The Debrief · Tactical Breakdowns
Set Piece FC return, but there’s more
Arsenal 2-0 Everton. Both goals came from balls into the box, but this game was won in a lot more places than the corners.
Here’s my tactical breakdown.
Read the breakdown →Introduction
Set Piece FC are back.
But this wasn’t the only strategy Arsenal adopted. Arsenal built with Lewis-Skelly in midfield. Gyökeres didn’t have a single shot on goal, but he was the main link in the team. As a team they counter-pressed, won the ball back high and trusted two centre-backs to deal with Everton transitioning on their own.
Coming up:
01 · Set piece
Flick it on, attack the back post
A lot has been made this season of Arsenal’s lack of set-piece goals. For a team that was so successful from set plays last season, the question was being asked: “Have they been found out?” Seven minutes in, Arsenal’s third corner of the game. Ødegaard whips an inswinger in from the right towards the near post, Gabriel attacks it and flicks it across goal, and after a bit of penalty area pinball, Konsa bundles it in at the back post.
It looks scrappy, but the shape of it is designed. Players start their runs from the far side and attack the front post zone, and with that many bodies moving at once the runs are really hard to track. This has been a common approach for Arsenal over recent seasons, so it’s nothing teams haven’t seen before. Players run from the blind side, which means that as a defender you have the flight of the ball and your man to track, and they arrive from opposite directions. Zonal players cannot see the attackers coming, and the volume of attackers condensed into one space makes it incredibly challenging to defend. Gabriel doesn’t need to score from there. He just needs to change the direction of the ball.
That’s the point of the flick. A ball redirected across the six-yard box moves faster than a keeper can shift his feet, so Pickford is still set for the near post while the ball is already on its way to the back post. And if it doesn’t go straight in, the back post is covered for whatever drops in the chaos.
The back post is the blind side for markers. Everyone is watching the delivery, which is exactly when Konsa loses his man and arrives on time. That’s why Arsenal send a centre-back there on purpose: someone big enough to win it and brave enough to put a body on anything that drops (it was Konsa’s first Arsenal goal, and I’m sure there are many more to come from set plays!).
Watch for it
On the next corner you watch, don’t follow the ball. Watch the player at the back post and see when he starts his run.
02 · Build-up
A full-back in midfield
Lewis-Skelly stepped into midfield from left-back to stand next to Rice, which left White, Konsa and Gabriel as a back three behind them.
Why? Because of the numbers against the press. With Lewis-Skelly inside, Arsenal had three at the back and two in midfield against Everton’s front four, so they outnumbered the press 6v4 once you count Raya. There’s always a free player, and the press can’t cover everyone.
The spare midfielder changes the angle too. Instead of passing around the press, out to the full-back and up the line where it’s easy to squeeze you against the touchline, the centre-backs can play through it, into a player facing forward in the middle of the pitch. Lewis-Skelly has the half-turn on lock these days and is quickly becoming one of the best players in the league at executing the first touch, turn and roll-out against pressure. That’s where a press can be beaten quickest: when you win your 1v1 duel and progress the ball yourself.
There’s a knock-on effect as well. With the left-back now inside, Eze doesn’t have to come short to help. He can hold the touchline, stay high and wide, and pin Everton’s right-back. And Lewis-Skelly wasn’t just a passing option. He won all four of his first-half duels.
He’s one of my favourites to watch in this Arsenal team.
Watch for it
At a goal kick or a slow build-up, count the players in the first line. If it’s three and a full-back has disappeared, look for them in midfield.
03 · The striker
No shots, but a key connector
Gyökeres made his first league start of the season and didn’t have a shot. If you just look at the stat sheet, that’s a bad day for a striker. IMO, I don’t think this truly reflects his performance.
He kept dropping off Tarkowski to take the ball with his back to goal (and Tarkowski isn’t easy to hold off). That asks the centre-back a question. Follow him, and there’s a gap in the back line behind you. Stay, and Gyökeres turns or lays it off with nobody near him. Either way, someone in blue has a problem and is attracted to the ball.
Holding it up also buys time. A pass into a striker who can keep the ball gives the runners around him the second or two they need to get going. Eze from the left and Ødegaard from the ten both ran beyond him, into exactly the space he’d pulled Tarkowski out of. Introducing Merino into midfield as a more advanced option also helped Gyökeres and Arsenal expose the spaces he was creating.
Then there’s the layoff. The best pass he can play usually isn’t a turn and shot, it’s a set back to a teammate facing forward, because that player can see the runners and has the best angle to play them in behind. Ødegaard is the main beneficiary of this action, and Viktor is showing improvement in this area (look at his layoff for Rice’s equaliser at Bayern). He was credited with the assist for the first goal too.
Watch for it
When a striker drops short, look behind him. Did a centre-back follow him, and who ran into the space?
