Why Leandro Trossard is so important to Arsenal
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00:00Hello everybody, Adam Cleary from 442 here, and slightly weird intro this one, but just
00:08bear with me.
00:09Right, so do you remember Anne Hathaway saying that she loves Leandro Trossard, yes of course
00:14you do.
00:15Right, now I think ever since that happened, his performances have visibly gone up a level
00:20and that would make him the most relatable footballer who has maybe ever lived.
00:26Three goals in the last four games is one of the main reasons Arsenal are pushing City
00:30right to the wire in this title race, and that just, that just makes sense.
00:35Like do you have any idea how much more effort I would be putting into these videos if I
00:40thought there was even the slightest chance Anne Hathaway might be watching them.
00:44Because it's like, it's a lot, okay.
00:50Anyway right, yes, Arsenal fans, it is now officially scary hours.
00:55This is the team you put out against Manchester United at the Theatre of Streams, you having
01:00that anyway?
01:011-0, a win in one of the weirdest games I've seen all season.
01:04But the main difference maker, the man who got you the goal, was this man, Leandro Trossard.
01:09And in a match where, like I say, pretty weird, it just did not seem to click for Arsenal,
01:14they had the ball and then they kind of sat off and it felt like Man United had a good
01:19deal of control, but at the same time, you sense that if they ever were in any danger
01:23they would have gone up levels and levels and levels, just ignore all that.
01:27One goal arrived, that's the goal that mattered, and Trossard got it and it just begs the question,
01:32how does he keep doing this?
01:34Because up until the last few games, he hasn't really felt like a guaranteed starter for
01:39Arteta and yet just this season, he got the vital equaliser right at the end of the Community
01:44Shield before Arsenal went on to win it.
01:46When it looked like they were dropping points at Goodison Park early in the season, he came
01:50on and scored the kind of goal only he was likely to score.
01:53He got an absolutely vital equaliser against Chelsea, he got not the winning goal but certainly
01:58the one that killed the game against Liverpool, which sent Arsenal top of the league.
02:02He made that breakthrough against Porto when Arsenal had not been able to break them down,
02:06he got the equaliser against Bayern Munich, and here again, in this game, where it just
02:10looked like it wasn't really Arsenal at their best, he's the man that pops up, finds just
02:15a yard and a half of space, and finishes.
02:18And those are just the goals that feel really big when you're trying to remember them.
02:22There's been loads of others as well, there was the Bournemouth one, Wolves very recently
02:25too.
02:26The guy has as many, I'm going to get this right, as many non-penalty goals this season
02:32as potential Player of the Year winner Cole Palmer.
02:35In fact, if you do take penalties out of the equation, he becomes Arsenal's top scorer
02:39this season ahead of both Saka and Havard, and only one behind Mo Salah despite starting
02:45like 10 less games than he has.
02:47Now if you watch Arsenal all the time, that's probably not a massive shock, you will know
02:51how good he is, but I would imagine the casual Premier League fan who doesn't see him that
02:56often is maybe a little bit shocked by some of those numbers, because when you watch a
03:00game, his overall contribution doesn't feel that significant.
03:04Like this is his heat map from the Man United game, and if you've seen me do many heat maps
03:08this season, you'll know this is barely involved at all.
03:11I think he came off after like 65-70 minutes, but regardless, you'd still expect a team
03:15of Arsenal's attacking dominance to have one of their main forward players showing
03:21up all over the place.
03:22There should be huge big red and orange patches here as he's getting on the ball and he's
03:26linking up with his teammates, but there's just nothing.
03:29In fact, he does most of his work here in a defensive position.
03:33Then you combine that with his pass map from the game, and that's an astonishingly low
03:37number of passes.
03:38They're not even concentrated in any area, he's just kind of floating about, not really
03:43impacting the play in the final third.
03:45But this isn't unusual for Trossard at all.
03:48I think across the course of this season, he's averaged about 27-28 touches per 90 minutes.
03:54He averages about 13 or so passes per 90 minutes.
03:57He's not someone who's heavily involved in all aspects of the game.
04:01Whether Arsenal are attacking or defending, his contribution is small.
04:06Now if you are watching, Ann, then please do stick with us here, because we're going
04:09to get into the quite tedious, boring, nerdy numbers side of this.
04:13These are his stats, purely in the Premier League this season, in terms of his passing,
04:18in terms of his chance creation, and in terms of his possession.
04:21And they are ass.
04:24Ass.
04:25A-S-S.
04:26Ass.
04:27Bum.
04:28They are rubbish.
04:29You would never ever look at those and think the man behind them was somehow helping to
04:32lead a Valiant title charge.
04:34You'd think he was crap.
04:35And no, you're right, context is key here, so I'll show you comparatively to Gabriel
04:41Martinelli's exact same numbers from the exact same period of time.
04:44The man whose form has dropped off, and he has thus replaced, they're much better.
04:49And these are the things you tend to judge a wide attacker on.
