{"id":3599,"date":"2021-06-14T10:53:14","date_gmt":"2021-06-14T09:53:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=3599"},"modified":"2021-06-23T13:15:09","modified_gmt":"2021-06-23T12:15:09","slug":"season-review-midfield","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=3599","title":{"rendered":"Season Review: Midfield"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<a id=\"u4PG1Xn-QIVdN-ibyczNOQ\" class=\"gie-single\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.co.uk\/detail\/1286297903\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;\" rel=\"noopener\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'u4PG1Xn-QIVdN-ibyczNOQ',sig:'V3hzHlbWdPFLE4rS4WO28_MBOphIhwk_SQseFW3ctCU=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'1286297903',caption: true ,tld:'co.uk',is360: false })});<\/script><script src=\"\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\" async=\"\"><\/script>\n\n\n\n<p>Arsenal ended the 2019-20 season with a newfound degree of optimism which was entirely unanticipated when earlier in the winter, floundering on the bottom half of the table and playing undoubtedly their worst football in this millennia, the club had no option but to bring in a new permanent coach as a desperate attempt to at least stop the slide.&nbsp;&nbsp;While the fact that the new face on the sidelines and matchday interviews was a rather familiar one from his playing days at the club where he evidently had left behind admirers, had helped the fanbase to not be overly critical of the appointment, his complete lack of any experience as the main man in charge at any level in any club left even the most ardent supporters of Arteta\u2019s long-term potential to be hoping primarily for some cohesiveness and quality to return to Arsenal\u2019s game, and to hope to finish the season on an upward curve, without necessarily any significant immediate improvements.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It is fair to say that by winning the FA Cup in his first (half) season at the club Mikel had raised hopes in his ability to turn things around faster than otherwise expected. But at the same time, it was equally obvious that the squad he had inherited was a deeply unbalanced one, lacking quality in some fundamental aspects of the modern game, most of all in the middle of the park.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He was able to put together a successful cup run by tightening up the defense \u2013 for which he should get a lot of credit given the disastrous, ill-disciplined, shapeless mess of a backline he had found himself to work with, though the goalkeeping duo of Bernd Leno and Emi Martinez were performing regular acts of heroics to save the team from worse embarrassments \u2013 and by using the specific attributes of the high-quality frontline in a tactically astute fashion. A tactics that worked well enough against opposition better than us, but whenever faced with a team who were willing to concede possession and sit deep themselves the paucity of creativity and control in Arsenal\u2019s midfield was made painfully obvious.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It was also becoming equally obvious that the midfield not only lacks quality, it would soon lack numbers. Guendouzi had fallen so far out with the coach (soon to be named manager) that he couldn\u2019t even manage to congratulate his team mates on winning the FA cup, and it was a foregone conclusion that he wouldn\u2019t be playing any part in Arteta\u2019s team. Energetic and passionate though his performances were in red-and-white, the underlying numbers identified a player with potential who still has a very long way to go to hope to become mainstay of any top team\u2019s midfield (an impression that his subsequent tenure at Hertha Berlin solidified).&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lucas Torreira, much more of a professional than the French teenager, and for a brief period in Unai Emery\u2019s earlier days looking like the player we need, was unsettled in England. A family tragedy brought on by the pandemic made it worse, and he was allowed to leave on loan in October. Even though Mikel had started his old teammate Mesut \u00d6zil in his first ten premier league matches in charge, by the end of the 2019-20 season they too had suffered what looked from outside to be irreconcilable differences and it was merely a matter of time (and the club finding a way out of the financial logjam they had created) before the German playmaker left the club, an eventuality that dragged on long enough to drive Arsenal supporters to seething frustrations about the club, or the player, or the manager, and in many cases about all of them.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dani Ceballos remained in the club for his second season on loan, after showing sparks of brilliance under Mikel, but more often failing to impose himself on the game or make match-winning contributions. It was hoped that with a year of experience behind him in the English football he would step up to the next level in his career which had by now, started to stall after early promise with the Spanish youth teams.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Among the academy graduates neither Joe Willock nor Ainsley Maitland-Niles were initially sent out on loan, the latter having played a more prominent role under Arteta, albeit as a wing back and not in his preferred midfield position. Mohamed Elneny came back from loan in the pre-season, participated in the successful Community Shield season opener, and Mikel \u2013 one supposes based partially on their familiarity from their playing days \u2013 put his trust on him as a reliable squad option.