The adaptation of the Spanish Magician - Mikel Arteta. Attacking midfielder to midfield "anchor"/ "holding midfielder". Sign of the times? 

With Arsenal this season we have seen a few new things come to the fore in terms of the tactical shape and personel set up, especially on the defensive organisation side of things. But one of the most striking changes, has been Mikel Arteta's switch from an advanced midfield role, to the "anchor" role holding up the midfield and supporting the defensive side of things, as Alex song was supposed to be doing for the last few seasons. This is certainly a big change for a player, but one that to this point (at least), Mikel has taken in his stride and has been effective. "If you want to play at a top-level club like Arsenal you have to adapt to different roles and situations" - the man himself said in the Arsenal magazine (issue October 2012).

The role of such a midfielder is in short to support the attacking ambitions of a side, whilst being mindful that (As Arteta put it in the Arsenal magazine) that "when you have the ball you have to be thinking about what happens if the move breaks down, and make sure you don't get caught in possession". This is the essence of the role that he has taken up, having to support the team in terms of attack, picking out players in more advanced areas of the field, with his unbelievable passing ability, giving them support, whilst also being diligent in being aware of what is needed defensively. He has take up a role as part of the "spine" of the team, supporting the two centre halves when need be, and covering ground around the middle of the park to win the ball back, if and when Arsenal loose it. It is a very important role indeed, and one in which to be honest I don't believe has been covered properly at our club for some time (hence I said Song was "supposed to be doing" that role!)

Arsenal's defensive record (so far I must stress) has been very good we have conceded 4 goals in all competitions, in 7 games this season. I believe that whilst the likes of Steve Bould, Thomas Vermaelen, Per Mertesacker and Co should take a lot of credit, I also believe that Mikel has also played a big part in this record, with the way in which he has curbed his attacking instincts, and really worked hard to police and cover the middle of the field. If you look at this "heat map" below (which is taken from the Liverpool game earlier this month), you will see that Mikel rarely moved beyond the centre circle of the pitch, and spent most of his time in and around the middle of the park, and also covering deeper as well.

I believe that this shows how disciplined in this role, Mikel has been. You would have to say that it cannot really be easy for a man, that has played most of his time in England as either a "number 10", a "left sided" midfielder, or (as he was in theory last season) the more advanced of two deep lying midfielders (alongside Song), to suddenly discipline himself to not be dragged forward as he has been used to and probably feels naturally inclined to. If you compare this heat map (Arteta's) to the one further down outlining Abou Diaby's movements in the same game, playing the role Arteta was playing last season, you will see the change in discipline that Mikel has had to come to terms with with in preparation for his role this season. You will see that there is still a defensive duty for Abou, but you see significantly more activity further forward than with Arteta. I believe he deserves immense credit for this transition, and it really actually highlights what a great team player he is, that he has taken up this role with such discipline and success, when he is clearly not experienced in this particular position.

Having said all that, many of you will have seen Andrea Pirlo's performances in the Euros for Italy and also Bastian Schweinsteiger's performances for Germany over the last 3 or 4 years, in a similar role to what I am discussing regarding Arteta. You could certainly argue that these players given in example, are very much similar to Arteta in terms of their technical prowess, and also in regards to their physical build e.t.c. Therefore are we seeing a slow transfomation in football of this "anchor - man"/ "holding" midfield player from your big powerful, strong players e.g. Viera, Makelele e.t.c. to your more technically minded perhaps skilful types (Arteta, Pirlo and Sweinsteiger)??  Is this perhaps part of the continuous adaption of the game we love?? I actually think it is, especially in the English game but also around Europe, we are seeing more and more teams become tactically and technically stronger, and this is allowing players who before you would never play in certain roles taking up these roles, and perhaps banishing the stereotypes or perceptions, of what a player in any given position or "role" on the park, should be! Nowadays playing this deeper role, as Mikel puts it, is: "not only about how strong physically you are, it's about being aware, anticipating, being able to read the game and assess what is happening". This for me sums it up nicely, and outlines how this particular role in the modern game is changing!

Thanks be to Mikel for taking up this mantle for the team this season, and let's hope that his transformation to this more defensive role continues to go by as seamlessly as it has done to this point!

Hope you enjoyed my blog and found it of interest, thank you for viewing, and GOODBYE!!

Tweet me @Mr_arsenal_blog - I do try and reply to all thoughts. 

