Catching Up
by Omkar Rege
Been thinking a lot about Liverpool lately, their renaissance from a top 4, top 6 club to a side pushing a champion Man City team to a fantastic title challenge dragged on to the final day of the league spell, cherried with a champions league winners medal this past season surely is up there with football's greatest stories.
People always tend to cite star trio of Mane, Salah and Firmino as the reason why Liverpool are so good. Yes those guys are world class but on one fine night at Anfield, Liverpool showed the world that they can function without their franchise players and that they aren't a one dimensional team.
Being 3 down at the Nou Camp, no one gave the reds a toss as they looked to fight back a battle that many thought they had already lost.
From the start Milner and Henderson held their positions higher up the pitch with Fabinho staying behind to help his centrebacks. This led to Busquets and Rakitic dropping deeper leaving Messi and Suarez upfront isolated from their midfield. Also the Liverpool front 3 pressing meant that the barca fullbacks had to be tucked in and Coutinho and Vidal had to drop back vacating tons of space and that encouraged Trent and Robertson to push forward and put crosses inside the box unsettling the barca defence.
Not only that, Klopp had granted freedom to his midfielders to break forward in play especially during attacking transitions. This resulted in a central overload several times inside the Barcelona half which Henderson, and Wijnaldum later on exploited by making third man runs setting up 3 of Liverpool's 4 goals on a magical champions league night.
Klopp's major ploy of wide plays and midfield runners proved too good in the end for the Spanish giants.
The sole purpose of reminiscing this is to stress the importance of having a dynamic midfield. As good as Henderson, Milner, Fabinho and Wijnaldum were on that night, they don't possess the technical abilites of a Rakitic, Busquets, Vidal or even Arthur but their diligence and work rate on the pitch outclassed Barcelona's natural game.
This demonstrates that you don't need the best players in the world to win the big games but what you do need is workhorses in your team something Arsenal have been deficient of in the last couple of years. The last known pair of workaholics in the Arsenal midfield was Santi Cazorla and Jack Wilshere, players who were a perfect balance of offense and defence and who'd do everything they could to make the team tick. Which is not to say that the current Arsenal players, especially midfielders lack ambition or that they don't wanna play for the club anymore but the fact is that some of them just aren't good enough for the club.
Arsenal's failure to replace the likes of Wilshere and Cazorla cost the club dearly this past season as they lacked quality ball carriers in midfield and their pattern became too predictable eventually. The only player who puts that amount of effort on the field that the north London club have in their stock is Lucas Torreira. He is a manager's delight, not known for his technical prowess but undoubtedly a factotum in the midfield. He fits the Emery mold quite well.
Aaron Ramsey is another player that Arsenal had who gave his all for the club and was starting to work his way into Emery's plans quite well at the back end of last season but since he has now left, Arsenal need to find a similar player if they want to compete in any capacity in the upcoming season.
Speaking of the new season, it is quite perspicuous that Arsenal need to change their style of play, the 4-2-3-1, 4-4-2, 3-4-1-2 did work in quite a few games last season but sideways, monotonous football was the theme of Arsenal for most of last season and consequently it caught up to them as the gunners failed to secure champions league football for a third successive season.
Unail Emery said in one of his press conferences last outing that he visions Arsenal to be a 'chameleonic' team, a group that could adapt to different formations during a season, which sounds good on paper but the lack of identity last season really hurt Arsenal as they didn't have a style or formation to resort to when they things weren't going their way.
Even though Emery said he wants a multiformity in his team, I can't help but think that in a Utopia he would love to or even want a certain method or pattern of play in his group.
This is something Emery evidently had started to implement at Arsenal at the start of his tenure last year, the high press wide play football, and it worked to an extent, the 22 match unbeaten run was built on that. But due to injuries to certain players, he swayed away from his ideologies as Arsenal barely played out from the back or pressed at the opposition towards the end of last season and it ultimately wronged him in the end.
