{"id":1265,"date":"2020-08-24T19:32:38","date_gmt":"2020-08-24T18:32:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=1265"},"modified":"2020-08-28T09:01:02","modified_gmt":"2020-08-28T08:01:02","slug":"squad-review-4-attack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=1265","title":{"rendered":"Squad Review 4 – Attack"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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It\u2019s definitely a team game. From 9sportpro.com<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The dilemma in reviewing the squad for this\nstrangest of past season is whether to review the performance of the squad\nthroughout the season describing chronologically an arc of progress, regress or\noscillations in between, or to review the squad for its full potential as an abstraction\nwhere the last season is only an input to that analysis and not the whole of\nthe analysis. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

George Bernard Shaw I believe had once\nremarked: \u201cBoth optimists and pessimists contribute to the society. The\noptimist invents the aeroplane, the pessimist the parachute.\u201d As the ever\noptimist let me choose to imagine Arsenal\u2019s attacking force in its full flight\n\u2013 only a glimpse of which we had seen now and then — and review the squad in\nall their thrilling possibilities, and I would request the patrons of this\naugust bar to identify the glaring flaws in the design of my imaginary aircraft,\nand think of the parachutes that may be needed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This also helps me avoid spending many (or any) words on the Unai Emery era when dysfunction reigned so supreme watching Arsenal play had turned into a singularly unappetising experience. I just cannot muster enough emotional fortitude to go back and relive those days through this review. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The best teams in modern football \u2013\nincluding many incarnations of our own Arsenal \u2013 exhibit a fluidity and\nimagination in attack that mix individual abilities with collective nous in\nvarious tactical modes and can switch between those modes with a high degree of\nunpredictability. Instead of focusing on individuals on their own I felt\nreviewing how well equipped the attacking force can be in the context of those\ntactical modalities will be a more cogent way of imagining their flight, so to\nspeak. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am also choosing to eschew a review based on statistical analysis of individuals or the team, simply due to the fact that those have been done already in few other places (including the excellent statistical analysis that are regularly published in Arseblog) and there wouldn\u2019t be much for me to add to. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Build-up through the middle of the\npitch:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Undoubtedly the weakest aspect of this\nteam\u2019s attacking abilities. The problem starts with lack of creativity in the\nmidfield and extends all the way to absence of high-quality passers in the\nattack. Aubameyang is one of the very best in European football in scoring\ngoals, but his passing range is neither incisive nor decisive. Lacazette,\nespecially under Arteta, has often been asked to drop deep and drag opposition\ncentral defenders with him which allows his friend on the left to drift in and\nattack the space down the middle \u2013 our first goal in the FA Cup final was a\ngreat example where Laca took his central defender with him down to the middle\nof the pitch allowing Auba to have a clear run to the goal leading to the\npenalty. But in that deep-lying position when he receives the ball he doesn\u2019t\nalways make the right pass either to Auba or to Pepe, either to their feet or\nto the channel behind the defenders for them to run into. A similar problem\nplagues Pepe\u2019s game \u2013 whereas he delivers excellent cross from the right on his\nleft foot (more about that later) and the best dribbler in the team, he fails\nto release the ball early enough or choose the wrong pass after the beating the\nfirst couple of defenders. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nelson, Saka and Martinelli are all quite good \u2013 and they will only get better \u2013 in driving down to the byline and provide precise cutbacks but none of them are yet consistently good passers to create a series of fluid short triangles through the opposition midfield and defence to move the ball forward and dominate the area near the opposition penalty box, and to move a deep lying opposition defence around fast enough to create opportunities. The kind of movement that was once the trademark of Arsenal. Hopefully Arteta and his coaching team will help these very promising young players to develop this aspect of their game in the coming seasons.  Eddie, particularly, for all his qualities and flawless attitude needs to significantly improve his passing abilities to enjoy a sustained success at the top. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This may partially explain the acquisition\nof Willian (and more I think about the values he will bring in, more convinced\nI have started to become about the astuteness of this move) who brings with\nhim, along with his pace and dribbles, a consistently good passing\nability.