The Arsenal Thread

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My god, Ozil simply has to do better in bigger games, anonymous against Everton and here against City so far.

This Arsenal lack serious characters when things get tough. Players walking round like there on the jollies!

Ozil playing like his contract talks ain't gone.
Shocking analysis from the 3 of you. Not his fault. Nothing to do with individuals.
Don't understand why they've sat off so deep and invited this second half pressure, it's suicide.
Semi correct. We've just seen why English teams do **** in the champions league.
 
My god, Ozil simply has to do better in bigger games, anonymous against Everton and here against City so far.

This Arsenal lack serious characters when things get tough. Players walking round like there on the jollies!
This is a tired old cliché and typifies the failure of English football and the national team. The idea that a little more shouty shouty would win us the game. This idea that it's a mental deficiency, lack of leadership/shouting etc. is honestly boring me. It's an entirely lazy to think that a bit aggression and brute force win every time. Would aggression have helped us beat the counterpress? The best thing is to look at the match report and analyse where the issues were.

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Our 3 highest passing combinations were between Ozil, Alexis and Gabriel who only exchanged passing 12 times. I also saw that Petr Cech's completion rate was terrible. The reality is that we couldn't beat the press. Why is that? It was pretty simple, we were too deep and too compact meaning that City dominated us on transitions. This was seen in the United game as well. When you are deep and compact, your passing lanes are limited and your teammates are deep. I see people blaming Xhaka (the best pivot in the league). Even prime Xabi Alonso can do nothing with the tactical deficiency. Our midfield spacing has always been terrible under Wenger due to a lack of positional play. In fact, the only reason we haven't been losing big games recently is pure individual quality. We have been riding luck all season.

Juego de posicion - A short explanation | Spielverlagerung.com

For all of you calling Guardiola overrated, learn his contribution to modern tactical discourse. The guy essentially perfected what's called Juego de Posición. Simply called positional play. It's built upon a vital dm pivot. It is simply about maximising passing option. Guardiola organises the pitch into zones, especially in the half spaces where the wide central midfielders advance into depending on the position of the ball. Juego de Posición is about positional superiority which creates passing options. This is why Pep's teams are so hard to press and keep huge pass completion rates.

Naturally, Pep's teams would face many low blocks as a result. The advantage with this concept is the ability to overload all areas of the pitch as well. The central defenders split, the dm pivot slips in between and they probe through quick ball transitions all over the pitch until a slow defensive transition is exploited. Due to the positional superiority, there are always multiple passing options. If you press them, they will more often than not beat it, leaving the pitch stretched, space exposed and the first line of press completely out of the game. Pep and now Thomas Tuchel are the only managers in the world capable of doing it. This is why Pep is best in the world.

Here, Henry explains in layman terms.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-zcyod2pjY

Pep doesn't like tika taka. Tika taka is Spain Euro 2008. Posession was a defensive tactic. Pep's team's keep possession due to positional superiority. Teaching these positional skills take may hours on the training ground and tactical nous. The guy's a genious and a football revolutionary. Sometimes, the best way to beat a Pep team is to focus on your strengths. These narratives are false. Pep's teams are highly organised and structured. Similar to Van Gaal to an extent but a better coach. Players are only allowed freedom when they reach the half-spaces of the final third.

I beg you to watch this video to see him ****** off at Vidal's positional play. As you can see, Vidal fails to move to his zone which reduces his decision making time and reduces his awareness.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrcDfcZlYX4

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https://theringer.com/arsenal-arsene-wenger-premier-league-efcbac78ec3d#.i0s0lc62j

Leicester game
Analysis of Arsenal's spacing issues against Liverpool and Leicester City (credit to Tom Payne)

To an extent, Wenger is the complete antithesis of Guardiola. Read the article above. Wenger doesn't like position structures at all! this is a structural failing. As seen in analysis of Leicester, poor midfield pacing and positional play mean that up to 5 players ahead of the ball are completely out of the game. This isn't limited to arsenal, the rest of the league see these tactical failings. We haven't changed much from 2001.