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Following a nearly non-existent pre-season the English league season opened in mid-September with Europa league group stages to follow later in the Fall. The world reeling from suffering, chaos and uncertainty with no easy way out of the crisis yet, football felt to be a privilege, a distraction, and an act of defiance, all at the same time. In the absence of the energy feedback loop between the players on the field and the supporters in the stadium, a lack that led to less spontaneity and less individual initiatives from the playing eleven, the matches took on a more cagey and tactical nature, and in a team like Arsenal where the midfield was already suffering acutely from a lack of creativity that caginess quickly morphed into a dull, pointless monotony that was neither easy on the eye nor beneficial to the standing on the table.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For the start of the season at Fulham Arteta had continued with the 3-4-3 formation that had brought the cup success, with Xhaka and Elneny in the middle of the pitch. Even though Arsenal had won the first league match 3-0 away at Fulham it soon became obvious that this formation was easy to play against, with the midfield existing primarily to keep and rotate possession around the center circle and look to rely on the wingbacks to carry the ball forward or the wingers to cut inside, drop back and act as auxiliary midfield players. The midfield lacked a ball carrier as well as a creative playmaker.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As the summer transfer window was coming to close Arsenal were frantically looking to fill these positions. The club was able to bring in Thomas Partey on transfer deadline day, understandably to play as the retainer-carrier to add both muscularity and verticality in the midfield. However, the problem of lack of creativity in the midfield continued to plague the team.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The problem was further compounded by Arteta\u2019s insistence on playing Willian and using him in an inverted winger-playmaker role that the Brazilian in his impressive career had never played, neither for club nor country. As the midfield lacked any cutting edge, the teams started to find it easier and easier to cut off the supply to the forward line. Lacazette starting in the middle of the front three started to drop deeper and deeper to play almost as a number 10, and Aubameyang, with no one spotting his runs and the opposition often just crowding him out, looked more and more forlorn.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In contrast to the league, Arsenal played with a bit more flair in the Europa league group stages where oppositions didn\u2019t possess the tactical discipline or defensive muscle to follow the blueprints of premier league teams to play against this one-dimensional Arsenal team. Also, the fact that in Europa league players like P\u00e9p\u00e9, Nelson or Willock \u2013 not fully trusted by Mikel yet to play his tactical game in the league \u2013 found chances to express their individuality, helped a bit as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thomas Partey indeed brought in a much-needed dynamism in the midfield but a combination of injuries and the typical first season adjustment problems didn\u2019t allow him to take control of the games the way that Mikel would have hoped for. There were a few impressive performances in between, most noticeably in a rare away victory at Manchester United where Partey in tandem with Elneny \u2013 Xhaka earning a rare rest on the bench in PL \u2013 dominated and controlled the midfield. That 1-0 win \u2013 the solitary goal coming from Aubameyang\u2019s penalty after Bellerin was fouled by Pogba in the box \u2013 raised false hopes. Performances and results in the league plummeted after that, and the wretched run continued way into December. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Partey got injured in the away loss in the North London Derby, and Arsenal seemed to have given up trying to play through the middle. There was a patch of games where the team even resorted to throwing in a barrage of crosses which were fruitless in absence of a target man. Saka in the frontline continued his upward arc, and both Lacazette and Aubameyang showed flashes of their individual qualities but their conversion rates, especially in case of captain Auba, fell significantly away from the dizzying heights of the last two seasons and, given the paucity of chances created, that meant we were struggling to score goals.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Granit Xhaka kept his place in the team and continued to divide opinions. One could understand why Arteta \u2013 and two managers before him \u2013 trusted him to do a certain job: keep possession, rotate, offer positional protection to allow fullbacks to attack. Mikel further solidified that tactical focus by deploying Granit in a primarily left sided role, especially when Tierney was fit, and given the extraordinary left-sided skew of Arsenal\u2019s attack Xhaka would often play as an auxiliary left-back, providing protection for the space opened by overlapping Tierney. While this approach might have yielded a consistent playing pattern for the manager to use as his basis, it also led to a ponderous predictability that Xhaka\u2019s innate slow tempo of moving the ball made even worse. This excessively left sided approach to attack also meant Saka or P\u00e9p\u00e9 (whenever given the chance ahead of Willian or coming on as a substitute) needed to provide a lot of support to the build-up play by often playing as right sided midfielders, further nullifying their potency in the attacking third. Saka, a more versatile player than either P\u00e9p\u00e9 or Willian, and more capable of playing in pockets of space in the midfield fared better in that role, but the overall effect on the midfield was not beneficial.