Arsenal Are COMPLETE (Almost)- A Total Guide and Tactical Analysis of Arteta's 2 Different Styles

Arsenal, under Mikel Arteta, have been a side characterised by a buzz, instinct and energy, and this has brought them to a level of almost Premier League champions. But this season, Arsenal have been a sort of in-between side, in between two styles, one that I will call the big space setup and the other, a slower, more methodical and considerate approach, all to make us a more mature and effective side in whatever the environment and whatever the competition. Welcome back to the Harvey Gratian YouTube channel. I'm so glad you found us or are here to join us again. And in today's video, I'm going to be comprehensively breaking down Arsenal as a side this season and the why between the dual approaches by Mikel Arteta. What do I mean? Well, let's get on with it. We're going to start with what I like to call the big space setup. Now, although this setup has been mostly used when Thomas Partey was inverted from right back into midfield, whichever full-back inverts is actually irrelevant. But this is a setup that can be described as one that utilises a two-shadow striker system in behind the centre-forward. There's no deliberate second-phase presence. Rice, with an inverted full-back, is normally the pivot in midfield. We often opt to go long over an aggressive man-to-man press by the opposition to the out-ball, which is Kai Havertz, with the second-ball winners closely packed around him to win the knockdowns. And we have one wide and free man most of the time on the left, and that's Gabriel Martinelli. I will get on to how his injury impacts things a bit later, but we're going to start with the concept of Kai Havertz as an out-ball. Because, of course, Havertz enabling us to go over an aggressive high press has been exhausted. But I want to concentrate on the new attacking dynamics that him as an out-ball actually creates for us, with essentially two other centre-forwards off the target man. There becomes one centre-forward and then the two shadow strikers when play settles. And this setup requires players that specialise in gathering the second balls and knockdowns, having those killer instincts to play the final pass or final shot with early touches, carry the ball with power but care, and operate in tight spaces, often against the opposition's most physical and athletic players. But this doesn't mean you have to be particularly physically strong yourself, but just ready and able to thrive in those little pockets of space in between the lines. Now, of course, Havertz, before moving into that left-unsided shadow striker, is often the out-ball, but he can also be the player when, of course, the environment can never be perfect the whole time, he can also be the player that picks up the ball and runs onto it himself, with other outlets who are strong holding up the ball in Gabriel Jesus or Eddie Enquetia doing that job. But Vieira, Emile Smith-Rowe, Leandro Trossard can all be this gatherer of the second ball, if you will. And I think Erdegaard, as he's shown, can be as well. He sort of encapsulates all I've just said about the role, bar probably that purposeful forward movement at times. But what Erdegaard does exemplify is the shooting from distance, and this aligns itself with sort of the increasing speed of Arsenal's attacks in this big space setup, going long to cover distances that before we had just played through on the ground. And what makes the Arsenal squad so suited to this is not just the profiles in the final third that physically enable it, but it's that speed of operation that we're already suited to. If you look at the best Arsenal goals in Arteta's time as manager, it's often us playing through the thirds with speed and electricity. So it suits the squad because it's the same intent, just mixing it with a more aerial and direct threat now. But now I want to talk about in this big space setup, the wide free man that often is Martinelli, totally separated from the deliberate central sort of clustering around the target from the goal, the ball from the goal kicks, or as we're just playing through the thirds. Remember this doesn't always come from the goalkeeper playing over a press, this can be bypassing the second phase when we're on the ball building up in our own thirds anyway. And for this wide free man, we really need those destructive ground coverers, if you will, those weapons that take the game away from you in a second when given the space to move into. And these types of outlets in the squad of course are Martinelli, who has picked up that hamstring injury away at Everton, but also Eddie Nketiah, Gabriel Jesus, and although Saka doesn't act in this role for us, he can do it as well. But obviously that would take away everything else he offers if he was just to do that wide free man role exclusively. And I mean typically on the right hand side, Arteta has liked that creator who also excels 1v1, playing in tandem with the more penetrative sort of box crashing, left unsided winger type. Look at Aubameyang in his time under Arteta, and also Emile Smith-Rowe. And although we have wingers now that can be direct, and can also be retentive, be creative, and also be goal threats, as a large sort of general rule of thumb, Martinelli is that