiote stuck so tightly to him all afternoon giving him no space and time on the ball e.g was tactically nullified
Interesting stuff.
A quick riposte to those saying Newcastle were lucky. The only luck Newcastle got was the stifled displays of Arsharvin, who was already carrying a knock, and whatever conspired to enforce the Nasri substitution. Everything else was earned, usually there are accusations that teams go to Arsenal/Chelsea/Man U etc and “park the bus”, Newcastle had more than %50 of the possession and although they were not playing an all out attacking strategy. Everyone knew their roles once Arsenal had the ball and generally stuck to their jobs, but also looked to get forward through Guttierez, Barton and Simpson.
Perhaps the most striking feature was the catious nature of Enrique which perhaps accounts for Walcott’s quiet showing, whilst as has been pointed out Simpson was getting forward into space very frequently as Nasri drifted into central areas. Newcastle have aready demonstrated an ability and willingness to keep the ball – a quick look at the guardins chalkboard tool shows no Newcastle defender looking for a long pass towards Caroll, instead whenever Krul had the ball he would look to find the forwards.
When Newcastle playe Man U they gave uyp far too much possession and looked to sit deep to soak up as much pressure as possible. When they played Man City they tried to hang on to what they had in the second half – on both occasions they failed. Against Arsenal they sought to control the game, and although they didn’t dominate they were certainly the better side.
As the 10 points illustrates, it is not about the formation but about how all players defend, how many look to get forward, and the discipline shown in sticking to the roles.
I think this match just showed the the reason why Arsenal at the end of the day wont be winning titles any time soon. Chelsea and Man U have both shown over the last few years that even when playing badly they can grind out a result, something which Arsenal just seem incapable of doing. Until Arsenal are able to do this nothing is going to be added to their trophy cabinet in the near future
Silly comment here: Hughton totally looks like Diego Simeone.
Am keen to know the stat relating to the challenges Jack Wilshere had/won/lost against Andy Carroll, he seemed to do fairly well though
Wow this is a great resource.. I’m enjoying it.. good article
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