As of writing this article, it is three days on from Arsenal’s 1-1 draw against Manchester City, but the sense of frustration is still fresh on a personal level. A last-gasp equaliser against one of the best teams in the league should be viewed positively, but the majority will feel it was two points dropped, and they have every right to feel so. That Manchester City team was there for the taking, but Mikel Arteta chose to waste the first period by going with a fairly conservative line-up. More specifically, the persistent use of a midfield three that lacks cutting edge was to be our own undoing yet again. For the third time this season, the Spaniard started Mikel Merino, Declan Rice and Martin Zubimendi in the same midfield, and unsurprisingly it did not take long for Arteta to make adjustments by bringing on Eberechi Eze at half-time.
A conservative structure
The attention has centred around Mikel Merino in midfield, but the structure of our midfield has been more defensive since the start of the campaign. This is irrespective of whether Martin Ødegaard is on the pitch or not. Even when the Norwegian is involved, Arteta has mostly fielded a double pivot this campaign, and it could be a suggestion that he does not trust Zubimendi as a lone pivot.
This was evident as far back as the last game of pre-season, that comfortable 3-0 win against Athletic Bilbao. The pair of Rice and Zubimendi have played very close together this season, often taking turns mid-game to build from the back with the centre-backs. This structure has clearly made us stronger defensively, especially considering how attacking Riccardo Calafiori has been this campaign. It has made us solid, but it has come at a cost as well.
Rice’s role restricted
Declan Rice was one of our most productive players in front of goal last season, and I think Arteta has sacrificed that to provide more cover for Zubimendi. The diminutive midfielder is excellent at reading the game and plays the defensive role well. However, compared to the likes of Manchester City’s Rodri or Thomas Partey, he is less of an imposing presence in that area of the pitch.
When Partey was still at the club, Rice was afforded the freedom to play a box-to-box role, but this campaign the England international has been considerably restricted.
It is important to note that the entire squad is still adapting after a summer of changes, but it is difficult to ignore. To his credit, Zubimendi’s performances so far suggest he is more than capable of handling the defensive midfield position as a lone pivot. Arteta probably does not see it that way, but it will be fascinating to see if he changes his mind any time soon.
These are my opinions, and it will be fascinating to see how the midfield evolves as the season progresses. What do you think, Gooners?
Benjamin Kenneth
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Arteta’s inverted-LB tactic didn’t work consistently in pre-season, hence Rice dropping deep and Calafiori overlapping
Had Arsenal given Arteta a physically-dominant CF to hold the balk and win aerial duels in final-third, he could’ve used his inverted-LB tactic again
Problem is, Zubimendi doesn’t look convincing in build-up play and quick defense yet. He is easy to lose the ball or his footing, and some defensive challenges made lack precision timing. On the plus side, he does read the game well. Not hating on the guy. Just blame it on Partey for setting the standards high.
As for the tactics, all that cautious approach is seriously a waste of time, and the reason why people are growing frustrated with MA. Look at the 2nd half. As soon as creative players are swapped into the game, our intensity greatly improved and we move forward bravely. It forced City to be more cautious than us. That should have been the way from the very beginning. Again, that Liverpool game speaks similarly after we changed the midfield.
Eze at number 10 with Rice doing B2B interchanging with Zubimendi will put everything in place.
I disagree, this is how rice played with jorginho in what was a very successful partnership a couple of years ago. Zubimendi can be effective going forwards as much as rice – he’s a better passer of the ball, particularly when it comes to through passes, and he has a good understanding of where to be when we’re applying pressure in attack, as well as where to be in defence. He’s not as physically strong as partey, and that does mean he loses out at times (on the floor at least, he’s probably better in the air), but I do think we can make it work well.
I don’t particularly trust rice to play the lone pivot either, so we’re kind of stuck with this anyway imo. He’s got a lot of qualities but the main thing he excels at is simply winning the ball back – he can also carry the ball with pace and he’s a solid passer but he’s not one to open teams up with his passing and he’s not the best in tight spaces. He’s always been a strange signing for me – he’s very obviously a really top player, but I’m not sure he’s an ideal fit for a team that wants to dominate possession. He’s more old school imo and I could see him fitting in well with the invincibles team or klopp’s Liverpool team, and even this current Liverpool team. To get the best from him, I think we simply need to be moving the ball far more quickly as a team and taking more risks. I think that would allow him to play more instinctively, which i think is more his game. It would also benefit gyokeres (and martinelli it seems!).
Anyway, I think the problems have mainly come from playing merino in the three with them – merino is a good player but should mainly be covering Rice and zubimendi’s deeper midfield positions when needed, and coming off the bench when we need a goal (seems to be good at that!). He should only be starting higher up the pitch in a real emergency.
Very good article, I’ve always said zubi is not a baller,sadly. and I wasn’t impressed when he came in for partey.
Merino is even more suitable in advance midfield role.
No serious elite team in Europe uses 2dms let alone 3 but I’m going to partially withdraw merino as dm but rather cm
So arteta should be wise for his job sake and use the trio of rice or zub, merino/odegard, nwaneri/eze/odegard
Rice,zubi,odegard trio will not take us nowhere especially now that our captain is strugling and surely rice,zubi,merino trio will be a greater disaster.