UP THE ARSENAL!!!

Mr Arsenal Blog's "tactics weekly".

23rd September

Welcome back to Mr Arsenal Blog's "tactics weekly". Well, what a game that was, Manchester City Vs. Arsenal. I thought it was absolutely enthralling and to be honest NOT good for my heart that is for sure. In the first half Arsenal were absolutely outstanding, looked solid and created many chances and were without a shadow of doubt the best side out of the two, but then (as often happens in football) we were slapped with the old "sucker punch"!! In the second period, Man City changed themselves about tactically, brought on another central midfield player in Jack Rodwell, who has recently joined from Everton, clearly intended to stop us dominating in midfield as we had so evidently in the first half. This worked. We struggled a litte bit in the second half to play with the same speed and vision as the first, but in the end got our reward for a solid and impressive showing overall, when Koss The Boss slammed home from a corner kick on the turn!! So, what were the key tactical observations of Arsenal today? Who stood out from our line up, and what can we take from the game?

Firstly, much was made before the game of the shape with which The Arsenal would set up with for this match. The selection of Aaron Ramsey raised a few of the proverbial eye brows, as it meant that we were playing, effectively, with four central midfield players on the pitch. Many people have questioned Ramsey's ability over the last year or so, but I have always been clear in my mind that he is certainly a very talented player and one that is improving year on year, and playing with and being selected for the Olympics with Team GB, I believe, will have given him a massive amount of confidence to express himself and play for the Arsenal first team. But on to the tactical side of this selection. Playing four central midfielders, I believe, allowed us to really be comfortable on the ball, interchange positions easily, and change the point of attack. Also defensively I believe it helped us as well, because when we lost the ball, Ramsey or Cazorla, or whoever was on the wing at that specific moment, could tuck infield and really pack out the midfield and minimize the amount of space that Manchester City had to play in. I believe this worked, especially in the first half. In the second half it changed slightly, mainly down to the fact that as I said above City brought on Rodwell which meant that they had another man in the middle of the park to really stop us from playing so much in the middle, which nullified us. But all in all I think that Ramsey helped us a lot today, I was very impressed with his composure on the ball, his passing, his work rate as well, and I expect to see a similar system played in the big games where we need to be really disciplined in the midfield e.g. Vs Chelsea next weekend - (come on you gunners!!). The movement of these players in the midfield, in the first half I believe really helped us to create chances, thus it was a key tactical observation of this game, Arsenal Vs City.

Second point that I have to make from this game is the issue of "zonal marking" at set pieces. Now those of you that know what this is, will know that the Manchester City goal came from a corner, and many seem to believe that this was directly because of this "zonal marking" system that we were implementing. Now Gary Neville and Jamie Redknapp on the Sky Sports "pannel" at the game were also talking about this as a real big issue from the game, and basically said that they were not supporters of this tactics. Now, I am not going to sit here and type and tell Redknapp and Neville (who by the way is the best pundit around), however I am not so sure we should just write of an implementation of a tactic, based one goal where to be fair Vito Mannone should have done better and dealt with the cross before it even got to Joleon Lescott (who headed home at the far post). The system works essentially by the defence standing in a line, and then attacking the ball as it is crossed in, rather than marking an individual. It basically requires the players to get up and stay strong, and head the ball away and beat the opposition to the ball. I think that we should see how it goes on that front, but you have to say that in 5 premier league games we have only conceded 2 goals, and only one was from a set piece so something must be going right, especially when you consider that one of our fixtures was away at Stoke, who are arguably the most effective at corner time! So it is probably not right to just "throw in the towel" and just change our system. Either way it sure is an interesting conunderum for Arsene Wenger and Stevie Bould to consider, however it was a key tactical point from today's game, and sure if we concede more goals in the same manner that we did today they will HAVE to change this system, but for now should continue (in my opinion).

