Arsenal 1-2 Manchester United: attacking the full-backs and better substitutions the key
The starting line-ups
Danny Welbeck hit the winner as United emerged victorious at the Emirates.
Arsene Wenger left out Andrei Arshavin and is without Gervinho, so Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain was handed a surprise start. Mikel Arteta was injured so Tomas Rosicky played in midfield, while Thomas Vermaelen made his comeback from injury out of position at left-back in place of Ignasi Miquel, who struggled at Swansea last weeend.
Sir Alex Ferguson went with a 4-4-1-1ish shape, with Wayne Rooney dropping off Welbeck. Ryan Giggs and Michael Carrick was the midfield combination – basically a duo of two passers, which might not be ideal away at Arsenal without a more combative player, but then Ferguson had few other options. That said, Phil Jones could have played in midfield with one of the Brazilian twins at right-back, but instead he started at right-back. Anders Lindegaard started over David De Gea in goal.
The first half was slow with little incident, the second was much more open.
Arsenal approach
In big games, Arsene Wenger often asks his wingers to play deeper and form a second bank of four in front of the defence, with the most attacking midfielder pushed up alongside the striker. That’s broadly how Arsenal started here, with Aaron Ramsey close to Robin van Persie, then Theo Walcott and Oxlade-Chamberlain either side of the two central midfielders.
For long spells of the first half it was difficult to understand what Arsenal were trying to do. They generally play a little more direct this season, with the pace of the wingers an obvious threat, and no chief playmaker in the mould Cesc Fabregas. But with the wingers deeper, Arsenal had no promising attacking combinations – van Persie was tracked well by the opposition centre-backs and had saw little of the ball, while the balls into wide areas (particularly into Oxlade-Chamberlain) were poor and slowed down moves. Too often, Arsenal shied away from a direct pass and allowed United to get men behind the ball.
United approach
Arsenal had no recognised full-back on the pitch, and as against Fulham and Swansea, were always going to look vulnerable in that position. United always play with width anyway, but they put a particular emphasis upon attacking down the flanks. “We tried to ask a lot of questions of the left-back and the right-back, and that’s what we did,” said Patrice Evra after the game. “That’s been one of their problems for a few weeks…so it is difficult for them,” added Ferguson.
That was demonstrated in the selection of the wide players – Park Ji-Sung often starts away at Arsenal, but there was no need for a defensive winger with Arsenal’s full-backs so weak on the ball. The priority was to attack them at speed.
Midfield duo
The emphasis on playing the ball out wide also meant the midfield combination of Giggs and Carrick was largely acceptable (with one caveat, explained later). Terrorised away at Newcastle, that duo didn’t particularly need to be mobile or combative here. They simply helped direct the side towards attacking from wide positions, although they did so in different ways.
Carrick spread the play there with diagonal passes (one in particular in the first half for Nani, such a deliberate, casual ball that perfectly summed up United’s approach – they literally just chucked the ball into the wide areas to see what happened) while Giggs, as a natural winger, contributed to the attacks from wide himself by moving out to the left for the first goal.
That helped work a 2 v 1 and allowed Giggs an incredible amount of time to cross for the first goal, with Djourou standing off and too central. By this stage, Arsenal’s wide players had started to play much higher up, Walcott and Oxlade-Chamberlain came inside and other players were often slow to fill the gaps. Arsenal didn’t help ease their problems in the full-back areas by switching the wide players at times, breaking partnerships down the flanks in the defensive phase of play.
The one area where Arsenal threatened in the first half was long-range shots – Ramsey and Walcott had half-decent efforts, maybe partly because of the Giggs-Carrick combination, which doesn’t possess great tackling ability.
Second half
At half-time Wenger replaced Djourou with Nicolas Yennaris, who had more pace up against Nani, although the Portuguese winger continued to be a threat.
Meanwhile, Arsenal’s brightest sparks were Oxlade-Chamberlain and Laurent Koscielny, who United didn’t really close down when he moved forward on the ball. He set up Oxlade-Chamberlain for a decent chance, and then after Koscielny’s excellent tackle on Rafael (on for Jones) and an intelligent forward pass into midfield, Oxlade-Chamberlain teed up van Persie for the equaliser.
