During the international break, I read comments such as “Arsenal will now dominate English football for years to come,” “we’ll win our next ten league fixtures,” and that “we are one of the best sides in the world” (apparently taking trophies out of the criteria).
Apparently, Mikel Arteta has created a juggernaut?
It made me question if I have been watching the same team this season.
If someone said in the summer that we would drop points to Liverpool and Man City, you would say that’s a standard start to the campaign. So why are some of my peers acting like they are witnessing something revolutionary at the Emirates?
It’s almost like some Gooners think that if you say something, it must be true. That’s not exclusive to sport, by the way – just look at what’s happening around the universe.
I don’t know where this notion has come from that we would go to Fulham or host Crystal Palace and destroy them with free-flowing football.
Instead, this season has been the usual sideways, slow passing, mostly in front of defensive walls. The only goals in both recent London derbies came from set pieces, as have nearly half of our goals in the Premier League since August. Instead of one prolific scorer, we have had twelve different scorers already in the league. In all competitions, we’ve only scored more than twice in three games.
None of this is a criticism.
Arteta’s Arsenal: built from the back
Mikel Arteta did his apprenticeship under Pep Guardiola. Like his mentor, his attention to detail borders on obsessive. Our manager has long made the Gunners one of the best defensive teams in Europe – not just in terms of the back four, but how the whole eleven defends as one.
We are the only side in this season’s Champions League yet to concede. Logically, if you’re not conceding, you only need to find that one moment in front of goal to win the match. Mentally, that should take pressure off our attackers, and soon it will psychologically impact opponents who know how hard it is to unlock our defence.
Can we keep relying on corners to mask a lack of creativity in open play? Pundits have long argued that our inability to kill off games leaves us vulnerable. As long as the margin of victory remains narrow, it only takes one moment of magic from an opponent to hurt you.
Which begs the question – is this sustainable?
Winning ugly still wins trophies
Looking at the history of the game, the answer is yes. Some famous sides have lifted domestic and European titles built on their defence. It’s not as stylish as attacking football, but when the rules were created, it was clear that what happens in both boxes is crucial.
If your goalkeeper keeps clean sheets, you always have a chance of winning. Defending is an art, just as much as scoring.
By the way, don’t let anyone tell you differently – success is measured by winning. Usain Bolt, Federer, Nadal, Messi, Ronaldo, etc., are considered GOATs because, whisper it quietly, of all the medals they won.
For supporters of a certain age who grew up with Mr Wenger, this has taken a lot to get used to. The Frenchman’s principles were to win playing the beautiful game. Even in his final years, you could trust his teams to create chances. We were the ones who couldn’t break down defensive machines, not the other way round.
Coached by Gerard Houllier and Rafa Benitez, Liverpool were the team who were organised and functional but lacked imagination. The roles have reversed, and it’s ironic that Mr Wenger’s former captain is now implementing a style opposite to his mentor’s values.
Not that the 43-year-old wouldn’t want to play that way, but part of his job is to get the best out of what he has. He clearly feels this is the best approach to compete with the likes of Man City and Liverpool.
If Arsenal are to be champions, it will be because of our defence. Out of the two, I strangely have more confidence in us finishing first by creating such a gap between now and February that our rivals can’t catch us. I would be less sure if it came down to a straight run-in.
That’s where Pep Guardiola and Arne Slot will be aware of our lack of experience. Burnt so many times, a question mark will remain until we finally get over the line. Once we do, it will become easier.
After Sunday, we are seven points above the champions with nine games played. Yet I’ve known Arsenal sides who had a seven-point lead with nine games left and still didn’t get over the line.
So, let’s take it one game at a time.
Is it sustainable though?
Yes, I think it could be. Let’s discuss in the comments.
