I was at the Wimbledon game on Wednesday. Until Bukayo Saka came on, we created very little. We were too structured in the final third as we always are and there was a real sense of frustration in the crowd when we went sideways instead of being more inventive and unpredictable centrally, especially when there was space to be exploited.
That inspired me to write this article – is Arteta’s positional approach holding Arsenal back? Or is it the profile of player that is the issue? Let’s take a closer look.
The myth about formations:
Let’s talk formations.
Unlike his predecessor Unai Emery, Arteta has deployed a pretty limited set of formations for someone who has been in charge for almost two years now.
In Arteta’s very first game, he implemented a 4-2-3-1. That continued for the first few months of his tenure, following which he attempted the 4-3-3 against Manchester City in that infamous maiden project restart game when David Luiz got sent off. Arsenal didn’t look comfortable dealing with counter transitions, which made Arteta adapt to his players even further and implement a hybrid 3-4-3 system.
Now, I’m going to contradict everything I just said above and tell you this: Formations are nice for representation purposes. But the reality is different. This especially applies to the positional play approach. Let’s take a closer look.
Understanding the basic idea of positional play:
Divide the pitch into different zones. Each player is tasked with occupying a certain area of the pitch at certain points in time. When Arsenal implemented the hybrid 3-4-3 last season, for example, you would have noticed Kieran Tierney playing as a third centre back during the buildup/defending, but whilst going forward, he morphed into a left back. Ainsley Maitland Niles played as the wing-back whilst defending/building up, but moved centrally as we approached the final third.
Similarly, when Kieran Tierney overlaps in the ‘4-2-3-1’, you would have noticed Granit Xhaka dropping into that left-back spot to cover for him. The team has to understand each other and the system if they are to coordinate in real-time and move in accordance with the desired rules of positional play.
It is not a rigid approach like some might claim – far from in fact. The idea is based on the concept that everyone can play everywhere – essentially, total football. And when one player vacates a space, another fills in for him in line with the desired shape the manager wants of his team. Obviously, to achieve that level of flexibility, you will need to have players that can play at a very high technical level. Some might say Arsenal don’t possess this and as a result, we’re better off with a manager who isn’t picky about his profiles – but it’s still interesting to study nonetheless.
Pep Guardiola is a believer of this approach. He only wants aggression from his team in terms of the running when they press. But on the ball, they need to execute the system. He doesn’t want his players to chase and move towards the ball, rather maintain their position and wait for the ball to come to them. That means the team has to be precise and efficient.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Thierry Henry said of Guardiola:
“Pep Guardiola had a plan. If you don’t actually do what he’s asking you to do, you’re going to be in trouble, Me being me I went there [to the right wing] to play with Leo Messi and I could hear him being upset because I wasn’t on the side of the dugout. I didn’t really care, you know. ‘I scored a goal, 1-0 up against Sporting Lisbon at half-time, all nice and everything, and he took me off. I was like ‘what did I do wrong?’ He used to say to us the first time he took the team, ‘my job is to take you up to the last third, your job is to finish it.’ In training, to make you understand that, especially for Xavi and Iniesta, he would put cones [down] and up until the last third, guys who were playing on the right were not allowed to cross over to the left were not allowed to cross over to the right, and on the left, you were not allowed to cross over to the right. But the last third was freedom for us.”
If you are an Arsenal fan who grew up under Wenger, this might shock you. Wenger gave a lot of freedom to his players in all phases of play. Some of the goals that we scored in the decade following the Invincibles era were a thing of beauty.
Whilst Guardiola is arguably the best manager in the world, his teams are very well structured in the way they play. And Arteta for the good or bad has similar ideas tactically.
Does the positional play approach hold Arsenal back?
Positional play systems typically require very specific profiles of players to implement and a high degree of technical quality. You would have heard Arteta using the term ‘specificity’ in positions. It means he is looking for players with very specific traits who can fit the system he wants to implement, qualities that the team are lacking in certain areas.
He wants the striker to be an all-rounder, someone who can drop deep and link the play. It is no coincidence that we targetted the likes of Tammy Abraham, Alexander Isak and Lautaro Martinez.
The right back should have the technical and defensive attributes to invert, which explains the signing of Tomiyasu. The centre backs need to be very good on the ball and capable of defending in isolated situations which would occur in a high line – Arteta has invested close to £80m on Gabriel and Ben White for that very reason.
Going forward, Arsenal are too choreographed. It is like a game of chess. But should it always be the case?
Manchester City play in the same structured way, but because of their quality they can execute the system perfectly. We lack the quality and are a team that is more suited to chaos over structure. Then the question comes – why does Arteta persist with it if it might not be the best approach to get results?
For the good or bad, Arsenal believe in Arteta and his philosophy – they have backed him to bring in the profiles he wants and will continue to do so. Arteta won’t change his approach – he is essentially forgoing results (to some degree) for now in the hope of building for the future. His idea is based on repetition – that if you do the same sequence hundreds of times, you will get better and better.
Players have to adapt to his style – those who don’t will not be here too long. Additionally, the character of the players are important too – they must be capable of following instructions to the dot.
Now, this is a risk. This is Arteta’s first job. As tactically intelligent as he may be, there is no guarantee that his system will yield results once we bring in the specific profiles. Having similar ideas tactically to Guardiola doesn’t make you as good as him.
On the other hand, some will say Arsenal have been too stop-start since Wenger and must give the coach the resources and time to implement his plan. Additionally, if you’re a top player, you should be capable of thriving even when the conditions aren’t ideal for you. We have made plenty of excuses for certain attacking players – the less said the better.
Whether Arteta’s philosophy yields consistent results remains to be seen. Arsenal have trusted him signing specific players he wanted that may not be fancied by the manager who will replace him – so it is risky. However, the good news is that the players brought in are young and have room to grow. And in the worst-case scenario, we can still fetch decent value for them.
Arteta must adapt to his players on occasion as in football today, you need to win in the present. We cannot afford to fall too behind.
I’m intrigued to know your thoughts in the comments below.
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