I believe that our Gunners did us proud today, as other big teams in and around us in the league, will go to the Etihad Stadium this season and quite frankly get entirely out played, out fought, out powered e.t.c. e.t.c. However we didn't we bossed the first half, were unlucky not to score in that period but had ourselves to blame for not finishing of some great chances that we did have. Despite these chances we went behind, but then had the courage and the team spirit (which I believe can no longer be questioned) to carry on playing, trust in our principles and each other and get through, equalise and in the end deserved to win! For these reasons it is very hard once again this week to pick out my Mr Arsenal Blog's man of the match as there were many standout performances all over the park. Santi Cazorla was magical once again, his balance his distribution his ability on the ball is just fantastic, and quite frankly I just relish watching him every week in my club's kit, he is one hell of a signing. Carl Jenkinson's improvement in the last year was so evident today as well, and he deserves strong consideration. I thought defensively he was solid and disciplined and when called on out wide especially by Scott Sinclair in the first half he showed them the line, was disciplined and more often than not won the ball back well, and then dealt with it calmly and cleared his lines one way or another. He was also much improved going forward, and was like a thing possessed at times he really was, powering to get on the end of passes and looking to get the ball into dangerous areas. I was mighterly impressed! Koscielny of course got the goal for us, and also played very well, as did Gibbo who seems to have added an extra dimension to his game this year, but it is defensive colleague Per Mertesacker who is my man of the match today. I thought he was absolutely outstanding, the amount of tackles and interceptions he made was staggering (7 in fact), he was strong, disciplined, played the ball well when he needed to and just played with such discipline and calmness which to be fair should be expected from a 80 cap German international! He saved our bacon on many occasions today he really did, especially in the second half when City turned up the pressure, and for these reasons, for an outstanding performance he is my man of the match.

As I said the fact that the decision of who should be man of the match is very difficult every week at the moment, and that is a sign of what I keep banging on about: the strength, depth and the ability of our squad at the moment. The only player that was a let down today to be honest was Gervinho, but only because of his finishing his all round play was quite good and he can't be questioned for his effort or work rate that is for sure. It is very exciting have such a strong squad at the moment, and I am just so excited to think that we can add Wilshere and Rosicky to this midfield, Sagna to the back but these guys have ALL got a fight on to get in the team, as it is going to be very difficult to displace any of our guys at the moment as they are all on good form. And this is what can make us successful, as I keep saying competition breeds success, and that is what we have in abundance at the moment it's very exciting!!!!

COME ON YOU GUNNERS!!!!

Do tweet me @Mr_arsenal_blog - I do try to reply to all comments or views.

Mr Arsenal Blog's "tactics weekly"

17th September

WHAT a performance on Saturday, The Arsenal sure did deliver for us and I thoroughly enjoyed it! Why did we do well however? What were the key tactical points, the key performances that we can take out and discuss from it?

Clearly in a game where you win 6 - 1 the "attack" has to be key. The way that they attacked moved and almost "toyed" with Southampton, was incredible. But what was the most significant for me was the way the midfield and the attack moved and integrated together. For me the movement and link up between the attack players (Cazorla, Gervinho, Podolski and The Ox) completely bamboozled the Southampton defence. Can you imagine being the opposition manager trying to work out how to mark the opposition? Because you have no idea where each player will actually pop up!! This balance was a key point in our win. Yes Gervinho started as the CF, however Podolski, The Ox and Cazorla also popped up in the middle as well as on the wing and in "the hole". Southampton didn't know where to turn next. Couple those things with Gibbs rampaging around the "corner" from the left, and Jenkinson (who by the way his improvement over the last year has been superb) from the right and Arteta and Coquilin/ Rambo pulling the strings behind, and you start to get the picture as to why Southampton were so bamboozled by us!

Furthermore as far as "off the ball" action is concerned, as I discussed in my feature last week after the Liverpool game, our shape was excellent. This was evident again. As our Skipper (The Verminator) said in his programme notes on Saturday "I think you can see, that the whole team - not just the defence, but every area - is working really hard at shape and organisation". And as I said last week, the whole team has to get into the right discipline defensively, and NOT just the so called "defenders". Every time we lost the ball we got into 2 banks of 4 and were disciplined in this shape, and more often than not we won the ball back eventually without any real issues! This was down to the whole team defending, players like The Ox and Podolski tracking back and likes of Arteta and Coquilin in the middle working their socks off to keep the shape! Once again this was very evident. As the skipper says, the whole team has to defend and this is what so far this season I believe we have really got the knack off, and for me that is excellent. Because we all know that Arsenal can score and WILL score. But in the last few years, we have always let in stupid goals. If we can maintain this shape when we do not have the ball, we will go FAR! This for me is obvious. I just hope we maintain this, and keep concentrated throughout, throughout the season!