Dan Smith
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It could work for a marathon like EPL, but I don’t think we can win UCL with overreliance on set-piece
Maybe a fully-match-fit Gabriel Jesus can create more open-play chances
It’s different in the UCL. Under Arteta,we’ve scored 27 and conceded none in nine home games in the group/league phase. That is an average of three goals per game. This is because we rarely encounter low/mid blocks in the Champions League as opposed to the Premier League.
Yeah, I was surprised Simeone didn’t use his ultra-defensive tactics when visiting the Emirates. I guess big European teams still underestimate us
@Gai,
Arsenal seem to be a different kettle of fish in UCL. And if I must say Jesus has not really created much assist when he was fit other than one or two Penalty he got.
The truth is onece Gyokeres click with his team mates he will score goals he has been dangerous inside the box. Many players have played in Epl who never gel in their first season but went on to become prolific and very good CF. Even HThierry.
Many coaches in Epl are enjoying organised defence and low blocks against the top6. Thereby making it even harder for strikers to score unlike other leagues.
Thierry Henry had very good touches and was blazing fast in his first few games for Arsenal
Gyokeres has been showing heavy touches and hasn’t been able to outpace any EPL CB yet
Agreed.
Most teams in EPL have devised low blocks and counter attack as the main strategy….
Top teams are now struggling to break them down.
This is exactly the right take.
I don’t think either Zubamedni or Eze goals are set pieces….they cone after a set.piece so are from open play.
And people saying we only score from corners when also from free kicks. What’s the issue ? We have good players that force corners or get fouled….should we not try to score.from these opportunities ?
In the past we would get frustrated and not score so I really don’t know what the fuss is about
Why don’t we instead talk about the borimg teams including Citeh who always park the bus / low block etc and try to nick a goal. … that for me is boring and frankly not very.inventive
As a team Arsenal have found a very good way to counter that so lets applaud them
And wr have sorted some great goals already from open play
Yes, I agree with you completely. What is this talk about set pieces. As far as football is concerned, no goal is better than the other. Is there a goal that attracts More points than the other, like in Basket ball? A win is a win and I think we should stop worrying ourselves unnecessarily, and enjoy the moment.
Absolutely 💯. Its just the thought of Arsenal getting it right and crossing d line this time that critics and opposing fans are dreading. Let the guys keep.d faith, keep dia heads down and just continue to do what they know how to do..best..
Surely it is sustainable, might not pretty on the eyes, but this style is characterized as a discipline, structured approach in both possession and defense, the highly creative and effective set pieces strategy is only another demention of the tactical style of how we wants to play.
Though we have used a 3 1 3 3 formation in full out attack, as in the second half against Man City and again in the Towel gate classic, it is customary for us using a 3 : 2 : 5 structure maintaing a strong defensive shape that make us resilient against counter attack.
Why the set piece aspect of our game is resulting in so much noise, is the reliable source of goals it provides especially when the stakes are high.
Building a squad from defense first creates a solid foundation to get forward, and play direct and aggressive without leaving you frail at the back.
However, we do not play this way. Instead, we have a solid backline, and then focus on possession more than creating chances.
They hold static positions instead of off the ball movement; this keeps the organization tight, but limits creativity.
We also don’t take many risks in attack; always play out to the side, cluster in the midfield, and hope Saka or Trossard can create something from the wing.
Our players are well drilled in this tactic, know their roles, and support each other and track back defensively. Great defense, that’s why we have only conceded 3 so far.
The downside is that it limits creativity. Without movement off the ball, feeding players running in behind, we rely on a system over individual talent and flair.
So far it has yielded results, maybe this year is our year? Unfortunately the beautiful, direct, free-flowing football is just not a part of the system. There may be moments in a game, but it is more like a temporary controlled chaos than part of a designed tactic.
Maybe Arteta can tweak the tactics to open up play, but I’m not holding my breath. Arteta has brought his changes, but it harkens back to the old saying, “the more things change, the more they stay the same.”
In other words, from Graham to Wenger, now back to Graham 1-0 to the Arsenal type play and results.
