With their talisman out for the foreseeable, Arsenal must mount their latest Premier League (and Champions League) challenge without Martin Odegaard. Both the Tottenham and Atalanta games saw a very different approach, but Adam Clery takes a look at what Mikel Arteta is attempting and shows why this is more about how they're changing than how they're struggling.
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00:00Hello, good afternoon, good evening, whenever you happen to be watching this, Adam Cleary
00:07from 442 here and Arsenal have a problem.
00:12They went away to Atlanta in their first Champions League game and got a perfectly fine nil-nil
00:17draw in my opinion, that's not even a disastrous result, even though they were reliant on David
00:22Rye making what has to be classified as one of the most Cleary-esque saves you've ever
00:28seen to get them it.
00:29But the problem is not in the result, the problem is in how they played together and
00:32specifically how they are being forced to play without this man.
00:38Life for Arsenal without Martin Oerdegaard looks like it's going to be... rough.
00:46Now before we start, I just want to make sure the vibes are right for this.
00:50This isn't going to be an overly negative video, Arsenal were without Oerdegaard for
00:53the North London Derby and did a spectacular tactical job on them and worked for a little
00:58bit of better finishing in this could have done a similar job on Atlanta.
01:02However, all the Arsenal fans I know have described both those matches as a bit of a
01:08tough watch, so we're going to explain why that is and what steps Mikel Arteta is taking
01:13to adapt.
01:14So first up, what does Martin Oerdegaard do, what makes him so special, why is he so important
01:20to this system?
01:21And if you are an Arsenal fan you probably know most of this already, what makes him
01:25such a special player is his ability to get on the ball regardless of what state the game
01:31is in.
01:32If Arsenal are dominating teams and they've got really good control possession in their
01:35half, he is the player that finds the gaps between the very deep, very compact lines,
01:40receives it and moves the ball either out to the flanks or creates chances for the team.
01:45And you saw that a million times last season too, very strict banks of force, somehow Oerdegaard
01:50finds a little pocket and either links up with Saka and Ben White, they do some nice
01:54little clever rotations like that, or he just gets the ball into the box and makes
01:58something happen.
01:59Likewise, when Arsenal are building out from the back and the opposition try and disrupt
02:02that by pressing them really high and stopping them getting the ball into the middle, he's
02:06the one who drops out of these attacking areas into the deeper places to get on the ball
02:11again, turn and move them up the pitch.
02:14And in both of these situations what the opposition is trying to do is deny Arsenal the specific
02:19areas of the pitch they want to get the ball into, and it takes really, really special
02:24players to not only recognise where the gaps are appearing, but to get into them, ask for
02:29the ball and then do something productive with it rather than just passing it back to
02:34whoever gave it to them.
02:35And Martin Oerdegaard undisputably is one of, if not the, best players in the entire
02:41Premier League, probably even Europe, at doing those very specific things.
02:45This is both his heat map and his pass map from just a couple of weeks ago when Arsenal
02:50played Wolves and you can see these two things in action.
02:53Now Arsenal mostly dominated that game, so you can see he spent most of his afternoon
02:57in this bit of space where he likes to be, getting on the ball between their lines and
03:01making things happen in an attacking sense.
03:03But also, Wolves did go there with a bit of ambition, so there were periods of the game
03:07where they really did press Arsenal and try to disrupt their build-up, and that's what
03:11this little splodge here is.
03:13He dropped in to help out, to beat that press, to get them through that line and then up
03:18the pitch.
03:19And the main thing you need to take away from this visual is how many of these arrows are
03:23going backwards.
03:25And it is literally just one.
03:27Only once in that entire game when he went looking for the ball in these spaces was he
03:32unable to either get turned and move them up the pitch or immediately find a teammate
03:37who could.
03:38And this is just how Arsenal like to play under Arteta, where it is all about this central
03:43progression through the middle of the pitch.
03:45It's why you often see the full-backs inverting into that area, so they've got an extra man
03:49in those spaces.
03:50It's why the forward, whoever that is, tends to drop off from the central areas to leave
03:54space for the wide attackers to get in.