04:53Like just in everything you want here, Martinelli looks like a vastly superior player.
04:56Like his passing numbers tell you that he gets on the ball loads more, and the key passes
05:00in particular, which is any pass that creates a chance for your teammates, he's better at
05:04those, so he's more damaging to the opposition.
05:07And he's got all types of chance creation as well.
05:09These numbers aren't incredible, but they still leave Trossard in the dust, whether
05:13it's a dead ball, or a through ball, or a take on, or a shot, like he's got more weapons
05:17in his arsenal, no pun intended, for making things happen.
05:21And this is the main event of this particularly weird party, like just look at how much better
05:24he is in possession, like he gets on the ball in all the right areas so much more than Trossard.
05:30He carries the ball, he runs at people, he gets it into the penalty box, he makes progressive
05:34passes, he moves it forward.
05:36It is simply almost unbelievable that this player is not always first choice.
05:43So why then?
05:44Why does Arteta pick him every single week now?
05:47Why do me and Anne Hathaway both love him?
05:50Why does he keep popping up in the right place at the right time and scoring these vital
05:55goals?
05:56Well, I haven't shown you all the stats.
06:00In front of goal, or shooting as it is known, Gabriel Martinelli is fine, he is capable,
06:06he is able.
06:07When he's on form, he can do some real damage.
06:09These are not numbers to be embarrassed about.
06:11However, Leandro Trossard, your pal and mine, is not just better in this regard than Gabriel
06:17Martinelli, he is honestly at an elite level for finishing as a centre forward, never mind
06:25as a wide player.
06:26These numbers, quite frankly, are extraordinary.
06:30The number of goals, obviously we've already discussed, he has scored quite a lot, so that's
06:33not where your eye should be going, your eye should be going here.
06:37Goals per shot, goals per shot on target.
06:40He is in the very top bracket imaginable for turning chances into goals.
06:45Nearly one quarter of all the shots he's had in the Premier League this season have ended
06:50up in the back of the net, and if he's in a position where he can get that on target,
06:54it goes in more than 50% of the time.
06:58But if you would be so kind as to just direct your attention slightly further down to the
07:03XG numbers, and I know a lot of people are like, oh god, XG, grow up, but trust me, you're
07:09gonna like this bit.
07:10This is goals minus XG, right, and it's just basically an incredibly dorky way of putting
07:15a formula to how good in front of goal are you really.
07:19Because if you score loads and loads of goals, but you've got teammates putting it on a silver
07:23platter for you all the time, then that is one thing, but if your chances aren't really
07:27all that hot and you're still fine in the back of the net, that's obviously much better.
07:31So if you add up all the XG of the chances Trossard has had in the Premier League this
07:35season, right, and then minus that from the number of goals he's scored, you get like
07:40a number.
07:41And if that number is a positive number, then you are overperforming against the chances
07:45you're getting.
07:46You're a ruthless, lethal finisher, and obviously if it's a negative number, then the perception
07:50is you probably should be doing slightly better, which is where we find Martinelli in this
07:54particular regard.
07:55And Arsenal fans will agree he's not been that good in front of goal this season, and
07:59that comes out in both the eye test and the numbers.
08:01But Leandro Trossard, his number is not only just positive, it is about as big a positive
08:07number as anyone has in the league this season.
08:11Plus 0.24, which doesn't sound very much, but just to put that in a way that will make
08:16sense to normal people, right, for every four goals he should score, he scores five.
08:23And is that good, Adam?
08:24Is just getting five goals when you should only score four, is that good, or has it just
08:28got a big green line next to it?
08:30And do you know what?
08:31That is a great question, and I do have a way of making the answer make sense, okay?
08:36So you know Erling Haaland, right?
08:38Well you remember, don't you, how last season he was being hailed as like the greatest centre
08:42forward, the greatest natural finisher who's ever lived, yeah?
08:46Like obviously this season, he's more like a character at Space Jam, and oh no, the aliens
08:50have stolen my powers, but last season, couldn't miss.
08:53And yeah, it's weird, because in that greatest ever goal scoring season, Haaland's number
08:58for this particular stat was plus 0.25, so almost exactly the same as Trossard is doing
09:06this season.
09:07Except, oh no, wait, you're right, Trossard doesn't take penalties, does he?
09:12So if we deduct the penalties from Haaland's stats last season, to give him like a non-penalty
09:18goals minus xG, what does that come out as?
09:22Oh wow, no way, it's plus 0.20, so just purely in open play, Trossard's actually a better
09:30finisher this season than Haaland was last season.
09:34And I mean, that's, it's pretty good, isn't it?
09:38And the thing is, right, crucially, this is not a fluke, like if you go back through all
09:43of Trossard's stats in this exact regard, like last season at Arsenal, previous to that
09:48when he was at Brighton, he's always been overperforming on that particular metric,
09:53which means he's just always been a really good finisher.
