Decoding Arsenal’s Mid-Block & Pressing Conundrum

Gaurav Mukherjee
By Gaurav Mukherjee
10 Min Read

Football is a game of strategy and technique. Each team develops a distinct style of play that maximizes their strengths while exploiting their opponents’ weaknesses. This article will look at a specific football approach that has been a stumbling block for Arsenal’s title challenge and try to look at some of the solutions.

Understanding Mid-Block

Mid-block refers to a specific defensive strategy where players are positioned in the middle third of the pitch. They stay close together, forming a compact block, cutting off central access and restricting the opponent’s ability to advance through the midfield. This defensive organization requires immense discipline, synchronization, and patience from the team.

The mid-block strategy is favored by many teams as it conserves energy, restricts central access, and removes the press-to-block transition phase. However, it also poses a significant challenge to the attacking sides, including the North London club, Arsenal.

Arsenal Mid-Block Struggles

One of the most evident of Arsenal’s shortcomings this season has been their struggle to break down well-organized mid-blocks. This issue has been glaringly apparent in their matches against Porto in the Champions League, Aston Villa in the Premier League, and Bayern Munich in the UCL.

Odegaard-dropping-deep

Despite their attacking prowess, Arsenal failed to penetrate the solid mid-block defences, resulting in their inability to create scoring opportunities. This inability to break down the mid-block has caused Arsenal to drop crucial points and has been a major contributing factor to their underwhelming performance this season.

Arsenal’s Midfield Dysfunction

A key aspect of the arsenal mid-block issue lies in their midfield. The Gunners’ midfield has been largely dysfunctional at times this season. The combination of players like Jorginho and Rice in the double pivot has not been successful in penetrating the mid-block.

Arsenal-mid-block-problems

Arsenal’s tactics of pushing their attackers wide, specifically Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli, while dominating the centre with players like Martin Odegaard, has not been fruitful. The wing players have often been left isolated without much support, rendering their attacks ineffective.

Odegaard-deep-role

One of the most crucial change has been the role of Odegaard this season with him operating more of an deep initiator rather than usual pocket player. This does help Arsenal to pin the opposition last line of defence but vacates the space in midfield. Odegaard is one of the most important players for Arsenal between the lines and when playing deep, Saka usually becomes isolated and to minimise the space and time in the midfield becomes easy for oppositions.

The Importance of Personnel and Tactics

Personnel and tactics play a critical role in overcoming midblock defenses. For Arsenal, players like Jorginho, Rice, Odegaard, and White have crucial roles to play. Jorginho’s passing ability, Rice’s physicality, Odegaard’s vision, and White’s overlapping runs could be the key to unlocking rigid mid-block defences.

However, it’s not just about the personnel. Arsenal’s manager, Mikel Arteta, needs to devise his tactics to exploit the weaknesses of mid-block defences. This could involve encouraging more overlapping runs, employing full-backs to provide width, and devising strategies to exploit the space between the opposition’s midfield and defence.

One key area which can help Arteta break low blocks is to move Saka, arguably Arsenal’s most dynamic and threatening player, more inside into the half space and use White as a width holder. This will allow Saka much more time and space to use his ability inside the midfield and penetrate the opposition defence while also having an option out wide.

Another aspect could be the availability of Thomas Partey who has been injured for the greater part of the season. Partey provides a different dynamic when he plays deep as a lone defensive midfielder which can give Declan Rice license to play a bit higher on the left side. Partey gives much needed verticality to the team and it aligns well with Rice’s ball carrying abilities from deeper areas to disorient opponents defensive structure and create space for his team mates.

Arsenal’s Tactical Adjustments

To overcome the mid-block challenge, Arteta has made several tactical adjustments. He has experimented with different player positions, notably with Ben White and William Saliba. He has also encouraged and experimented with players like Emile Smith Rowe or Kai Havertz to drop deeper to create space for others.

While these adjustments have shown glimpses of promise, they are yet to deliver consistently against well-drilled mid-block defences. The key lies in finding the perfect balance between the right personnel and effective tactics.

High Press Dilemmas

There has been a clear blueprint for opposition sides on how to overcome the Arsenal press and build from the back. Arsenal has been outstanding without the ball this season with maximum high turnovers and aggressive front foot defending.

To overcome the high pressure, teams have started to spilt their centre back wide inside the box and use their GKs as an extra defender. This allows them to position their full backs high and wide with the intention of creating a two-v-one situation against players like Ben White and Kiwior. Both Arsenal full-backs are vulnerable in one-on-one duel situations and this poses a threat for Arsenal as oppositions can decide to play long wide and enticing the high press.

We have seen teams like Porto, Villa and recently Wolves who generally operate with 3-man-defence, build with wide centre backs, allowing their full-backs to move high and wide. The intention is to break the personnel and create bigger distances between Odegaard and Saka. There are two main solutions Villa and Porto tried against Arsenal:

  • Keep the centre back wides and double up on Ben White which forced Saka to drop deeper and create space for Pau Torres to quickly utilise the space out wide. The distance between Odegaard and Saka became bigger as Villa found several solutions to play through or around the Arsenal press. Another solution was to quickly switch the play as players are stretched and can find a way to progress quicker.

Arsenal-press

Arsenal-press-structure

Arsenal-pressing-structure

  • Porto had a different plan and targeted the right side of Arsenal. They kept the backline wide and waited to Saka and Odegaard to jump to the pressure before freeing up their winger in one-v-one situation against Ben White. A key detail here to notice is they kept a “diamond” midfield shape in different heights and line which also forced defenders like Gabriel and Saliba to jump into midfield to close the space. This particular positioning helped the Porto wingers to have time and space to penetrate White alone in a one-v-one situation as both centre backs are caught up in midfield and can’t provide support.

Arsenal-press-organisation

The Need for a Midfield Solution

There is a growing consensus that Arsenal needs a comprehensive solution in their midfield to overcome the mid-block challenge. The solution might involve bringing in a new player who can perform multiple roles effectively. This player should be able to assist in deep positions, offer physicality in midfield, overlap with the wingers, and create space for other players.

Arteta’s philosophy of imposing his style of play on Arsenal now has been questioned in the face of the mid-block challenge. There is a call for a more flexible approach that adapts to the strengths and weaknesses of the opponents.

Final Thoughts

Embed from Getty Images

Arsenal’s mid-block and pressing challenges is a complex issue that requires a multi-pronged approach. Arsenal’s ability to overcome this hurdle will be crucial in determining their success in the coming seasons. With the right personnel, effective tactics, and a flexible approach, Arsenal could well turn their mid-block and pressing struggles into a strength.

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