[MATCH ANALYSIS] Arsenal vs Norwich.
Some insights below (1/n)

Likes & RTs appreciated.

Arteta set up Arsenal in a 3-4-3 in possession. Nelson & Auba played in the inside right & left channels respectively, while Tierney & Bellerin held the width as wingbacks. In possession Tierney & Bellerin would push right up in line with the forwards to make it a front 5. (2/n)

This is to allow space on the wings at all times for the wingbacks since Auba & Nelson played between their fullback & CB, occupying the attention of both defenders. The tone for the game was set pretty much in the first minute as you can clearly see the setup here. (3/n)

The problem with playing this way is that there is no one to link midfield & attack. It fell to Lacazette to fall deep to try & receive from midfield/defense and link up play. His avg positioning in the game was much deeper for that of a striker, a False 9. (4/n)

Norwich fresh off of 120 mins in the FA Cup vs Man Utd played a 4-1-4-1 with Trybull playing the man between midfield & defense. Their idea of pressing us was similar to what we saw vs Brighton, press the double pivot & don’t allow the easy ball out of defense. (5/n)

To counter this we tried to play through the wings. Luiz and Mustafi played a combined 15 long balls between them as the switch towards the left was always on for Tierney who would always be free as the RB & RCB were busy with Auba's running. (6/n)

To reiterate; here we try to build up through the right as Bellerin looks to run beyond as he did all game. But as you can spot the switch is on towards the left side. (7/n)

Lacazette cut a lonely figure in the middle of the park and only had 17 passes the entire game, because Trybull would always be marking the space in the middle. However, our best chances come whenever he drops deeper to receive the ball. (8/n)

Chance 1: Here Lacazette drops deeper to receive (this led to Norwich being drawn into our half down their left side), which led to Tierney & Auba completely free & in acres of space as the play is switched. (9/n)

Chance 2: Lacazette drops deep to receive turns and drives towards goal which leads to a chance for him on goal. (10/n)

Our second goal is the best example of our strategy on the night. Here Luiz receives the ball from Martinez; watch how Lacazette has dropped deep as the ball to Xhaka isn’t on and Ceballos would be pressed as soon as that pass is played. (11/n)

However, the long ball as we saw earlier is on. Ball goes into Tierney in acres of space. Auba makes the run between defenders as he's been doing all game. Xhaka continues the run into the box and scores a great goal. (12/n)

In the 2nd half Norwich gave us more of a game as our intensive press dropped off. However, we were able to see the game off & score 2 more goals. The 3rd & 1st goals of the game were typical examples of pressing the right spaces, as we forced Norwich into making mistakes. (13/n)

Closing Thoughts;

1. Our attack is quite unbalanced right now. It needs a technical midfielder or 2 to link play and create chances in the final third. (14/n)

2. Lacazette and Bellerin lowkey had good games. The latter made some very good runs beyond the defense but he’s desperately out of form. The former can’t score to save his life. (15/n)

3. Ceballos was our best player on the day. He played some sublime passes down the right channel into Bellerin & Lacazette. Created chances inc 1 big chance and made 4 interceptions (16/n)

4. Luiz & Xhaka as error prone they can be; their distribution from deep is key to our game right now as we struggle to create through the center. Xhaka completed a whopping 96% of his passes.(17/n)

End of Thread. (18/n)