Throughout Mikel Arteta’s time at Arsenal, there have been quite a few setups of midfield. Utilizing a 4231, 343, 442, and 433. In an article, this week @nonewthing pointed out that our formation ultimately should be the 433 and I agree. This midfield shape would include a 6 deputizing in front of the back four breaking up play and passing the ball forward, and a pair of eights tasked with getting forward and also being able to track back and help defend. This midfield shape tends to be very balanced both in attack and defense.
We have seen this a bit this season and to mixed results in the match against Crystal Palace, Partey was left on his own as the 6 as Smith Rowe and Odegaard pushed high which gave Palace an ability to run the center of the pitch to get a draw in the match. This was an unbalanced midfield which caused its issues. This does not mean that Arsenal cannot perform this shape, however. In the match against Newcastle, we saw Odegaard return to the side in a switch to the 4231 from the 442 we had been operating in of late. After the match, this chart of passing networks from @oh_that_crab really caught my eye.
As you can see Arsenal’s midfield operated in a 433 shape most of the match. With Sambi and Odegaard working as the 8s and Partey as a 6. With Sambi working as an 8 it made the midfield more balanced than it was against Palace with Sambi offering way more in terms of defensive structure than Smith Rowe did in the pivot. Sambi flourished in this box-to-box role against the magpies however it was once again a quiet match from Thomas Partey.
There is a reason for this and while Thomas is a talented midfielder than can do a lot, he is at his best when playing in the box-to-box role that Sambi played so well in. The return of Granit Xhaka should help the Ghanian midfielder. Being more of a proper 6, Xhaka will be able to sit back in the defensive midfield role to break opposition attacks and send nice passes forward and giving Thomas the freedom to influence the game more in all phases of the match.
There has been a lot of talk about Arsenal bringing in another central midfielder as soon as January and I think that the best profile to be looking at would be that number 6 role. My personal choice for this would be RB Leipzig’s, Tyler Adams. With Xhaka looking likely to leave last summer and coming off a major injury, Arsenal would benefit from finding a young player to fill his role. Adams fits the Arsenal profile, 22 years old, captaining his national team, and positionally flexible having played right back as well as defensive midfield. (he’s also an Arsenal fan)
To conclude: Arsenal has to find the best way to get the most out of its midfield. We saw what Sambi could be against Newcastle and in order to see the best of Thomas again, we need to allow him to do what he does best. A shape of Xhaka/Adams in the six with Thomas/Sambi.
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