The gunners boss' season long squabble with Mesut Ozil turned quite ugly in the final game of the season when in the Europa league final, he turned to Joe Willock when Arsenal needed 3 goals to level the scoreline which I thought was the most pointed substitution and Ozil seemingly was not happy about it. This doesn't mean that the German won't be at Arsenal in the coming season because he's got a long contract and a nice pay package and he's said it multiple times that he wants to stay at the club. But what it does suggest is that Emery most definitely won't be building his team around Ozil something he tried doing most of last season and failed.
Its no secret that Ozil doesn't fit the modern style pf play, his problems with Jose Mourinho and Carlo Ancelloti in the past were based on his paucity of work rate on the field.
It reached such a point that the then Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelloti put him on the transfer list, something many thought at the time was preposterous as Ozil was at the peak of his powers and was working wonders for Madrid.
What Ancelloti did then, or what Klopp is doing now is something I think Emery would like to emulate, a 4-3-3 brand of 'heavy metal football'. This style is characterized by high pressing, quick passing and very hard work rate, a trend that doesn't tickle Ozil's fancy as he doesn't like to press and when he has the ball, rather than passing it around quickly, he likes to keep it and explore his options, which is not to say it doesn't work on a good day but when you're trying to build a certain pattern of play, one player demanding freedom on the pitch is not something a manager is looking for. And him being deployed on the wing doesn't work either as he always seems to cut inside and doesn't offer width.
Granit Xhaka is another player not suited for this style. His range of passing and distribution at times is quite a site to behold, but his lack of pace, dynamism and him not being able to press upfront is a real deal breaker. However, its quite interesting with him because unlike Ozil, Emery played him a lot last season and the Swiss did sign a long term contract last year so we'll have to see what happens with him this summer.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan didn't have a good last season, but he's a contender who can press and offer work rate on the field more often than not if not always quality. Ideally he's not the one who'd cater to Arsenal's midfield woes but with Ramsey gone and Arsenal looking to ship out Elneny and Ozil, Emery would like to keep the Armenian as he would be a better option in a midfield 3 alongside Torreira and Guendouzi.
Talking about Guendouzi, he's one of those rare Arsenal players who had a good last season, a player with bags of potential and who Emery relied on time and again. He could actually benefit playing in a midfield 3 rather than 2 as he looked exposed at times playing in a 2. He's got a nice passing range and is one who works hard and always looks to push forward.
With Arsenal seemingly not in the market for a Ramsey replacement as per multiple transfer reports, one might speculate if Emery is finally dipping his toes into 'project youth', something he was pointed fingers at for not doing so last season.
If he is testing waters though, it is a good thing as Arsenal have got an army of talented young prospects. One player who does come to mind who I think comes close to a Ramsey type is Joe Willock, a midfielder who can play multiple positions such as box to box or the attacking midfield role and can also carry the ball forward. He can also play on the wing on occasion and Emery likes him and even brought him on in the Europa final when Arsenal needed goals and he did well.
With Arsenal's budgetary constraints and other important positions needing to be filled, it won't be a surprise if they don't buy a winger. That means that the likes of Alex Iwobi, who had a very good last season, Reiss Nelson returning from his loan spell at Hoffenheim would have to step up and even Eddie Nketiah and new signing Martinelli could have a good chance of playing for the first team.
Arsenal will be hoping that Holding and Bellerin get fit soon enough as the 4-3-3 pressing style requires ball playing centre halves, something Holding is best suited for and Bellerin is very useful for wide plays in attack. Also, it is imperative that the club sign a left back soon, Monreal's age and Kolasinac's ineffectiveness while playing in a back four means that Arsenal cannot fully integrate themselves in a new system. Kieran Tierny is the left back Arsenal have been linked with and are getting closer to completing a deal according to some outlets. He's good in both attack and defence so he would be perfect for the club.
And of course Arsenal's two phenomenal strikers in Lacazette and Aubameyang, two guys whose talents really shone last season, with them playing either in tandem or as lone strikers means that the gunners could look quite promising in the new season.
Arsenal however need to start this transition soon if they want to get closer to Liverpool and play a dynamic fast paced football, cause at the moment they have a lot of catching up to do and it may happen that things take a turn for the worse before they start being good again. Emery might have to make some tough decisions at the start of the season in regards to some of his players but it is essential he doesn't back down from his ideas this time around.
