Arsenal have been heavily linked with James Maddison for several months now, with the Community Shield game on Saturday being the perfect time for the player to showcase his quality to the wider Arsenal fanbase.
His role:
James Maddison was tasked to play the role of a number 10 in a 4-2-3-1 (shown by the picture above, with the player being tasked to get himself involved in the left-hand side, a personal preference of Maddison’s. Maddison was there to lead the press, make sure Man City couldn’t play through the middle, be as close as possible to Ndidi/Tielemans without keeping his team static when in possession & force the issue when the opportunity was there for him to do so.
When understanding his role & what it means for Arsenal, it simply means that he would be the perfect number 10 in a 4-2-3-1 for the club. His role at Leicester (especially in the Community Shield) mirrors what Mikel Arteta wanted from his #10 post-Boxing Day, with James Maddison’s tendency to get aggressive on the ball when he’s in trouble as opposed to Martin Ødegaard’s habit to shy away & recycle possession when he’s in trouble vastly changing how well Arsenal can play throughout the season.
Dominance in Central Zones:
When I mention dominance in central zones, I refer to the position the player likes to take up when his team are in control of possession. Emile Smith Rowe & Martin Ødegaard both were fans of starting/venturing out wide, which would then force the centre-forward to drop too deep & not be involved in finishing attacks, as opposed to starting it with a minor numerical disadvantage in the middle.
When Leicester City are in their main 4-2-3-1 shape, the wingers position themselves according to where James Maddison is instead of Maddison shuttling over to the wingers to help them get their own numerical advantage whilst vacating the central zone so his team do not have a central linkman when they’ll need one.
The quality of the wingers & their tendencies matters as well when trying to replicate this dynamic with a left-footed RW & a right-footed LW finding it easy to shuttle centrally as they’ll be drawn away from the touchline.
When Leicester get themselves into a 4-3-3, which is sometimes the case if Ndidi is offering good protection to the back 5 & Tielemans wants to offer the RW (Perez) an extra passing option, James Maddison still stays central whilst being positioned wide enough to offer Harvey Barnes an out ball in the event of a Man City turnover. Maddison’s position there is down to his role to get Fernandinho out of the game & put Leicester on the front foot when he receives the ball.
Arsenal are looking to transfer into a 4-3-3, & having James Maddison, a player who can operate as a 10 in a 4-2-3-1 & switch to an LCM role in a 4-3-3 is the dream for any manager who’s going to set up his team with that formation switch in mind.
Space Exploitation
A lot of James Maddison’s off the ball & on the ball work was to unsettle Fernandinho & to attack the space that Fernandinho can’t cover because of the inexperience of some of the midfielders & the passiveness of the Man City RB-RCB’s.
He did that very well in the first half, carving out 3 chances on his own whilst being the focal point of numerous attacks through Fernandinho’s blindspot.
Here, James Maddison is bunched with Fernandinho & most of the battle fought in midfield was won because Maddison ran Fernandinho ragged when they were both contesting for the ball. A strength of Maddisons that’s exemplified here is his awareness of what’s around him, Fernandinho wasn’t able to get the better of Maddison because Maddison anticipated every move of his & darted into space that he knew wouldn’t be touched by Fernandinho as he doesn’t have the legs to get there.
Emile Smith Rowe is the only Arsenal player that can float between the lines & take advantage of the opposing players’ blindspots so having Maddison who can do that as well makes Arsenal more dynamic going forward & better when they’re attacking.
When looking at James Maddison’s movement for Leicester, one aspect of it jumps out: his dribbling. He’s quite nimble so he can dance around players trying to tackle him & take them out of the game before advancing onto open spaces where the opposition haven’t prepared themselves to get into without overcommitting in midfield. Here, he gets past Benjamin Mendy & Ilkay Gundogan by matching up to them physically, noticing where there’s a Leicester body for him to play off if needed & then getting past them into better zones.
Full back exploitation
James Maddison’s intelligence carries onto his long passes & the intention he holds behind them. He quickly realised that Benjamin Mendy was playing an aggressive role from LB, leaving Nathan Ake to play as a CB & to cover at LB. On the opposite end, Cancelo was bunched next to Ruben Dias with the right side of Man City either being too narrow or too advanced positionally (Riyad Mahrez) which left a massive gap for Ryan Bertrand to run into & get chances out of. Maddison was able to play multiple passes to his LB’/LW & RB/RW to attack Man City’s positional issues, which led to his team dominating more than expected.
Man City had 5 attacking players in a line with no wide protection to stop the runs of Ryan Bertrand who had been left to do what he wished. Maddison picked up the ball from a relatively deep position, floated it to open space on the right-hand side where Ryan Bertrand was there to receive & make a run.
Picking up on runs & exploiting open space against notoriously compact teams will be a difference-maker for Arsenal if they find the right type of player to do that role, which Maddison is.
James Maddison notices a moment where Benjamin Mendy is situated too high up & he plays a long ball over to Ayoze Perez to latch onto, knowing that Perez would be isolated with Nathan Ake & there won’t be enough support given to the CB to clear the danger.
It leads to a shot on goal with Perez nailing on the cutback. Maddison is good at picking out where to play the ball, his pass selection when he’s playing deeper is to be envied & it’s a good showing for how he operates when he’s allowed to play as a central midfielder (in position) rather than as a number 10.
Is he Creative?
Questions surrounding the creativity of James Maddison & his limitation as to where he is creative ( in open play or set pieces alone,) have dominated discussions surrounding the player. In the Community Shield, he was involved a lot more in open play, even if there weren’t any standout/needled passes attempted or played, but not every 10 has to be as good as prime Ozil creativity wise.
Jamie Vardy & Harvey Barnes both had good chances fashioned out for them by Maddison because he knew where to get the ball to best suit how both players attack, something that would help Arsenal bring in extra goals over a 38 game campaign.
Harvey Barnes plays in James Maddison who delays his pass before perfectly weighting a through ball for him to latch onto. This isn’t a creative action on its own by definition, but it shows one of the best strengths of James Maddison, his ability to put his teammates in the best position to score or create a goalscoring chance for themselves.
Arsenal have needed a player that can get the best out of their forward line, even if he may not be a defence splitter, & that’s what James Maddison has shown himself to be.
James Maddison does have a defence-splitting pass in him, which is magnified when he’s facing a team with an imbalanced defence (like Man City’s.) He finds the run of Jamie Vardy, notes where the defenders are & he plays a ball that isolates Jamie Vardy with the opposition CB. Dias does well there to stop Jamie Vardy from getting past him & a good shot on goal, but that wouldn’t be possible without the work of James Maddison.
General Notes:
James Maddison has shown that he’s more than a set-piece reliant 10 in the game. He drops deep effectively, he finds the wide players in the right spaces. His final ball is good enough, with the emphasis on how he can get his teammates to be in the best positions to score instead of him getting them to stretch themselves unnecessarily.
Maddison also leads the Leicester press, their change from 4-2-3-1 to 4-3-3 in different game states is down to his adaptability to different systems.
Final thoughts
James Maddison is a top player, & he is definitely what Arsenal need if money is no option. Arsenal gets a player that’s perfectly suited to their 4-2-3-1, someone that can lead a press in a 4-4-2, & a facilitating player to lead a 4-3-3 switch if that’s where they want to go this season. For the £60m being reported, that’s a great deal, but for £70m, it depends on the remaining business that can be done by the club.