https://theringer.com/arsenal-arsene-wenger-premier-league-efcbac78ec3d#.i0s0lc62j

The lack of passing options caused by positional play mean that we're reliant on individual quality. Why are we so **** against bit teams? The reason we've gotten results in the past year is individual quality. I think it's easy to say we have the best squad in the league with literally every profile, however individuals have been papering over the cracks. The first would be Cazorla. He's 2 footed, has close control and entirely resistant to the press. He can find players in advanced areas despite poor midfield spacing and positional play. The second being Mesut Oil. The best 10 in the world. We aren't half the team without him. He drops deep and practically runs the first phase for us as well as being a 10 and a shadow striker. He's as vital for us as Modrid and Iniesta are for their respective clubs. The last would be Alexis in false 9. Dropping deep creates passing options and papers over the cracks while shadow striker Ozil and newly inspired Raumdeuer Walcott run in behind.

Traditional pundits are utterly “embarrassing”. They don't understand the fundamentals of football. Graeme Sauness seems to get a brain aneurism when trying to understand basic concepts. As much of a tough tackler as he was in his day, 'passion' isn't always the reason games are lost. That's the attitude we need to stamp out. The idea that "foreign tippy tappy football" doesn't work.

Analysis: Arsenal's defensive struggle | Spielverlagerung.com

https://twitter.com/FootballFunnys/status/810544708585979904

I then saw this on Twitter when Ozil is singled out despite the whole team not pressing. Our pressing is structurally flawed. Only Walcott, Alexis, Ramsey, Coquelin and at time Ozil know what to do when implementing a high press. We got done against PSG when Cavani scored from 3 passes after positional problems when pressing and prounounced man orientations. It's half hearted, done by half the team and beaten way too often. When it happens, defensive transitions are laboured, leaving a gap the size of the ******* pacific ocean in our midfield. Not good enough. This is why we're not winning anything big under Wenger. These basic tactical deficiencies only work when you have a world 11 like Real Madrid that play like a 2001 mid table premier league team. Even Pep Guardiola had a positional structure with the best team of all time! What makes Wenger think he doesn't need it? I feel sorry for Ozil, Alexis and Koscielny who have the team's burden on their shoulders. Thank god Koscielny's loyal because he could be playing for Bayern, Barca etc right now. Mourinho got twice as much out of Ozil who's being asked to orchestrate our buildup in the first phase, create and score. I just hope Ozil and Alexis will stay.

The fact what we have a presentable record against big teams for the past year is a testament to the quality of our squad. The reality is that tactical issues are the underlying issue and has nothing to do with the pundit BS.
 
Damola that is quite possibly the best thing you have ever posted and you have just gone way up in my estimation
 
Damola that is quite possibly the best thing you have ever posted and you have just gone way up in my estimation
Honestly, I have a long post for the premier league thread for English football's tactical failings. Any tactical analyst will tell you we're prehistoric. This 'Prem's the best in the world' narrative needs to end. We get spanked by the rest in the world. I watched Hoffenheim vs Dortmund at the airport on Friday and revelled at how good Hoffenheim were off the ball.

They say that "it's harder to play against 10 men in England". That's because half the managers are tactically inept. When Reus was sent off for a silly booking, Frankfurt's intense man to man press and defence orientations were incredible. Dortmund couldn't get a touch of the ball and were carved open many times. Their attacking transitions and positional play were excellent as they used the width of the pitch through quick ball orientations to expose their man advantage.

If you can watch it on demand, I highly recommend. It's a level above anything I've seen in the prem tactically. Same with Sarri's Napoli and many other sides. I remember Carlos Tevez saying a while ago that Serie A is the harder to score in. He says that the 'midfield is non-existent' in England. How right is he. How often do you see the ball switched to the other side and opposition midfield's/defences with slow man orientations to adjust. Everton vs Arsenal the other day was an embarrassment to the premier league. I looked at pass maps with horror. No gameplans from both sides. Everton didn't string a pass and ran into dead ends, while our positional play showed its structural flaws.
 
