I'm back on my bullshit to help us sift through 289 potential midfield targets for Arsenal, using a new method called "Pair With Rice" (or PWR for short)
With lower defensive looks — Arsenal face the lowest average height of defensive actions in the league — and improving work further back, Arteta has successfully proven a major point.
I can’t help but feel like Arsenal are the architect of their own demise with respect to this stat. This is entirely driven by the way we play.
To my mind, it’s because he has a very different definition of ‘control’ than most of our fans, who seem to view ‘control’ as synonymous with ‘ball security’: risking nothing, being safe, hanging onto possession at any cost, or, in other words, passive control.
What Arteta wants is active control. He wants to use possession to push the opposition into a corner (so to speak) and keep them there, then go to work on them.
One of the clearer points in this respects is the issue of take-ons and our 6 role. Both Rodri for Pep and Thomas for Arteta are slightly below average in take-on volume for midfielders, but way above average in success rate: Thomas is one of the best in Europe. Both managers want a player in that 6 role who can threaten to beat defenders that way, precisely because it backs them off, pushing them deeper and deeper. Their line-breaking passing threat is the same: it doesn’t have to be high-volume to to have the desired effect. As long as the threat is there, it works.
For Rice’s part, while his passing isn’t quite to Thomas’ level, and he isn’t as nimble in receiving and turning with the ball, he is even better at carrying it.
I can’t help but feel like Arsenal are the architect of their own demise with respect to this stat. This is entirely driven by the way we play.
Exactly so.
The question, then, is why Arteta is doing this.
To my mind, it’s because he has a very different definition of ‘control’ than most of our fans, who seem to view ‘control’ as synonymous with ‘ball security’: risking nothing, being safe, hanging onto possession at any cost, or, in other words, passive control.
What Arteta wants is active control. He wants to use possession to push the opposition into a corner (so to speak) and keep them there, then go to work on them.
One of the clearer points in this respects is the issue of take-ons and our 6 role. Both Rodri for Pep and Thomas for Arteta are slightly below average in take-on volume for midfielders, but way above average in success rate: Thomas is one of the best in Europe. Both managers want a player in that 6 role who can threaten to beat defenders that way, precisely because it backs them off, pushing them deeper and deeper. Their line-breaking passing threat is the same: it doesn’t have to be high-volume to to have the desired effect. As long as the threat is there, it works.
For Rice’s part, while his passing isn’t quite to Thomas’ level, and he isn’t as nimble in receiving and turning with the ball, he is even better at carrying it.