03:56They want to be in this area, and to get there, you tend to have to pass it through the middle.
04:01And thus, why Martin Odegaard is so important is because it doesn't matter what the opposition
04:06are doing or where they are, you've always got that central option that can move you
04:11forward.
04:12As you saw against Atalanta, they're still a team very capable of controlling possession.
04:16They're still excellent at circulating the ball around.
04:18But without this particular option being as reliably available, the compromises and the
04:24adaptations they're having to make are not proving easy.
04:28Now, first of all, and I think the thing most people picked up on actually watching the
04:32game was that they do still want to try and do this.
04:35Declan Rice got into these areas, Kai Havert got into these areas, Trossard was even doing
04:39it when he came on.
04:40But Arsenal kept finding that when they did find these players, either came straight back
04:45the way it had come from, or they lost possession.
04:48And thus, as the game wore on, they became understandably more and more reluctant to
04:53even try and do it.
04:54This is deep into the second half.
04:56And throughout this move, there's so many times where you could play that ball if Odegaard
05:01was there, but neither the player with the ball has the confidence to do it, nor the
05:05receiving player is really asking for it.
05:08Now, this is the combined pass map last night for both Declan Rice and Kai Havert, who I
05:12thought did a reasonable job in the circumstances.
05:14But when you just look at this and think back to that Martin Odegaard one, how many of these
05:19are going backwards?
05:20Don't get me wrong, they absolutely did their best.
05:22There's a couple of really good passes forwards in this part of the pitch.
05:25But if you just sort of look at how many times it comes to them and they've got to go backwards,
05:29they've got to go sideways, they just don't have that ability that Odegaard has to get
05:33it turn and go.
05:34But Arte is not a dope, like he's aware of this as a problem.
05:38And if the North London Derby should have showed you anything, it's that he is capable
05:41of getting this side to adapt.
05:43And lo and behold, Arsenal's plan B, if that's what you want to call it, was if we can't
05:48neatly play through the press, we will just play right over the top of it.
05:53And just to go back to that Wolves game for a second, because it was a very Arsenal-Arsenal
05:57performance.
05:58This is David Rye's pass map.
06:00His job during the build up is to step into the back line, play it left and right to Gabriele
06:04and invite a player on, make them harder to press, to play short.
06:09But he's not a one-trick pony, though he can go long if the situation merits it.
06:13But as you will no doubt observe just by looking at this, there are far fewer long passes than
06:19there are nice short ones left and right.
06:20And also that's where all the red ones are, because it's a far less accurate way to play.
06:25So how did that look for him last night?
06:27Well, first off, these are all his completed passes.
06:29You'll see there's so few of them going left and right.
06:31He goes long so much more often.
06:34But if we also show you his unsuccessful passes, then yes, yikes.
06:40He spent most of the night going long over the top of the opposition's press.
06:45And Arsenal, as yet, are not brilliant at this.
06:49He gave the ball away doing this, absolutely loads.
06:53That might seem a bit counterintuitive because you're constantly hearing about how good Arsenal
06:56are in the air and how good they are at set pieces.
06:59But most of that is down to the fact they've got four very big lads at the back.
07:04Usually playing into this area of the pitch where Saka's got to try and win it and Martinelli's
07:08got to try and win it or Jesus has got to try and win it.
07:12Far less likely to work.
07:13I said right at the start of the video, Arsenal were just some slightly better finishing away
07:17from doing another proper job on a very good team here.
07:21This is like the 75th minute.
07:22It's late in the game.
07:24Arsenal have a goal kick.
07:25Atalanta are pressing them still really, really high.
07:28Now, what Real would normally do here is go short into Gabriel, but just look at this
07:32freeze frame.
07:33He sets the ball.
07:34What are his options going to be?
07:35He can't go into the central area, which is what he would want to do, because Atalanta
07:38have a 4v2 here.
07:40They're begging Arsenal to try and do that.
07:43And even if he goes wide, then this press shuffles over, they've got another player
07:46in front ready to lock on, that ball would just come straight back.
