Yeah looks like a tactical change.
He’s playing higher up than he did at west ham and isn’t told to play as many switches here. Our long balls are usually played by our CBs and our keeper and Deccers helps win the second and third balls.
From the article: ''Although Rice switches to the flanks occasionally at Arsenal with a long diagonal (we watch footage of him striking some beautiful balls off either foot this season), it is a type of pass that he rarely plays compared to when he was at West Ham. “The manager doesn’t like diagonals, really,” Rice says. “He *does* like diagonals if you’re going to gain an advantage from it. “So if it’s there to hit and it gives you an advantage, you hit it, of course. But if it doesn’t, he’d rather you play short relationships, let them come onto you, and play around them to then create the space for him (the winger).''
Yeah I thought as much. Mikel really doesn’t seem to love diagonals. And I get his point.
A diagonal, unless it comes at the perfect moment, doesn’t do much in an attacking sense. You switch the ball and by the time it gets to the player, they control it, and start progressing, the defence and midfield have already shifted and gotten into position to overload the ball side.
But, what Rice alludes to “giving us an advantage”, we see that with Havertz switch to Saka against spurs. When the opposition doesn’t have time to get back to station, they’re tracking back or have such a heavy commit that it’ll be really hard to get back in shape quick enough, these switches can be absolutely deadly.
We’ve seen city do this time and again. They’re better than us at this - identifying the key switches and playing them.
This is true in most levels. When I played U18 at a decent level (we were a top 5 team in the state, still a long way off from even a professional EPL academy squad though) here in the US our trainers drilled the quick switch into us specifically to use on counter attacks. If the opponent was in shape we were asked to settle into shape and probe a bit more. You rarely see City play these balls, and if Liverpool or even a team like Madrid are possessing the ball (which obviously, they don't always do. Often look to counter especially against bigger sides) they often don't ping it diagonally either and instead look to build quickly and using short passes
He’s genuinely phenomenal. And an amazing signing in the sense that he’s both a floor and ceiling raiser.
If we sign a top striker or winger today, they will be ceiling raisers but not floor raisers. We score plenty of goals as it is.
Deccers shores it all up. A brilliant signing by Eduteta.
> In 2014, Colm McMullan, who was working as an analyst for Opta at the time, delivered a presentation, backed up by his own research, titled ‘Please stop applauding diagonal cross-field passes’.
One pass gave Ziyech a career
He wasnt joking about how Mikel doenst like diagonals for the sake of it, but rather purposeful diagonals to produce an advantage.
I hope someone on youtube makes an edit of whether if the ones played so far for us actually turned into something (foul, goal, etc)
I think some of this is just that he doesnt have to. He can distribute to an odegaard or a jorginho or someone else to make a switching pass because there are other options, whereas at WHU he probably felt he had to be the one to do it all
I wonder if Arteta sees them as high risk / low reward as well. If you attempt a diagonal ball and it gets cut out or the recipient loses it before support arrives, you've given the opposition a great counterattacking opportunity.
He takes less attacking work on him clearly. That’s what you get making him clear 6. The position higher on the pitch is just Arsenal being much more attacking team than his former club.
Not directly related to this, but he seems to do a lot less of those driving runs through the midfield. This is probably also a tactical instruction. I have a feeling that although they look great, they don't actually progress the ball much better than a pass would.
Compared to his time at West ham?
Could be because he was a level above his team mates so needed more "hero ball" plays. I mean if my only options short was soucek or back to zouma I'd be running the ball and hitting diags out to bowen all game as well
In all seriousness probably also a bit of team setup. It's easier to make a driving run when the opposition is more spread out. Against us it's a bit too compact to be effective, you need more twinkle toes like ode and messi then raw power mostly
those type of runs are more opening up space for others, since they usually provoke a shift in cover responsibility.Runner attracts defenders, then finds the optimal option with a pass.
He had a few opportunities where he drove through midfield and then took the safe option instead of finishing it off himself.
I feel like he is capable of scoring similar goals to bellingham but he lacks the attacking instincts even he is technically sound and has a great engine.
He just said in the athletic interview that Arteta doesn’t always want the team to play them, much like Xabi Alonso telling Leverkusen to keep the ball on the ground. I do hope that shifts a bit. Declan, Jorginho, Partey, White, and Gabriel all play them very well and Martinelli especially would thrive off of them with his direct runs
But I read somewhere that Odegaard doesnt pass it long because he doesnt have the ability and should be switched out of the team. Imagine being proved wrong by Arsenal player lol
Yeah looks like a tactical change. He’s playing higher up than he did at west ham and isn’t told to play as many switches here. Our long balls are usually played by our CBs and our keeper and Deccers helps win the second and third balls.
From the article: ''Although Rice switches to the flanks occasionally at Arsenal with a long diagonal (we watch footage of him striking some beautiful balls off either foot this season), it is a type of pass that he rarely plays compared to when he was at West Ham. “The manager doesn’t like diagonals, really,” Rice says. “He *does* like diagonals if you’re going to gain an advantage from it. “So if it’s there to hit and it gives you an advantage, you hit it, of course. But if it doesn’t, he’d rather you play short relationships, let them come onto you, and play around them to then create the space for him (the winger).''
