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Arsenal vs Villarreal Tactical analysis (A thread) Villarreal 2 Arsenal 1.
This was the lineup for the match.
As Arsenal had more possession let’s see what they looked to do first. Arsenal attacked in their usual 3-1-6 . But this time smith Rowe played as a false 9 and him and Odegaard operated in the half spaces. Odegaard also dropped deep at times in the build up.
Saka and Pepe would stay wide and then cut inside. Arsenal looked to get the wingers in behind. As chambers was inverted but sometimes he overlapped when Saka went inside. Ceballos pushed forward and was seen in the half spaces.
Arsenal looked to score from crosses from chambers, the wingers, and the people in the half spaces.
Villarreal defended in a compact narrow 4-4-2 and 4-4-1-1 when Coquelin came on second half. They were looking to defend deep and then when they won the ball they looked to keep the ball and keep possession rather than counter attack.
Villarreal also looked to press and cut off the passing lanes and they did this very well as it made Arsenal go long a few times.
Villarreal when in possession attacked in a 2-2-6. And Foyth inverted as chukwueze hugged the touchline and tried to get 1v1 vs xhaka on the right. The left back overlapped and went forward and trigueros and Moreno both dropped deep into the half spaces.
Villarreal also looked to score from crosses especially from the left side with the overlapping fullback.
Arsenal defended in a 4-4-2 mid block as usual. And sometimes sat in a 4-2-4. And they didn’t really look to press high and let Villarreal go till the second phase where they started pressuring when the ball went to the cdms.
For the first goal Villarreal created a 2v1 overload on the right and then chukwueze dribbled through ceballos and xhaka and trigueros scores.
Second goal Partey ball watches and loses his man on a corner and Villarreal score another one.
But Pepe gets one crucial away goal back for arsenal as Saka dribbles into the penalty area and a soft penalty is given and Pepe scores the penalty.
The XG for the match was Villarreal 1.35 and Arsenal 1.36 which shows both teams didn’t play that well. And there were lack of quality chances in the match.
Conclusion my thoughts....
I think Arteta got it massively wrong with the false 9 as we didn’t create much in the game and we were dreadful in attack. If you want to play a false 9 you need the quality of players to do it. But there’s more to it than Arteta of course.
I think Arteta got it massively wrong with the false 9 as we didn’t create much in the game and we were dreadful in attack. If you want to play a false 9 you need the quality of players to do it. But there’s more to it than Arteta of course.
When it comes to the wingers you also need top wingers like Mahrez and sterling and Foden who frighten their defenders and are brave. No offense to Saka and Pepe. But Pepe isn’t confident at times to go take on his man and Saka has been poor for weeks and is in poor form.
Also the fact that Tierney is out doesn’t help as again I was right that against teams that defend in a 4-4-2 without Tierney we are done and rarely do well especially in the final third. But I liked the build up as there was no mistakes it was perfect like here.
I don’t think Villarreal were that good and apart from the two goals and chukwueze on the right they offered no threat. Emery didn’t go for it and now we have a chance. I think if we get everyone fit and go back to the old system with Tierney we can win this tie easily.
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