Arsenal has looked strong this season, picking up results match after match. They are unbeaten in the league, and their only setback this season was a disappointing 2-1 loss to Lens in the Champions League. The Gunners can only be described as fantastic so far.
Even still, there has been one thing that many have felt isn’t going well with them, and that is a problem with their goal scoring as they haven’t been scoring as many goals as they should.
There have been numerous proposals to address this negative trait, but after viewing the new tactical approach Mikel Arteta introduced against Sheffield, I believe he is pushing for his team to score more goals.
The Spanish tactician made a few changes to his starting lineup against Sheffield, resting Martin Odegaard and Jorginho in favour of Kai Havertz and Emile Smith Rowe.
Smith Rowe and Havertz played the double No. 8 role, while Declan Rice was the No. 6.
Havertz and Smith Rowe’s roles as No. 8s, notably, had a twist. A twist that made Arsenal appear to be playing with a front five at times While Smith Rowe and Martinelli were playing link-up football, Smith Rowe would occasionally drift to the left wing with Martinelli tucking in, similar to how Havertz and Saka did. The two Arsenal No. 8s would occasionally stray out to the wings. Zinchenko, who is prone to drifting to midfield, filled the vacuum they left at midfield: Arsenal’s attack was overloaded and their midfield was still defensively insured.
Such a strategy unlocks Arsenal’s attacking play, and if mastered in the future, it may be the ideal technique to deploy against teams that will aim to frustrate the Gunners and make it difficult to break them down.
Mikel Arteta! What a coach! His strategies keep improving right in front of our eyes.
Sam P
Watch all the goals here including Nketiah’s hat-trick
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Liked seeing Saka drift from right to left and the centre. He is always double marked on the right so it makes sense to drift and drag those defenders out of position to creat gaps if anything else. Nelson seems to have got stale and just making up the numbers like Kai. I was happy with smith Rowe trying some through balls that almost paid off. He is a better sub for Odeguaard than Viera, who has also got stale of late. Nketiah should play every game until he drops, as he is a confidence player, who plays better when he starts games and usually can go on a scoring run when he is confident.
Your first sentence about Saka drifting centrally was actually made possible partly due to Havertz drifting wide, dragging with him at least one marker each time. So I’m actually surprised when you say Havertz was just making numbers. I thought he made runs which allowed Saka to drift inside with more space. He also won aerial duels for Saka to run to but I suppose those don’t count.
Too many kicks in Mikel’s dresser. Mago!!!
Let us remember , with due respect to Sheffield United, it was Sheffield United we played against. That said, it was indeed a great performance by Arsenal and hopefully they keep up these performances in tougher games against tougher opponents. I am so happy that ESR finally got his start in the PL and hopefully he will now be a regular in the Arsenal starting line up, he really deserves it.
But still 7, 3, 0 after 10 games, without playing our best football 😉
Nketiah, affirmative should start every game after what he displayed on Saturday so he does not lose the impetus.
Sheffield are in the relegation zone so let’s not be carried away with the win against them. Let’s wait until after the west Ham and Newcastle games.
Arsenal is a perfect team now