Arsenal scored having been direct and forward-thinking with their passes for once – hitting United when they were out of position (particularly with Rafael forward), rather than when they were back in shape with two banks of four.
Subs
Substitutions, however, were key. Wenger made the odd decision to remove Oxlade-Chamberlain and introduce Andrei Arshavin, which prompted a huge chorus of boos from around the Emirates. Wenger’s explanation that “Oxlade-Chamberlain was fatigued” is plausible (although it wasn’t obvious considering the player produced a couple of great moments shortly before going off) while his excuse that the booing “showed I made the right decision (to start Oxlade-Chamberlain) in the first place” is admirably positive yet a strange victory to claim.
Ferguson, meanwhile, took off Nani and brought on Scholes – meaning Giggs went out to the left. He also replaced Rafael (who often doesn’t finish games, and in this one neither started nor finished it) with Park, and Valencia moved to right-back.
United winner
It’s not certain what Ferguson’s thinking was here, but if he wanted to strengthen United’s crossing potential, it worked excellently. Giggs provided a better left foot for crosses than Nani, and Valencia, having been tracked well by Vermaelen throughout the game (it’s odd that Vermaelen, a centre-back out of position, dealt well with Valencia on the floor but was beaten by him in the air for the goal) was now away from Vermaelen and instead attacking against Arshavin.
Arshavin is poor defensively and allowed Valencia past him amazingly easily for United’s winner, and the ball out to that flank also came from a cool, measured lofted pass from Scholes – United now had two holding players spreading play to the wings.
Wenger tried to get back into the game with the use of Park Ju-Young (who played behind van Persie rather than the Dutchman dropping into a number ten role) and then shoved Per Mertesacker upfront for some long balls. That was arguably the style of football that would cause Chris Smalling and Jonny Evans more problems – they’re better against ‘clever’ centre-forwards than physical ones, but United held on.
United dominated in the air
Conclusion
Arsenal’s full-backs problems are no secret, United’s quality on the flanks is equally obvious. Valencia and Nani running at Vermaelen and Djourou was always likely to be a prosperous approach, although in the end it turned out to be Giggs running at Djourou and Valencia running past Arshavin that proved crucial.
It was less predictable that use of the bench would be key, but if it were to come down to substitutions, one would always have backed United. In addition to Rafael, Scholes and Park, they could have also chosen the guile of Dimitar Berbatov or the pace of Javier Hernandez.
Arsenal’s options were much less enticing – Arshavin is dreadfully out of form, Park hasn’t scored a Premier League goal, Benayoun doesn’t seem to interest Wenger, while Yennaris and Miquel are promising but a couple of years away from being truly valuable. Arsenal have injuries, of course, but this was a demonstration that football is a squad game – and Ferguson managed his squad better over the 90 minutes.
Man City v Tottenham to come…
Before somebody blames Arsenal’s problems on injuries, keep in mind that Wenger didn’t think he needed either santos or mertasacker until after the 8-2 thrashing. If it wasn’t for that, permanently-crocked gibbs would be the only left back while some kid from the second division with no experience OR fitness the only backup to Sagna.
Wenger has his narrative set, if they fall out of the top 4 (and they deserve to), he’ll cry that he’s a victim of petrodollars. Yet nobody put a gun to his head and stopped him from buying a keeper all those years (seems like he still needs one actually…) and give diaby and rosicky and a dozen other worthless players salaries that not even modric has. The left back positon messes up the ENTIRE defense, with vermaelen moved out of positon and making room for second-rate defenders like mertasacker and djourou to be played in the center. Yet he thought Gibbs, he’s neither fit enough or good enough, was enough. There’s no way he didn’t have the 6/7 million for enrique or someone like him, not after selling clichy, no way. The board has a role in all of this but not this much. But poor old Wenger wants to make himself a martyr to hide the fact that he’s comically incompetent.
Sorry if this is somewhat off-topic, but this game is also about Arsenal and the mess they’re in so I thought it’s relevant.
What does this have to do with tactics?
Pretty much everything.
Explains why there are no fullbacks.