04 · Counter-press
Win it back, attack the gaps
This one is about habits. It’s one of Arsenal’s most impressive qualities, and if you were to ask Arteta, I think he would say it’s their most important one too. When Arsenal lose the ball, they win it back straight away.
The reason is simple. A team that has just won the ball is halfway through switching from defending to attacking. Midfielders have stepped up, full-backs are starting to push on, and players are still facing the wrong way. For a few seconds the gap between Everton’s lines is bigger than it will ever be once they’re set.
That’s the window. Win it back when your opponent is just starting to prepare for an attack. That’s your moment to expose the gaps quickly and go forward straight away, before the block resets. Take a touch, go backwards, recycle it to the centre-backs, and the gaps close again.
What made it dangerous was where Arsenal’s players already were. Merino and Ødegaard were sitting between the lines, Eze was coming inside off the left and Madueke was holding the width on the right. So when Rice (or any of the defenders) won it back, there was a player in every space, including the advanced areas. A pass straight into the space Everton had just left was available. The counter-press isn’t only there to stop counter-attacks. Done like this, it’s one of the best ways a team has of creating chances. Plus, at the Emirates, where so many teams defend in blocks, this is one of Arsenal’s best strategies to create chances.
Watch for it
Next time a team loses the ball, count how many seconds it takes them to win it back, and how many passes they need afterwards to get into the box.
05 · Second goal
Overlap, cross, back post again
Quick side step to the subs before getting onto the second goal. I’m starting to lose count of the number of times Arsenal have scored goals following changes from the bench. Less than a minute after Arteta’s triple change (Havertz, Calafiori and Guimarães on), Arsenal score the second with a similar pattern to the first. Ball into the box, centre-back at the back post. This label of “finishers” is really no joke. They are backing it up.
Now the goal. It starts with an overlap on the right. Guimarães and Madueke combine, drawing Everton players out, and White runs round the outside. That’s why overlaps work. The player on the ball pins the defender, who is focused on the ball and defending their zone. The overlapping run is the one that is hard to track, so White ends up crossing with space.
Look at who else is on that side. Guimarães and Calafiori had come across to the right to combine and connect the attack, which pulls even more defenders towards the ball. The more bodies you drag across, the more space you leave at the far post.
The cross goes past Havertz, who jumps in front, and Gabriel is completely unmarked at the back post. Defenders watching the ball lose their man, and the back post is where that hurts most. Gabriel had gone down with a knock after 56 minutes and played on. Arsenal fans were panicking (no doubt some thinking, “Are we ever going to see Saliba and Gabriel play together again this season?”). Twelve minutes later he’s the one who kills the game. I guess that’s why he’s called the “King of Brazil”.
Watch for it
When a team overloads one side, glance at the far post before the cross comes in. That’s usually where the goal is.
06 · Defending the break
Happy to be left one v one
The last one is the reason Arsenal can do everything above. Trust is the key word here.
When Everton did break, it was often Barry against Gabriel. Gabriel went tight, stayed tight and rarely let him turn (Gabriel probably followed him onto the team bus). Konsa covered the run inside from George, so Everton’s two most dangerous players on the break were dealt with by two players.
That’s a deliberate choice. Arsenal trust their two centre-backs in a one v one, which means they can commit more players forward. The full-backs can push on, Lewis-Skelly can go and play in midfield and Rice can step in to win the ball back, because if it goes wrong, the two at the back don’t need to win the ball. They can delay. They both possess world-class qualities in being aggressive and getting tight, but in a way that allows them to win the ball back fairly. If they can’t regain the ball, they both position their bodies on an angle that allows them to win the foot race, turn and sprint backwards to make a tackle, or use their frame to get between man and ball. Gabriel and Konsa have built up an unstoppable partnership.
This means they can slow the transition down for a few seconds until Rice, White and Lewis-Skelly are back, and a two v two becomes five v two. That tells you it’s a principle of the team, not just one partnership.
Watch for it
When a team counters, watch the defender closest to the ball. Does he dive in, or stay on his feet and wait for help?
Final thoughts
Are set pieces added to their arsenal again?
Set pieces used to be a key part of the plan. Some would say one they relied on. For Arsenal it’s starting to look like an added bonus. But the bit I thought was interesting is how much the open-play goal and the set-piece goal had aspects of the same idea: get bodies in the box, attract players to the front post, find the blind side of the defender, attack the back post.
Arsenal are level on points with City at the top, and now they’re winning games in more than one way. A consistent criticism last season was that they could only execute one strategy and lacked other ideas.
Anyone with a reasonable tactical IQ knows this is lazy analysis.
The line between set plays and open-play goals is getting thinner every season, and the teams who coach both with detail are going to find those winning margins, with more consistency...
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