Honestly, I have a long post for the premier league thread for English football's tactical failings. Any tactical analyst will tell you we're prehistoric. This 'Prem's the best in the world' narrative needs to end. We get spanked by the rest in the world. I watched Hoffenheim vs Dortmund at the airport on Friday and revelled at how good Hoffenheim were off the ball.

They say that "it's harder to play against 10 men in England". That's because half the managers are tactically inept. When Reus was sent off for a silly booking, Frankfurt's intense man to man press and defence orientations were incredible. Dortmund couldn't get a touch of the ball and were carved open many times. Their attacking transitions and positional play were excellent as they used the width of the pitch through quick ball orientations to expose their man advantage.

If you can watch it on demand, I highly recommend. It's a level above anything I've seen in the prem tactically. Same with Sarri's Napoli and many other sides. I remember Carlos Tevez saying a while ago that Serie A is the harder to score in. He says that the 'midfield is non-existent' in England. How right is he. How often do you see the ball switched to the other side and opposition midfield's/defences with slow man orientations to adjust. Everton vs Arsenal the other day was an embarrassment to the premier league. I looked at pass maps with horror. No gameplans from both sides. Everton didn't string a pass and ran into dead ends, while our positional play showed its structural flaws.

Completely agree with this. Nagelsmann, Hoffenheim's coach, is tactically superb and will be one of the world's best - he's only 29 I think. Part of his philosophy is that he doesn't believe in tackling because of the randomness of where the ball will end up. He'd much rather force turnovers
 
Completely agree with this. Nagelsmann, Hoffenheim's coach, is tactically superb and will be one of the world's best - he's only 29 I think. Part of his philosophy is that he doesn't believe in tackling because of the randomness of where the ball will end up. He'd much rather force turnovers

Forcing turnovers rather than winning tackles reduces the variability and randomness of turnovers. That can influence the kind of chances created. Clean turnovers are a vital part of counterpressing and something Klopp almost perfected at Dortmund. This is what Guardiola meant by "I don't coach the tackles". The best teams don't make very many tackles. His comment was taken out of context by the British football media establishment.
 
Yeah, blood.

[video=youtube;au2QZtQO1-M]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=au2QZtQO1-M[/video]
 
My brain is suffering from cancer atm. I heard Robbie Savage say on talksport that Granit Xhaka can't create from deep. They go on about the nonsense of how it's a mental block etc. No questioning of tactics whatsoever. Holy **** they're now saying that a big tackle from McCarthy is the reason Everton beat us.
 
100% right tbh

I'm interested to hear what you feel the way forward is? You, along with many other fans, feel Wenger isn't the man for the job anymore for whatever reason; most people feel he just simply can't take Arsenal any further... and then your numerous, in depth reasons as to where he falls short in comparison of someone like Guardiola, so what's the way forward? Who do you employ if Wenger is to leave his position some point in the near future?
 
I'd imagine Tuchel would be his ideal manager but I can't see him leaving Dortmund yet
 
I'm interested to hear what you feel the way forward is? You, along with many other fans, feel Wenger isn't the man for the job anymore for whatever reason; most people feel he just simply can't take Arsenal any further... and then your numerous, in depth reasons as to where he falls short in comparison of someone like Guardiola, so what's the way forward? Who do you employ if Wenger is to leave his position some point in the near future?

I'd imagine Tuchel would be his ideal manager but I can't see him leaving Dortmund yet
Tuchel could be the best manager in the world. Wenger is 15 years tactically outdated. I don't blame individuals but this is a farce. There's no way he should get a new contract at the end of the season. There are a few decent managers we can get at the end of the season. Wenger's one of the highest paid managers in the world on £8.4 Million a year. Tuchel, Allegri and Hassenhuttl are all competent managers. Nagelsmann is probably too young at 29 to manage big characters.
 
What a goal Giroud! Wow. Easily the best goal I've seen this year.
 
I just can't see Arsenal getting anything from this match tonight.
They will beat Swansea and we have a tricky fixture with Liverpool. So I'm happy with the table tonight.
A Chelsea win tomorrow will be ideal.

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