I think the media reporting on the use of set pieces in general and Arsenal in particular is poor quality journalism. It fails to recognise that Arsenal are regularly facing a low block (the trendy name for parking the bus). Arsenal have some of the most exciting footballers in Europe but sheer weight of numbers in defence creates difficulty. Previously Arsenal were criticised for not being able to beat the low block now they are criticised for finding a solution. Look at the AM game, was that boring set pieces? What about the equalizer against Man City’s low block after battering them for most of the match? A beautiful goal from open play. As long as teams don’t want to take their opponents on the low block will continue, those coaches are the ones responsible for the development of the set piece trend.
We play a very structured, organized, and controlled style of play. Arteta has the right players to fit his system; organized possession that slowly builds up without disrupting the static positioning of the players.
It requires holding positions and width over individual creativity, flair, and progressing the ball up the pitch. There are pros and cons with everything, so this system has both good and bad.
Perhaps in a marathon like the PL it can work, we will see. However, in the CL you have to score goals, you have to show creativity. Playing safe, possession over production, I’m doubtful if that will culminate in a CL trophy, but we shall see. Don’t remember the last time a defensive team lifted the trophy; Athletico Madrid and Simeone maybe? Jose’?
Context is always important in any analysis. The most important context we can provide is the teams we’ve faced. Everyone here knows that the teams we’ve struggled against most under Arteta are those that play with organised low/mid blocks like Fulham,Newcastle,Palace and West Ham.
Last season we dropped points to Fulham (A), Palace (H), Newcastle (A) and West Ham (H). We’ve collected maximum points from these fixtures this season.
We have scored more than two on only three occasions and that tells its story. All these three teams( Forest,Atletico & Port Vale) came with an intention to attack us. Most of the other teams come with an intention to nullify us and there’s only so much you can do. Set pieces are one of the ways to break down such teams.
What is most impressive about this team is that it can win in varied ways. We can play the possession game e.g. v Palace, we can play the fast and direct game e.g. v United , we can play the physical game v Newcastle, we can play the pressing game v Forest.
Also,different words mean different things to different people. Perhaps what someone understands by juggernaut is different from what you understand by it. It’s not that deep really unless you want to get caught up in policing people’s grammar.
It might not be accurate from your perspective but I don’t think it’s entirely far-fetched to label this team a juggernaut,particularly if you consider the defensive record.
That’s the issue
A juggernaut means
” is a person who is a powerful, dominant, and seemingly unstoppable force in their field, often with a relentless momentum that crushes the competition.
I wouldn’t say we are crushing the opposition and we have not been unstoppable as we have lost
Maybe unbreakable is more appropriate word rather than “juggernaut”. This is because Arsenal defence is difficult to breakdown, I read somewhere that we conceded zero or 1 shot on target in October.
If we went strictly by that definition,perhaps no team could ever be described as a juggernaut. Two of the most dominant teams I can think of are the Invincibles and City’s centurions and yet both of these teams had games where they were relatively subdued.
Centurions drew 1-1 with Everton at home,for instance and in more than half of their 38 games,they scored two goals or less.They had 1 nills and 2-1’s. It’s not like they were putting five past opponents every other day. They also lost a couple of times.The Invincibles notoriously had 12 draws- doesn’t exactly scream powerful,unstoppable and dominant.
Now I’m not saying this current Arsenal team is as good as the Invincibles or the Centurions. Far from it. But perhaps we can come to some sort of compromise- juggernaut in the making. We just don’t know yet, but the signs are there.
We only beat Port Vale 2-0 mate
Apologies. Should have been Leeds.
Teams playing Low block is a big issue in EPL unlike UCL, Liverpool is learning the hard way. I’ve noticed though that most teams trying to play open football against Arsenal have been beaten heavily.
The pain of watching Arsenal playing beautiful football for over 20 year without winning the league is just too much for me, so I will the “boring football” if it means we become champions.
