What is the best way to nullify one of the finest out-of-possession teams in Europe? Ask Eddie Howe.
His Newcastle United side showed the world how that’s done in their 2-0 Carabao Cup semi-final second-leg win against Arsenal at St James’ Park last night. The result secured a 4-0 aggregate success and a meeting with Liverpool or Tottenham Hotspur in the final at Wembley on Sunday, March 16.
Newcastle’s out-of-possession structure and aggressive pressing from the very start of the game stifled Arsenal. The Athletic analyses what they did so well.
The first sign of trouble for Arsenal comes less than four minutes after the opening kick-off.
A long pass from David Raya is won by Sven Botman, who finds the retreating Bruno Guimaraes. The Brazilian gets ahead of Thomas Partey to pass the ball back to fellow midfielder Sandro Tonali, while up front Alexander Isak and Anthony Gordon stay close to Arsenal’s centre-backs — a theme that continued throughout the match.
With Arsenal moving forward, Tonali goes past Partey, creating a three-versus-two situation for Newcastle.
Gordon then nips in and finds Isak, who slams a powerful right-footed finish into the net. A VAR check ruled it out for offside, but a marker had been laid down.
Howe’s starting XI, with centre-back Fabian Schar replacing injured midfielder Joelinton in the line-up, had many home fans confused pre-match.
Some considered it an ultra-defensive move with Newcastle protecting that two-goal lead from the first leg, while others assumed left-back Lewis Hall would move into midfield. Instead, Howe used a ploy that has previously brought him results — letting one of his centre-backs press high.
Here, in the 12th minute, as Arsenal try to build from the back, Declan Rice drops to receive from goalkeeper Raya and Schar races forward from the defensive line to press him.
Schar’s presence sends Rice backwards, at which point Gordon takes over pressing duties, forcing an overhit pass by his England colleague that central defender William Saliba has to prevent from going behind. He then tries to return the ball to Rice, but Schar stays close to the latter and wins a throw-in.
Arsenal reacted by altering their approach.
This time, Martin Odegaard shows for a pass from Raya instead of Rice and is pursued by another of Howe’s three centre-backs, Dan Burn.
Burn is slower to get up the pitch than Schar had been earlier, though, which allows Arsenal to work through the press and find Jurrien Timber. Two defenders then close the Dutchman down, but he finds a smart pass to Odegaard with Partey free in the middle to get Arsenal forward.
But Newcastle learnt from this and, in the 15th minute, demonstrated the structure Howe had envisioned.
As Raya considers where to go from this situation, Newcastle’s man-marking leaves him with limited options. Isak and Gordon position themselves to press either a centre-back or Raya, based on the Spaniard’s pass. Tonali is marking Odegaard, Guimaraes is close to Partey and Schar is prepared to pounce if the ball goes to Rice.
Noticing that Raya has no options, Kai Havertz drops back (bottom right of the image above) to try to help his team-mate out. In the end, Raya goes long, from which Newcastle regain possession.
Newcastle combined their man-marking structure with another necessary ingredient: work-rate. Moments before Jacob Murphy’s opener on 19 minutes, Raya goes long again here with his midfield options blocked once more.
This time, Arsenal win the first ball and move forward. But Guimaraes, Schar and Hall track back at pace to reposition themselves, cutting off any easy passes.
After recovering the ball, Newcastle goalkeeper Martin Dubravka opts for another long pass down the middle similar to the one that had led to Isak’s disallowed goal.
Howe’s players replicate their man-to-man out-of-possession approach when Dubravka’s punt forward is in the air, with Murphy and Gordon pinning Gabriel and Partey, giving Isak the chance to battle Saliba for the dropping ball.
Isak tricks Saliba by jumping first backwards and then forwards so he can hook the ball on to Gordon, before meeting his first-time return pass by spinning the Frenchman.
Saliba closes Isak down on the Swede’s right — possibly remembering his movement for that offside goal a few minutes earlier — but Isak shoots with his left instead this time. The ball hits the post and rebounds to Murphy, who scores.
That goal, putting them 3-0 up on aggregate, did not reduce Newcastle’s intensity, but Arsenal showed signs of adapting when building up from the back. Unfortunately, they were forced to go around the home side each time, encountering blocks like the one below from the 33rd minute.
At half-time, Newcastle knew their approach was working. They had limited Arsenal to an expected goals (xG) figure of 0.4, and Murphy’s effort at the other end was a welcome bonus, in terms of getting through to the final.
Here, in the opening seconds of the second half, Newcastle press aggressively once more as Raya surveys his options.
The Arsenal keeper shapes up for a long pass, which invites pressure from Isak while other Newcastle players retreat, but goes for the short ball to Rice instead. That frees up Gabriel and Myles Lewis-Skelly to receive passes.
Raya’s pass is overhit, allowing Schar to apply pressure, but Rice controls it well and lays it off to Gabriel. Leandro Trossard drops into midfield to receive and turn, which forces Guimaraes to rush in and foul the Belgian, collecting a yellow card for his efforts.
A few minutes later, Arsenal nearly shoot themselves in the foot as Gordon’s run on Saliba’s blindside draws an error from the centre-back. Gordon goes for goal from distance with Raya out of position but it curls just wide.
The mistake by Saliba was a product of Newcastle man-marking Arsenal’s centre-backs with Gordon and Isak. That prevented Saliba and Gabriel from getting forward frequently, while also giving Newcastle opportunities to double up on one of them, like they did above.
Eventually, it was their pressing structure from earlier that ended the contest once and for all in the 52nd minute.
Here, as Raya again looks at the passing options, Guimaraes blocks the line-breaking ball to Partey while Schar stays close to Rice. Isak and Gordon are ready to pounce on the centre-backs, with Hall and Murphy (not in frame) prepared to do the same with Timber and Lewis-Skelly.
As Raya dawdles on the ball, Gordon jumps in to press him. Saliba and Gabriel stay in their positions, perhaps anticipating another long pass, which removes them as options for their goalkeeper. Rice shows for the pass but is followed towards his own penalty area by ‘central defender’ Schar.
Raya tries to find Rice anyway, a gamble that would have at best yielded a pass on to Saliba or Timber, who are bound to be closed down quickly if they are targeted next.
Schar reacts well, sliding to win the ball before finding Gordon, who gives Newcastle an unassailable four-goal aggregate lead.
Arteta’s post-match comments reflected the confusion Newcastle’s tactical approach caused his side.
“We gave them hope just by putting the ball long into our last line. When we did that, we always looked vulnerable, and they are a dangerous team when they are able to do that,” he said.
That was not Arsenal’s only problem, though.
When they played the ball long, Newcastle won the physical battle to score twice, though one was ruled out for offside. When they went short, Howe’s side suffocated them and got a goal from that method too.
There was simply no escape — Newcastle’s application without the ball meant they were worthy winners.
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