Been thinking a lot about Liverpool lately, their renaissance from a top 4, top 6 club to a side pushing a champion Man City team to a fantastic title challenge dragged on to the final day of the league spell, cherried with a champions league winners medal this past season surely is up there with football's greatest stories.
People always tend to cite star trio of Mane, Salah and Firmino as the reason why Liverpool are so good. Yes those guys are world class but on one fine night at Anfield, Liverpool showed the world that they can function without their franchise players and that they aren't a one dimensional team.
Being 3 down at the Nou Camp, no one gave the reds a toss as they looked to fight back a battle that many thought they had already lost.
From the start Milner and Henderson held their positions higher up the pitch with Fabinho staying behind to help his centrebacks. This led to Busquets and Rakitic dropping deeper leaving Messi and Suarez upfront isolated from their midfield. Also the Liverpool front 3 pressing meant that the barca fullbacks had to be tucked in and Coutinho and Vidal had to drop back vacating tons of space and that encouraged Trent and Robertson to push forward and put crosses inside the box unsettling the barca defence.
Not only that, Klopp had granted freedom to his midfielders to break forward in play especially during attacking transitions. This resulted in a central overload several times inside the Barcelona half which Henderson, and Wijnaldum later on exploited by making third man runs setting up 3 of Liverpool's 4 goals on a magical champions league night.
Klopp's major ploy of wide plays and midfield runners proved too good in the end for the Spanish giants.
The sole purpose of reminiscing this is to stress the importance of having a dynamic midfield. As good as Henderson, Milner, Fabinho and Wijnaldum were on that night, they don't possess the technical abilites of a Rakitic, Busquets, Vidal or even Arthur but their diligence and work rate on the pitch outclassed Barcelona's natural game.
This demonstrates that you don't need the best players in the world to win the big games but what you do need is workhorses in your team something Arsenal have been deficient of in the last couple of years. The last known pair of workaholics in the Arsenal midfield was Santi Cazorla and Jack Wilshere, players who were a perfect balance of offense and defence and who'd do everything they could to make the team tick. Which is not to say that the current Arsenal players, especially midfielders lack ambition or that they don't wanna play for the club anymore but the fact is that some of them just aren't good enough for the club.
Arsenal's failure to replace the likes of Wilshere and Cazorla cost the club dearly this past season as they lacked quality ball carriers in midfield and their pattern became too predictable eventually. The only player who puts that amount of effort on the field that the north London club have in their stock is Lucas Torreira. He is a manager's delight, not known for his technical prowess but undoubtedly a factotum in the midfield. He fits the Emery mold quite well.
Aaron Ramsey is another player that Arsenal had who gave his all for the club and was starting to work his way into Emery's plans quite well at the back end of last season but since he has now left, Arsenal need to find a similar player if they want to compete in any capacity in the upcoming season.
Speaking of the new season, it is quite perspicuous that Arsenal need to change their style of play, the 4-2-3-1, 4-4-2, 3-4-1-2 did work in quite a few games last season but sideways, monotonous football was the theme of Arsenal for most of last season and consequently it caught up to them as the gunners failed to secure champions league football for a third successive season.
Unail Emery said in one of his press conferences last outing that he visions Arsenal to be a 'chameleonic' team, a group that could adapt to different formations during a season, which sounds good on paper but the lack of identity last season really hurt Arsenal as they didn't have a style or formation to resort to when they things weren't going their way.
Even though Emery said he wants a multiformity in his team, I can't help but think that in a Utopia he would love to or even want a certain method or pattern of play in his group.
This is something Emery evidently had started to implement at Arsenal at the start of his tenure last year, the high press wide play football, and it worked to an extent, the 22 match unbeaten run was built on that. But due to injuries to certain players, he swayed away from his ideologies as Arsenal barely played out from the back or pressed at the opposition towards the end of last season and it ultimately wronged him in the end.