Yes Arsenal can be called a juggernaut due to their current form, the strong and organize defense that that has resulted in numerous clean sheets and even preventing opponents from getting off a shot at goal in the current campaign, surely justified this claim.
The continue defensive solidity, with a combined of balance approach under the tutelage of the gaffer, which allows Arsenal to control games and win , even if not by large margin, leading to consistent results only add to the claim
So it’s fair to say the Arsenal juggernaut rumbles on after the game against Palace
When this team starts scoring, it will be scarier. Arteta has raised a lean, mean machine.
Inter Milan has not conceded as well in the champions league
I feel Arteta’s approach this season and much of the last season was to solve the problem of facing a low block.
I remember in the late Wenger’s era, we play tikitaka football and we cannot break the opponents down, and in the 70th minute they get one long ball/counter attack and score and we lose the game. (FA Cup final loss to Birmingham still gives me PTSD)
One trade off from playing a low block against a stronger side is that you’d concede set pieces (corners and free kicks); so we work on that to our advantage.
Arteta said he knew this 10 years ago!
Pep complained about the ‘negative football’ when he came to the EPL newly.
I guess this was the solution Arteta thought of.
Anyways… It works. Now teams know that a low block exposes them to our set pieces, and if they open up, we destroy them like we did Atletico Madrid.
Why do we let be bothered by other fanbases hate speech, while:
1. Arsenal have conceded 3 goals through 9 games, 4 fewer than the next best defence, and are on pace to break the Premier League defensive record;
2. Arsenal are joint-third in goals scored in the Premier League, one off the top, with 16, while taking just 2 penalties to date. Scoring freekicks is not that easy as scoring penalties. We get them because others stop our players in the last moment to not concede from an open play, we score them, because our team is a TEAM;
3. Arsenal are 3rd in the Premier League in shots taken, 5th in non-penalty xG generated and 5th in shot-creating actions from live passes.
4. They laughed at us that we can’t deal with low blocks – now we are masters of smashing them.
5. It seems like we have all correct answers to play against anyone: they go low block, we hit them with a set-piece; they play openly, we hit them with 4 goals; they attack us, we have the best defense in the world last years; they set up a high line, we have Eze and Gyokeres.
It’s the highest time they were SCARED.
We are coming for them all.
I particularly like your point 3. The underlying stats show that our attacking play is not as bad as the results suggest. Reminds me of Man United who were in the bottom half a few weeks ago even though the underlying stats like xG put them in the top six! I’m not surprised that United are now sixth. It’s just a case of results catching up to the stats.
I’m convinced that the open play goals will go up with time to match the picture being painted by the underlying stats. Our xG is even more impressive if you consider the fact that we have played some of the hardest fixtures in the league. Not to mention we have been missing some key attacking players.
Juggernaut in what sense implied ? context is also important, you can’t just pick quotes and throw it around like look this said that. You would be like the media then but you are writer i think u said so playing with words, twisting statements and deception are part of the job i guess.
Did they mean defensive juggernaut? in that case yes we have been a defensive juggernaut for the past 2 seasons, we have conceded 29 open play goals compared to 49 for City and 54 for Liverpool. This season we have conceded 0 till now.
Inter has also not conceded so far in the Champions League.
Our defense is very strong but we should still work on scoring more goals and still maintaining our good defensive form.
It’s really revealing how the media has been sensationalising our set piece goals and reliance on them. Saw a couple of league table without set pieces goal from sky sports aka the liverpool propaganda machine and others. That rat jamie ohara crying out multiple times how we have destroyed football on live tv. Carragher several times too.
Where was the outrage last season when Liverpool were the penalty champions. Did we saw any table without penalties? nope cause it would show that they would have a massive 13 pts less without their 9 penalties. Southampton finished dead last but even then Liverpool needed FOUR penalties to beat them yes FOUR, 2 at home and 2 away. where was the outrage then?
