How Mikel Arteta Outsmarted Liverpool
After Arsenal's recent wins, it put them back in the Premier League title race. But after facing defeat the last time they faced Jurgen Klopp's side, it's clear that not only did Mikel Arteta learn valuable lessons from that game, but he had developed a plan to turn them against the Reds.
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00:00All right, so this was your Arsenal XI going into the game, and even just from this selection
00:06of players, you've got to immediately start looking at Mikel Arteta and saying, yeah,
00:11he played an absolute blinder here.
00:13The two major talking points were, of course, Kai Havert in for Gabi Jesus up front and
00:17Jorginho returning to the starting XI for the first time since the Renaissance.
00:22But it was these two players by just a mile who were the difference makers in this game.
00:27Like, genuinely, I think this peters out into like a 1-1 draw or just a stalemate.
00:33But Jorginho and especially Kai Havert were the difference makers.
00:37Now, we're going to talk about it in just like a second, but I've seen this opening
00:40goal being described as terrible defending by Liverpool and Virgil van Dijk in particular.
00:45And yeah, it certainly looks that way, but it's actually Havert's just really good big
00:51brain that pulls it all together.
00:53But speaking of brains, you all may remember that Liverpool and Arsenal played each other
00:57very recently.
00:58That time Liverpool won and the scars of that match tactically were just wrought large across
01:04the faces of both teams.
01:06Now, in that game, both sides were doing their little box midfield thing in the centre of
01:10the park, but also both of them were getting absolutely done in behind the fullbacks.
01:15In Arsenal's case, that was Martinelli constantly getting down the left in the space that Alexander
01:19Arnold was vacating.
01:20But then in the second half, Liverpool made that change.
01:22You put Darwin Nunes on this side and he just had the field day.
01:27So both teams then went into this game thinking, OK, we're not going to do that.
01:30We're going to sacrifice a little bit of control in the middle of the pitch, but it's going
01:32to protect us in these vulnerable areas.
01:35And the difference in this game was the way that Arsenal adapted to this was so much better
01:41than Liverpool.
01:42Like this is Trent Alexander Arnold's heat map from this game.
01:45And if I sound slightly crazy about this, it's because I couldn't tell you the last
01:49time he's played that wide and that deep for Liverpool.
01:52He doesn't get into the centre at all.
01:54He doesn't even get further up the pitch.
01:56They were terrified about Martinelli getting in behind.
01:59But likewise, these are Arsenal's average positions across the game.
02:03And that's incredibly unusual for Zinchenko to be that far out on the left.
02:07He virtually never gets into the middle to make things happen.
02:11So how, how did Arsenal get the upper hand?
02:14Well, as we said at the start of the video, it was partially Jorginho, but it was mostly
02:18Kai Havertz.
02:19And if we just go back to the graph, you can see exactly what I mean here.
02:22Like Arsenal are normally 1-6 Declan Rice, then 2-8 slightly further forward.
02:27But you can see in the average positions, it didn't work out like that at all.
02:31Jorginho wound up sitting with Declan Rice as kind of a double pivot.
02:34Martin Udegaard played far further forward and then Kai Havertz dropped all the way in
02:39and they formed their box this way.
02:41Martinelli and Saka were staying as high and as wide as they possibly could.
02:44And that wasn't just pinning Liverpool's defence, but it was then stretching them across
02:48the width of the pitch.
02:49Now, there's a reason you don't see this sort of shape very often.
02:53It's because you've got absolutely no presence in the central part of the pitch.
02:57You'll probably control the ball really well with this kind of shape, but you'll never
03:01score a goal.
03:02And this honestly might be one of my favourite goals I've seen in the Premier League this
03:05season because you can just see every single part of it working perfectly and Liverpool
03:10in their attempts to deal with it, play right into it.
03:14Now, Arsenal have the ball at the back and Liverpool would think they've got this situation
03:18pretty well covered.
03:19If it goes into Rice or Jorginho, chances are they're not going to be facing forward
03:23when they receive that ball, so they'll have to play backwards.
03:26That's fine.
03:27But the main threat here, and the one that Cody Gakpo will have been specifically instructed
03:30to keep an eye on, whether he was on the touchline or moving into the middle, is Zinchenko.
03:35And again, while Gakpo isn't specifically man marking him, he is close enough to him
03:39that if the ball looks like it's going out there, he can potentially intercept it.
03:42But oh no, wait a minute, who's this extra player that suddenly dropped into sort of
03:47the deep left position?
03:49Why it's literally Arsenal's centre forward of all players, Kai Havert.
03:54And him being there all of a sudden allows Jorginho to play a really easy one-time bounce
03:58pass and thus move the ball forward without necessarily needing to face forward.
04:03That was really clever of him.
04:04Now I will admit, it's not a perfect box shape by any stretch of the imagination, but if
04:09we just stop it, when Havert receives that ball, you can see that in the middle of the
04:13pitch now, there's Reiss and Jorginho at the base of this, then Havert and Erdegaard at
04:18the top.
