Daily Archives: September 24, 2012

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September 24, 2012 posted by Anam Hassan

The Tactics Column: Ramsey’s retention

The Tactics Column: Ramsey’s retention

Manchester City’s approach against Arsenal hasn’t multiplied much in relation to their spending over the seasons. Roberto Mancini has assembled a talented group of attacking players but he knows the best way to counteract Arsenal is through defensive resolution. “When you play against Arsenal and they play better than you,” Mancini said two seasons ago, “you must defend.” On Sunday, though, he was slightly more proactive in his approach.

Manchester City played the same 4-2-3-1/4-2-2-2 but instead of dropping off and allowing Arsenal time on the ball, in the first-half, they pressed high up the pitch. That change was probably an acknowledgement by Mancini that this time there is more substance to Arsenal’s passing game and to deny Mikel Arteta the pass out, is to deny Arsenal. You might say it worked – City took the lead without conceding a chance of real quality although Gervinho’s touch was the main reason for that. But Arsenal dominated possession and passed the ball in between Manchester City’s midfield comfortably enough to suggest they would sooner get through if things remained the same.

As such at half-time, Mancini sent on Jack Rodwell to play as a nominal right-midfielder, tucking in whenever Arsenal had the ball to stop Lukas Podolski and Santi Cazorla, in particular, combining centrally. It stifled Arsenal; and it wasn’t until Wenger replaced Podolski that they found space again. The equaliser came from a quick break, and with Rodwell over-compensating by tucking in, Arsenal doubled up on the left-hand side. Eventually the ball came inside to Santi Cazorla, whose shot forced the corner for the goal.

That both sides scored from corner-kicks means that the tactical battle never really materialised – at least not obviously. Both teams defended brilliantly around the box – in particular the two right-sided central defenders, Per Mertesacker and Vincent Kompany – but it was their partners who scored; Laurent Koscielny and Joleon Lescott.

Arsenal’s approach: channel-hopping with Gervinho

Arsene Wenger sprang one tactical surprise when he selected Aaron Ramsey on the right of the front three. The idea was to have the Welshman tuck in to help Arsenal keep possession but also considering Arsenal’s bias to the left-hand side, especially the link up between Podolski and Cazorla, it would help the Gunners vary the play a little bit. Yet, there was another reason to his selection.

Last week, we talked about how Gervinho doesn’t play as a false nine, but as a channel running striker whose inclination is to drift wide. Therefore, with Ramsey cutting in, it would allow Gervinho to take up his position and try and get behind from the right. It nearly worked; Gervinho was put through early on in between Lescott and Clichy but his touch let him down and on a couple more occasions, he got beyond the defence on that side. It was an unorthodox ploy by Wenger but one which suggests he wanted to take advantage of what he thought was City’s weaker side.

One final note on Ramsey, who was probably Arsenal’s best player. He seemed to relish the freedom to cut in from right. Ramsey has been criticised for his tendency to procrastinate on the ball in the past, but here he can. Nevertheless, his ball-retention skills were superb.

City score when Silva moved central

It’s a testament to Arsenal’s defensive discipline that the player who tormented them last season at the Etihad, David Silva, had a quiet game. Drifting inside from the right, he caused Arsenal lot’s of problems but this time, The Gunners organisation blocked his route to the centre.

Nevertheless, he did make a big contribution to the game which, if Mancini had acted upon, could have seen a different outcome to the game. It happened five minutes before Manchester City equalised where, having noticed his team were getting little joy, switched Scott Sinclair to the right, Kun Aguero left and David Silva centrally. This put the Spaniard back into his natural position and allowed him to get into pockets of space which he previously couldn’t and Aguero couldn’t.

City dominated and the spell of pressure put Arsenal on the back-foot. That was typified by the panic which went through Kieran Gibbs as he conceded an unnecessary corner-kick. City scored and while zonal-marking took all the focus, it was probably the Silva switched that proved the catalyst for City’s best spell.

Conclusion

For a while in the second-half, it looked as if City’s big game experience might shut Arsenal out. It worked for twenty-five minutes – the default mark when Wenger typically makes his subs – and sure enough, the fresh legs gave Arsenal the impetus to push on for an equaliser. That was key because as much as Arsenal have impressed as a unit, Santi Cazorla makes Arsenal tiki-taka in the final third.

It probably freed him up; in the matches this season, he has tired badly in second-halves. But he came up with the shot that forced the corner which Koscielny scored from. The celebrations after captured Arsenal’s belief and togetherness. They wanted to make a statement. And they did.

Arseblog, the arsenal blog
September 24, 2012 posted by arseblog

Man City 1-1 Arsenal: Per-fect motion

Man City 1-1 Arsenal: Per-fect motion

Match Report – By the numbers – Video

If yesterday was marked down as Arsenal’s first true test of the season it’s one we passed with flying colours, even if we didn’t take three points.

59% of possession throughout and almost 200 more passes against the Champions tells you some of the story but what lies beyond the stats is far more important. To have the character and belief to come from a goal down, and a goal we pretty much gifted them shows there’s more to this Arsenal team than pretty triangles and tippy-tappy.