*it was bbc not sky sport for the table, sky still spewing out a lot of set pieces though.
Maybe we were spoilt in the Wenger years, because not only did he produce superb footballing sides, he did it and still managed to produce trophy winning sides at the same time.
Right now the football being played is overall not pretty on the eye, but it’s affective. Now that might be alright for some, and if it is then fair play. But for me, I like to see my team win with a bit of style. As I said, maybe we’ve been spoilt in the past.
As for it being sustainable, well not conceding many goals might be, but if we become to reliant on set-pieces I don’t think that’s sustainable if I’m honest.
But as the saying goes, the proof will be in the pudding.
Derek
No one disagree that AW had been one of the most successful managers in our history but I think you look at him through rise tinted glasses at times
Aw won the league three times with a couple of doubles. We last seriously challenged for the league 20 plus years ago
We played exciting expansive football under him but we couldn’t defend and we lacked players who would put there body on line the for the team.
We had a soft under belly as the media would always tell us
We are on course to challenge on all fronts and especially the big trophies but we haven’t won anything right now
This team seems have more about them and steel of holding on to what we have.
GG built his teams on this and the rest was history
Onwards and upwards
Alanball08,
No rose tinted glasses from me. But I do hear what you say regards Arsenal’s weak underbelly in Wenger’s later years.
That coincided when Wenger decided to move away from the powerful midfielders to the technical midfielders.
And I found even under Wenger in the latter years that we just passed the ball for passing sake at times.
See I told you, no rose tinted glasses from me. 😂👍
I do understand people concern on this boring football and I agree whole hearted with them but if it means sacrificing beauty over results then let’s take the points for now.
The beauty will come later
If we pick up 3 points Saturday then pool will be 10 points behind us b4 they kick a ball.
That’s a heck of a mountain to climb even at this early stage.
Not impossible but a nice position for us to be in
Onwards and upwards
Alanball08,
I hope your right, fingers crossed.🤞
Really, I don’t get the boring football tag, not to me at least. Teams in EPL have proven to have learned the mid low block art. It keeps the big teams limited in creating chances and open them up to counter attack. Hence, the changes in big teams approach against them.
Man City now favor long ball to Haaland rather than build up from back and majority of their goals had been crossing into the box to their big man rather than incisive penetrating passes they’re known for.
Liverpool, well, still looking for answers as they’re realizing going all out attack won’t work. Ironically, their control approach last season won them the league. Why change?
Arsenal response is the set piece weapon and they’re damn good at it. So it’s not just Arsenal, beautiful football tactics have been neutralized by this teams, ask big Ange about it.
Well written article balanced and informative. The writer is right let’s just hope injuries are managed well.
I think we have the squad to adapt to whatever style is required to win a game, but our current style , ie boring football,will only work if the opposing team doesn’t score first. It flopped against Liverpool, and could have flopped against Manchester United had they converted one or two opportunities. Other teams have also missed early chances against us. True we did come back to level with City and also defeat Newcastle but you can’t keep on doing it, and set pieces won’t always be the answer when coming from behind.
Good article Dan and some differing comments.
My take on our current situation regarding maintaining the ball, is completely different from the Arsene Wenger days.
Under Mikel Arteta, we are forever trying to draw out our opponents and it’s like a game of chess.
The fact that we’ve checked out most of our opponents this season, proves that we are succeeding.
I, personally, don’t find it boring, rather strategic and a brilliant way to counter attack the negativity of our opponents.
Whatever. Just win. Doesn’t matter what kind of football we play.
If we don’t end our trophy drought, it won’t matter even if we play the most beautiful football ever. History favours unpopular champions over spectacular runners up.
Hope we get a trophy this season and put an end to memes like what’s the difference between Arsenal and a book, why do Arsenal fans drink water with their bare hands, etc.
Wish we can finally win the CL someday. We are the only club among the big 5 that have never won the CL. It’s about time we put an end to that too