Although I’m no fan of Per since his move to Arsenal, I thought this was arguably his best game in a gooner shirt (barring that moment when he got turned as the last man after being too tight to Wellbeck – before redeeming himself with the off-the-line clearance).
nobody asked, and besides your “analysis” is not very enlightening, to say the least. You must read all the tabloids.
Infidel this is one of the most ignorant comments I have seen.Your team has the best manager in the league and calling him “comically incompetent” is ludicrous.Honestly, I don’t know what you expect, in his tenure he has delivered three premiership titles, numerous F.A. Cups and other honours, an ultra-modern, spectacular stadium and came within an inch of winning the Champions League.He has unearthed some unbelievable talent, as well as putting together arguably one of the premierships best teams, playing beautiful football.He has done all that and is almost in profit in his transfer market history with Arsenal, and your club is financially the most stable in the world, arguably.I would like to see any other manager in the entire world do all this while making a profit.As for the “mess” Arsenal are in, they are five points off the Champions League places after losing their two best players and look a decent bet to make the quarter finals, not forgetting the F.A. Cup
The same way Infidel has compared it using buying players (spending) you have compared them by financial stability (not spending).
Nobody can undermine what Arsne Wegner has done for Arsenal over the years, I consider them him one of the successful coaches in club football, but he needs to adapt to the changes which are happening, Arsenal need a trophy & the way he is handling it is not yielding results. It’s good that they are Financial stable, but as a football club, they are suppose to show the trophies not their bank statement!
And calling him the best manager in the league, while it’s been a so long since the team has won a major trophy is ludicrous!
I really don’t know how you can say that it’s ludicrous.Out of interest, just who do you think is better than him?You’ll probably say Ferguson, but I don’t think he’s a patch on Wenger.I think it’s about time people started to look beyond the hype placed on him.Yes, he has a great record, but he has much more spending power than Wenger and has a much poorer record in the transfer market, and Arsenal still are able to challenge them(People forget how many chances Arsenal missed before United scored).He is also vindictive to referees and match officials, placing extreme pressure on them so he can get the decisions.
The point you are missing is that Wenger had no time to replace his two star players and has been left short-changed, though he probably has plenty of youngsters lined up.If you consider that, you’ll find that he actually is doing more than producing results!
Too much is made of their recent lack of trophies.What people conveniently forget is that Arsenal were never as dominant a force as your Man Uniteds and Liverpools, and they don’t really expect to be winning everything!
There are only so many cups available, he can’t win them all.He has a great record in the champions league, great record in the premiership and people still are lamenting a lack of trophies.He’s hardly going to completely focus on the F.A Cup and league cup just to end their trophy drought!
Being only great in one area doesn’t make you the best manager in the league,Wenger is great tactics-wise but he is mediocre in all other important things in my opinion.
If only tactics could make you a great manager ZM would be a great manager or all the assistant managers would be manager but football doesn’t work that way.
A decent match, particularly in the second half, i thought Arsenal much improved.
Also in regards to Rafaels sub: “Rafa wasn’t very pleased and I can understand that,” sympathised Sir Alex. “He’s so brave and determined to win the ball but he’d already been booked and I thought with the crowd getting up and if he made another half-bad challenge he might be in trouble. Mike Dean has sent him off before and I just thought it was best to get an experienced player like Valencia back in there [at right-back] and bring on the experience of Park and Scholes to try and see the game out.”
Valencia had a good game, and it was encouraging to see him attacking the back post the amount of times he did and ofcourse it resulted in the first goal, never have i seen him score with his head!
Rooney alot of the time dropped into midfield alongside Carrick and Giggs and had a disciplined match in the midfield zone, as well as contributing in the final third.
Oxlade-Chamberlain i thought was brilliant for Arsenal, attacked purposefully, with willingness, and actually looked up when in-and-around the box (unlike Walcott!). He will prove to be a very very useful/versatile! member of this team for many years. He has a big future.
Valencia has been on fire. He’s the best winger in England at the moment. He causes problems for the best of full backs, and those out of position haven’t got a chance.
Have been saying that for quite some time – Arshavin is a liability against bigger teams. He almost always seems to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. His first time touches are poor. The earlier Arsene fishes him off and replaces him, the better. Oxlade Chamberlain gave a lot of energy and certainly should not have been substituted.
