Arsenal 1 – 1 Boro: Tactical Inadequacy
712 comments September 10th, 2006
3 games, 2 points, and 60,000 disgruntled fans. Middlesbrough came to Arsenal looking for a point, and they got one. With up to ten men behind the ball at any one time, and just one shot on target, it was clear they had a tactical gameplan. And worrying for Arsenal fans, we couldn’t respond to it.
William Gallas made his debut at left-back, with Freddie Ljungberg in front of him. Our other new signing, Julio Baptista, began on the bench. The game itself was painful and predictable. A string of missed half-chances at our end, before a mistake from Johan Djourou and a deft touch from Jason Euell allowed James Morrison in to make it 1-0 to ‘Boro. Every Arsenal fan groaned at the spectre of 70 minutes of their team attempting set the world “incorrect-decision-to-pass-not-shoot” record. What’s more, they had Aleksandr Hleb on their team: the record was surely on the horizon.
To be fair to Hleb, at least some of his passes were pretty good. The finishing, however wasn’t. Middlesbrough and Woodgate defended well and we couldn’t find a way through. We had plenty of posession, but about thirty yards out we were greeted by a wall of white. Cesc Fabregas bellowed “open sesame” each time he attempted to slip through a deft pass, but for some reason Middlesbrough insisted on attempting to stop us from scoring – those cunning northerners.
Eventually, it took a penalty to get us a goal. Emmanuel Eboue, who did show plenty of penetration on the right-hand side, was caught by Stewart Downing, and Thierry Henry completed the formalities.
The penalty was followed by the triple introduction of Adebayor, Rosicky, and Baptista, who all added something to a floundering performance. Rosicky in particular showed plenty of spark, but the game eventually died into a draw. We are one place off the relegation zone, and ten points off our next Premiership opponents: Manchester United. Arsene is right to be concerned.
So what’s going wrong? Why is it that we have failed to beat Aston Villa, Manchester City, and Middlesbrough? In terms of fixtures, that’s the kind of start you dream of – a very achievable 9 points. Well, for years our game has been based on quick passing and movement. However, in recent times, this seems to have been “found out”. What’s more, the quality of the play itself has significantly reduced.
There are two main reasons for this:
- The move to the new stadium
- The departure of Dennis Bergkamp, Ashley Cole and Robert Pires
The new stadiu’s pitch may be wide, but this spreads not only the opposition defence but our own midfield, meaning that purely in terms of seconds the time it takes for each player to recieve the ball is longer. This time is increased by the fact that due to problems with the pitch, the ball does not roll as quickly as it did at Highbury. Arsene says: “That means our passing is slower and that is our biggest handicap at the moment”.
A big handicap certainly, but I’m sure he’d agree that the fact the three players I mention have gone is also a factor. Dennis Bergkamp and Robert Pires were masters of the pass-and-move game. They were able to create space both with clever runs and clever balls. Furthermore, both were natural finishers, perfect for Arsene’s idealistic “Wengerball”.
However, where Ashley Cole joins Bergkamp and Pires in being missed is in their tactical positioning. So frustrated was I by the game against Middlesbrough, I was moved to create the patented Gunnerblog Tactics Board. It’s very late at night, so I’m sorry it’s rubbish. I used Miscrosoft Paint.
Below is a very basic illustration of our players’ positioning against Middlesbrough. As you can obviously hopefully see, Hleb tucks in on the right allowing Eboué to overlap. However, on the left, we don’t have the same balance. Both Gallas and Ljungberg attempt to cut inside, leaving a serious lack of width on that side of the pitch. This is where the natural left-sided wing play of Ashley Cole, or even Jose Reyes, will be missed. Cole’s partnership with Pires mirrored that of Hleb and Eboué. Until Gael Clichy returns from injury we will struggle to fill that gap.
What Bergkamp and Pires also provided was a link between the midfield and attack. Bergkamp in particular was prepared to be the man to drop off and link the play. Runners would burst away from him in every direction, with a dual function:
- to distract defenders and provide him with space in which to operate
- to provide targets for his incisive passing
Neither Thierry Henry nor Robin van Persie is a natural fit to the Bergkamp role. Both would rather drift wide, to the left and to the right respectively. This creates problems in itself, as it means there is no real presence in the box – a problem Arsenal have long suffered with.
Behind van Persie and Henry, Cesc Fabregas is arguably the natural successor to Bergkamp’s role. However, both he and Gilberto seem to sit very deep in the midfield, unwilling or unable to break forward and become an auxillary attacker.
Perhaps the man to solve this problem is Julio Baptista. He came on in central midfield yesterday, and did appear to be prepared to break into the box. As Arsene himself said prior to the game:
“He has the sense of getting into the box, the timing. All the big teams have players who can come from deep into the box. Here we had Pires, now Ljungberg, at Manchester United there is Scholes, and there is Lampard at Chelsea. You need in every team a player who can come from nowhere at the right moment, and Baptista has that.”
Next week sees us go away to Hamburg and then Manchester United. We need results from these games, or our season threatens to go off the rails entirely. The team I would pick for these games is as follows:
Here, the central midfield three of Gilberto, Cesc, and Baptista has remarkable balance. Gilberto is able to hold and help out the defence, whilst Baptista can make use of his excellent timing to join the attack. Meanwhile, Cesc is free to pull the strings from wheresoever he chooses. On the wings, Hleb and Rosicky will cut in to provide Henry, allowing Gallas and Eboue to overlap and cross for the on-rushing Baptista. The natural width of five across the middle should also mean that Gallas’ tendency to cut inside will be less of a problem.
We have seen Arsene use this formation on difficult away days before, particularly in Europe. With Baptista now able to provide a like between midfield and attack, surely now is the time to deploy it again?
I apologise for the long-winded, essay-like nature of this entry. If you’ve got this far: congratulations. It’s simply that for many of us, this game was supposed to represent the “proper” start to the season, when everything began to go well. Sadly, it was not to be. Writing this has helped me exorcise some of my demons, and hopefully reading it has helped you with yours.
Tactical inadequacy? Answers on a postcard. Or probably just in the “comments” bit below.