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We were still playing 3-4-3, and with Partey injured Ceballos or Elneny would accompany Xhaka. After Xhaka was sent off at Arsenal\u2019s 0-1 home loss to Burnley, Ceballos and Elneny played in the middle of pitch for the next two league games, amply demonstrating that they do not at all complement each other. The limitations of Elneny were well-known, and the consistency of his work-rate and tactical discipline meant his performances came less under scrutiny. Whereas Dani continued to frustrate by failing to put his considerable technical skills on the ball to any meaningful use in a consistent manner. The glimpses of ability in possession and the infrequent creative sparks in passing were more than sabotaged by untidiness and lack of focus.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the last match before Christmas, away at Everton, Arsenal lost 2-1 in a low-quality encounter. That had put Arsenal on 15<sup>th<\/sup>&nbsp;position on the league table, with just 13 points from 12 games and a negative goal difference. Though the concerns about relegation might have been a little bit exaggerated, the team was in dire need for change, even if that meant a change of manager.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A few days later we lost 1-4 away at Manchester City in the Carabao Cup, and it seemed liked the Boxing Day home game against London opponents Chelsea would further deepen the gloom surrounding the team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Arteta chose to freshen things up for that match \u2013 it may be too simplistic to attribute his change of plan and personnel to either the virtue of courage, or forces of necessity alone; it might have been a combination of factors where desperation and insight found themselves arguing in favour of the same choices \u2013 and used a 4-2-3-1 formation, with Emile Smith-Rowe starting at the top of the midfield, just behind the front three of Martinelli (another fresh introduction to the PL starting line-up), Lacazette and Saka.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>ESR and Saka interchanged positions, and both played superbly between the lines to create opportunities and bring verve, unpredictability and penetration to the Arsenal attack.&nbsp;&nbsp;That 3-1 win further highlighted the desperate need for more creativity in the midfield as surely Arsenal couldn\u2019t go through the rest of the season relying only on the 20 years old ESR to play that role.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That win gave the team a necessary boost and Arsenal played well enough through the hectic winter schedule, and the most enjoyable performance came among swirling snows at the Hawthorns where Arsenal put four past West Bromwich Albion. Though Tierney rightly took the headlines with his sumptuous solo goal, ESR continued to impress with his effervescent movements, technical composure, and maturity of decision making. The good run of form was spoiled by an away loss at Southampton in the FA Cup, but PL and Europa league still offered enough possibilities to salvage the season. The despondency of the early Winter days gave way to a bit more cheerful outlook.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The club took the winter transfer window seriously enough, and in addition to successfully moving out the unwanted, and managing promising loans for the promising youngsters Willock and AMN who needed more game time, it also managed to bring in the creative talent of Martin \u00d8degaard on loan from Real Madrid. Like many precocious talents before him the Norwegian never settled in Real Madrid, spending most of his playing days since joining Madrid as a teenager out on loan. His last loan spell at another Spanish club Real Sociedad was a highly successful one, and the prospect of him combining with the likes of Emile or Saka was an enticing one.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u00d8degaard\u2019s first appearance was as a substitute for ESR, in a somewhat insipid 0-0 draw with Manchester United at home. His first start came against Leeds at Emirates, where he started at the top of the midfield with ESR and Saka flanking Aubameyang.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Whereas Emile was more powerful and dynamic while running with the ball past defensive lines, Martin was more of an orchestrator who played to the strengths of his team-mates, and quickly formed effective partnerships with ESR, Saka, Lacazette and later P\u00e9p\u00e9. He was instrumental in Arsenal\u2019s North London Derby home win, scoring his second goal for the club after a long-distance stunner away at Olympiacos in Europa. The fluidity and intelligence of his game earned him Arsenal\u2019s player of month award for March. He returned from the international break nursing an ankle injury, and after playing the full ninety minutes against Liverpool in a demoralizing away loss, he was sidelined for a while. And then when he returned from that injury-forced absence it took him a while to recover his form, by which time Arsenal\u2019s season had slipped back into irrelevance.