I look forward to tonight’s game, our pig headed not inspiring coach won’t have choice but to use skillful nwaneri and elegant max,
My 2 favourite players along side eze and saka ñ saliba
COYG
Zubemendi is a good player, nothing more unfortunately. Much like MA was in his playing days….passes well albeit it very safe easy passes, not very quick, average at tackling and positioning. All in all a decent player when not under pressure. Not great but no bad
Not even slightly close to Partey, certainly not a game winner
I’m glad we have Zubimendi. He’s great at passing, winning back possession, he’s one of the best midfielders for interceptions. He’s a great player
Zubimendi has a level of intelligence that makes him a huge asset to the club – even Rodri of all people claimed he was one of the best DM’s in the world.
The way Arteta set’s his central midfield benefits no one – once he realises that and achieves some balance there you will see Zubimendi.
You forget just how poor and inconsistent Partey was. It was only when he was coming to the end of his contract and the possibility of a new and potentially more lucrative contract did he start to play…
Partey is more assured on the ball than zubi will ever be(I’m sorry) and he was the closest thing to rodri and Rodri was only cheering his country man when he made that speach to zubi besides he’s the best they have in that role presently but it doesn’t mean he’s one of the best
I haven’t been impressed by Zubi, yet when you see him for Spain, he looks great. The difference? Pedri, one of the best midfielders in the world and a team that plays attacking football.
Zubi is not Partey, but Arteta will never adapt to a player’s quality. We move every player out of his natural position and then spend hours debating why it doesn’t work.
Gyokeres is suffering because he’s a striker needing fast play and balls in behind, but we expect him to be a hold up player.
The real problem is Arteta, not the players.
Players need time to adapt to a new league,new tactics and new teammates,especially players signed from abroad.
Take Florian Wirtz for instance. He was considered one of the best players in the world prior to his Liverpool move,yet he has mostly had poor performances in the Prem. Does that mean he’s suddenly become a terrible player? Does it mean Slot is the problem?
Don’t get me wrong,Arteta has made some mistakes but you can’t put it all on him. New players need time and we’ve had some tough fixtures to start the season.
It feels to me like Partey being a fan favourite,especially on this site,makes some fans view Zubimendi unfavourably,like he has some point to prove,yet I think he’s been the most impressive and consistent of our new signings. I think he’s been our best player after Calafiori. He tops most defensive statistics.
Onto today’s topic, I think Rice playing deeper has more to do with Gyokeres and our new style of play.
– Rice is arguably the best long passer in the team. With us looking to be more direct,it makes sense to have our best long passer to hit those long switches to our forwards. Indeed this tactic has enabled us to find Saka/Madueke countless times this season.
– Arteta has never actually used a lone pivot-there are usually two. When Partey was in the team, the other pivot was usually the inverting LB . Our LB now joins the attack so it makes sense to have two midfielders deeper. I don’t think any coach works with a lone pivot in the Prem. There are usually two.
I didn’t agree with Arteta’s midfield of Rice-Zubimendi and Merino because I think it’s unbalanced. But I think his decision to move Rice deeper is a good thing because it makes makes use of two of his best attributes- his defensive ability and his passing range.
-Eze,even as a left winger,tends to occupy the left attacking midfield area that Rice used to occupy last season. I know I’d rather have Eze in that area than Rice.
I also forgot to add that previously,we played with false nines who contributed in midfield, so Rice didn’t have to do some ‘midfield duties’. Well guess what,we now have a different centre forward who doesn’t contribute as much in midfield so midfielders have to carry extra duties they didn’t have when Jesus or Havertz played.
While you are correct about Rice about playing further back in a double pivot, you are wrong about us playing a single pivot or Arteta not trusting Zubimendi. We always played in a double pivot except that it was the left back who would invert and be the 2nd pivot. This season Calafiori is playing further forward inverting in an advance midfield role while Rice drops back.
Basically Calafiori and Rice have switched role.
Exactly. Calafiori has the most shots of all Arsenal players so far which shows just how advanced he is being asked to play. They’ve switched roles.
There’s a thinking that Calafiori is more comfortable in those advanced areas than Rice. It helps that as a left footed player, he can easily slip a ball to the left winger or striker.
Zubimendi too me looks lost at 6, he looks so small against premier league midfielders. I haven’t been impressed so far. I hope he can improve because he needs too.
We are consistently seeing Rice at LB and Calafiori in midfield. I don’t like this and cannot see how it can be beneficial. I hate the inverted fullback. Unfortunately we don’t even have fullbacks anymore, just CBs all the way.
In my own opinion Rice merino zubi midfield trio is a disaster. The worse part of it Arteta trying to force merino to pick or rise in partnership with zubi rice and the more he does that Liverpool is giving arsenal gap in terms of point. Same gamble happened last season when he was forcing havert to pick form, before havert could pick which he eventually picked when he scored his first league goal through penalty Liverpool has already start giving arsenal gap in terms of point.
My advise is for Arteta to use zubi, Eze and Declan rice and in the second half zubi be taken off rice replaces him Eze switch to supporting striker position and Nwaneri takes over as CM. This midfield pairing will mount pressure on any team any time any day. Nwaneri and Eze pairing will make Gyokere get lots of balls to score. Just like what happen in mancity match. The creativity of Eze and Nwaneri brought about the martinelli goal.
Arteta stop gambling by using merino Declan rice together you are giving Liverpool upper hand to lead the table.