As I have a banged about on twitter, the amount of options we have at the moment is absolutely outstanding and in my opinion this is the best "squad" that we ever had. I genuinely mean that. YES the team itself is not as good as the 04 team e.t.c, but the squad has so many options which quite frankly excites me. This again was key against Southampton. Diaby could have played, he was rested in came Coquilin and Rambo later on, Giroud was rested so on came Gervinho/ Podolski, Theo came on later on, Koscielney was on the bench. Wilshere is coming back, Rosicky is coming back, Sagna is coming back. There are players available in every position! And this means we can rotate and keep players fresh and ready for the whole season, and shouldn't "burn out". Competition breeds success. This is excellent. And for this reason I believe that we will go far. The Southampton game outlined this, we made a number of changes, left players on the bench e.t.c and STILL scored 6, this is very very exciting in my opinion. The team seems ruthless and hungry, and I believe this comes partly from increased competition because the players know that they will get dropped if they don't perform. This makes me excited!

Finally I wish to talk about the Mr Arsenal Blog's player of the week. Now after a game where the team wins 6-1 it is very difficult to decide on this, but for me because of the vast improvement that he showed on Saturday, Gervinho is my player of the week. He was just like a player "re-bourn". I was just so pleased with the composure and the intelligence that he showed throughout, because so often his decision making or "final ball" if you like, was off the boil which often cost us goals and ultimately (and more importantly of course - points)!   On Saturday however he was played through the middle and he caused the opposition absolute chaos throughout through his movement, his intelligence and at last his distribution. He was putting the ball into the right areas when he needed to, and he also shot when he needed to and got 2 goals. This was something which seriously frustrated me last season that he didn't shoot when he should've or when he shot when he should have passed. His improvement shone through on Saturday, and this was massively pleasing! He is my player of the week. However, special mentions must go to Gibbs, Podolski and Santi "The Magician" Cazorla, who were all also absolutely outstanding and through remarkable (at times) link up play, they carved the opposition to shreds.

Tweet me your thoughts @Mr_arsenal_blog - I do reply to all comments!!

Mr_arsenal_blog's - "Tactics Weekly" (discussing tactics and standout performances for Arsenal each week.......)

4th September 2012. 

Welcome to my brand new feature, "tactics weekly". I will be outlining the key tactical observations of The Arsenal's games each week, including: the two key tactical decisions/ adaptations and implementations, and also discussing which players stood out the most and why. I will also name the Mr_arsenal_blog's "player of the week" in each feature, each week! ..... I hope you enjoy!

For me this week, there is only one place we can start. And that is talking about the defensive effort of the team in our recent matches, and the evident work of big Steve Bould and rightly so! The main, and of course most pleasing statistic that I can mention is simply: 3 matches and 3 clean sheets. This is absolutely fantastic and I am absolutely delighted by that, as I am sure you all are as well. We have taken a lot of stick for our defensive "weakness', and it seems ("touch wood"), that this is now in the past! But focusing on this week, why were we solid? As many are aware our formation is very fluid, but it is essentially a 4-2-3-1 shape, which can very easily become 4-4-1-1. And this is exactly what we did defensively in this game this week. When we lost the ball, our wingers tracked back to form a 2 "banks of four", which was very effective. Why was this effective? Well, firstly the discipline of the players was fantastic. They kept this shape and that meant that it was very difficult for the likes of Gerrard, Allen and Co to break us down in the midfield and at the back, and to be honest they rarely threatened us. This discipline must stay, because at the top level when you are playing against top top players if one or two players step out of line, out of this shape, then straight away you are going to be in trouble, and at risk of conceding. In this match, and in the first two matches, the team has been very disciplined and have kept a good shape, this is excellent. 

Who is to credit for this? Well, firstly you have to credit the whole team because they are the ones clearly working hard on the training ground and taking their practice on to the pitch! They have done great on this front so far. But for me it is no coincidence that Steve Bould has come back into the first team set up at London Colney, and the defence is a "mean machine", as Jamie Redknapp wrote in the Daily Mail. Put simply this guy is one of the greatest centre backs in Arsenal's history, and as I am sure you are all aware was part of the great "Bank of England". When the legendary Arsene Wenger, our leader, first arrived at the club he famously said: "When I first came to Arsenal, I realised the back four were all university graduates in the art of defending". A great quote, but Steve Bould was of course a big player in this defensive unit, so he sure knows "the art of defending", and this it seems he is getting across to the players. It is clear that he is really working on the teams shape off the ball, and also how they keep this shape, sticking together. This takes work, and it is clear that this is exactly what has been put it, with the help of Mr Bould. 

