HOW Arsenal Defeated Manchester City In The Community Shield: 4-2-4, Zonal-Man Press, Arteta/Pep

Arsenal have beaten Manchester City in the Community Shield final in what really was a teaser for the opening of the Premier League season in just three days time. How did they do it? Well, in today's video I'm going to break down from a tactical point of view the battle between Mikel Arteta and Pep Guardiola and how Arteta had to adapt to overcome sort of that fretful day last April in Manchester at the Etihad where Manchester City ran out 4-1 winners. What did he do to change? Well, we're going to look primarily at the build-up and pressing structures for Arsenal and Manchester City and how Pep and Arteta looked to combat each other alongside some individual player analyses and overall takeaways for both sides moving into the 2023-24 season. So let's get on with it. Welcome back to the Harvey Grayson YouTube channel. I'm so glad you found us and can join us. Let's get into it. We're going to start with Manchester City's build-up and Arsenal's press. City built in a 4-2-4 shape versus Arsenal's either 4-1-4-1 or 4-4-2 initial press which often formed sort of a top triangle blocking City's central progression through Rice who aggressively shadow-marked Rodri, Odegaard that more passive shadow-marking on Kovacic, behind Havertz as the I think his pressing angles were really, really impressive. Subsequently, with Manchester City's on-ball centre-back and double pivot marked, this forced Manchester City out wide to Kyle Walker but more in the first half especially to Manwela Kanji who, although a very, very good technician, found it much harder to be as clean on the left-hand side because of course he's a right-footer and this I think affected the speed of Manchester City's build-up. Now, Arsenal's press had to be very mature. Their timing had to be impeccable to make the right decisions of when to jump and press Man City in the central areas but most importantly these wide areas. Otherwise, they would be played through. It's not just as simple as sitting in a block and picking times to press. They have to be very calculated. This often left Erling Haaland and Julian Alvarez in that right-hand-sided number 10 role quite isolated, I thought. Alvarez was playing in that free role, that same free role that Kevin De Bruyne played in last April that decimated Arsenal at the Etihad but with a mix of shadow man-marking and that 4-4-2 more settled block that Arsenal formed deeper. This helped negate this threat from Manchester City, staying nice and compact. I think if Alvarez ever was free, especially if Arsenal were in their 4-1-4-1 party in that lone midfield one would stick to him, meaning he didn't have the space in between the lines that De Bruyne did at the Etihad and I think a lot of this is why, we'll go back to it, Walker and Akanji continually found themselves high and wide. They were the only routes out for Man City. They often left City's 3-2-5 structure in possession as the only free men and in these high and wide areas, Arsenal had the white and Saka double up on Arsenal's right-hand side and on the left, Timber's right-footedness naturally favoured Man City's right winger in terms of, from an Arsenal point of view, because Bernardo Silva, Phil Foden, whoever played out there, would cut in on their left foot and this again, this would suit Jürgen Timber. Mikel Arteta loves to do this with the right footer over on the left-hand side. We've done it with Tommy Assu against Mohamed Salah against Liverpool and to touch on Jürgen Timber, like I said in my scouting report, he probably, when he was side, will be my favourite Arsenal signing of the window. Again, he's shown his boisterousness in the tackle, that spring going forward, that turning circle in tight areas, that fast coverage of space, that false transition creator at left-back and for someone with the temperament of Timber to have that false transition creative power in tandem with this from full-back is an incredible ability. I mean, if Arsenal were ever played through, they form that 4-4-2 settled block that we've already touched on, that more definable block quite quickly, with Rice's domination of his space defensively and intensity in the tackle really showing in that pivot. He's much more suited into that deeper pivot alongside Partey in the press than Oerdegaard or at times Kai Havertz, who have done this in pre-season, dropping in, and Havertz and Oerdegaard then as a front two with their timing and intensity are really suited to this role. So in the first half, City, I thought, in their build-up, in that 4-2-4 shape, were actually quite static. Kovacic, I think alongside Rodri, didn't have too much room to roam and dribble into midfield. Alvarez is more a higher set point to receive in between the lines, doesn't naturally drift deep, but the introductions of Kevin De Bruyne and Phil Foden really helped this from Manchester City's point of view. We'll talk about the opening goal, Palmer's goal. Foden drifted deeper, unlike Julian Alvarez before, and I thought the rotations with Bernardo Silva, who dropped in this particular instance into the left centre-back role to give Foden space to receive. This created room for Kevin De Bruyne to higher up. Foden then turned party because he had lured him to go with him in this sort of shadow man-marking press that Arsenal were employing at times. He moved into the space that was manipulated by the rotations and ultimately, Palmer scored for Man City, putting them 1-0 up. And these rotations really helped Manchester City, in particular, overload the central areas that Arsenal had found pretty easy thus far to clog. And this made Arsenal ultimately make a decision whether to go with party, to go with Phil Foden, or to allow the overload and sit back. And if the latter is done, this must be done as a team. And that's why interchanges and fluid rotations confuse a press and make a build-up side so hard to organise against. But that's Man City's build-up against Arsenal's press and the largely very, very successful and mature Arsenal press. We're now going to