Henrikh Mkhitaryan might not be at Arsenal now, But he’s still helping the Gunners out, in a way that even their Manager couldn’t. Mkhitaryan who left for Roma in the summer, has given an interview commenting about his time at the Emirates and on his struggles which has seen fans label his move from Man United over to Arsenal in a swap deal including Alexis Sanchez as one of the most woeful transfer deal in Premier League’s recent history.
In the interview, Mkhitaryan stated, “Emery paid more attention to tactics so my role changed. I was starting as a winger but had to build play with the defensive midfielder. It was why I couldn’t contribute as many goals or assists. I like to play more freely but you have to do the job the manager asks”.
This pretty much sumps up the reason behind the lack of chances created by Arsenal recently. Mesut Ozil and Nicolas Pepe, two phenomenal footballers, but also two main victims of Emery’s more conservative system, they have had to go deep till the halfway line and receive the ball from a defensive midfielder and then they’re asked to create chances. Now when your attacking midfielders go as deep as they’re being made to, it leaves a lot of spaces behind them which are occupied by the opposition players, Hence making it even more difficult to play within the lines, they’re then forced to play it wide to the Wing-backs/Full-backs.
Infact Mesut Özil is a player known for his ability to position himself between in some tight faces and then making his runs and moves off it. But he’s now being forced to go deep to receive the ball, taking the most essential component of his game out. Which is pretty much the case with Nicolas Pepe too, He’s someone who have strived on counter-attacks and likes to position himself high up the pitch so that he use his pace and all those crazy tricks to make an impact in the final third.
Your chance creators can’t be your ball carriers, and when that happens, teams struggles to create chances, like Arsenal are. Players like Dani Cabellos and Lucas Torreira needs to be appointed to make sure they’re providing service to these attacking players so that they only have the last line of defence to manoeuvre through and not the whole of midfield and defence.