wide free man on the left in this big space setup, the man to stretch the opposition defence when we secure the ball higher up, if Havert wins a header, or we cut through a press with the centre forward Saka and Odegaard all relatively close around each other, and then that finds Gabriel Martinelli on the flanks. And I'm going to give a little demonstration of how this actually enacts on the pitch, and just a little bit looking at the PSV game, how this central or one side clustering enables us to play through the lines and find Martinelli or the wide free man on the left hand side. But what is the result of this big space setup? That's what I want to focus on now, because it often removes the help, and sometimes even the need, of a second phase presence by either going long from these goal kicks, or building up the ball from the back initially, and then trying to find the additional man in the last line of play. And again, this is Kai Havert, because he hasn't played in the left hand side at 8 at all, or very rarely for Arsenal this season. He has a much higher set point to Granit Xhaka. I mean, Xhaka often dropped deeper if Zinchenko couldn't reliably invert, and he was that second phase link before roaming higher in between the lines, sort of box crashing. He also often facilitated Zinchenko doing his own roaming job, and sitting back into the pivot. And this is hardly Kai Havert, of course. You know, this is in a way as ghosting an extra body, an extra attacker in Kai Havert into dangerous areas, and the chances that Havert has missed so far this season shows that the structure is definitely working. We've seen how many players Arsenal had in the box, literally at all times, against PSV, and I found Arteta's post-match comments very, very interesting, where he praised Arsenal's quality in either boxes. And this wasn't just talking about individual moments of quality, but the structure as well. And the great thing about this big space, this big distance setup, is that it nullifies, at times, a less connected or controlled performance than Arteta and Arsenal will actually have desired, because its dynamics, its innate sort of structure and and it's tailor-made for, certainly, these Champions League ties, especially with the ones like PSV, who will look to press high. Those occasions where, sort of, the ascendancy and the transition and the big spaces will win you those big, sort of, era-defining games away from home against a European giant. Having that knockout power is not just in the quality and the profiles of the players you have, but of course the system you deploy them in as well. And then, of course, domestically in the Premier League, that brutal, quick, instinctive play absolutely remains. The killing of the best teams in the world just in an instant, when you are playing the best sides, whether in Europe or in England, there are more modes of attacking, of course, required. This is what this big space setup allows Arsenal. Of course, it's not for low-block sides. As I've said in my initial description of this setup, in the breakdown post-Fulham sides, post the Fulham game, it's not for the Crystal Palaces, the Nottingham Forest, the Fulhams, the Everton, but these are weaker sides, qualitatively, and that's why it's been experimented in game scenarios and practiced there, for sides who, it's actually for sides who press higher and allow bigger spaces to be contested for. That is what, in the long run, this system will be used for. It's about developing different modes of attacking, different dynamics to suit different game states. But all this sort of tactical theory is all well and good. I want to now look at the big space or big distance setup in action, and we're going to go now to PSV for that. Based off the experimenting I really documented and focused on as my main topic from Arsenal's pre-season, Erdegaard as the interior or that dropping deeper is nothing new, and it's part of our sort of unpredictability as a football side. He often dropped into that pivot in the 4-2 build-up setup from goal kicks, or joins Zinchenko and Declan Rice in sort of a 3-3 axis. And this overloaded PSV by giving an additional body on top of David Raya in the build-up, but most importantly, this overload wasn't used to sort of build through the phases as we would characteristically distinguish with Arsenal, but it was actually about what it did further up the pitch. Just before we get on to that, as I've said, Erdegaard in this deeper eight role definitely has the perfect temperament and sort of his balance between retention and being progressive in his passing to be this deeper number eight role in that second phase. And although we may sort of look to his goal scoring, most of them now are outside the box or ghosting in with that sort of second phase present as that second phase present does. And in the shadow striker, when he plays there and isn't forced to drop deeper at all, those set points straight away in between the pockets of space is where he excels already. So whether he does drop deeper or remain in that shadow striker, it's a perfect position I think for Martin Erdegaard. But you may be saying, well if Erdegaard's the eighth dropping deeper and giving that second phase presence, then why was PSV a game for the big space setup? As I