The euphoria of Sunday’s dream win is yet to sink in. It was such a rollercoaster ride and I’m sure many of you still get excited thinking of that result.
We’ve all been discussing Theo Walcott’s brilliant transformation in the space of 90 minutes, Robin van Persie’s unstoppable equalizer and Tomas Rosicky’s all-action performance, but amidst the celebrations, many of us have overlooked the role of Arsene Wenger in this game.
I’m not blaming any of you as only while watching the entire match for the third time did I really get over my excitement and started to take a closer look at Wenger’s tactical tweaks.
Now Wenger is never considered by experts as a tactical genius, but last Sunday, his decisions were absolutely brilliant. They were small changes, but you can’t play down the importance of those decisions. Wenger’s performance in that crunch derby is certainly a smack in the face of critics who have labeled him tactically inept.
To start with, Yossi Benayoun’s inclusion ahead of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Gervinho was a big surprise. I had my reservations about Yossi but once the game wore on, I realized that it all made perfect sense. Gervinho is a great dribbler with deceptive speed and Chamberlain has that explosive nature about his play, but what Wenger needed that day was someone who could retain possession and provide a bit of dynamism with his movement in the final third and Benayoun ticked all the boxes.
It was clear from the start that Arsenal’s full-backs were out there with instructions to bomb forward. The amount of space Emmanuel Adebayor and Louis Saha had early on was due to Alex Song’s failure to adapt to this change. Normally when one full-back attacks, the other stays a bit deeper to defend quick counter attacks. But when both full-backs are instructed to go forward, it is important that the holding midfielder plays deep to provide cover for the flank under attack.
Great post, AW was tactically astute to say the least. We started with both full backs heading forwards leaving just the 2 CB’ s back to be pulled around by Saha and Adebayor after the over the top ball as they couldn’t use midfield. Later in the game AW pulled Gibbs back and left it to be selected when he could join the play thus cutting out the direct ball but not losing anything from the dominating midfield. If AW shows as much nouse v the scoucers we will surely win 2-1 to the Arsenal!! COYG!!!!
Insightful article. One thing I would like to point out also was that the full backs bombing forward means possession becomes important. This is where Benayoun played a critical role. He was a very strong outlet for the midfield, and kept possession well. The one problem we usually have with both Gervinho and Theo is that they lose possession frequently because they attack more directly, and also both of them lack great close control. With Benayoun, there was balance that Wenger was talking about. So Benayoun was definitely the master stroke in this game.
Good article. No doubt the key to that game was posession, as with most games against top Premiership teams, and Benayoun was the best option on the left. Walcott was an interesting selection in those circumstances but he is very effective against teams who feel capable of playing attacking football against Arsenal and it proved the case in that game. The problem that Walcott has is that he is brilliant on the counter but Arsene will never go into a game with the intention of playing on the counter. It comes as a consequence of the opposition needing to force the game.
great analysis. One suggestion : please mention ‘tactical analysis’ in the headline when u r doing so.
FFS … tacticaly astute about 5 months too late. We have needed more in midfield to keep possession all season. Instead he has insisted on using a 433 with 2 erratic wingers who are potentially dangerous but too often lose the ball. Our midfield has at times been over run. Meanwhile Benayoun is creative and hard working but hardly ever used. The belated change also enabled Walcott not to be stuck out wide on the right wing … failing to cross a decent ball. And now someone writes give credit !!