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Arsenal\u2019s league form remained inconsistent in the Spring. Though much better than the horrific sequence of results in the Fall, it was still not good enough to cover lost ground in the league table and it soon became apparent that unless an extraordinarily favorable set of results involving all of others the clubs fighting for positions 3-6 were to coincide, the only way Arsenal could play in Europe next season was to win the Europa League. Despite stuttering against Benfica, Olympiacos and then Slavia Prague, Arsenal had just enough quality to manage to win these ties, with their most impressive performance coming in a whirlwind 30 minute spell away at Prague when ESR, P\u00e9p\u00e9, Saka and Lacazette combined to produce our best football since the home win against Chelsea. ESR again showcased his impeccable pedigree as a highly promising versatile modern midfielder, not only adept at creating chances and breaking through defensive lines, but also when necessary, dropping back to provide balance and defensive protection.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The focus shifting onto the Europa League, Arsenal lost the semi-final tie to a limited Villareal team where the lack of dynamism at the heart of the midfield was further accentuated by some questionable tactical choices. Lacazette was out injured, and Aubameyang having just recovered from malaria was on the bench, so Mikel decided to start ESR as a false nine in the first leg of the semifinal. The front four of \u00d8degaard, Saka, ESR and P\u00e9p\u00e9 looked potent on paper, but Villareal simply crowded out the midfield to cut off supply, and the inability of Xhaka, Dani and on this occasion Partey to spring quick attacks in transition from deeper midfield positions, combined with a very poor ball retention in the midfield meant that the front-line could never build a sustained attack. ESR\u2019s natural tendency and ability to drop deeper and carry the ball forward through the defensive blocks was wasted as a result of him playing high up, and when he chose to drop deeper there was no focal point in the attack.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That game again highlighted the key concern about the Arsenal midfield \u2013 its inability to collectively create sustained pressure on the opposition defensive lines through quick interchanges, and its inability to create quick transition from defence to attack. Despite the individual qualities and brilliance of ESR and \u00d8degaard on the ball, Arsenal midfield as a collective remained mostly dysfunctional.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After the hapless loss in Europa semi-final, Arsenal\u2019s performances and result picked up a bit in the league with P\u00e9p\u00e9 scoring a cluster of goals, and the defence playing reasonably well. Elneny scored his first PL goal, and that made the collective contribution of Xhaka, Partey, Elneny and Ceballos towards the goals scored column in PL to be two!! There were no late runs into the box, or enough shots from the edge of the box. Even if we add ESR\u2019s one league goal, and \u00d8degaard\u2019s one league goal, that is altogether four goals from the midfield in an entire league season! That is an astoundingly poor output by the midfield, and nowhere good enough if Arsenal were to reclaim the Champions League position anytime soon. Even though the comparison may not be entirely fair, it is tempting to point out that Joe Willock, out on loan at Newcastle, managed to score eight goals for them in 14 appearances.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Arsenal ended the season without any trophy, and for the first time in 25 years without any European competition to look forward to, and more often than not playing unexciting, unimaginative football. It often felt that the limitations of the midfield were further exacerbated by the overly orchestrated tactics employed by the manager. But it may also be possible that the manager decided on these tactics to compensate for the limitations of the midfield, whereas some midfield players (especially the attacking midfield players &#8212; I think ESR and \u00d8degaard both would have scored a few more goals playing in a more free-flowing team) may feel that the micromanaged tactical aspects had inhibited their natural creative instincts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To make progress next season it is mandatory that the quality of football played in the middle of the park must improve significantly, and that improvement will need to come both from improving players \u2013 some existing players improving as well as improving on some existing players \u2013 and less inhibited tactics. I personally would love to see us play a 4-3-3 formation, using players like Saka, P\u00e9p\u00e9, Martinelli in the wider positions supported by a fluid three-man midfield where Partey plays the deeper role and ESR and another creative playmaker float between the lines, interchanging positions with the wide players, and while defending dropping deep to initiate quick counterattacks after regaining possession.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That is, I would love to see Arsenal play true to the footballing philosophy of positive, attractive football and build on that to achieve success. The first step towards that must be to improve the midfield.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Embed from Getty Images Arsenal ended the 2019-20 season with a newfound degree of optimism which was entirely unanticipated when earlier in the winter, floundering on the bottom half of the table and playing undoubtedly their worst football in this millennia, the club had no option but to bring in a new permanent coach as [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3599"}],"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=3599"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3599\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3632,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3599\/revisions\/3632"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}