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Counter-attack:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In my opinion the best aspect of this current Arsenal team. Even in the worst days in the first half of the season we were capable of scoring from lighting fast counter attacks. Aubameyang is of course often the focal point of such counter attacks because of his pace, the timing of his runs, the precision of his movements and his mostly unerring finishing abilities. But in his short time with the club Martinelli has shown himself to be an immensely promising player in that respect, the high point being his solo run straight through the middle \u2013 with a prostrate Kante left memorably flailing in his trail \u2013 to score our goal of the season away at Chelsea. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saka, Nelson, Eddie all are fast and capable of good movements, and all are competent finishers and as finishing being one of those aspects of a youngster\u2019s game that gets significantly better with experience, we can only expect their counter-attacking threats to grow over the course of the next season and beyond. Before Martinelli got injured in training, he had struck up an effective partnership with Saka on the left. Even if and when we choose to play Auba in his more favoured position down the middle, I think a left sided trio of Tierney-Saka-Martinelli can hurt any opposition and they will only get better over time. Let us just hope we keep them fit and firing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the right side Pepe in his first season\nwith us hasn\u2019t delivered fully on the promise of his counter-attacking threats.\nThe problem has been partly with the team as he hasn\u2019t often been released with\nthe rightly timed pass from midfield, but he himself needs to improve the\ndirectness of his game to ensure that he doesn\u2019t try to dribble more than he\nhas to and has more confidence in his passing and shooting abilities. Whenever\nhe attacked the space or the ball more instinctively, he has looked\nthreatening. Of the few memorable moments he has produced \u2013 including a few\nsumptuous goals from the open play \u2013 the disallowed goal at the end of a\nprecise counter attack against Chelsea in the FA cup final is the kind of magic\nI hope he will be producing more regularly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pressing from the front:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before Mikel took over our pressing looked disjointed and hence largely ineffective. It took Arteta a little while to get the organisation and timing of the press right, something I suspect the team worked on a lot in practice especially at the break before the season resumed. After the restart we started to see a considerable improvement as concerted pressing from the front led to forced turnovers that we were able to score from. Eddie particularly pressed well and helped to set up the tempo. He himself and Auba scored from goalkeeping mistakes forced by intelligent pressing, but the two best moments came in our home match against Liverpool where we forced two of the most consummate experts in playing out from the back \u2013 Van Dijk and Allisson \u2013 into errors that we scored from \u2013 Laca and Nelson being the respective scorers — to help us to a memorable 2-1 win, which in hindsight must have had helped the team to build some much needed confidence before the two wins at Wembley.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Martinelli I think can become a significant\nthreat in this part of the game as well. His relentless directness, snapping\nconstantly at defenders\u2019 heels, is a perfect fit for aggressive pressing.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finishing:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Assuming our talismanic captain chooses to remain with us towards making it a habit to juggle  trophies at the end of the seasons, we have one of the best finishers in all of European football: the clever movements in the penalty box, the well-honed instinct to be at the right place at the right time, the mostly unerring final touch — he does have that occasional \u201chow did he miss that?\u201d moment in him which fortunately for him and us never gets him down \u2013 and more and more a sparkle of inventive genius. The first goal of the FA Cup semi with that outside of the right boot finish, the goal against Watford where he bounced the ball on the floor from a long throw in the penalty box to create enough elevation to manufacture a bicycle kick from nowhere, the second goal in FA cup final where the feint to send the entire Chelsea defence wrong way for a sumptuous finish with his less favoured left foot \u2026 he is undoubtedly the key to our attack. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In terms of goalscoring numbers Lacazette had his poorest season ever in the senior football. One suspects the lack of cohesion in our football eventually got to him. He worked hard but there was a noticeable loss of pace and decisiveness. He was no longer the automatic starter but was alternating with Eddie to play down the middle. Towards the end there were signs of return to form with a thunderbolt from outside the box in the North London derby and a cleverly taken goal against Liverpool. We can only hope that he starts the next season at his best. There are some rumours floating around about we potentially selling him instead of offering him a new contract now or at the end of the next season as he has only two years left, but I think he offers the kind of quality, experience, and tactical maturity that will not be easy to replace by Eddie. Especially with our participation in Europa we should have both of them in the squad. