By Vinay Shankar (Tactical Analyst)
A gritty comeback from a mostly one-sided game to keep up the great start and hopefully be the confidence booster for this team when trailing in games:
- With injuries to crucial personnel in Partey and Zinchenko, this was the first opportunity to test the bench strength at home against a very compact side. Zinchenko has brought a lot of tactical variability to Arsenal’s structure in possession and Xhaka’s role in the absence of both these players had to change for a better balance.
- Rather than an aggressive high press, Arsenal chose to block off passing lanes centrally with Odegaard marking Palhinha and looked very dangerous in transitions from turnovers. Saka and Martinelli drifted centrally to pick off loose passes with Jesus playing off the
defender’s shoulder.
- After the initial period where consistent overloads were being created to open up the Fulham defence, the buildup became laborious and Fulham packed the central areas to prevent the creation of quality chances.
- Zinchenko’s movements were definitely a big miss in those tight areas as Tierney did a solid job recreating this role but the Scotsman just doesn’t have the same chemistry with Martinelli.
- Fulham’s goal was against the run of play and Gabriel faces the brunt of the blame for it, it must be pointed out that when Tierney tucked into the pivot, Martinelli had to move to the touchline quicker to exploit the space. Timing is important but recognising these situations as quickly as possible comes with repetition.
- The switch to a 3-5-2 with Martinelli and Saka as wing-backs has been trialled with different personnel in the past and is likely to be the preferred formation while chasing games or attempting to break down low blocks in the second half. The constant movement of Jesus and Nketiah allows for a much more interplay in central areas and as a result, the opposition full-backs drop in to support the centre-backs leaving a lot of space for the wing-backs to exploit.
- Nketiah in particular has bulked up this season and looks a lot sharper in tight situations to cause havoc with his physical attributes. He may not have scored but his movement was enough to upset the defence and the linkup with Jesus was perhaps the one thing
that was missing.
- The shift to this formation necessitates that Odegaard becomes the primary ball progressor from deeper areas and the Norwegian dazzled with his passing given the time and space. The downside to this set-up is that once the scoreline is overturned, it’s not the most viable because of the lack of players in the central areas as well as exposing the converted wing-backs to uncomfortable situations defensively.
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