Agreed, its a shame because when Arshavin is in the mood and on form he is a joy to watch, but this season and last season is a far cry from his “glory” days.
In 4-3-3, pick your team of disappointments. My front three would be Carroll, Torres and Arshavin.
Cant think of a worse front three! lol
Even when he tries he is still not very good, look at his performance against leeds for example.
With the win look for ManU to jump up the football club rankings tomorrow. Arsenal is struggling period.
The Premeir League Title is a two horse race, so I wonder if the big London clubs will sit on their transfer cash until the summer?
It looked like a few Man U players got injured during the match. Jones was definitely one of them. Then Nani went off limping (or hopping to the sideline anyway). Rooney was at the wrong end of a few too many late challenges and looked like his ankle was hurting. Then apparently Carrick had a sore hamstring through the second half as well.
It’s not a good day when 4 of your quality players get injured.
The first half it seemed that there was confusion between Walcott and Ox – errant passes, lack of understanding/communication, Ox was out of position squeezing in the center and even to Walcott’s side far too often. It seemed that Walcott was frustrated by him. Wenger must have said something more concrete in terms of the positioning of the two of them at half. The team looked more cohesive/disciplined offensively as a result. As good as Ox looked in possession of the ball, I think Arsenal are seriously missing Gervinho (in terms of healthy players) he more than any one else can recreate Fabregas’s north-south dribbling that collapse defenses.
Also is any team in the league worse at finishing than Arsenal? The amount of squandered goal scoring chances is astonishing.
I don’t think it was just Walcott who misread Chamberlain’s intentions. basically, he seems to expect the ball to feet all the time, and doesn’t really react to through balls very quickly.
I was really surprised at the substitution though. if his view was that Chamberlain was fatigued, why not bring on Park or Benayoun, who are both willing runners who will track back defensively? Arshavin is usually brought on when Arsenal are dominating possession and need to score a goal. sometimes I think Wenger puts too much faith in certain players that he thinks show up in the big games. the best example is Eboue, who had some amazing games near the beginning of his career against big teams (eg. the Champions League final run), but more recently, tended to make a lot of mistakes (eg. the penalty against Liverpool last season). Arshavin seems to be the same thing – he scored 4 against Liverpool, he scored against Barcelona… but those big performances are getting rarer and rarer.
Could it be that Arsene wanted the more experienced Arshavin against Rafael?
http://opitacoboleiristico.wordpress.com/2012/01/23/posturas/
Why is it important for São Paulo to change the way to play for the rest of the year?
I thought Carrick was fantastic in this game, not just in terms of the passes he played to the wing area, but also with his defensive work. He did a very nice job of cutting down on the space between the lines where Van Persie does most of his best work which was a major factor in United being relatively comfortable except when Arsenal was playing on the counter.
Rooney also had a fine game defensively. Often in games where he tries to fill in the midfield I feel that he gets a bit enamored with sitting in that area and United lacks his cutting edge around the box. Today he showed great energy to help combat in the midfield zone while also getting into dangerous offensive positions (although his final ball was often poor).
Between the two of them they were able to negate what seemed likely to be a large Arsenal advantage in he center of midfield.
Park Chu-Young, not Ju
Hey, man – actually both are acceptable romanisations of his name. The same goes for Park Ji Sung, which could also become Pak Chi Son and in both of their names the Park could become Pak or Bak… Drifting a bit off the tactical theme though, Ha…
About the subs, no questions that Wenger got it all wrong. Chamberlain was the only one assisting RVP – in the broadcast, when RVP realizes his manager’s decision, he clearly shouts “nooooo”. Funny moment.
But, trying to think like Sir Alex, maybe he reacted to Wenger’s move by targeting Arshavin with Valencia. Arshavin, as you said, defends awfully, and Valencia does a better job on the ball than Rafael. Also, Park is less of a “true winger” than Valencia, exploring the middle, dragging his marker away and opening space for the overlap. That’s exactly how the 2nd goal went, they actually combined for the quick one-two inside the box.
Bad performances from Ramsey and Rosicky too…really bad when two threats from midfield have such poor games.
