Former personal zipper(er) to Arsène Wenger therefore privy to certain inside tactical information.
London, England
Joined April 2009
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Though against Aston Villa, Arsenal flipped the script a little bit in the second-half, bringing on Eze for Tzolis, and giving a bit more parity to their attacks. For the only goal, they overloaded the left, showing that that side is more than a decoy
As such, even Odegaard has become freer, not just restricted to a right-sided no.10 role that demanded so much - without really offering the possibilities, and his pass map v Chelsea, shows how those rotations allowed him to pop up on the left at times.
The left-side then, once Calafiori arrives, can be the impetus or it goes back to the other side, where there's a bit more space. Tzolis has made an impact because often he makes the right decisions - he's not really there to beat defenders (though in the final action he may).
Even the changes to the midfield, bringing Bruno G, hasn't changed the right side bias (41% of attacks v Man City went there on his debut), and unlocked Rice, now playing more to that side, with Lewis-Skelly instead, deployed in more of a shuttler, screener role towards the left
Love it. Somehow Lewis-Skelley has got away with 5 tackles with being booked. Two of them right after another.
This can be summarised by the full-backs pass charts - Calafiori more of a decoy, trying to open space for Tzolis who has struggled when isolated, and White, who seems a little hurried, when in advanced positions, as Villa quick to close down those combinations
Arsenal seem to be stuck between trying to play through Villa's mid-block, and quicker over their high line, but getting neither correct. This could be a commentary on Villa's shape - both hurrying Arsenal, and forcing the ball where the men are. The connections not there
The mistake was conceding the right half-space/flank to Messi, and he smelt it. 5-3-2 meant England could no longer double up, no longer push out to him from midfield - he even put Rodgers on LCM for the legs - and the LCB was too deep. A massive tactical disaster
🚨🚨🎙️| Thomas Tuchel post match on Semi-Final loss to Argentina:
"Journey ends here. Disappointed — so close. We got too passive after we scored, conceded too many crosses and chances. I made offensive subs the last few games to help the players, conceded straight away, gaps were far too open. Went to a back five to close the gaps but we kept conceding crosses.
"We wanted to go for the second goal but stayed in our 4-4-2 — couldn't win the ball, couldn't keep the ball. I analyse on the pitch, I take 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲. No regrets. The team gave everything — we were very, very close, we deserved to be 1-0 up, played one of our better matches.
"Strong group. We played strong teams, lots of miles, lots of travelling, altitude, heat — we overcame every obstacle and we were very close today." 🏴
Really liked England's sideways movement in the second-half, going out-to-in to drag Croatia's press. The full-backs started a little lower, and as such, the CMs could make darting runs to support them. It allowed them to make the triangles to score the two goals.
Rather than Odegaard-Eze as the two no8/10s, Lewis-Skelly-Eze makes better sense, as it allows Arsenal to do more things with the movements, rotations. Plus the pair raises the dribbler profile of the team.