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other than the FA Cup win, and the overall\npositivity generated by noticeable progress under Arteta, the most pleasing\naspect of last season for me was the emergence of two excellent youngsters who\nI hope will continue to excel with us for years to come. Whereas the talent and\npromise of Bukayo Saka were known to us in the fan base based on his rising\nreputation through the academy and junior teams, Gabriel Martinelli was a\ndiscovery as he was coming from a lower division team in regional Brazilian\nleague. In the pre-season he had briefly caught the eye because of his speed\nand vibrancy, but once introduced in the first team in the cups he impressed\neveryone not just by the directness and attitude of his game, but also by his\nexcellent finishing, including a few surprisingly powerful and well-taken\nheaded goals. He built a good understanding with Saka down the left, a\npartnership that has all the promise of becoming a most potent one. Despite\nfinishing his season unfortunately truncated in the middle because of the\nserious injury he picked up in training, he was our second highest scorer after\nAuba. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saka is undoubtedly the most promising\nplayer to have come through the youth set-up at the club since Fabregas. Fast\nand with eye-catching technical abilities on the ball, tactically disciplined\nand ever learning, capable of exquisite crosses from the left wing, he is also\na very accomplished finisher. He has been deployed as the left winger, left\nwing-back, left-sided midfield player, right winger, central midfielder \u2013 some\none suspects as a part of education by Mikel \u2013 and even though he is much more\neffective as the left sided attacker in the front trio in no position he seemed\nout of depth. He was awarded the young player of the last season\u2019s Europa\nLeague, had the highest number of assists in Europa league, signed a new\ncontract with us, and promptly celebrated that with his first premier league\ngoal \u2013 a lovely left-footed volley against Wolves.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both Eddie and Nelson have goals in them.\nEddie is a reliable finisher from close range and attacks the final third very\nwell. Nelson\u2019s last season was somewhat interrupted by injuries but there were\nglimpses of his abilities towards the end, including a calm and composed finish\nagainst Liverpool. Both of them are only expected to get better, more so under\nArteta\u2019s watchful tutelage.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Set-pieces:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Auba, Pepe and Laca we have three\nexcellent penalty takers. A penalty for us in the PL is a rarity \u2013 unlike some\nother teams who seem to get one each time any of their players tumble over \u2013\nbut I don\u2019t remember us missing any this season. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whereas Auba, Laza \u2013 and David Luiz for that matter \u2013 are all competent free-kick takers, Pepe I think will become the most reliable of them, especially if the angle favours his left foot. He scored a couple of memorable ones this season. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

None of our attackers are good enough in\nthe air to score consistently from corner kicks. Nelson and Pepe both are\ncapable of delivering high quality balls in the box, as are Dani and Saka to a\nlesser extent. I think we should be able to build out a few well-practiced\ndrills that better leverages the aerial prowess of the defenders \u2013 especially\nthe newly acquired ones \u2013 to benefit from those deliveries. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Summary:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Along with the goalkeepers, the forward line in the squad are in least need of enhancements. If we can manage to improve our control in the midfield and bring more creative impetus from the middle of the pitch, we are well capable of becoming one of the most potent and efficient goal scoring teams in the league. Here is looking forward to 80+ premier league goals by the mighty Arsenal next season, driving us to a rightful return to the Champions League. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And Pierre juggling a trophy or two with\nthat infectious smile. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The dilemma in reviewing the squad for this strangest of past season is whether to review the performance of the squad throughout the season describing chronologically an arc of progress, regress or oscillations in between, or to review the squad for its full potential as an abstraction where the last season is only an input […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[13,10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1265"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1265"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1265\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1272,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1265\/revisions\/1272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}