I just cannot believe it that everyone blame Arshavin for being poor defensively, while all 4 fullbacks just stood there watching Arshavin (not a defender at all) struggle against Valencia. Where was Vermaelen, what exactly he did then?
Hear Hear!!! I felt rather sorry for the fellow having to track him as far as he did. How many other wide forwards would track an opposition wing back all the way into their own six yard box? There are some, but not that many. Although I like Arshavin as a player, I’m not sure I agreed with the substitution last night but I do think that particular criticism is a little unfair…
Arsenal’s defense collapsed on the play. The 1-2 with Park never should have been there, but then Song stepped forward and Vermaelen stepped back simultaneously, creating the space. Vermaelen looked particularly herky-jerky and purposeless. That goal was either a fluke or a complete breakdown. Also, of course, Arshavin’s back turn to Valencia was beyond embarrassing, but hardly the only reason for the goal.
That Arshavin tracked Valencia all the way to the 6yard box is commendable.
The trouble is his initial positioning was wrong; the fact that a winger(Arshavin) was standing just off the centre-circle while the winger was hogging the by-line in Arsenal’s half was criminal.
I’m not too sure why Vermaalen(LB) was in the box that wasn’t particularly over-populated by United players??
Valencia was moved to right back. I don’t think Ferguson moves him back there until after Oxlade-Chamberlain was removed.
While Vermaelen perhaps was too central, Valencia still had acres of space- Arshavin should have been further up the field and closer to the attacking player on the initial pass.
It’s incredible what’s happened to Arshavin. A few years ago he looked like the best midfielder in Europe (for Russia and Zenit). Don’t know if it’s because he prefers playing in the centre whereas for Arsenal he’s on the wing, or if he’s just homesick, but it’s a horrible shame for him and Arsenal how far his form/stock has plummeted.
Yeah, I think it’s him being played out of position. For the Swansea game Yossi was stuck in Arteta’s place while Arshavin played on the left, which is really strange since Yossi is a winger and Arshavin is more of a central player. Yossi was left behind in the game while Arshavin’s best moment came when he moved into the centre and played a through ball for van Persie. Last year starting on the left wasn’t as a big as a problem for Arshavin because Nasri was on the other side and both players like to switch it up.
It’s amazing the differences between last year’s and this year’s squad because last year you could have Arshavin, Nasri, Cesc, Wilshire and RvP all around the box. This year it’s about shuttling the ball up the field as quickly as possible and teeing up RvP. We’re a fucking tiki-taka fucking Stoke. What shite.
Arsenal’s Park hasn’t scored a singled EPL goal because unbelievably against Man Utd was his FIRST EPL GAME after joining Arsenal. There’s no such “squad rotation” in Wenger’s mind.
It’s quite sad how far Arsenal have fallen. What’s that now, one win one draw against United in 10?
Such a poor team. United should be embarrassed they didn’t win by a much healthier margin.
Arsenal won their last home game against United in the league. Ferguson played his 4-4-2 and Arsenal outpassed them. A problem with the last three games for Arsenal is that they’ve been without the ball for large periods of each match (2nd half vs. Fulham, whole game vs. Swansea, and 1st half vs. United).
Does anyone here think that one of the big teams might try to hire Rodgers from Swansea or Lambert from Norwich over the summer? Or O’Neill or Pardew? How about young Solkjaer? Or will they automatically turn to a continental Big Name?
RVP has been very effective in terms of goals this season as well as last but the way the team is set up around him, I think it restricts the goal threat from other areas of the team. Definitely prefer him in the false nine role he was used in a one or two seasons ago, as it made them more dangerous as a unit, instead of making just RVP more dangerous.
Though I guess Cesc’s departure has had a big impact, in relation to that. Ramsey seems to be the alternative, to a certain extent to that role Cesc in those tactics, as he plays quite far forward but he has been poor at it, for me. He seems to go missing a lot. Plays better, when deeper.