said, it wasn't actually about the additional body for Arsenal against PSV, it was about luring their press in. Arsenal drew in the PSV press and then they found Havertz and Jesus in the big spaces that have been created in between the lines, with Jesus looking more disciplined now I think in terms of when he chooses to roam or when he remains fixed on sort of a vertical axis. And this maybe is the effect of Eddie Nketiah playing slightly before him in the season so far. But Jesus definitely looks laser focused and sharp and clear in sort of his intentions. But we can see this central clustering of bodies in this big space setup as the ball is played into Jesus with Havertz in between the lines. And from here, Erdegaard can once again become the ball-sided shadow striker where he began. Collect the ball in that sort of drop-down phase and find the wide free man, in this case, Leandro Trossard. But this is all because of the space we have acquired in between the lines. That automatic overload that we've guaranteed with this quick instant progression, bypassing of the second phase. And although we don't have that Martinelli explosive weapon, Trossard here throughout that whole PSV game had so much space and so much quality this actually didn't matter. And this was the result of the build-up, also Raya in goal if he decided to go long straight away. And this structure will be something I think will be very useful against Spurs at the weekend who also go and deploy an aggressive man-to-man press from the start, often operating in a 4-4-2 again, which moves into this man-man press out of possession. Look, overall, this, I want to emphasise, this is a merciless attacking structure by the way. And sort of another, I think if you add another natural ball striker, maybe from centre forward, on top of the Arsenal attack, alongside what we already have, wow, it's a serious dynamic. And I think if we were to sum up this system, actually before we sum up, is there any criticisms that I have of the system? Yes, and I've raised a couple of concerns before because I don't want to be completely one-sided in my sort of analysis of this big space system. Yes, if we counter-press effectively, very technically secure on the ball, etc, our full-backs can sort of stay inverted in the pivot, meaning we can always have those sort of two defensive midfielders, and also the two shadow strikers that can stay high and in between the lines. What I would say though is when Thomas Partey, before he was injured, inverted from right back into midfield and it pushed Declan Rice in the six slightly higher on that left-hand side, especially against low blocks, this was sort of the closest replication of the Xhaka-Partey dynamic that we've had last season and over the years. But of course, Thomas Partey now being injured, we can't replicate that second-phase presence that at times we will need against the very best or very disruptive sides. Odegaard, like I've said, can do it, but all I'm saying is I would like more options. And I think this is why Urien Timber in the side, it's part of the reason, other than himself aesthetically as a football player, it's part of the reason why I loved him so much, as he could be that conservative outside left centre-back in that back three axis that we have on the ball, but if ever Thomas Partey couldn't invert and we were pinned in on the right-hand side, he was forced to defend as a right-back in a back four, Timber could move into the pivot actually alongside Declan Rice, and this is different to playing Zinchenko and Partey at the same time, something I would never do, because Timber combines that in defence and the technicality in attack, so he can at once be a traditional nominal left-back in a four, an outside left centre-back, a pivot, a secondary controller, or promote as a fifth or sixth man either wide or in that half space in between the lines, rotating with Rice really nicely, so if the structure was ever disrupted by the sides and we couldn't have that Partey-Rice dynamic, which we definitely can't now after his injury, Timber is a player that could adjust and provide balance, to provide a balancing act on Partey on the other side, and of course both players are injured now, so it's very frustrating, and I'll leave a link not just to my previous explanations of Arsenal's big space setup, but also the video where I comment on Jürgen Timber's But, all in all, this big space setup makes Arsenal better, and we also need to take it with context, because relationships between players are continually getting better and better, improving and improving, and keep cohering, and this style of play, of course, isn't the way to go against the Forest, Palaces and Evertons, etc., and I think the trap laid from an outside point of view, and something that I fell in from the start, is maybe if it looks cumbersome, or if it looks like at times we're even putting in too much effort and running too much, it's either an environment that demands, actually, top players to actually act on their instinct, or it's just the relationships that need to cohere, and that coherence in relationships is slowly gaining traction now, as we've seen when Havertz is in the centre forward, Trossard, or Jesus, or Oerdegaard, they're all tremendous associative players, and