Thoughts On The Tactical Aspects Of The Liverpool Game

After the game I just wrote a quick post with the positives and the negatives of the game. I found this game to be an interesting tactical battle and so this article is dedicated to that aspect of the game.

I thought we started with a 4-2-3-1 formation but the two deep lying midfielders weren’t exactly in the destroyer mould. Liverpool looked like they were playing a 4-4-1-1 system. More than the formation though, I thought the mentality of the two teams was the noteworthy tactical point. Both teams came into the game with a lot of respect for the opposition and a cautious approach that was far more defensive than is usual.

I think it was understandable because Arsenal had the first choice central midfield missing and Liverpool haven’t had a great pre-season under a new manager. Going all guns blazing in such a game when both teams had some good finishing talent could have been disastrous. Some fans don’t realize that a team cannot be perfect in all games but most others will see that it was the right move.

Sometimes people feel that changing the formation or making substitutions are the only important tactical changes a manager can make. This game showed us that keeping your midfielders five yards deeper than usual or restricting their freedom and such other decisions also make a big tactical difference.

In Diaby and Wilshere we had two midfielders who like to dwell on the ball and don’t mind taking people on. Dribbling is an admirable skill in the attacking areas but when you are playing so close to the defence it can be a real concern. I thought both these players did well, especially Diaby who was playing without any match practice at all. He found an Arsenal player with 50 out of his 52 passes.

Wilshere made a few mistakes, most notably the blunder that cost the goal, but considering the fact that he is just a 18 year old we cannot be too harsh on him. Having said that, I do believe he will have to improve a lot will perhaps benefit if he is allowed to play in a more advanced role.

Nonetheless, both showed a great deal of restraint and composure,which enabled us to maintain our defensive shape for large parts of the game.

In some ways their life was made easier by the fact that Liverpool gave us too much space in the first half. That was very unlike the hosts and under Benitez we would never have seen that much time on the ball. I don’t know whether Hodgson said something before the second half or not but they did come out and pressed the ball much higher up the pitch. Immediately, Arsenal found it difficult to move the ball around and conceded a few set-pieces. If Liverpool had done this for the whole of the first hour the game might have been completely different.

Given their lack of pre-season training and the fact that they were playing with 10 men it was clear that Liverpool will have to drop deep eventually. It happened around the hour mark and combined with the introduction of Walcott and Rosicky it gave us the impetus we needed.

In the first hour we never really threatened. Part of it was down to the fact that our midfield was playing at a much slower tempo and the hosts also wanted to keep the pace of the game in control. While Wilshere and Diaby did well in terms of maintaining possession and the defensive shape, they didn’t really offer much in terms of off the ball movement and quick passing. I don’t mean it as a criticism. I think it was a tactical decision by Wenger to play the first hour with caution.

The other part of this problem was the inefficacy of Eboue and Arshavin on the wings. They neither offered genuine width, nor did they make any meaningful runs down the middle. The movement of Walcott and the passing of Rosicky made the final half hour much more interesting. It was also a period when Arsenal moved the ball faster.

This can be seen from the following chalkboard image. On top is the passing chart for Nasri in the first hour and below it you can see Little Mozart’s passing in the final 30 mins of game.

I’m not trying to say that Nasri was poor, he was not. But during the first hour when he was playing in an advanced midfield role there weren’t many options in front of him. Arshavin was sleeping in some corner, Eboue was having one of his days, and Chamakh was struggling all on his own. Nasri was forced to pass sideways or backwards even from advanced positions.

In contrast, when Rosicky came on, he had Chamakh, RvP, Walcott, and Arshavin in front of him. During this period Nasri did the job of a holding midfielder. I’m not including his passing details for the final 30 mins but if you look at his chart it is similar to what we see from Denilson. Plenty of neat little sideways passes about ten yards inside the opposition half. It allowed us to maintain possession and spread the play.

It’s also worth noting that Rosicky completed 34 out of his 36 passes and Nasri completed 31 out of 33 in the final half hour. That is more than a pass a minute, which is pretty much in the Xavi class. Clearly, the tempo was far higher during this period, although you could say that, at least, the sideways passes were easier as Liverpool sat deep.

I’d mentioned in the post match article that Rosicky was my man of the match and it’s easy to see why. Not only did he have an exceptional passing rate and accuracy, most of his passing was going forward. He also created our best chance and almost scored a cracker.

Arsene is often criticized for being too attacking but this game shows he does take a different approach at times. It could have been a better result for us had we not conceded the stupid goal. Liverpool created nothing with the ball on the ground except that goal.

I’d go so far as to say that the hosts were playing like a mid-table side. There were far too many long balls and there was no intent to move the ball around. It’s not surprising that Joe Cole struggled in this game (only 8 passes, 7 successful in 45 min). For their sake, the scousers will have to hope that it was down to early season fitness issues and the fact that the team is still adapting to a new manager. I can’t see them fighting for a top four spot with such tactics as they will barely get results at home and will really struggle away from home. Anyway, we’ll see how they play in the coming weeks, no point dwelling on it.

Arsenal will need to do much better in the coming weeks. I’m confident that once we have the big guns back the midfield we will look far more threatening and Wenger won’t have to ask his players to hold back. It could happen as early as this weekend with Blackpool at the receiving end.