Thread by @watmanAFC, [MATCH ANALYSIS]I took a look at Arsenal vs Brighton game in depth. [...]

[MATCH ANALYSIS]

I took a look at Arsenal vs Brighton game in depth. Some insights below (1/n)

Likes & RTs appreciated.

Arteta set up Arsenal in a 4-3-3 with an inverted triangle in midfield but with a twist. Bellerin played as an inverted RB almost partnering Guendouzi in an orthodox pivot in midfield. The idea was to create an overload on the right side & get Pepe in 1v1s with Dan Burn. (2/n)

Ceballos & Saka played in advanced #8 roles, in the inside right & left channels respectively while Auba & Pepe held the width on either wing. This was done to counter Brighton’s deep block by stretching them. (3/n)

Now here is where Brighton nullified our midfield, Maupey & Trossard flanked Guendouzi & cut off the supply line from def into mid.

He completed just 40 (out of 43 total) accurate passes on the night. These are abysmal numbers for a DM/DLP. (4/n)

Bellerin who isn’t very good on the ball just held his position pretty much all game in the inside right channel, never offering himself in possession. Similarly, neither Saka nor Ceballos dropped deep often enough to help in circulation. (5/n)

This gave rise to 2 problems:

1. Sterile possession – Arsenal passed the ball laterally through defense while looking for an opening. Which lead to;
2. Arsenal’s CBs looking to play longer, riskier passes bypassing the middle third into Pepe or Saka/Auba. (6/n)

Here's the long balls Attempted(completed) from our back 3. (7/n)

Holding - 7(6)
Mustafi – 8(3)
Kolasinac – 3(2)

To reiterate my point; the best chance of the half came at the 30th minute when Ceballos drops deep to offer himself in possession. Here Holding passes into Ceballos; which creates a chance for Lacazette from the left. (8/n)

This isn’t to say we did not create chances in the first half but they were all half chances, created on transitions & mainly through the left due to Saka’s quality who completed 3(5) dribbles, the highest of any player. For comparison Pepe completed just 1(5) . (9/n)

Whenever Saka received the ball on the left, Auba would dart inward to act as the second striker. Saka was the only one who looked to play quick passes & take defenders on. Our best player on the day. (10/n)

Arteta fixed our issues in possession in the second half by having Ceballos drop into a 2 with Guendouzi while we had possession. Notice Bellerin has now gone wider. (11/n)

And surely our goal comes soon after this, as we start playing as intended. 67th Min; Ceballos receives the ball from Martinez. Ball comes to Pepe at the edge of the box (as intended) & the rest is a sublime bit of individual quality. (12/n)

When you look at the game objectively, we lost due to a scrappy corner & a mistake from Martinez who found himself coming for a ball he had no right to. (13/n)

Add to that not having quality players in midfield and shuffling the squad due to injuries. Our CBs passed the ball between themselves the entire day. (14/n)

Closing thoughts;

1. Ozil has to play. A total of ZERO(0) clear cut chances created on the day. His physicality is questionable, but since we have no one who does what Ozil can it surely should’ve been Plan B. (15/n)

2. Arteta can’t play his desired possession based system with players of this quality, specially dealing with injuries.

3. As good as our young players are (Matteo/Saka) they will stop producing if over played. We need to augment them with established players. (16/n)

End of Thread.

Comps taken from Twitter, their watermarks are visible in the videos. (17/n)

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