Ashley Cole v Aston Villa 3-1 (04/02/2005)

My favourite Arsenal goal with commentary from Dennis Bergkamp (or rather, how I’d envisage the goal be described if I turned on audio commentary and Bergkamp did the voiceover): 

“It was interesting. I’d be in the centre or on the right and I’d see Ashley on the left, out of the corner of my eye, a long way away. And he’s just beginning to move. If he stops, it’s a silly pass for me. Like “what did he see?” But Ashley would keep running because he knew what I was going to do and I wasn’t even looking. I’d be 40 yards away but I knew where he was going. I think he scored three or four times like that. I always put the ball just outside the far post, inside the box, and he would just come across with high pace, which he always does. And I think you can’t defend that. You can’t defend it! There hasn’t been a right-winger born who will track back that far. Never.”

Taken from an interview with Dennis Bergkamp by David Winner (Blizzard Issue One).

Via ZonalMarking.net. Mark Hughes outlines his strategy ahead of Manchester City’s 4-2 over Arsenal in 2009/10. He repeated the trick again in 2012 as QPR boss, defeat Arsenal 2-1.

Follow (@zonal_marking) on Twitter. (I’m sure you already do!)

The late great Brian Clough discussing Arsenal beating his Nottingham Forest side’s unbeaten record.

Arsenal’s strategy fell desperately apart. Their pressing game was non-existent beyond the front two and that made it easy to pass into the midfield. But it was the front three who caused problems all game for the Arsenal defence - backed up by an energetic midfield. Arsenal might have been expected to have a numerical advantage but Milan overwhelmed them with their tactical dominance. Zlatan Ibrahimovic was superb as the “inverted pivot” that the “2” in the 4-3-2-1 played around. Indeed, so well did their tactic work that, for all of Arsenal’s impotency last night, Milan haven’t been given enough credit for the “perfect” execution of their game-plan.

Read more here: http://arsenalcolumn.co.uk/2012/02/16/zlatan-ibrahimovic-inspires-milan-to-the-perfect-game/

Arsenal’s second typified the effectiveness of the team’s game plan. By keeping two wingers up the pitch, Blackburn’s full-backs were forced to play narrow. But, with Arsenal keeping the ball so well and creating space by dragging defenders around, they were able to get behind with alarming frequency. Song was superb in aiding that part of the game, often threading key through-balls to the forwards.

Walcott’s presence in the line-up always forces the full-back to look over his shoulder. Against Blackburn, he constantly looked to get behind and as Arsenal’s wingers stayed up the pitch, he forced the defence to narrow, creating the space for him to run unmarked.

Statistic courtesy of WhoScored.com. Table showing the scoring rates of each of the perceived Top Six’s front four and a reserve striker. The bracketed player is not included in the average but only used as an example of the next best player.

Marouane Chamakh hit 10 goals in his first 17 games in 2010/11, but his confidence has since deserted him in the most drastic fashion. His performance against Stoke City, while not bad, showed just how much he’s battling with his own demons. It’s as if he’s become a caricature of himself in a bid to assert himself and find a place on the team. Chamakh’s play has become more functional, as displayed by the pass received charts below, and he is trying to pose himself as a “target man” alternative to van Persie, when in fact it was the ease with which he slotted into the team which made him a real success early on in his Arsenal career.

Chamakh’s pass received chart against Stoke shows how deep he dropped to pick up the ball. In comparison to last season at home to Birmingham – another team which defended very deep – he played higher up and was more involved in all channels of the pitch.

Where Arsenal’s midfielders received the ball: (Click to Enlarge) Aaron Ramsey’s tendencies to drop deep are displayed by contrast between the areas which he was passed the ball; Song pushed up higher while Arteta assumed a disributor role.

Arsenal 3-0 Bolton

The lack of synchronicity between the instructions of the defenders and the midfielders is shown. While the back-four push up to play a high line, the midfield doesn’t follow suit. In fact, they are more concerned with shape - which is all well and good - but by not getting tight, they are essentially allowing the opposition at them. This makes it ripe for Dortmund to attempt the ball over because they are not under pressure to make the pass. At times on Tuesday night, the two conflicting strategies meant the positions collapsing on each other as the midfield dropped deep in their own half, pressing too late and the back-four pushing up. In the second-half, particularly that was the case as Arsenal were unable to get out of their own half.