Arsenal Vs Sheffield United 5-0: Analysis

Arsenal principals of play

 

Offensive

 

Control possession

Keep Sheffield under pressure and pinned back

Rotation between forward players

LW hold width vs Bogle

Hit early balls from Raya where possible

 

Defensive

Win the ball back quickly

Limit opposition time on the ball

Give little space between defensive lines

 

Arsenal started with a 4-3-3 formation however changed this throughout the game to create different overloads on the pitch to move Sheffield United. When in safe possession of the ball, Zinchenko moved into the center of the pitch to create a double pivot with Rice. Arsenal then created a back 3 of White, Saliba and Kiwior. Kiwior offers a nice balance on the left side being a left footed CB and with him being a good passer of the ball, it opens more passing lanes for Arsenal on the left side of the pitch and maybe a reason as to why Gabriel Martinelli stayed wide for the majority of the first half. Arsenal end up in a very interchangeable formation where certain players occupy spaces rather than positions. For example Havertz and Smith Rowe were on the team sheet playing alongside Rice in a midfield 3 however in reality they played much higher than Rice and supported the attack more so in number 10 areas than 6’s or 8’s.Sheffield didn’t press the CB’s or the GK much in the first half and allowed them comfortable possession. Arsenal’s build up was slow due to this and a lot of the play went through rice or Zinchenko. Havertz stayed close to Saka and interchanged positions with Saka pushing inside and Havertz holding the width on the right side. 

This is the shape of the Arsenal players when in possession of the ball. 

This picture shows the position of Zinchenko in the midfield to create the back 3 

 

The attacking space that Zinchenko vacates in his normal LB attacking position was held permanently by Martinelli and his defensive space filled by Kiwior. When Zinchenko goes into cm, Martinelli or Smith Rowe go into left back position to draw RB of Sheffield up the pitch and if he doesn’t track, he has 1 of 2 elite ball carriers running at home, if he does track, he leaves space behind for the other to run into. With Zinchenko in the middle, Declan Rice was getting forward more so than usual. With Zinchenko being left footed he played more on the left side of the field; this again allows for better angles on the passes into the feet the forward players making runs on the left side of the pitch. Zinchenko being into midfield allows the forward line to rotate freely. Havertz and Smith Rowe played almost as free roam 8/10’s with Havertz frequently rotating with Saka and moving out to the far-right touchline- allowing space inside for Saka to run into and operate in which is where he is most effective.

It seemed like that Arsenal's game plan was to overload the full backs to avoid going through the middle where Sheffield had lots of bodies. On the right White, Saka and Havertz often all drifted wide and played close together and on the left Smith Rowe, Martinelli and Zinchenko often combined in similar patterns. As the game went on this meant that Zinchenko and rice saw more of the ball in the centre as Sheffield were then trying to stop the runners wide and rice started stepping onto midfield a lot more with the ball and was more offensive than he usually would be. This is where the first goal was made from, the 3 right sided players all combined which took 2/3 players out of the game, Ben white went to make an overlapping run taking a Sheffield player with him leaving rice the space to get the cross into Nketiah for 1-0.

Martinelli holding the width on the left touchline was also something Arsenal must have had in their game plan. Martinelli does often stay wide but in almost every attack he didn't drift at all and held the width the whole half. In the second half, Trossard came onto the pitch and did the same thing, waited for the ball went 1 vs 1 with Bogle and ended up winning a free kick for Arsenal and getting Bogle booked. 

                                                                                                                   

Defensive

On the few occasions Arsenal did have to defend vs Sheffield they operated in a 4-4-2 defensive shape. Smith Rowe joins Nketiah as the 2 to stop the ball going into the middle of the pitch. Martinelli LW, Saka RW and Havertz and Rice in CM with Zinchenko returning to LB.

 

Arsenal have conceded the 2^nd lowest amount of shots pg. with just 8.4. only being bettered by man city who concede 6.8 shots per game. Sheffield united were limited to just 2 shots on target in the game, neither of which hit the target meaning David Raya didn’t have to make a save in the whole game. 

Kai Havertz - Change of position

                                

The tactical position change of Kai Havertz is interesting. He is clearly playing more right sided in the previous 2/3 games than in the first 2/3 games. It could be to get another left footer on the right side of the pitch, it might be to distribute the height of the team across the field more.

It has been a common theme of Havertz time in the Premier league that nobody really seems to know his best position. He operated on the left side of the midfield 3 in the first few games of the season, filling the ‘Xhaka role’ in the system. However over the last 2/3 games Havertz has been operating on the right side of the 3 and has been playing slightly wider when in an attacking position

These pitch heat maps taken from Whoscored.com show Havertz role change clearly. In the first 2 games vs Forest and Fulham he was asked to play on the left side of the 3 where as in the game vs Sheffield he was asked to play on the right side of the 3.