PL Tactics: Mikel Arteta’s pressing plan is changing Arsenal

Mikel Arteta is already changing Arsenal tactically, thanks to a relentless commitment to pressing.

Mikel Arteta’s early impact at Arsenal can best be summed up in one word: pressing. It’s the go-to tactic in today’s Premier League, with Jurgen Klopp’s table-topping Liverpool the benchmark, while Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City are relentless in the same way.

Arteta learned his management trade with the latter, and he’s brought the same blueprint back to Arsenal. As a midfielder for the Gunners from 2011-16, Arteta knows firsthand how far Arsenal are behind the times when it comes to pressing.

It was never a favorite ploy of the man who signed Arteta from Everton, Arsene Wenger. The Frenchman stepped down in 2018, and Arsenal have been trying to get up to speed with the tactic ever since.

Yet while Unai Emery and Freddie Ljungberg couldn’t transmit the idea to the players, Arteta is succeeding. Specifically, he’s getting elegant ball-players to work and press out of possession.

Emery moved a tenacious midfielder like Lucas Torreira further forward in a desperate attempt to force pressing on his squad. Arteta has no need to engage in such a gambit, instead, relying on his natural attacking players to defend from the front, a key part of the plan.

It worked brilliantly during the 2-0 victory over Manchester United on New Year’s Day, Arteta’s first win at the third attempt. Arsenal forwards consistently smothered United’s attempts to build possession from the back.

A hard charge from Alexandre Lacazette forced David De Gea into a deflected clearance. The ball fell to goalscorer Nicolas Pepe, who narrowly missed out on a second when his shot hit the post.

A similar appetite for applying pressure nearly yielded a second goal during what proved to be a 2-1 defeat at home to Chelsea on Dec. 29. This time, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang dispossessed N’Golo Kante in the box and fed Joe Willock, who slashed his shot just wide of the post.

Having attacking players lead the press is a defining feature of modern tactics. Nowhere has it shown up at Arsenal more than in the case of Mesut Ozil.

A languid stroller neither Emery nor Ljungberg could reach, the 31-year-old has responded brilliantly to Arteta’s prodding. Ozil literally led by example against United:

https://twitter.com/talkSPORT/status/1212504956160368640

Having creative players engage in the rugged work of pressing is what took Guardiola and City to the last two titles. David Silva, Kevin De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva and Raheem Sterling can all produce magic on the ball, but their energy levels off it ensure City rarely allow opponents time and space.

No freedom in possession means an inability to build attacks and threaten the defense. Arsenal succeeded in keeping United’s forward output to a minimum:

https://twitter.com/BBCMOTD/status/1212473497500426240

A look at the distance numbers for Ozil and his team-mates shows Arteta is already coaxing the work-rates required to put pressing into practice:

Relentless running is not something associated much with Arsenal during the last decade. Seeing Ozil and others put in a shift is a welcome sight, but there’s a flip-side to Arteta’s high-energy demands.

His Gunners have been guilty of running out of steam. It’s usually happened around the hour mark in every one of Arteta’s games in charge, including the 1-1 draw away to Bournemouth on Boxing Day.

Fatigued players have allowed the opposition to take over games in crucial stages:

The cost was most vividly felt when Arsenal blew a 1-0 lead and almost total territorial dominance to lose against Chelsea.

There is a caveat or two here, though. First, Arteta is working with a squad hardly used to such a frenetic and physical way of playing.

Second, Arsenal have inevitably felt the pinch of a typically congested festive period. Clubs in England’s top-flight played as many as three games in less than a week.

It’s not unreasonable to assume the Gunners will sustain their press for longer once players are in peak condition.

The impact Arteta’s plan has already had on under-performing players suggests pressing is here to stay at Arsenal. Pepe and Granit Xhaka are the most obvious examples among those revived by the press, with their recovery numbers against United underpinning outstanding individual performances:

https://twitter.com/goal/status/1212487929555230720

As good as the individuals were, pressing is all about the collective. It’s a team approach for a team sport, demanding every member pitch in.

Arsenal were a committed unit against the Red Devils:

https://twitter.com/Squawka/status/1212498231692800003

The Arteta press is working, but all the pressure on the ball would count for naught without players able to make effective use of possession once they win it. While Guardiola’s influence is obvious, it’s important to remember Arteta also learned from Wenger, a manager who kept artistry and technique at the forefront of his tactical vision.

Arteta is steadily getting the Gunners back to the same one- and two-touch passing style Wenger preached. There was evidence of it from Aubameyang’s equalizer against Bournemouth.

Moments before he scored, the striker had curled an effort over the bar after being teed up by Ozil. The move began with Reiss Nelson finding Ozil, who played a smart one-two with Lacazette.

Arsenal’s No. 10 then needed just two touches to feed Aubameyang. This was quick, slick and essentially Wenger-like from Arsenal.

While the goal was a little more scrappy, the same principles were at play. Aubameyang found Lacazette, who passed to Ozil before the latter teed up Nelson, whose deflected shot fell Aubameyang’s way:

While distribution in the final third was swift and decisive, the longer pass from Xhaka to start the move stood out. It was soon followed by a similar ball from David Luiz to dissect the Cherries’ defense and send Lacazette clear.

He couldn’t score, but those passes showed how the Gunners are being more direct when on the ball. Passes are arriving in the final third a lot quicker, there is less side to side recycling of possession and more direct deliveries between the lines.

Wasting little time getting the ball to match-winners up top is a defining feature of the philosophies of both Wenger and Guardiola. Arteta has already made it part of his method for pressuring the opposition in every area.