04:19Now obviously, Liverpool won't have known that Arsenal weren't going to invert Zinchenko.
04:22So part of Gakpo's job would have been, when they do get that four in the middle, make
04:26sure you come across and balance those numbers out.
04:29So he does exactly what he should be doing in this situation.
04:31He moves on Havert to try and press that ball to stop him getting turned and running up
04:36the pitch.
04:37What was Gakpo's job literally three seconds ago?
04:40It was to watch Zinchenko.
04:43But of course, now he's had to come over to Havert.
04:45He's left him completely free.
04:47And two more really quick little bounce passes later, Arsenal have him in down that side.
04:52Now again, this on its own is a great little move and shows how by dropping Havert into
04:56this central space, you can dominate the ball and play your way out from the back.
05:00But again, you've still got this massive gap that is not going to get you any goals.
05:05But here is just the genius part about this, right?
05:08Because Canate and Van Dijk don't really have anything to do at this exact moment in time.
05:14So they then individually make what are, on the face of it, very intelligent decisions.
05:20When that ball gets to Zinchenko over there, Urdegaard here is Arsenal's most advanced
05:24player and he's slightly further onto the right hand side.
05:27So Virgil van Dijk has a look at him and says, I'll pick him up.
05:31And because Zinchenko is now running completely free down the right hand side, Trent Alexander-Arnold
05:35does what he has to do here and pushes up to deny him that space, which is completely
05:40fine because Canate hasn't got anybody to mark.
05:42He can move across to keep an eye on Martinelli and stop that ball going in behind.
05:47Meanwhile, Andy is just out of shot, but Pikaio Saka has held his width on the right hand
05:50side as much as possible.
05:51So Joe Gomez has to kind of stay in this area.
05:54He can't then come across to cover that gap.
05:57Now I would say genuinely here, all four of Liverpool's defenders have made the correct
06:02decision in that situation.
06:04But as Alexander-Arnold gets to Zinchenko to put that tackle in, this is the shape it
06:09has given their defensive line.
06:11And unlike this line, let's get one thing completely straight and that is they've not
06:16done this because they're suddenly bad at their jobs or their brains have fallen out.
06:19They are in this shape to quote one of the greatest WhatsApp voice notes ever recorded.
06:24You've manoeuvred me here.
06:26But this is where it gets super delicious, right?
06:29Because even from this position, when Zinchenko checks inside, probably say it doesn't look
06:33all that dangerous.
06:34But Arsenal in a split second and in two touches of the ball, kill Liverpool, split them down
06:41the middle and bathe in their guts.
06:43So two things to note here really quickly.
06:45First of all, you'll remember that Van Dijk identified Erdegaard as the danger man.
06:49He has stopped his run.
06:50Van Dijk has left him a bit of distance.
06:52He realises that and he checks his own run, which is in theory, the right decision.
06:56But now Kaj Havert is, of course, continuing his run from that pass to get back into the
07:00centre forward area.
07:01But because he did so from so deep in Arsenal's build up, he's now being tracked by McAllister
07:07because he'll have seen him making that run again.
07:10Correct decision.
07:11And this is where they completely take advantage of the fact that Liverpool's defenders are
07:16not psychic.
07:17All right.
07:18McAllister is not going to go all the way into the back line.
07:19That's not his job.
07:21He's effectively passing Havert the centre forward off to the players who are supposed
07:25to be marking him.
07:26He does so at the exact moment Van Dijk moves towards Erdegaard to stop him having all that
07:33free space.
07:34And when that ball is played, because remember, Liverpool are so terrified of getting done
07:38down the flanks, Canarte is worrying about Martinelli, Joe Gomez is still over this side
07:43worrying about Saka.
07:45There's just this yawning chasm in the middle of the pitch, which Kaj Havert has run into
07:50having initially received the ball in his own third and is now through on goal.
07:54Now, were we living in a fair and just universe, dear viewer, Kaj Havert would just roll that
07:59into the back of the net, possibly even a cheeky little dink and we could celebrate
08:03what an amazing contribution he made to that goal all the way from the back, right to the
08:08front.
08:09But of course, we're not, obviously it's not a fair and just universe.
08:13It's horrible, horrible and shocking and cold and it's just the worst finish going.
08:18But thankfully, thankfully Saka's there.
08:20So we actually get to talk about this rather than just, oh, do you remember that chance
08:24he had?
08:25Now, we're not going to go through every single goal in the same amount of detail.
08:27Obviously, Liverpool's equaliser is just some baffling decision making from Saliba.
08:32You look here, he is in control of that situation, but for some reason he's just so determined
08:37to have his goalkeeper come and pick that up so they can get another attack away rather
08:41than just clearing it out or doing something with it.
08:44That's a mindset thing that a lot of these defenders at the top level have.
