W. | 2nd Look

Your 2nd Look at Arsenal & the PL 👁️ | Tactical breakdowns, context & the human element🕵️ | Amateur style, subjective takes, and surely not always right 🧠

[W. | 2nd Look @2ndLookPL]

Overall, this match, but also the cup tie against City, Brentford away and Wolves away made me realize that I see a huge problem in our defnesive line. Given that our starting CBs are Gabriel & Saliba, our LHS becomes a real issue when Calafiori is unavailable (which happens quite a bit). We then line up with Gabriel and Hincapie, which is elite OOP, but IP we struggle to keep the ball. I feel like we can afford to have 1 out of 4 defenders with buildup limitations. 2 out of 4 is already a problem, but if 3 out of 4 aren't specialists in buildup, it ruins our IP game.

[W. | 2nd Look @2ndLookPL]

Of course, but this match showed once again that our balnce is a bit off. I hadn't noticed this before. Hincapie, Gabriel, Mosquera they are pure athletes and somewhat limited in buildup.
Saliba, Calafiori, White world class in possession. I'd put Timber somewhere in between them.

On paper it looks balanced, but in reality we often ended up with a Gabriel-Hincapie duo on the LHS, complemented by Timber on the RHS or Mosquera like yesterday. And that was a major issue against Brighton away, the City final and PSG.

[W. | 2nd Look @2ndLookPL]

Of course, this is all just speculatoin. The only thing I can say is that when looking at a 3/4 backline of Hincapie, Gabriel and Mosquera, none of them are strong in buildup. If you add PSGs aggressive press and their elite game IP, the logical outcome is that Arsenal collectively just can't retain the ball...

Overall, I think we don't have enough build-up specialists in the team.

[W. | 2nd Look @2ndLookPL]

In a way, if the opponent is aggressively pressing you like Brighton or PSG, and your defnesive line consists of Mosquera, Gabriel and Hincapie, it is going to be tough to compete. Arsenal had a similar game against Brighton and now PSG. If a team collectively lacks players who can retain the ball, you are going to suffer.

Arsenal needs more build ups specialist

[W. | 2nd Look @2ndLookPL]

@EBL2017 https://t.co/OHR3BkwHPg

[James Benge @jamesbenge]

Arteta confirmed to TNT that Calafiori had had a niggle in training this week. Such a shame that this happens as often as it does for a player who has already had injury pain to last a lifetime.

[W. | 2nd Look @2ndLookPL]

@danieIscouting He is elite OOP as well. It is not just about him directing the press. The issue in this match was that it was so hard for Arsenal to find moments to transitoin from zonal to M2M. Because of that, Ode was basically useless, as he just isn't a big-space player IP.

[W. | 2nd Look @2ndLookPL]

@danieIscouting MLS had very good game

[W. | 2nd Look @2ndLookPL]

@bernardooooV3 That’s just poor from you tbh.

[W. | 2nd Look @2ndLookPL]

I feel like saving penalties isn't really Rayas superpwer. But football is about so much more than just pure ability.

COME ON YOU GUNNERS!!!

[W. | 2nd Look @2ndLookPL]

This is going to be a long 15 mintues. Timber is playing on one leg, Hincapie is playing on one leg...

[W. | 2nd Look @2ndLookPL]

Arteta went down the route of somewhat archiac football. Which I kind of understand. We are playing with 2 strikers who are causing real problems for PSGs center-backs. We go long and want to land on the second ball and create danger from there.

Feels like he judged that we would pose a bigger threat this way than by trying to build up from the back...

[W. | 2nd Look @2ndLookPL]

Crucal moment now. We need to show some resilience and manage the emotions.

[W. | 2nd Look @2ndLookPL]

I feel like they will be much more decisive with their movements in the second half. But like you said, I think we somewhat wasetd time because Odegaard is poor in huge spaces on the transition, and generally the attacking line doesn't have any runner in behind, so we basically had no one to scare them.

[W. | 2nd Look @2ndLookPL]

Odegaard is pretty usless if there are no moments where we can transition from zonal to M2M.
Then IP he is only useful in tight spaces, and after transitions we have 50 yards to run, so like you said, he isn't really needed at all.

I would also love to see Calafiori, but I guess he just isn't fit.

[W. | 2nd Look @2ndLookPL]

A few thoughts at half-time:

- We are great at low-block zonal defnedning, but personally, I think we need something more.

- Odegaard is elite OOP, but IP he only thrives in tight spaces. Given how deep we are pinned, there are barely any moments to trigger a M2M press. Eze feels like a much better fit here. He loves large spaces.

- We desperately need a runner in behind. Our frontline right now is just Havertz fighting for survival in extreme situations.

Of course, you can go the other way and prioritize defending over attacking. Personally, I prefer using attack as a form of defense.

[Arsenal @Arsenal]

Leading at the break with more battles to be won.

Let's keep showing what we're made of, Gunners 💪

[W. | 2nd Look @2ndLookPL]

Glad we are leading, but we can't spend the rest of the match with the sole intenion of defending. We need to find a way to keep hold of the ball.

[W. | 2nd Look @2ndLookPL]

@JohyanCruyff I feel like it has to do with Hincapie having to play because of Calafioris injruy. Teta didn't want a LHS of Hincapie, Gabriel and Martinelli.

But overall I agree that a frontline without any runners against PSG is something that is hard to justify.

[W. | 2nd Look @2ndLookPL]

@whataloadofx @IsaanKhan_ The "starters-finishers" rule doesn't really apply to the defnesive line. Plus, I subjectively dislike going from an extremely static attacking line to an extremely dynamic one.

[W. | 2nd Look @2ndLookPL]

That changes the dynmic a bit. If neither he nor Timber were ready, we didn't really have much of a choice there. I get why Arteta preferred to start Trossard instead of having a LHS of Gabriel, Hincapie and Martinelli. That trio would be way too chaotic.

[James Benge @jamesbenge]

Arteta confirmed to TNT that Calafiori had had a niggle in training this week. Such a shame that this happens as often as it does for a player who has already had injury pain to last a lifetime.