Arsenal – A dissapointing performance. In central defense, they actually played alright, Mertesacker did well to win balls in the air and probably had his best game in an arsenal shirt while Kol was fantastic, making some excellent tackles (the tackle before the goal was expertly timed). But at fullback, Arsenal fell apart especially at RB. Djourou had a shocker and was dragged out of position far too easily (aka the goal where he had been dragged inside and didnt close down giggs). Verm was better, making some crucual tackles, but was surprisingly found out in the air for the goal (maybe not used to the positioning). But the bigger effect of both fullbacks was that Arsenal couldnt break out of their half, and were dominated in the first half. Also had a negative effect on Walcott, who had to stay wider to compensate for not attacking RB, when Walcott is much better playing a narrow role.
In midfield, I thought they could have competed better, and surprisingly, I thought Rosicky was the best CM out there for Arsenal. Rosicky found space for himself, played some very good passes while also making some good interceptions, he also lead the counterattack where Van persie should have scored. Song on the other hand was disappointing, he seemed to be paying too much time to Rooney, tracking him around the pitch, when i think he should have been pressing Giggs. Giggs was given space and time to drift to the left flank and overload, and Song should have helped out in that zone more where he was needed more. Ramsey had a mixed game, where he was threat when he found space behind the midfield (had a few good shots from range) and passed the ball well but didnt have much support with the wingers staying wide and Van persie tracked well – there was no-one making the runs he likes. Ramsey defensively was weak as well, not pressing Carrick enough to try and disrupt his passing game.
In attack, Van persie was kept quite for most of the game, and lacked support, but when players did manage to support him well, he found space to get good chances (should have scored twice) showing just how good a player he is, being let down by a team not quite reaching their potential. Walcott was poor, having to play too wide where he was ineffective and failing to track Evra well. Walcott needs an attacking fullback to really into games, as his runs into central areas are the best part of his game but this needs a fullback to keep width. Oxe really surprised me with hoe well he played, not afraid to take players, but more importantly seems to have a good awareness around him (something Walcott can lack) and has a dangerous shot.
Overall, Arsenal lost this game because they didnt have their normal fullbacks and failed to pressure giggs and carrick (who have shown they can be overpowered – Chelsea game last season). Song paid too much attention to rooney and Ramsey was just plain lazy. The decision to bring on Arshavin was also clearly wrong, Oxe had been pushing the RB back and tracking him well when he did venture forward, something Arshavin didnt do at all.
Plusses of the game for arsenal will be Kol and Mertesackers performances at the back, Rosickys good performance in the middle of the park and Oxes performances on the wing.
Offensively and defensively, Ramsey doesn’t do enough work in that advanced role. Definitely missing Cesc in that regard.
Not sure who else can play in that role in the current Arsenal squad, who can put in the shift needed in that role defensively and offensively.
I think once Wilshire is back from injury, I would play him in that position and move Ramsey deep to play next to Song. Ramsey seems better with the pitch infront of him, while Wilshire has the pressing and dribbling ability to play higher up the pitch. But both could sway at times in the game, would be an exciting midfield. Though credit must go to Arteta this season, it was his passing and defensive work that the recent good runs was built on.
Rooney had a solid game from a defensive and tactical point of view but going forwards, he had one of his bad games again in terms of sloppiness. He really does have a temperamental touch that makes him so averages at times technically.
Could Park have done the same role yesterday?
Its not as if he could have put in a worse shift than Rooney in terms of attacking.
Its funny people compare Walcott and Oxe when there styles are quite different. Walcott likes to play a narrow wide position, where he makes some great central runs into the penalty area when RVP drops deep (villa-messi lite) or looks speed past the defense onto balls in behind and cut it back to team mates. Either way his game is based on off the ball movement, and relies on the midfield to play the killer pass (ramsey usually) and RVP to make space by dropping deep.
Oxe is much more direct, he likes to get on the ball and runs at defenses, stays wider, can cross the ball or cut in and shoot from distance. But off the ball, he is quite naive and has bad positioning (something he will have to learn about). So Oxe likes to be much more involved in build up play, while walcott is the finisher or assister. Something walcott needs to learn which Oxe is already showing is awareness of other around him, Oxe seems like he can pick a pass while walcott can miss the obvious. Overall the Oxe can play deeper and be more invloved in build up play, while Walcott should stay high up the pitch looking to stretch play.
Just a few points on United:
1. Evra has really started playing well again after a awful 2011, he is supporting the attack again and looks reinvigorated.
