The phrase ‘plan B’ has been bandied about a lot in English football in recent years.
While it usually means hoofing the ball up the pitch to a Kevin Davies/Peter Crouch/Nikola Zigic type of striker, something I dare to think about at Arsenal, it is also something we have supposedly been missing almost every season.
Cheick Tiote would add more ‘steel’, Christopher Samba ‘is just what we need’, Scott Dann would ‘give us something different’. Quite frankly I’m tired of it, and Arsene Wenger must have been too.
And this season, we have our plan B. No, it isn’t any of the above, it is simply intelligent positioning, mixed with a fluent formation and a willing, determined squad of players.
So often we have been accused of overplaying in tight areas, trying to score the ‘perfect goal’, being caught on the break after a mix of poor positioning (Alex Song), ducking out of tackles (Denilson) or not really trying to get back at all (there’s too many).
This campaign, up until now, we have changed; take our most recent fixtures.
STOKE
An arch enemy of sorts (not least in my household, my cursed father) after the break of Aaron Ramsey’s leg in 2009, and general thuggedness by some not-so-nice players and managers.
The team have earned a reputation of being tough to beat, and playing some pretty disgusting football.
While they’ve changed their approach slightly this year, they still have the tools to hurt a team physically. However, when they arrived at the Emirates, we beat them at their own game somewhat.
Never mind the three goals from set pieces, Arsenal made 12 interceptions compared to Stoke’s meagre 4, won 55% of duels, and completed 41.7% of their crosses as opposed to the visitors’ 24%.
While the match wasn’t a classic by all means, and watching Stoke have the majority of the ball wasn’t nice to see, this was a pleasant change.
A tired, physically drained Arsenal finding three goals when not playing well and producing a disciplined, professional performance in front of the Emirates crowd.
We didn’t need a brute, we didn’t need Marouane Fellaini in our team attempting to dominate Stoke physically, we needed tactical intelligence, in the form of our very own pitbull Mathieu Flamini (the epitome of my love of Arsenal’s plan B this year).
SWANSEA
On to Wales we went, via a Capital One/Carling/Worthington/Insert sponsor here cup win at West Brom in midweek.
A tasty ten hour round trip to a side who had just beaten Valencia 3-0 at the Mestalle, and a side we have struggled against in recent years. Not for the reason mentioned with Stoke, but because they out-Arsenal us, and that was exactly the case at the Liberty Stadium.
In the first half, both sides tiptoed around the opposition’s box without creating any real threat. Swansea, while looking much better on the ball I have to say, seem to lack any cutting edge with Michu playing up front on his own. He drops back getting involved with play, making it all the more easy for the Arsenal centre-backs to mark a now non-existent striker.
A ten minute period won the game for Arsenal, with Ramsey again the spearhead, but the performance of Serge Gnabry was somewhat overshadowed.
The young German’s inclusion was a welcome one, somebody who – while inconsistent – can run through the opposing back line in an instant, create something out of nothing, provide a much needed contrast to the dull tippy-tappy that was surrounding him.
Once the goals were scored, again Arsenal were organised fantastically. Dropping deep, allowing the opposition to have the ball, knowing a gung-ho attitude isn’t necessarily ALWAYS the right thing to do. Was this the same Arsenal of two/three years ago?
Although Swansea scored, and I’m not going to lie and say I wasn’t nervous in the stand, a genuine team spirit was obvious, the players trust eachother to do their jobs, and if they don’t, they’ll get an earful.
Arsenal won an incredible 70.3% aerial duels against Swansea, had just 42% possession which must have been the first time we have reached such a low figure since playing Barcelona, and mustered a mere 437 passes compared to the hosts’ 624.
All this while delivering two of our best goals this season. I’ll take that, thank you plan B.
NAPOLI
Now on to our most impressive performance of the lot, and one that reverberated around Europe to say Arsenal were back.
An in your face side, refusing to let the opposition breathe until the game was done; quick, penetrative football that was so identifiable in the Gunners in the early 21st century.
As opposed to the match against Swansea, when a player like Gnabry was needed to provide something different, a flexible and quick trio behind the striker of Tomas Rosicky, Mesut Ozil and Ramsey was just what the doctor ordered.
With Flamini and Mikel Arteta behind too, a base was apparent to which Napoli found it difficult to counter attack against, or break past in a more defensive – but equally admirable – performance from us in the second half.
To compare to the past again, this has been a worry so many times before. We have looked great going forward at times against ‘better’ sides with the likes of Samir Na$ri, Cesc Fabregas and Andrei Arshavin behind the striker, but were caught out on the break with ‘defensive’ midfielders going missing in crucial moments. Song, while grabbing the headlines in his last season with assists for Robin van Persie, provides nowhere near as much as cover as Flamini or even the ex-attacking midfielder that is Arteta.
Ozil’s goal was wonderful of course, but most pleasing to me was Olivier Giroud (though he also provides me with the biggest worry in our team…).
The Frenchman battled and battled, just like he did against Tottenham earlier in the season, and didn’t stop running until the very end.
Defenders/midfielders know if a ball is knocked towards Giroud, more often or not he can fight the defender off, especially when up against Britos and Albiol in the Italians back line. Giroud’s hold up play enables others to run off him, and was another reason why the mobile pack of midfielders behind him were important in this performance.
So, we have got a plan B in our formation/system, in our newly-found intelligence on the pitch, and in our realisation of when to attack and when to sit back and absorb pressure. Heck, we even have enough goalkeepers, defenders and midfielders to give us competition, different options, and cover for when the inevitable injuries come in north London… but still no back-up striker.
Giroud can’t do it all on his own, and there’s surely no way he can play every Premier League game for the rest of the season. That’s the fitness worry, but there’s also the problem that his style won’t suit EVERY game we play this season.
Against most teams, Giroud’s hold up play is a welcome get out clause, and his main purpose in the team is to allow others to blossom, while allowing his improved finishing get himself on the scoresheet too.
But then there are games such as Sunday at West Brom. A draw was probably a fair result in the end, but we were crying out for something different up top (something shown by the substitution of ‘plan Z’ Nicky Bendtner near the end).
Giroud held the ball up well again, but missed two guilt edge chances. When we built some kind of attack, it wasn’t on the counter like in recent weeks. West Brom, fresh from their stunning victory at Old Trafford the week before, had nine/ten players behind the ball more often than not, and Giroud’s movement is usually found wanting in these situations.
A Jackson Martinez, Javier Hernandez or – shoot me now – a Luis Suarez type of player would surely benefit our game in these kind of matches. A poacher with lightning fast movement, an eye for goal, and the ability to find space in the tightest of environments.
Even with Ozil producing in my opinion one of his finest games in an Arsenal shirt, able to get on the ball regularly despite the rugged approach from the hosts’ holding midfielders, there was not much he could do to thread a near-impossible ball through to Giroud (though Jack Wilshere managed to do just that at one stage!)
Despite this concern, all in all our renewed plan B can be seen as nothing other than positive.
We have found a system where we don’t need that 6”3 central midfielder/centre back people have been crying out for. A system where if all players work together, no matter their size, top teams can be kept at bay, and countered against efficiently.
Long may it continue.
