In football the concept of a ‘trio’ is generally reserved for a group of three who play in the same department of a team. We talk about an attacking trio, a midfield trio or a defensive trio.
But Arsenal’s tactical approach in their comprehensive 5-1 victory over Manchester City was all about a trio down one flank. Left-winger Leandro Trossard, left-centre midfield Declan Rice and left-back Myles Lewis-Skelly combined excellently throughout the game.
Arsenal’s passing network from the game tells the story neatly. There’s almost no connection between the equivalent players on the other flank. But Trossard, Rice and Lewis-Skelly played close together, operated in each other’s zones, and spun their way into good positions in behind.
On paper, Arsenal’s key route of attack was through Trossard. Not necessarily a natural left-winger, he nevertheless demonstrated great traditional wing play in the 2-2 draw against Aston Villa in Arsenal’s previous home league game, twice getting to the byline before crossing with his weaker left foot to create goals for Gabriel Martinelli and Kai Havertz.
On Sunday he was up against Matheus Nunes, a makeshift right-back and a somewhat uncomfortable one, who has been very tentative with his tackling in recent weeks. Therefore, the first time Trossard looked to run at Nunes, City midfield Bernardo Silva sprinted quickly out to that flank to double up against him.
That made sense, but it inevitably left space elsewhere. The next time Trossard ran at Nunes, Bernardo was initially tracking the run of Rice, but ended up moving out towards the flank again to stop Trossard. Rice then bombed into the space between Nunes and Manuel Akanji. The move ended when Trossard went to ground, claiming he was fouled by Nunes, but Rice had been unmarked in space in the box, and was screaming for a pass.
Arsenal never quite played the right pass to unlock the space in City’s right-back zone, but they constantly found themselves in good situations. Here, with Nunes miles away from being able to support his defence, Akanji isn’t sure whether to track Trossard or Rice, who is again moving into space. Trossard gets the ball, and Rice makes a run in behind, but again Trossard doesn’t quite play the pass.
But the key factor was Arsenal’s rotation. Trossard was the winger, Rice was the central midfielder and Lewis-Skelly was the full-back. But they almost never found themselves in those roles.
You’d expect Rice to be inside the other two for the majority of the game. But here’s an example of Trossard becoming the most central player, and Rice moving out to the left.
This time it’s Lewis-Skelly’s turn to become the most central player, with Rice again moving out left, and shouting for a pass.
Here’s a complete inversion of what you’d expect in terms of width: the left-back and left-winger are in the inside-left channel, with the central midfielder out wide.
This time, Lewis-Skelly — the deepest of the three on paper — becomes the most advanced of the three, and when the ball is played up to Havertz, with Bernardo getting drawn towards the German, Lewis-Skelly probably could have sprinted on the outside sooner to allow the passing move to keep flowing forward.
Here’s another example of Lewis-Skelly being the most advanced of the three, with Trossard’s pass towards him — or maybe Martinelli — overhit.
And while the passing didn’t always match the quality of movement, Arsenal were nevertheless unpredictable. While Lewis-Skelly was often making runs into attack from deep, here’s a move where first Trossard, and then Rice, make runs in behind City’s back line.
Perhaps the most striking thing was the sheer level of width provided by Rice. Look at his open-play heatmap from the graphic below, and he’s taking up the positions you’d expect of a left-winger.
Shortly before half-time, Rice again took up a position on the left flank and aimed a huge cross-field ball to Martinelli, which didn’t quite reach the Brazilian. But that type of pass was to prove relevant later on.
Into the second half, Arsenal kept on working rotations down the left flank. Here’s another example of them completely flipping everything around — Lewis-Skelly has moved inside from left-back to central midfield, Trossard has dropped from left-wing to left-back, and Rice has pushed on to become an extra attacker, and almost finds himself offside as Arsenal break quickly. Again, the passing move goes wrong.
But eventually, after an Arsenal opener scored from a City error and a second scored via a deflection, Arsenal scored the type of goal this left-sided rotation had been promising.
It started with a combination down the left and featured Rice on the touchline, with his usual two options inside. Trossard wanted a more ambitious pass, but Rice laid it inside to Lewis-Skelly, who took the ball on the turn, cut inside, and scored Arsenal’s third.
After Havertz added a fourth, the final goal again came from Rice playing as a left-winger, and trying the cross-field ball he’d played towards Martinelli in the first half. This time the pass was perfect, and substitute Ethan Nwaneri cut inside and scored another example of what is quickly becoming his trademark goal.
Despite the comfortable win, Arsenal weren’t entirely convincing in possession. Their passing was often too conservative, and at key moments they often made the wrong decision.
But in a side that has looked overwhelmingly reliant on Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka’s combination down the right over the past 18 months, Arsenal’s focus on the left — presumably designed to target City’s weak link — was a welcome change, and proved crucial in their most significant victory of the season so far.
Read the full article here