2. Smalling was fantastic, he kept RVP in check most of the game which kept Arsenal blunt, losing out just twice and being punished harshly with a goal.
3. Carrick and Giggs enjoyed a good game, with Carrick controlling the pace of the game with his passing and Giggs overloading the left flank to great effect. But if Arsenal had pressurized the midfield two more, maybe United wouldnt have had such a fruitful game.
4. Valencia to me seems the perfect attacking RB choice for United, he has a great engine, a great cross and is pace but good in the tackle. When he plays higher up the pitch he has to come inside more and he isnt that effective (not really a goalscorer despite getting a goal in this match).
5. Rooney had a quite game with Rosicky and Song marking him out of the game, while Welbeck was kept quite most of the game, though his pace caused a problem for Mertesacker (but most of the game he was intelligent enough to not get dragged up the pitch) and he managed to get a goal when arsenal were caught out outwide and he had a open goal basically. Shows United were quiet through the middle but lethal outwide.
When is the last time United made more passes at the Emirates, than Arsenal?
I really was shocked to see a team that makes more passes than Arsenal at their own ground, considering the standards Arsenal have set in terms of passes made in recent season.
I see it more as a question mark over Arsenal and their style this season, rather than praise for United, in terms of bringing up this stat.
Some interesting points in this article, but I don’t agree that United set out with 4-4-1-1 formation to start. United started 4-2-3-1, (as your own chalkboard). This was quite adventurous as United usually sit back at Arsenal and then wait to hit on the break when the home side over stretch.
Arsenal were very tentative, almost nervous in the first half and this allowed United to take the initiative. After the break Arsenal’s midfield played higher up the pitch and outnumbered United centrally. Alex hoped to hang on but after the equaliser Sir Alex changed it, playing Park very narrow to make a three in the centre with Scholes and Carrick and allowing space on the United left for Valencia to attack from full back.
The only thing that saved Arsenal in the first half was the poor quality of United’s delivery from wide positions. When wide players did use opportunities to deliver quality United scored two goals. This could have been a far easier win if United’s crossing was of a consistently higher standard than it was for most of the game.
This blog is very informative and usefull. Well Done!
Great idea about why United pulled Valencia back after the Arshavin sub. Ferguson would have to take complete credit for the winner. He tends to be more clever than he lets on tactically.
Can we, again, talk about how poor Wenger is in-game? Isn’t there a middle ground between those who say he’s completely incompetent and those who point out the progress Arsenal has made in his time in charge? How about this:
He came to England at a time with a progressive methodology at a time when the English League was just on the verge of exploding, but still filled with poor, backwards coaches. His basic tactical beliefs were a few years ahead of the conventional wisdom, and his superior “scouting” knowledge gave him a huge competitive advantage in the transfer market. This lead to extraordinary successes that are even more noteworthy given that they were often achieved at a profit. As time has passed, several of his “edges” have worn down. Many other clubs now use the same training methods and have mimicked his style in the transfer markets as well. Despite this, his passion for the game and eye for detail in training means that he is still one of the best in the world when it comes to developing young players. However, his tactical views are now falling behind with the times, and his “reading of the game” has cost Arsenal time and again in their “big games.”
Does Wenger need a Queiroz-type tactician at his side these days?
I think that’s spot on. Basically he’s the antonym to Redknapp.
Wenger is fine tactically. He built the blueprint for beating Barcelona last season. Arsenal in January and February was playing the best football in Europe and conceded one dodgy offside goal in the league in those 2 months. He made a mistake with Arshavin this Sunday but he made an excellent sub before with Yennaris. People make mistakes. He has read most games quite well and Arsenal created more than enough chances to win that game anyway. The players didn’t do enough. Bad finishing and a few defensive lapses cost them the game, not Wenger’s tactics. Arsenal’s problem has always been they are either missing too many of their best players or they can’t hold on to them in the transfer window.
I thought Evra had one of his best games for some time. Supporting the wide players and getting into the box at all opportunities. Interesting for me how Arsenal’s best sides over the years have has that solid backbone; Adams, Keown, Viera Petite, Bould and then added mobility around them. It seems to me that they are overly focused now on purely mobile players, but those players don’t press the ball quickly when they lose it. Its like they want to be like Barcelona, but don’t have either the players or the system
Arsenal has been poor at defensive organization. High line defense and Attacking mind manager are big factors, I guess. Need defensive drill and a player who can take caretaker role on the pitch.