The gunners boss' season long squabble with Mesut Ozil turned quite ugly in the final game of the season when in the Europa league final, he turned to Joe Willock when Arsenal needed 3 goals to level the scoreline which I thought was the most pointed substitution and Ozil seemingly was not happy about it. This doesn't mean that the German won't be at Arsenal in the coming season because he's got a long contract and a nice pay package and he's said it multiple times that he wants to stay at the club. But what it does suggest is that Emery most definitely won't be building his team around Ozil something he tried doing most of last season and failed.
Its no secret that Ozil doesn't fit the modern style pf play, his problems with Jose Mourinho and Carlo Ancelloti in the past were based on his paucity of work rate on the field.
It reached such a point that the then Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelloti put him on the transfer list, something many thought at the time was preposterous as Ozil was at the peak of his powers and was working wonders for Madrid.
What Ancelloti did then, or what Klopp is doing now is something I think Emery would like to emulate, a 4-3-3 brand of 'heavy metal football'. This style is characterized by high pressing, quick passing and very hard work rate, a trend that doesn't tickle Ozil's fancy as he doesn't like to press and when he has the ball, rather than passing it around quickly, he likes to keep it and explore his options, which is not to say it doesn't work on a good day but when you're trying to build a certain pattern of play, one player demanding freedom on the pitch is not something a manager is looking for. And him being deployed on the wing doesn't work either as he always seems to cut inside and doesn't offer width.
Granit Xhaka is another player not suited for this style. His range of passing and distribution at times is quite a site to behold, but his lack of pace, dynamism and him not being able to press upfront is a real deal breaker. However, its quite interesting with him because unlike Ozil, Emery played him a lot last season and the Swiss did sign a long term contract last year so we'll have to see what happens with him this summer.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan didn't have a good last season, but he's a contender who can press and offer work rate on the field more often than not if not always quality. Ideally he's not the one who'd cater to Arsenal's midfield woes but with Ramsey gone and Arsenal looking to ship out Elneny and Ozil, Emery would like to keep the Armenian as he would be a better option in a midfield 3 alongside Torreira and Guendouzi.
Talking about Guendouzi, he's one of those rare Arsenal players who had a good last season, a player with bags of potential and who Emery relied on time and again. He could actually benefit playing in a midfield 3 rather than 2 as he looked exposed at times playing in a 2. He's got a nice passing range and is one who works hard and always looks to push forward.
With Arsenal seemingly not in the market for a Ramsey replacement as per multiple transfer reports, one might speculate if Emery is finally dipping his toes into 'project youth', something he was pointed fingers at for not doing so last season.
If he is testing waters though, it is a good thing as Arsenal have got an army of talented young prospects. One player who does come to mind who I think comes close to a Ramsey type is Joe Willock, a midfielder who can play multiple positions such as box to box or the attacking midfield role and can also carry the ball forward. He can also play on the wing on occasion and Emery likes him and even brought him on in the Europa final when Arsenal needed goals and he did well.
With Arsenal's budgetary constraints and other important positions needing to be filled, it won't be a surprise if they don't buy a winger. That means that the likes of Alex Iwobi, who had a very good last season, Reiss Nelson returning from his loan spell at Hoffenheim would have to step up and even Eddie Nketiah and new signing Martinelli could have a good chance of playing for the first team.
Arsenal will be hoping that Holding and Bellerin get fit soon enough as the 4-3-3 pressing style requires ball playing centre halves, something Holding is best suited for and Bellerin is very useful for wide plays in attack. Also, it is imperative that the club sign a left back soon, Monreal's age and Kolasinac's ineffectiveness while playing in a back four means that Arsenal cannot fully integrate themselves in a new system. Kieran Tierny is the left back Arsenal have been linked with and are getting closer to completing a deal according to some outlets. He's good in both attack and defence so he would be perfect for the club.
And of course Arsenal's two phenomenal strikers in Lacazette and Aubameyang, two guys whose talents really shone last season, with them playing either in tandem or as lone strikers means that the gunners could look quite promising in the new season.
Arsenal however need to start this transition soon if they want to get closer to Liverpool and play a dynamic fast paced football, cause at the moment they have a lot of catching up to do and it may happen that things take a turn for the worse before they start being good again. Emery might have to make some tough decisions at the start of the season in regards to some of his players but it is essential he doesn't back down from his ideas this time around.
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