Friday night football at the Emirates and what an occasion it was! How good does it feel going into the weekend with 3 points in the bag and ready to enjoy football, life, friends and family from here on out. So many layers to the game, and performances to be ecstatic about both in the present and going forward long term. One tactical decision Arteta enforced was the catalyst behind this Arsenal side putting in a 90 minute performance that they had shown glimpses of in the past few weeks.
The Arsenal side which played against Brighton and Crystal Palace lacked confidence and struggled to play through the press and dropped off at big moments in the respective matches. We were never dominant, and individual mistakes occurred resulting in goals. That lack of confidence meant playing on the back foot rather than front foot, which is always so much more difficult to do successfully. We will come back to this later.
Arteta decided to start Lacazette after his late equaliser against Crystal Palace. Judging on the performance today it is lucky that his substitution was fatigue and cramp related rather than injury. The move gave Arsenal two extremely important qualities which we have missed recently.
Laca was fatigue. He hasn’t played that many minutes. He worked so hard and at some stage he just said ‘I’ve had enough’ and he was cramping.
Mikel Arteta
Firstly, Lacazette brought energy, experience, confidence and fight, which gave our talented youngsters a hugely timely confidence and mentality boost in the face of what is a good Villa side. That confidence was evident across the park, with Thomas Partey and Sambi Lokonga getting on the ball consistently in deep midfield positions and running the game. Ben White and Gabriel passing or driving through the lines. Ramsdale being Ramsdale, and hitting daisy cutters through the tiniest of gaps.
Secondly, he brought the platform high up the pitch that we have sorely lacked. When the ball was played forward it stuck at his feet, and was able to be bounced into the onrushing attacking midfielders before we were able to get at a defensive unit lacking 10 men behind the ball. This control up top, led to controlled possession and confidence to open up the game and not fear the ball heading straight back in the opposite direction.
This is a big factor that was missing against Brighton. Unfortunately it is just not a big part of Aubameyang’s game. In the perfect world Arteta will sign a striker this summer who blends Auba’s pace in behind and finishing prowess with Lacazette’s control, link up play and work rate as we move further into his reign. Not to mention experience always being an important part of any side! This is what will enable us to push towards a championship contending side.
We can’t ignore how vital it is for young players to have experience around them. To show them the way forward and how to react under pressure. It is so much easier to follow, than to lead. Particularly for young players. To be fair our young players have good leadership qualities and will develop to become elite. You don’t captain your club or country before the age of 22 if you don’t have this (see Lokonga and Odegaard respectively). But when Arsenal are the youngest team in the league it throws up challenges. Lacazette and Auba will be needed this season to guide the attacking unit up the table. Unfortunately that will mean that Arteta can’t always start Saka, ESR, Odegaard, Martinelli and Lokonga together. Arteta will need to mix and match and grow these players dependent on the opposition. But if done well these players will grow and come together well over the course of the year and the next few seasons.
By the same token you can see how we miss Granit Xhaka. Not particularly for his defensive pressure or his work with the ball – because in these instances he is not far superior to Sambi. Where he does excel however is his leadership and ability to bring a young group of players together. He will be invaluable in the second half of the season.
It is good to see that Arteta learnt from the Brighton and Palace matches. I have seen people write that tactically there were no issues with these games from Arteta; and that his tactics were perfect but the mentality was missing. It is partly true in the sense that the mentality was missing. However tactically Arteta missed the trick because his job is to change and alter the game to obtain this. Lacazette showed what we missed today and this simple tactical change could have done wonders in the two previous games, when it was obvious what we were missing.
Tactics are a part of football which change game to game and in game also. Whilst it is important to have a set philosophy and style of play (which Arteta has and does well – you can read about how this has developed here), it will not always work out. The best managers always adapt and motivate throughout a game based on the scenario. Because no answer is ever the exact same in football.
Arteta has shown that he has learnt this already and he is happy to make decisions to benefit the side. The other of note this season was dropping Pepe and moving Saka to the right (again interesting to note that the poor performance against Palace had Pepe restored to the right and Saka pushed to the left).
This Arsenal side are going places. There are huge upsides everywhere you look. From manager Mikel Arteta to Nuno Tavares showing that he will truly challenge Tierney this season for a starting role. Sambi Lokonga had his coming of age performance, made even more remarkable by bouncing back from the costly error against Palace. That showed real guts, steel and character. Ben White was an absolute force at the back, showing he is not just a pretty footballer, but an aggressive defender. A match doesn’t go by at the moment where we don’t see a gem of a pass from Ramsdale showcasing his potential; not to mention his assurance under the high ball which just isn’t something Arsenal fans are used to.
Huge positives. Huge win. Who knows, results go the way of the Arsenal and we could be up in the top 6 before you know it. After all we are into the top of the table now! Enjoy the weekend, and please let me know your thoughts on this one.
Kia Kaha everyone.