Want a hint to get the best out of Arshavin…play him behind the striker, instead of Ramsey. Ramsey needs a break now as he looks tired in every match that he plays. Play Walcott and Oxlade-Chamberlain on the wings and put in a central midfield of Arteta and Song.
When Wilshere comes back, rotate him with Arteta. Gervinho can be rotated on either flank when he comes back.
They have tried that. Arshavin sucks there as well. Think he needs a new challenge to get back to his best.
Hi!! Really informative blog post. Nice and useful. Really thank you!
When will Wenger realise he needs to play a holding midfielder?
I am convinced that this is the main thing holding Arsenal back – it is the reason their defence is so bad and they always get hit on the counter attack. Surely it can’t be a coincidence that Arsenal’s decline began at about the same time that English teams started using holding players.
Alex Song, it just that he is asked to play more than just as holding midfielder. Thus sometimes leaving holes which usually covered by Arteta.
That’s exactly my point. If he’s getting forward then he isn’t holding.
Wenger would be better off swapping Song and Arteta around.
I believe that is what we call nowaday as double pivot, where two players are functioning as hybrid midfielders. When one goes to attack, one seat back. The problem is when Arteta is not playing, his replacement simply can’t do just the same.
Here is a tactical question for ZM:
Why does Wenger persit with his standard 4-3-3 (or slight variations of it) regardless of the players he has available?
No matter who is injured and who is on the roster, he plays some version of the 4-3-3.
I think a Napoli-style 3-4-3 would have worked handsomely for us, with Kos-Met-Verms at the back, Song man-marking Rooney, Ramsey and Rosicky in the middle, Ox-RVP-Walcott up front, and Benayoun and Yennaris out wide to help out in defense and also attack.
With 3 big guys at the back United’s wingers would have had space but the crosses would have gone nowhere and I’d think it’s better to neutralize them that way rather than trying to mark them with Djourou and Verma.
“Kos-Met-Verms at the back, Song man-marking Rooney, Ramsey and Rosicky in the middle, Ox-RVP-Walcott up front, and Benayoun and Yennaris out wide to help out in defense and also attack.”
3-1-2-3 – then two wide? That’s 11 outfielders!
Right, we’d play without a goalkeeper though- bold innovations for desperate times.
But in all seriousness, you can yank Rosicky out so it is the initially intended 3-4-3.
van Persie said that people shouldn’t criticize Wenger for his substitutions. He said that Wenger was one of the few people that knew that Oxlade-Chamberlain had a slight calf injury before the game. That is why Arshavin was brought on for him.
Two aspects to Arsenal’s game I found of particular interest: firstly the physical approach they took to the second half. Now, I’ve always been of the opinion that it’s a man’s game, that rough tackles are part and parcel of it and that they physical side of football is not something that can be removed from the equation – teams should be able to deal with it. Yet Wenger has complained very often in the past about teams taking such an approach as his team did on Sunday. Rooney was kicked, elbowed and shoved, Koscielny (though I thought he played well) left a foot in a few times and Nani ended up being kicked out of the game and possibly out of a couple more (we wait and see what the damage is). It is to United’s credit that no players reacted, and to Ferguson’s credit that he did not complain. I can only imagine Wenger’s rage had Walcott or Oxlade-Chamberlain been similarly taken out of the game by a bad tackle. Secondly, mid-way through the second half Wenger decided, as ZM says, to ’shove Mertesacker up front for some long balls’. Beautiful football? Hmmm. Where were the Arsenal fans’ shouts of ‘hoof’? Yet ZM is the only place I have read anything even approaching criticism for Arsenal’s players injuring two of United’s (Carrick’s hamstring and Jones twisted ankle not counted, obviously), or for the supposed Professor of Beautiful Football launching long balls up to a big, daft centre-half. Interesting…..very interesting!
Big daft centre half. Note ZM’s paragraph preceding the conclusion. It almost worked too!