09:56And if you've watched the goals he scored during his time in England, you can see that's
09:59because he's one of the most naturally two-footed finishers I think possibly we've ever seen
10:05in the league.
10:06Like the breakdown of his goals from his left foot and his right foot is really, really
10:10evenly split.
10:11I think he's got actually one of the best percentages in that regard over the last couple
10:15of seasons.
10:16And because he's confident finishing on either foot, it makes it really, really difficult
10:20for both goalkeepers and defenders to limit his opportunities.
10:24Like his goal against Manchester United is indicative of his drive, his determination,
10:28his reading of space, his willingness to throw himself where he thinks the ball is going
10:33to be, like all that mental stuff that does help you get these chances.
10:36There's also been two recently where that inability to predict what he's going to do
10:41has actually been one of the main reasons he's got the goal.
10:43Like for this one against Chelsea, I actually think it's perfectly possible for the position
10:47Alfie Gilchrist is in for him to try and throw himself in front of that ball if he knows
10:52for certain that a shot is coming.
10:54But because Trossard is on his left foot here and there's obviously other players in the
10:57box he's capable of cutting it back to, he doesn't want to over commit in this scenario.
11:02Like if that was someone who was purely left-footed, you'd probably just be like, oh, well, they're
11:05going to have to smash this here.
11:07So I'll try and block it.
11:08But because it's Trossard, you can't do that.
11:10And likewise, the goalkeeper gets beaten at his near post because he probably suspects
11:14in his mind that either he's going to try and cut onto his right foot or he's going
11:18to roll it across the box.
11:19It's not a sure thing.
11:21He's just going to swing a leg at this.
11:22So his body isn't sort of prepped to go to his right as much as it might maybe otherwise
11:27have been.
11:28And also the Bournemouth goal here, I also think it's perfectly possible for the defender
11:32to throw himself in front of this shot if he knows for definite that Trossard is going
11:37to shoot.
11:38But if it's a player who's entirely right-footed, that's his only option in that situation.
11:41So you try and make the block.
11:43But because it's Trossard, he's perfectly capable of going around him on his left if
11:48he over commits.
11:50So he just kind of does neither one nor the other.
11:52And that leaves this very small little gap, which Trossard, because as I've discussed,
11:57very good at finishing because of that nice little number he's got, scores.
12:01So just to make sure I'm completely making my point here, right, this is not the contribution
12:06from an attacking player you ever really want to see in a big game, never mind a shit
12:11or bust Premier League title match.
12:13And likewise, these are not the overall statistics across the season from a player you're ever
12:18likely to trust in your starting 11 at the crunch end of the season.
12:22But the reason why Arsenal are A, happy to accommodate all of this and B, have repeatedly
12:28rejected all the assertions from those know-it-alls in the media that they need to go and buy
12:33a proper centre forward is because of this man.
12:38You can have very little game involvement or chance creation down your left-hand side,
12:42and you can have Kai Havertz playing this frankly bananas horizontal false nine position
12:48up front because when push comes to shove, comes to fart, comes to shart, Leandro Trossard
12:54is capable of popping up with that goal.
12:57But if, and obviously it is an if, they do manage to pull this off, Leandro Trossard's
13:02name will not be the first one Arsenal fans think to sing, but I will, and Anne Hathaway
13:09will.
13:10So there you go.
13:11Anyway, I've been threatening this for absolutely ages, but I've finally gone upstairs and got
13:13a copy of the Euros edition of the new 442.
13:16There's a little bit of blue in this, I'm worried that I'll be messing with the screen
13:19behind me.
13:20But look, Mikaio Saka's on it, so you, an Arsenal fan, you should like it, that's available
13:24absolutely everywhere.
13:25Now it comes, you're going to love this, not only with a Euros preview special issue magazine,
13:31ooh freebies, but also, look at this, this is good, all right, let's go with this.
13:35I've ripped it three times already, but look, this is a, look, it's a wall chart.
13:39It's a wall chart for the Euros, so you can, you can do all that, you can fill it in, like
13:45when you were a kid.
13:46Anyway, it is quite thin, so do be careful with it.
13:49Anyway, please subscribe to us here at 442, loads more stuff coming at the end of the
13:52Premier League season, the FA Cup, the little weird transfer window we're going to have
13:56before everybody declares bankruptcy, then the Euros itself, loads of fun stuff to come,
13:59so don't miss any of that, please, it does help us out absolutely loads, and of course,
14:03if you want to get me on social media, you can, at adamcleary, C-L-E-R-Y, 442 socials
14:08in the corner of the video, and just, just, I would encourage you to maintain your commitment
14:13to having a nice time, and that might seem like a really out-of-pocket thing to say,
14:17but I just think people forget every now and then, so after you've watched this video,
14:21go do something nice for yourself, a little catnap, a cup of tea, just something that'll
14:25make you smile, that's my advice.
14:27I'm going to do both of those right now, goodbye!