flip the switch and look at Arsenal's own build-up against Man City's press. Because again, there was interesting dynamics here. Arsenal, again, like Man City, they built up in a 4-2-4 as well. And this is a new sort of initial build-up shape for Arsenal this pre-season. But why does it suit them so much? Well, the 4-2-4 as well allow easy transitions across the pitch, so Timber isn't always required to invert all the time. He's ready to do this from the right-hand side, but not from the left just yet. He only sporadically did this in the Community Shield. The transitions also allow Odegaard to drop deeper, which either push Rice to left centre-back when Arsenal then transition into a higher build-up shape in that three defensive axis and then push Timber on. I thought Havertz and Odegaard in the front two in this 4-2-4 already have that set point in the half spaces. And this allows Odegaard, of course, to drop deeper if Arsenal need to switch to a 4-3-3 to deal with an overload maybe in Manchester City's press at times. And it also allows Havertz to roam higher and offer that direct route out with that long ball if City's man-to-man press was successful. I think that Uri and Timber and Declan Rice relationship shows the growing cohesion as well in the build-up between Arsenal as a squad. In particular, the development of Declan Rice in this regard. I think his familiarity with the different zones to occupy, whether that was on the left-hand side of a back three, or in the pivot, or promoting slightly higher in that midfield three axis, it shows he's able to know when to fill in, when to rotate out. Refusing to share space, which if there's ever a dynamic problem between him and party, it maybe would be that shelling out of space at the right time. Again, that Havertz option, returning to that, the ability in the centre-forward to get out is something that I aired as soon as he was signed in my first Havertz video and in my one going on from that. Generally, this initial 4-2 shape for Arsenal transitioned into a three at the back with a number of fluid, more advanced build-up shapes. We saw the 3-2 axis, we also saw a 3-1, or mostly a 3-3 axis. And for a press from Pep Guardiola's and Manchester City's point of view, it's about figuring out where the opposition are trying to overload you and adjusting accordingly. And it's why it's important to always mix a man-man with the zonal press that Manchester City employed, because rotations and fluid rotations, something that Arsenal will continue to get even better at, and something that has been a staple of their pre-season, will pull a simple man-man press apart. That's what Arsenal are trying to do. There's so much unpredictability this pre-season, as I've touched on at length, and Mikel Arteta wants Arsenal to be competent in any shape against any press. We'll return to this 3-3 shape though, which was Arsenal's more advanced set-up in the build-up. And we'll return to Oerdegaard drifting deeper, because Kai Havert's second chance, assisted by Ben White, was when Oerdegaard came into this deeper position, as he's able to do, as he has the profile to do, and White promoted from the position that Oerdegaard space-invaded into. White ran him behind, Saliba has the skill to find him, and Havert ultimately should score. And this is one of the times where Ben White's sort of upright running power really comes in handy. And the theme for Arsenal in the build-up was Ben White and Jürgen Timber often promoting. There weren't any real definitive inversions into midfield, mainly just Thomas Partey and Declan Rice dropping into that back three, and promoting White and Timber. Maybe both, maybe just one up the pitch. But to finish, I want to look at where both teams will look to improve, and sort of the takeaways from the game. As I said, City were simply too rigid in the first half. And this was more, I think, because the players on the pitch, they didn't have that natural winger to hug the byline on the right-hand side, certainly. And I think Pep will definitely be encouraged how they look after Foden and Kevin De Bruyne's introductions. And it's another step in the right direction in terms of fitness for City as well, because in terms of comparison to Arsenal, they have a much shorter pre-season. In terms of for Arsenal, the key thing is this understanding and cohesion between the players, because this will only aid the rotations that have been abundant this pre-season, and make Arsenal even harder to stop as a press, pressing Arsenal, but also the fluid combinations in the final third. Timber as well will get more and more used to playing that role, not on the right, but on the left this time, meaning if he can slowly, slowly learn to invert, because that will be the long-term goal, inverting from that side, it will make build-up even more effective from the back and will often see Rice as a result even higher. And of course, this gives massive, massive confidence for Arsenal. That psychological boost, I think, let's take winning out the picture, that psychological boost of weathering that initial storm and then coming out of eventual winners is something that Arsenal have found very difficult, getting into a game against Man City and sort of making a case for yourself. So that's the video, that's sort of the analysis of the Community Shield. I really hope you've enjoyed it, there's certainly things to improve on for both sides, but I think largely, both managers, obviously Pep won't be happy with losing, but there'll be some positives definitely to take away from Manchester City. But that's how Arsenal won the game, and that's why Arteta and Arsenal fans should be so happy. That's all from me, I've got a Premier League predictions video and more Complete Guide videos coming up on the channel. I really hope you've enjoyed. Click my latest video, which was a summary of Liverpool's chaotic and slightly problematic pre-season, more than slightly actually. So click that, but I will be up at some point in this video. I really hope you've enjoyed. It's been me, Harvey Gratian, and I'll catch you in the next one. See you later.