07:50So instead, he does the sensible thing.
07:51He goes really long over the press and this time it works.
07:56Havard does unbelievably well to win this ball, bring it down, get it under control,
08:01hold off the defender and lay it off to Sterling.
08:03And for the first time pretty much in the entire match now, they're in.
08:07They create this absolutely golden opportunity for Gabriel Martinelli that he simply has
08:13to take.
08:14Like, this is what Arteta will have spoken about all week leading up to the game.
08:18It's what he'll have reminded them of in the changing room before they went out there.
08:21If we can't find a way to play through the middle, we might, might get something by doing
08:28this.
08:29But if that one chance comes, you have to take it.
08:32And it's so similar to the Tottenham game, like they were not on top in that match.
08:36They were not creating chances at will the way they normally do, but they knew they would
08:40still be solid and dependable and resolute at the back.
08:44And if that one chance comes along, be it from a corner or a long ball, if they take
08:50it, they win the game.
08:52And this is that moment.
08:53This is that Gabriel header, but this time they beam it over the bar.
08:58And I mean, like, don't get me wrong with this against most teams Arsenal come up against,
09:02they're still going to dominate the ball.
09:03They're still going to create a lot of chances.
09:05They're still going to find the ability to have that central progression.
09:08But if you want to win things, you want to be at the very top, then there are these games
09:12like the North London Derby, like Atlanta away, like Manchester City this weekend, where
09:18you're not going to be able to do that without a player of that quality.
09:21And what I think should genuinely encourage Arsenal fans is they've clearly already found
09:26that alternate route to goal.
09:27They've found that other effective way of playing.
09:30They just have to be lethal in the execution of it.
09:33Against Tottenham, they were, but against Atlanta, they weren't.
09:37And their entire season is going to hinge on which of these two performances becomes
09:42more typical in the time he's out.
09:45And just as weird as this is going to sound, and I've not got any nice visuals or graphics,
09:49I'm just soapboxing here, right?
09:50But this whole thing is why they won't go out and buy a centre forward.
09:55If they had this like big, burly, strong, clever, goal scoring, lethal guy up front
10:01who they bought in the summer or the winter or any of the previous transfer windows, they
10:05would have probably won that game quite comfortably.
10:07The North London Derby would have been a very different game.
10:09They'd have a much better chance against Manchester City.
10:12But they're only in this position because their number one choice of how to play through
10:17Martin Odegaard has been denied to them.
10:20And the money they would have to spend to bring someone in who could make that kind
10:25of a difference, you can't spend on someone who isn't normally going to play.
10:30Like they don't need the goals.
10:32Like Arsenal have scored enough goals in the last two seasons to win this or any league
10:37because when they can get these right players on a pitch, they're virtually irresistible.
10:42It's just freak scenarios like this.
10:45That's when they would see the benefit.
10:47And nobody's going to come to your club who's any good under the proviso of, well, if he
10:53gets injured, we might go long into you.
10:55Sound good.
10:56But look, right, I'll put it this way, OK, Arsenal without Martin Odegaard are probably
11:01going to be absolutely fine.
11:04The problem is at the start of the season, the aspirations were not to just be absolutely
11:09fine.
11:10The aspirations were to be the fucking champions.
11:15But anyway, not to worry, though, just the entirely trivial challenge of Manchester City
11:20up next.
11:21If you're an Arsenal fan and you've got any thoughts, feelings, poetry, verse, the true
11:25song of your heart about life without Martin Odegaard, please do get that in the comments
11:29below, because we would dearly, dearly like to know how you're feeling about all this.
11:34Is it good?
11:35Is it bad?
11:36Is it errr?
11:37But as ever, if the thought of a live YouTube comment section fills you with both dread
11:40and awe, you can get me across all the social medias at Adam Cleary, C-L-E-R-Y.
11:45The 442 socials are in the corner of the video.
11:48And until next time, which will be Monday, after Arsenal vs Man City, that's the video,
11:55I will see you soon.
11:58Best of luck out there, stay safe.