Arsenal: flawed down the centre?

Good football teams have a formidable central midfield. Great ones combine spatial intelligence, skillful ball-playing and aggressive defending in the centre to perfection. In fielding a seemingly confused Granit Xhaka in the centre with an attack-minded box-to-box midfielder in Aaron Ramsey, Arsenal might end up being neither this season.

 

@ArsenalMoh8 here's one of the symptoms of our complex problem bro. Xhaka is picking his nose and watching the guy run and score the winner. pic.twitter.com/adUFN8bcQx

— ABChangazi (@ABChangazi) October 15, 2017

With their three-man rearguard often linking with advanced players through the wider of the centre-halves, Arsenal’s central midfield is logically required to sit deep, constrict space and screen the central defender. Instead, it’s not hard to find Ramsey as high up the pitch as Mesut Özil, and Xhaka advanced enough to support transition or create chances, but not swiftly come to the aid of the defence.

The goal Swansea scored last weekend was a consequence of such pushing up.

 

The space left behind was unmanageable for Laurent Koscielny, or any defender for that matter, and called for Héctor Bellerin’s support from the flanks. Koscielny getting overwhelmed at that instant released Swansea’s Tammy Abraham in the half space, who found Sam Clucas, now free from Bellerin’s marking, surging ahead. Arsenal were down a goal, punished for their inability to constrain space at the back.

This, however, is not the first time this screen has been absent or allowed one or two banks of the opposition to sit in the space left behind, ahead of the back three. In the season opener, Xhaka and Mohamed Elneny, instead of Ramsey, were not deep enough and allowed Leicester to exploit the space behind them.

Against Everton more recently, Wayne Rooney’s goal was created in this very space between the lines. Two banks of blue shirts had already passed Xhaka before he lost possession.

 

That Rooney found time for two touches and a look at the goal before shooting suggests space and time had been taken for granted — an unthinkable event in front of the aggressive and imposing early-Wenger era back lines.

Xhaka was better going forward, though. It was, after all, his accurate long ball to Sead Kolasinac that set up Ramsey’s goal. This was not an exception — statistics do back the thought that Xhaka seemed to fare better in attack. Is the Swiss midfielder’s defensive role being undermined by his preference to attack then? Or have roles not been clearly defined in a team yet to master the recent change to a three at the back system?

 

A quick glance at the numbers from the current season and the previous may be sufficient to rule out any preference. Xhaka appears to fulfill both defensive and attacking responsibilities as required. This season’s numbers, however, suggest an attacking role.

 

* = after 10 matches | Source: Premier League

 

 

Xhaka has, in the ten Premier League fixtures this season, shot nearly three-fourths of his attempts on goal last season in less than a third of the time. He has already floated more crosses and provided more assists now than in all of last season’s thirty-eight matches. And he averages more shots per game this season than tackles, clearly reflecting an attacking role.

But if Xhaka was expected to attack and create, why has Ramsey, his midfield pairing for seven of the ten fixtures, been allowed as much freedom to roam? When neither sits deep, Arsenal’s defensive spine is weaker. If wingbacks are in advanced positions at the same time, this would allow the opposition to attack through the centre rather than being restricted to attempts from wide and far.

When every good team retains a midfielder in a deeper position, it’s odd that central midfield roles at Arsenal appear not well-defined. Fernandinho tends to sit in front of the Manchester City back four this season. Title winning Chelsea last season had N’Golo Kante complement the defence, dropping deep from central midfield when required. More than a decade ago, Arsène Wenger’s Invincibles counted on Gilberto Silva and Patrick Vieira, despite his freedom to press up, to sit deeper when not in possession and screen the centre-halves.

 

Wenger needs to rethink Xhaka’s role before facing Manchester City this Sunday. Unless Xhaka or Ramsey stay deep and constrain Kevin De Bruyne’s masterful passing, it may not take long for Manchester City to seal three points. City have been ruthless in finding the net so far. They average over three goals each game and have scored twelve more times than the next best team. For once, Arsenal’s firepower up front and possession may not matter as much as their ability to restrict Manchester City’s attempts on goal.