It raised eyebrows when Mikel Arteta opted for a midfield trio of Martin Zubimendi, Declan Rice and Mikel Merino against Liverpool.
Despite the criticism aimed at the Spaniard for that setup, praise continues to pour in for his decision to pair Zubimendi and Rice in a double pivot.
Rice and Zubimendi forming a strong partnership
Rice and Zubimendi are beginning to forge one hell of a midfield partnership.
Rice’s strengths have been fully unlocked alongside the Spaniard. He now anchors the base for key interceptions, carries the ball forward at opportune moments, and rotates with Zubimendi during build-up play to avoid being the sole receiver.
He is free to ping diagonals to the wingers, drifts between left and right channels, and expresses himself with far more fluidity.
Ryan Gravenberch, who experienced the intensity of that pivot first-hand on Sunday night, could not help but acknowledge its strength, even with Zubimendi not at his absolute best.
“Yes, in the first half, it was really difficult to press them,” admitted Gravenberch on Liverpool’s official podcast.
“They always had a solution, and Rice dropped into midfield to join Zubimendi, so it was really difficult.”
He went on to reveal that Liverpool had to adjust tactically to contain them:
“In the second half, we changed the way that we pressed, and it was really, really better.”
The pairing clearly gave the Reds a difficult test. With Rice and Zubimendi continuing to gel, Arteta now has a clear and simple tactical switch at his disposal.
Tactical tweak could sharpen Arsenal
It is time he embraced a No.10 platformed by two central midfielders. That tweak could sharpen Arsenal’s chance creation, allowing Martin Odegaard or Eberechi Eze to focus solely on feeding Viktor Gyokeres with goal-scoring opportunities.
A healthy battle between Eze and Odegaard for that No.10 role should elevate both players and could leave Arsenal boasting one of the strongest midfields in Europe.
Your thoughts welcome in the comments.
Daniel O
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What are they doing because they did not score a goal! I guess another idea is needed…
Wether it is a tactical tweak or not Rice needs to go back to 6. If Zubimendi can play 8, fine but we need a shield at 6 and Rice is that. Zubimendi is supposed to be known for his passing. He maybe better swapping duties with Rice.
A great article to have a debate about Daniel!!
It’s always interesting to read what professionals say and think about a game, especially when, I suggest, around 99% of us think MA made the wrong call with his starting eleven.
I’m still not convinced about Merino, but I was wrong about Odegaard, so what do I know?!
My other observation from the quotes made, is this…. if Slot was able to see and make the changes at half time, why did it take so long for MA to react?
Until the 83rd minute, it didn’t seem to have mattered, but, as Indian Gunner London pointed out in another article, it wasn’t until that goal went in, that we changed tactics?
Food for thought, but I can’t see Merino staying in the starting eleven and we have better options that will make the midfield even stronger…. in my opinion!!
But ken, i am sorry if this sounds anti Arteta (it isn’t) it is a trait of his. He NEVER makes the first move and is alway reactive, instead of pro active, especially away from home. It is what a lot of us hate and is holding us back. When it counts, he gets out flanked, far too often. How many times over a season does he wait until over 60 minutes to make subs and how many in the last 90 minutes?
Sorry, not 90 but 80.
Sensible criticism Reggie.
I thought his subs against Leeds were very timely and good, but it was exasperating to see him go back to his old cautious way against pool.
Interestingly Reggie, although Slot did make the changes, they still couldn’t break us down in open play and that, for me, is a positive.
Did you view the free kick and what was your opinion if you did?
The free kick was as accurate as you could get it BUT it was 30 yards away, Raya had a good view and was beaten for the only reason, his height and reach. I see Allison and Donaruma say, stopping it. He is our goalkeeper and makes game winning saves on a regular basis. But I have always questioned his size for a keeper. But thats my opinion. Should he get beaten from so far? I think his size in those situations is handicap.
Just looked raya 1.83 cm Allison 1.93 and Donaruma 1.96. So yes 100% i would put money on them saving it.
I meant the pool players standing to close to the wall?
Regarding Raya, I still think it was the superb free kick rather than the keeper – just as those two great free kicks Rice produced against RM.
They were a metre away at least. I think you could see them making sure they were. Nothing untowards.
Raya is handicapped in certain situations because of his height. He was there but not got the reach.
😂,give it a rest Ken ffs ,reaching per ……
Remember the last time Arteta went with this 3 DM approach? That’s right, the 0-2 loss to Bournemouth last year, where we also failed to create anything in open play.
Same languid play, sideways and back passing, completely starving the attack of any creativity. Many of us hoped never to see that setup again.
Unfortunately, we saw it again, and it yielded the exact same results; no creativity, dull attack, and Gyokeres had 2 touches in the first half I think?
Awesome tactics; top striker against a Liverpool team giving up 2 goals a game and we use Gyokeres as a decoy rather than attack them.
Said it before, if Arteta wins he looks like a genius, unfortunately we lost, so his tactics rightfully being criticized and questioned.
Last league victory at Anfield was in 2012. At Anfield we are seldom great and it doesn’t matter what brand of football we are playing, because Liverpool is mostly superior.
I have no problem with our tactics against Liverpool and we almost got a draw. In open play there were almost no difference between the teams. Going there to get one point and try to steal all three will never be wrong from my point of view. I’m pretty sure that Liverpool will not drop many points at Anfield during this season either.
With lots of injuries and many new players I think we have started the season in a strong way.
Talking about Raya:His position(he was not even in the center of the frame) before the free kick was wrong because he must had noticed that the Liverpool player is right footer and in that position the only way the ball was going to be directed was at his right side; so when he jump to stop the ball he was unable to reach because he was too far on the left of the frame.
My issue with Arteta is not what he did in this game, it’s his overall football philosophy (mostly) against the better teams, this hugging ball posession with a series of short passes going nowhere, building this illusion of being calm and in control for seventy minutes, then trying to win the game in the final twenty, guess what, in the same way you can win in twenty, you can also loss in twenty minutes. If you play a positive game from the start, then there is more time to make in-game adjustments and change tactics depending on the game state.