Arsene Wenger started with Gervinho up front, bringing in Aaron Ramsey on the right hand side while Laurent Koscielny slotted into the back four in place of the flu-hit Thomas Vermaelen. And after some cautious early minutes we began to dominate and should have scored when Ramsey’s delicious through ball found Gervinho. Unfortunately, rather than controlling it and slipping it past Hart for the opening goal his first touch was a perfectly hit back-pass for the City keeper.

Carl Jenkinson showed his improvement at both ends of the pitch yesterday. Defensively he marshalled Sinclair out of the game in the first half, and his strength and desire created a half-chance for Lukas Podolski only for the German to shoot over the bar with his weaker right foot. When City threatened they found the Arsenal defence in mean form, Per Mertesacker in particular was outstanding at the centre of the defence, and as the graphic below shows his seven interceptions in the game snuffed out potential danger both early and in and around the box.

So it was pretty much against the run of play when they scored. An avoidable corner wasn’t defended as well as it should have been. Both Koscielny and Podolski were too static, allowing Lescott to power home his header, while Vito Mannone came and failed to get the ball as City went ahead just before half-time. The fact that Mancini withdrew Sinclair and put on Rodwell for the second half showed you he knew his team had been outplayed and he needed the extra body in midfield to cope with our passing and movement.

Initially it seemed to work. City looked better for the change and Arsenal struggled a little bit to get a hold of the game. City were a bit more threatening but we coped with set-pieces well enough and slowly but surely began to get back into it. Most of our final third action came through Gervinho. He was certainly a willing runner and his movement was good but with the ball at his feet he had one of those days. His shooting was erratic and his decision making odd, at times, needing too many touches without any end product.

Giroud and Walcott came on for Diaby and Podolski, who were both quieter than in recent games, and in the end the pressure told and we got the goal we deserved. After Joe Hart made a fine save from Santi Cazorla’s stinging drive, Arsenal took the corner and Koscielny was first to react to a poor header, smashing the ball past Hart and into the roof of the net. Cue raucous, but well merited, celebrations because that was a goal that brought some justice to the scoreline.

Both teams could have won the game subsequent to the equaliser. City had the best chance when, after Mannone saved Kompany’s overhead kick, Koscielny skewed his clearance straight to Aguero at the back post, 6 yards out, but somehow the Argentine put his shot just wide of the far post. Then, when Gervinho had made space for himself on the edge of the box he lashed his shot high and wide. It was typical of his day and while I don’t have any problem with him shooting from there, Giroud was just outside him and if he’d been aware enough to roll the ball out to him the Frenchman had a much easier finish to miss (I kid, I kid).

In the end you’d say the draw was probably a fair result under the circumstances but there’s a lot to be encouraged about from that Arsenal performance. Afterwards, Arsene said:

I am pleased also with the quality of our performance and our spirit. Also a bit frustrated because I feel there was room to do more. We had early chances and very late chances, especially Gervinho at the edge of the box where he missed the target. But overall I hope this will reinforce our belief and confidence and reassure us about our potential in this league.

For the second time in a week Arsenal came from behind to get something from a game, which is testament to the character in the side, but also the confidence they have in their own ability. There was no panic, nor was there any sense that being a goal behind against the champions meant it was game over, instead we worked hard, got back into the game in the second half and took one of the chances that came our way. With a bit more composure/quality up front you’d wonder how it might have gone but this is by no means a bad result.

The post-match work will obviously focus on the corner and what we can do to avoid conceding that kind of goal again but for the rest of the game we defended very well. The whole back four were excellent, Jenkinson’s development continues apace and as pointed out above the BFG was really very good indeed. His reading of the game is exceptional and his brings a calmness to proceedings that’s very reassuring.

Arsene Wenger spoke afterwards of the difficulty he faces when trying to choose from his three ‘first class’ centre-halves. Koscielny came in and played his part – although there were some signs of rustiness in his first start of the season – but having to pick between Mertesacker, Vermaelen and Koscielny is the kind of ‘problem’ that Arsene Wenger will relish. It’s far better than worrying about who’s going to play and how far the pecking order you have to go down to find someone.

And a word for the midfield. Arteta was a metronomic marvel as always – 100 out of 106 passes completed (94%) – but he does it on top of working so hard when we don’t have the ball. He’s an example to any of our young midfielders. Santi Cazorla was a little quieter than in recent games but still gave us an assured focal point when we came forward, while Aaron Ramsey had his best game in a long, long time. With the pressure slightly off the Welshman looks more confident and it was a sign of the manager’s faith in him that he started him on the right hand side to begin with (in a way reminiscent of the way he deployed Benayoun in this kind of game last season) and then moved him back into midfield to replace Diaby.

There was little or nothing between the two sides last season and yesterday’s game showed that on our day we’re more than a match for Man City. It’s how we cope over the duration of the season that will really show us if we’re strong enough or have enough depth, but seeing us go head to head with them should provide plenty of reassurance that this is a team transformed and far better able to cope with the rigours of the league this time around.

Overall, very positive, lots to be encouraged about, and with the Capital One Cup providing some midweek distraction, we ought to be in good shape ahead of another stiffy against Chelsea next weekend.

Till tomorrow.