Coach Mike: The final evolution of Arsenal

The Gooner Fanzine's resident tactical expert takes a deep dive look into the future when assessing Mikel Arteta's squad for next season. 

Mikel Arteta wants a flexible squad, writes Coach Mike.

A squad where almost all of the players play more than one position. 

Why?

When he started he said he wanted a small squad and you can only have that in the modern game if players can play multiple positions. 

Secondly, he wants to confuse opponents. Have them waste their prep time by potentially practicing for a team and strategy that they won’t see.

As long as it doesn’t confuse the players and take away their automatisms to the detriment of the team, it is a utopian vision.

So, what could we start to see in the next year that we haven’t really seen yet?

Wingers switching sides:

This is more unlikely simply because Arteta has never really done it. This is more a wish of mine. Because we are now a very tall team and have far greater aerial presence, it is a shame that we don't have out swinging crosses with players like Merino and Rice who cannot physically make it deep into the box for the in-swingers, yet would thrive if the ball curled out towards them. In order for that to happen, you would need players like Saka, Nwaneri and Martinelli to switch sides and cross with their favourite foot.

Kai Havertz:

He may well stay at striker. He brings much to the team there. He is more likely to play in two positions. The likelihood is that it would be the two positions that he has already played. Striker and left eight. I often wonder if he and Odegaard may switch on occasion so as to become more unpredictable. He played right eight at Leverkusen so this is a possibility.

Ethan Nwaneri:

I'm not sure if we fully realize what we have in both Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly. Becoming a first team player directly from Arsenal’s Academy has always been difficult, but Arsenal are now ranked in the top five teams in Europe. These two aren’t just ‘good enough,’ they are currently keeping others out of the team.

I predict that Arsenal will sign Antoine Semenyo in the summer, but with Bukayo Saka out, Nwaneri has the chance to secure a starting spot.

He will likely become hard to ignore due to his talent and ability to play in any of the five attacking lanes.

If Arteta doesn’t rotate to switch wingers on their strong foot, he could go halfway and have a left footed left winger. I can see this being how we start the season. Nwaneri excelling at the back end of this season and pre-season, and Arteta wanting him on the field.

MLS:

Like Ethan, Myles has more than one opportunity. At least he will have if given the chance. He could play defensive midfield, attacking midfield, continue at inverted left back and play in the role in the graphic below. 

As a long time coach I’ve discovered  that the simplest way to have a great team is to choose a formation that suits them, not you. We see Amorim unsuccessfully trying to do it the other way. More importantly you have to put them in their primary area of strength.

There are two players that Arsenal are currently using, in Martinelli and Trossard, that are two of our best finishers, but they aren’t in the right areas to finish often enough. If we could get them more centrally located, then I would say that it would be worth at least one goal extra per game. In order to do that they don't need to be in the first and widest attacking channel, but inside the penalty area with the striker. In order for that to happen, we would have to have a left back that overlapped rather than inverted. 

We've not seen Mikel do this, but the team will evolve and when it does I think it will be to get a better balance in attacking and defending. We are arguably the best defensive team in Europe, but probably not in the top 20 at attacking. This balance could simply be found with the players that we have and this concept might be the solution.

Gabi Martinelli:

On top of the other points that I have made about this player in this piece, I wanted to state that I've always felt that Martinelli could and maybe should excel at striker.

If you write a list of his very best three traits I'd say that they are shooting, speed and physical determination, both offensively and defensively. As he is currently a better finisher than our current striker and an unused threat in the air, I would like to see Arteta consider trying this.

My only reservation and probably here, is that on the very few times that he has moved him to striker or the right wing. He looks somewhat lost in comparison to the left side.

Will Arteta use a secondary formation?

This is an interesting one because the way Arteta has built us is unique. It is from his textbook starting from chapter one where other coaches have a ‘win now’ approach. The plan was to create a team that know instinctively where to be in every situation. Unless the formation is more of a ‘tweak’ then this could be unnecessary confusion for the players.

If it were me I’d play a different way against teams that we are dominant against or at least for part of the game. I’d have essentially two strikers in the box against the low block. This would suit both Martinelli and Leandro Trossard.

They are rarely found in the spaces that they are best in. Martinelli is an inside forward, yet picks up the ball on the sideline. He is somewhat limited in his creativity on the wing and is better playing one lane inside.

Trossard is the same, but for a different reason. He is more creative out wide yet excels in the same inside forward lane as Martinelli. In our current 4-3-3 formation they are not trusted to play the left eight on the defensive side even though they are both willing defenders. Both would be better left upfield for transition. 

If you were to move your ‘left winger’ inside then you would need your left back to overlap and hold the width, rather than invert. With the emergence of Lewis-Skelly as a left back option, he would be the most natural to overlap and have the dribbling/driving ability to take on a defender.

Riccardo Calafiori does too, in a different way, but I’m having a hard time seeing him on the wing. This might be why we have interest in Crystal Palace’s Tyrick Mitchell on a free transfer in the summer, as an alternative.

I think that this is what it would look like when we are attacking a low block.

Keep an eye out for Part Two from the brilliant Coach Mike