Furthermore much has been made of the decision or perhaps lack of decision, to directly replace Alex Song in the transfer market before last Fridays 11pm deadline. However on Sunday afternoon at Anfield I would suggest that many of those fears were, for now at least anyway, left behind. I have in recent weeks "championing" the idea of having no, as I have been putting it, "specialist" defensive midfielder in the side. As Roy Hodgson said before the Euros he doesn't believe that you always need someone who's job is to literally sit there, and cover, whilst others go forward. For me I believe that the way we have it now, is good. We have two players playing in a more deeper role (so far Arteta and Diaby), and one (Cazorla) slightly further forward. This allows us lots of free movement and interchanging positions. This really suits our style of play. When we have the ball one player sits and covers, and one player goes forward and supports the attack, and the player further forward (Cazorla) plays just off the centre forward (Giroud or Podolski). It is kind of like the roles of central midfield in a 4-4-2 where one goes one sits, one goes one sits e.t.c. e.t.c. I think this works well and on sunday against Liverpool this in my opinion, was great. Arteta and Diaby worked very well together and clearly comunicated well with one another and were in good posistions both forward and in cover for the majority of the time, this also contributed to Liverpool's lack of threat, because one was always back covering Vermalean and Mertesacker. Against Liverpool on Sunday it was always going to be key to be disciplined in midfield when they had the ball, because we knew that Rodgers' teams like to hold on to the ball and pass it in midfield, and therefore we had to be very disciplined in that area, and this we were. I believe that the midfield was an enourmously key factor as to why we came out victorious at Anfield! 

Part of the reason for this, was down to this weeks Mr_arsenal_blog's player of the week, Abou Diaby. The lad was absolutely outstanding against Liverpool. He ran the show, his passing was immense, his dribbling was unstoppable at times, he was composed, he was strong, he was disciplined, he was just put simply BRILLIANT!!! Now I know that many many fans, myself included, have been extremely frustrated by Abou in the last few years, because I think most fans acknowledge that the lad has talent, of that (to me) there is absolutely no question, but his injury record has been absolutely torrid it really has. The situation was very much like that of Robin Van Purse from a few years back, where we all knew what he was capable of, but his injury record meant that many were questioning whether we should hold on to him. And it seems that in both cases we were right, although of course we have now lost Robin, as both players came back to fitness and form (just a shame one of them also came to be a judas as well as fit!) But back to Diaby, everything he did on Sunday was exceptional. I know it is a very very very commonly used comparison, but he really did remind me of a young Pat Pat Viera, he was strong, disciplined and technically superb! All qualities that Viera had for us, although I would say that Abou is quicker and probably more capable of those great dribbles we saw on Sunday. The moment of the match for Abou was without a doubt that brilliant 75 yard dash which set up that chance (which absolutely should have been finished) for Giroud. He spun past Gerrard charged at the liverpool players, and they quite frankly had no answer to his pace, strength and dribbling skills. It was without a doubt his best performance for us, and it is this reason why he is my Mr_arsenal_blog's player of the week! LONG may it continue, just hope he stays fit on international duty! (fingers crossed).

Finally my man of the month for August is Santi Cazorla, our new Spanish maestro was absolutely brilliant in our two games last month, absolutely ran the show. His composure on the ball, and technical quality is going to proove absolutely key to our season. I believe he has the ability to be the most feared attacking midfielder in the league. He is a top player, and it is no wonder people in Spain reffered to him as the "best player outside of Barca and Real"!!  

That's it for this week, hope you liked it! All in all Sunday was a very good day for Arsenal fans. We beat Liverpool convincingly Podolski and Cazorla scored their first goals, and were fantastic. But this is just the start, we must not get complacent! To be honest Liverpool were very ordinary and therefore we must continue to improve. I have faith we will. I just really hope that Giroud his the net soon, that is the only thing that was missing from our game on Sunday. However we must remember we have only had three games, so shouldn't worry too much!! 

leave me your comments @ #MrArsenalBlogTacticsWeekly on twitter! And lastly UP THE ARSENAL!!!! 

P.S. I have just come across this great Arsene Wenger quotes, here is the link, so check them out. The man really is a legend isn't he, and has come out with some great stuff!! .........

http://www.football365.com/news/8750/5643990