Before reading this article, to understand this article better, you can check my article about Arteta’s Arsenal’s attacks. Today I will talk about some things which are basics in that article.
I showed Arsenal’s attacking moves in my last article. Today I want to start by showing Arsenal’s attacking shape in Voronoi Diagram.
Naturally stoppers and centre midfielders have more space in centre but they haven’t connection with Aubameyang. It means Aubameyang is too far away from them and they can’t pass to Aubameyang directly.
You can see Bellerin’s and Tierney’s spaces are not the same. Bellerin has absolutely more space than Tierney in forward. In Tierney’s forward Aubameyang plays and because of that Tierney can’t find enough space in the left wing and he can’t support attacks effectively. And because he hasn’t enough space in the forward, he has to use more space in back and it decreases his effectiveness too.
You can see in the left wing, Aubameyang’s and Saka’s spaces are not the same. Saka has more space than Aubameyang in the centre and back. Aubameyang has more space in the forward to use his finishing abilities. The problem is that Saka can’t use all his space. He plays like Aubameyang. He tries to run to the opponent’s defense line’s behind. He doesn’t use his space’s back, he doesn’t try much to close to the midfield and use all his space. So it means his space which is closer to the midfield side is useless for Arsenal. And because of that, also Aubameyang can’t find enough space in the forward. If Saka comes to the midfield to take the ball, Aubameyang can find more space in forward and he can escape the opponent’s behind more comfortably. And this time also Tierney can support attacks more comfortably because when Aubameyang goes to the centre forward to score goal with a diagonal run, he also creates space for Tierney in the wing. And all these players can play with their best. So it’s all about using the space which one is closer to the midfield and Saka can’t use it.
In the right wing, Willian has a lot of space. Think like that, his all space as large as the sum of Saka’s and Aubameyang’s space. So Willian has enough space to go forward or close to the midfield to take the ball and make game. And he should use all this space and he can use. He can make game, support attacks from half-space and wing, use between the opponent’s defense and midfield line. He is not a great goal scorer but he can make game greatly.
Lacazette has a lot of space in the centre forward. He has a connection with all the forward and centre midfield players. So his false 9 role is logical. But he is not very effective this season. If we have a look at the team’s Voronoi Diagram, you can see Lacazette and Willian have a lot of connection chances between us. But the problem is Willian and Lacazette both try to use between the opponent’s defense and midfield lines. So this connection doesn’t help each other because when one of them is in between the opponent’s defense and midfield lines, the other takes position there too. So both players who have the same role can’t help the team. Because when one of them creates space in the forward the other one closes to the midfield and doesn’t use this space. If both don’t use this free space and do the same thing why do they play so closely.
And if we have a look at Lacazette’s connection with Saka and Aubameyang in Voronoi Diagram, with Saka he can make connections more comfortably than Aubameyang. But the problem is Arsenal usually tries to use Aubameyang with his diagonal runs to the centre forward because he is a great finisher. And in the centre forward, Lacazette creates space for him. But how he can use this space if he can’t make more connections with Lacazette. He needs more connection with Lacazette. Saka tries to escape the opponent’s behind too but this time both do the same move and the opponent’s defense line can cover them more easily. If one of them does a different move they can confuse the opponent’s mind more easily.
In crosses, they are not a very effective team but this reason is not that the players are not great about score goal with crosses. The problem is sooner or later they have to cross to the penalty box. They can’t make game with another way. And this time they have to try to score goal with crosses. And the crosses can’t be effective. Because if you can’t confuse the opponent’s mind and make game, it means the opponent can defend regularly. And you can’t score goal with crosses if the opponent is in the set defence with a regular system. Because firstly you should confuse the opponent’s mind and break their set defence system. And then you can find enough space in the penalty box with crosses. Because in crosses if the opponent can’t take position in a regular system, your players can find space more easily and when they take the ball, the opponent probably can’t stop them. Because in crosses, things happen very quickly into the penalty box. If you can take the ball against an irregular defensive system, you can score the goal more comfortably. And because Arsenal can’t make the opponent’s regular system to an irregular system, they can’t score goal with crosses, either.
In transition attacks, they don’t try to score goal as quickly as they can. They try to have the ball as much as they can. The full backs don’t run from wings and support attacks aggressively and quickly. They stay in the defense line. So the opponent can take the set defence position.