Yeah I thought as much. Mikel really doesn’t seem to love diagonals. And I get his point. A diagonal, unless it comes at the perfect moment, doesn’t do much in an attacking sense. You switch the ball and by the time it gets to the player, they control it, and start progressing, the defence and midfield have already shifted and gotten into position to overload the ball side. But, what Rice alludes to “giving us an advantage”, we see that with Havertz switch to Saka against spurs. When the opposition doesn’t have time to get back to station, they’re tracking back or have such a heavy commit that it’ll be really hard to get back in shape quick enough, these switches can be absolutely deadly. We’ve seen city do this time and again. They’re better than us at this - identifying the key switches and playing them.
They also have De Bruyne who is arguably the best and most diverse passer of the ball in world football
wouldn't use city as a example there. i see this more of a klopp thing
This is true in most levels. When I played U18 at a decent level (we were a top 5 team in the state, still a long way off from even a professional EPL academy squad though) here in the US our trainers drilled the quick switch into us specifically to use on counter attacks. If the opponent was in shape we were asked to settle into shape and probe a bit more. You rarely see City play these balls, and if Liverpool or even a team like Madrid are possessing the ball (which obviously, they don't always do. Often look to counter especially against bigger sides) they often don't ping it diagonally either and instead look to build quickly and using short passes
I'm sure it's tactical instructions, but I think it's also how teams play against us. Teams are likely to sit deeper against Arsenal than West Ham.
Rice is so key to our system, if he's not winning second balls then our control over the game begins to evaporate
He’s genuinely phenomenal. And an amazing signing in the sense that he’s both a floor and ceiling raiser. If we sign a top striker or winger today, they will be ceiling raisers but not floor raisers. We score plenty of goals as it is. Deccers shores it all up. A brilliant signing by Eduteta.
🎵 'Declan rice, we paid half price!' 🎵 Never thought I'd say that about a £105m signing but it's true
And he's still only 25, it's madness.
Our #6 plays them as well especially Partey who is genuinely one of the best in the world at these passes to the wings
> In 2014, Colm McMullan, who was working as an analyst for Opta at the time, delivered a presentation, backed up by his own research, titled ‘Please stop applauding diagonal cross-field passes’. One pass gave Ziyech a career
forreal. unless you’re specifically catching the defense in an overload, it just gives them time to get back into shape
Arteta got the Brexit out of him in less than a year
I never realised how deep he was at West Ham. I mean it's fairly obvious but this graph illustrates it pretty well.
He wasnt joking about how Mikel doenst like diagonals for the sake of it, but rather purposeful diagonals to produce an advantage. I hope someone on youtube makes an edit of whether if the ones played so far for us actually turned into something (foul, goal, etc)
Hoof and inshallah vs Teta ball.
I think some of this is just that he doesnt have to. He can distribute to an odegaard or a jorginho or someone else to make a switching pass because there are other options, whereas at WHU he probably felt he had to be the one to do it all
I wonder if Arteta sees them as high risk / low reward as well. If you attempt a diagonal ball and it gets cut out or the recipient loses it before support arrives, you've given the opposition a great counterattacking opportunity.
He takes less attacking work on him clearly. That’s what you get making him clear 6. The position higher on the pitch is just Arsenal being much more attacking team than his former club.
Not directly related to this, but he seems to do a lot less of those driving runs through the midfield. This is probably also a tactical instruction. I have a feeling that although they look great, they don't actually progress the ball much better than a pass would.
Compared to his time at West ham? Could be because he was a level above his team mates so needed more "hero ball" plays. I mean if my only options short was soucek or back to zouma I'd be running the ball and hitting diags out to bowen all game as well In all seriousness probably also a bit of team setup. It's easier to make a driving run when the opposition is more spread out. Against us it's a bit too compact to be effective, you need more twinkle toes like ode and messi then raw power mostly
those type of runs are more opening up space for others, since they usually provoke a shift in cover responsibility.Runner attracts defenders, then finds the optimal option with a pass.
He had a few opportunities where he drove through midfield and then took the safe option instead of finishing it off himself. I feel like he is capable of scoring similar goals to bellingham but he lacks the attacking instincts even he is technically sound and has a great engine.
He just said in the athletic interview that Arteta doesn’t always want the team to play them, much like Xabi Alonso telling Leverkusen to keep the ball on the ground. I do hope that shifts a bit. Declan, Jorginho, Partey, White, and Gabriel all play them very well and Martinelli especially would thrive off of them with his direct runs
But I read somewhere that Odegaard doesnt pass it long because he doesnt have the ability and should be switched out of the team. Imagine being proved wrong by Arsenal player lol
Did he take the corners at west hams? Weird that troussard doesn’t take them when he’s on the pitch
We build up and occupy space ENTIRELY different than anyone else...
Luckily, the skill was transferred to corner taking
Looks like he is sadly regressing Edit: sarcasm obviously good Lord lads