08:47He should just deal with it.
08:49Everybody knows that.
08:50I would probably say the exact same thing about the goal that got Arsenal back in front.
08:54Van Dijk could deal with this if he wants to, but again, he'd rather have his goalkeeper
08:58come and deal with it so then they're on the front foot and they can get back up the pitch.
09:02But just one thing that's jumped out to me here that I don't think anybody's really pointed
09:07out.
09:08I think, and I could be completely wrong about this, but I think the reason Van Dijk lets
09:13this bounce and is so confident Alisson's going to come and get it is because he thinks
09:18for a second that's Kai Havertz in front of him.
09:21If we look at when the ball is played, Havertz has moved all the way out to the left-hand
09:25side where Martinelli should be, and he has come across into the middle.
09:28But I do think that was a very deliberate thing they've done because Liverpool came
09:32out really strong in the second half, Arsenal couldn't really get on the ball, they couldn't
09:35play through them, and obviously they weren't inverting with the full-back so there wasn't
09:38any sort of room to get in down the flanks.
09:41But Martinelli is a lot quicker than Havertz, he's a far more direct runner, he'll chase
09:46things down.
09:47So Liverpool still leaving all this space in behind with their high line.
09:51It does kind of make sense to go over the top to Martinelli rather than play into the
09:54feet of Havertz, or at least to mix that up.
09:57So I think, and again I could be completely wrong here, the reason Van Dijk displays zero
10:01urgency at the start of this is because he doesn't think Havertz necessitates any.
10:07So yes, don't get me wrong, free goal, you could replay that exact same scenario a hundred
10:11times over and Alisson will clear it 99 of the other times, but I just, that little doubt
10:17that causes the situation to occur, I think that's again because of Havertz' movement.
10:22Maybe that's a reach, I don't know.
10:23But nonetheless, the way in which Virgil van Dijk adapted his approach through that game
10:28was definitely the reason why Arsenal got the third one.
10:31Because I've seen Roy Keane and Jamie Carragher being like, why doesn't he just come across,
10:36why is he just jogging, why doesn't he throw himself in front of that shot?
10:41And I've got a theory behind that one.
10:43Well you've seen this Arsenal team before, they love, they simply adore a clever little
10:48cutback from the byline towards a sort of penalty spot.
10:51So you're Van Dijk, you're thinking, I know what's coming here.
10:54And give him his due, he is absolutely right.
10:57Not one of those Arsenal players even tries to make a late run into the box.
11:02And even if they did, Van Dijk has perfectly cut out this cutback.
11:07And then partially because of a small deflection and partially because of Alisson phasing in
11:12and out of our space time for a second, it just ends up in the back of the net.
11:17That's why Arsenal, and especially Havertz, and especially Arteta, deserve so much credit
11:22for this.
11:23Because on the face of it, all three of those goals look like Liverpool's defenders making
11:27bad decisions.
11:28They are making the correct decisions in those circumstances.
11:32It's just that Arsenal had expertly manipulated those circumstances.
11:37Now is there an element of fortune in the second or third goal?
11:40Yes, of course, absolutely.
11:41The second one is like the best defender goalkeeper pairing in the league, sticking their fingers
11:46down their throat at the exact same time.
11:48And the third one requires a small deflection.
11:51But you show me a team incapable of getting a little bit of luck here and there, and I
11:56will show you a team that's never going to win the league.
11:59But also, and I'm not even an Arsenal fan, but I think that's really nice for Kai Havertz.
12:04He's had so much scrutiny and so many questions asked about him, and he's played in so many
12:07different positions.
12:08And some of his performances haven't looked great, and some of his finishing in front
12:11of goal, even as we saw in this game, has been subpar.
12:14But you can see here why managers just adore him.
12:19Like, yes, OK, a six-year-old might have shown more conviction in front of goal here, but
12:23this entire situation, one of my favourite ones I've seen in the Premier League this
12:28season, that's all him.
12:30He comes in and drops and forms the box and creates the overload and gives Zinchenko the
12:34space and makes the run at the exact right time to drag McAllister with him, but not
12:38to attack the attentions of...
12:40It's just, it's all really, really, really, really, really intelligent play, and it's
12:44all him.
12:45And just one small thing before we finish, right?
12:47I seem to remember Arsenal being accused of a fortuitous result at the Emirates against
12:52Manchester City, and then getting told off for over-celebrating that one as well.
12:56Those are huge, huge results, which can actually legitimately define where their season goes.
13:03And one, there's not really any such thing as luck in these games.
13:06You absolutely have to create your own, and they've done that in both of those fixtures.
13:11And two, just fucking celebrate how you like.
13:14It's a big win.
13:15I saw Jamie Carragher absolutely losing his mind at Martin Erdegaard having a bit of fun
13:19with a photographer.
13:20Like, what's the matter with you?
13:23Grow up.
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14:01Goodbye.