conjunctional players, and I think chance creation, that prolific chance creation that we saw last season, will come in time. We're just at the moment sort of deploying the profiles that will be used in this big space setup, and the dynamics that we will use, within a sort of slower, more methodical, and considerate rhythm, and this is the main Arsenal approach this season, this slower tempo, and this is the approach that I will analyse now. So let's go on to the slow, methodical, and considerate rhythm, because there are reasons why I've selected these three words for the style of play that Arsenal have largely implemented this season. I say slow because it's that metronomic pass after pass that really wears teams down, I say methodical because there's always a tempo, and always purpose behind our pass after pass, with sort of intricate patterns of play, and I say considerate because we have a team sort of stacked with technical security now, to keep the ball for 90 minutes, and that 90 minute control, not having a period of the game where we have to drop off and be passive, is the next step for Arsenal as a football side, and against low blocks, we can now, we've seen against, even when Palace, when we're defending with 10 men, we can have the ability to finish games and kill the tempo of the game now, and we're looking to rival at the very best of it, which is Manchester City and Pep Guardiola of course, and here we'll be looking at the why, why is there this new approach, or this real focus on a slower, more methodical approach being focused on this season, and it actually starts, interestingly, off the ball for Arsenal, because within the fluid on-pitch rotations and interchanges that we see, of course the positional play for Arteta is always fixed, players always occupy the key zones, no matter what, and this slower style of football ensures these key areas are always occupied, and I think it's actually why the rest defence has been so assured this season, because either the front men counter-press quickly from the positions they're already in, and win the ball back, or sort of the physical freaks at the back, and in rest defence, deal with opposition transitions and outlets, and there's always sort of those small and reliable distances that the players understand between them, meaning that the ball always ends back with Arsenal, and circulation can begin again, and this sense of inevitability, this inevitability streak that oppositions get when they're playing us, that a chance for us will come, we will score, is something Arteta has added, and something any football supporter just loves to feel watching their side, that there's always going to be a chance that they get that goal, no matter how disruptive a team is, no matter how compact they are in their shape, but this approach on the ball, what does that look like? And I think this is mostly projected to us when we really pin teams back and have them at our mercy. Everton, you would say, settling in their low 4-5-1 block, they're normally, and Dyche is normally very comfortable in this setup, because they can, whenever the ball comes into the pockets, they can collapse really aggressively, the wide men in the midfield can double up with the wingers for the opponent on the opposite side, but if you look at Arsenal, they have the players that can thrive in the pockets now, whether that's Oerdegaard nominally, or Jesus, Vieira, Saka when he's allowed to drift inside as well, imagine Havertz space invading around these types of players, so the environment for Kai Havertz, as you can see, is clear as why he was wanted at Arsenal, not just as an out ball, but as that Ram Deuter type, wherever he plays, and it's trying to gain that sense when you're on the pitch of having the opposition at your mercy, and able to sort of, not do what we want, but certainly have more freedom on the pitch, whether it be a 3-2-5, or a 3-1-6, or even a 2-2-6, with Saka in the half space and white overlapping. If we can maintain control, this will only help Saka, because as people are starting to notice now finally, Oerdegaard and Saka, as good as that relationship is, Oerdegaard as a right interior doesn't have the dynamism to support Saka and cover those, ironically, big spaces in behind, and also the body angles to be conducive to always combine with Saka against a low block, but control of the ball means white can pick times to promote and go on the overlap, and that unstoppable upright running style that white sort of has, that we've seen in, I'm not trying to think of players at the moment, maybe a Chilwell, or even Alonso at Chelsea as well, or John Stones, etc, that sort of unstoppable upright running style, as soon as you get players close to Pakaio Saka, yeah, in close proximity as well to Oerdegaard, in part when Nketiah drifts across the right-hand side, there's no stopping Pakaio Saka. He's so good when he's isolated, often 1v2, but when you get players around him, you have the deadliest weapon you could possibly get. Of course, the only problem with the arsenal right-hand side is that you need the optimal conditions for it to work well, and you're not going to have total control of the ball in every game for 90 minutes, and this is another reason why we have that big space set up if Oerdegaard continues a right interior, because it gives Saka more space instantly, without the opposition of having chance to double up. But going back to this more methodical approach, and the idea of pinning a side, of course, as well gives the best conditions for Kai Havertz to use his natural Randeuter instincts, wherever he plays, and for Jesus to overload, create anomalies or chaos, but at the right time. And this is all, as we can see with the different profiles that we have in this arsenal squad, a carefully constructed jigsaw from Mikel Arteta to have specific profiles for different jobs, and of course, as some players that we've discussed in the last video, those compound players that can do multiple jobs and enact multiple styles, whatever Mikel Arteta demands, and whatever we recognise as a team in different game states. And when we have created this settled and controlled environment for possession, as the field tilt shows, we absolutely dominate, and we have in terms of field tilt this season. It's just about adding the detail on top of that now, whether it's Declan Rice's first time passes, or switches of play, Arsenal's as a whole, their more blind side runs this season, different players dropping deeper, or different players inverting, and then you slowly get that chance creation of last season to return and return. More goals come, more ruthless results are enacted, and it's that feel that you get from the game as a team, when to hasten it, or when to slow the tempo in that pass after pass setup, if that makes sense. Picking the right time to become penetrative, and not lose the ball, which is very key. Create combinations and always threaten, and by no means do I think in terms of patience we'll have to suffer for a long time, because you can already see us clicking, and I can see us clicking this season. We're in the stages of sort of minute detail tinkering, if that makes sense right now, so it's important whilst we are still slightly experimenting to keep these results coming, and why of course it was disappointing to be only 13 points out of 15, and drop points at home to Fulham. But to finish, I now want to talk about, of course these are quite diametrically opposed systems, one to be reductive, one quick, one slow, but they're actually to help one another, because this slower approach I feel will only make us more stone cold when needing to act with instinct and speed, so although these approaches may seem like polar opposites at the moment, and they are, either approach aids the other, if that makes sense. It makes it more effective, makes us a better, more unpredictable, and complete football side, and it's why I have used the concept of rhythm, and the word rhythm in this video, and to describe this slower style, because the tactics and the structure I've already closely examined already, but it's that intangible understanding of a game's rhythm, whether it's to be constantly patient and methodical, and then to add finally that energy that has come to define us under Arteta. The players know what's required, and it's about I think adapting even psychologically to those demands as well, and recognising when to change in a game, so it's one approach to help another essentially, not to get incessant with the passing, always keep the intention clear, no matter what the game state. So, to finish, the principles and quality for Arsenal across these two styles are clear, and they're clear to see, hopefully for you guys watching this video, that's what I truly believe. It's just about timing, and about a bit of patience from our end, patience as well in the players for understanding the two approaches I think more clearly, and to clarify that, having that ruthlessness alongside patience, that's a difficult combination, you know, and we ultimately I think just need a little bit more experience. Remember, we have the youngest squad, the youngest manager, the youngest technical director, sort of the most blossoming setup possible in the Premier League, and in our captain, Odegaard, of course we have another youngster, but we have one of the best understanders of game states around, and it's just sort of the players I think with similar levels of IQ, just to mature a bit on Arsenal's end, and that will come, and I think we will click, and when we do click, well, I think we're going to be very, very hard to stop, but that's the video. I really hope you've enjoyed. I only ask you to like, comment, and subscribe, as watchers of the channel know, right at the end, because hopefully that means you found it very enjoyable, informative, entertaining, whatever way you find enjoyment from the video, but that is all from me. Drop in the comments, what do you think? These are the two styles that Arsenal, and two approaches that we've been sort of in opposition with this season. It's what we are trying to understand, where to use them both, so I hope this has been really informative in learning, and understanding Arsenal tactically, and also a bit psychologically, where they are at, at the moment, as a side, but like I said, that's all from me. I really hope you've enjoyed. I put a lot of effort into this video, so if you could like, comment, whatever, subscribe, that would be wonderful, but that's all from me. I'll catch you in the next one. See you later.