Adaptability - Arteta's 5 Phase Plan

 PHASE 1 

In the 21/22 season, Arteta’s second full season in charge, we faced Klopp’s Liverpool at Anfield. It ended in a 4-0 defeat. One would say it’s tough to take positives from that, but there were a few - we looked like a team that was willing to fight. We could go toe to toe with an elite side - one of the best sides in English football history - in terms of intensity and desire. That’s huge. And that was real progress.

In order to win in football, in sport, you need this. It comes before tactics, technique, play style, everything. The only way to win is to be hungry for it, to demand it, to give everything for it. It’s a non-negotiable, and we saw a few high profile contract terminations if they didn’t live up to this standard. This was one of the first noticeable changes early on in the ‘Arteta Revolution.’ 

Another change we saw on the pitch around this time was how Arsenal set up defensively. And how that facilitated the attack. We didn’t give Liverpool much time or space in the box or around the box - even with their killer off ball movement. It was a disciplined block, blocking space and being intense whenever they did come into dangerous areas. Through that, we had ways to legitimately hurt them - we could pass through them as they committed their players, we knew where our next passing option would be, and we had space to move into. It was tough, away at Anfield, but we tried to take control of the ball from them.

It didn’t work out on the day, we weren’t good enough and they were too good. But it was the foundation of something great. We didn’t realize it then, but maybe here you could see Arteta’s vision - how he wants his team to play football.

Pep Ljinders, the assistant manager of Liverpool at the time, commented on the ‘new’ Arsenal. One that, in addition to a more structured build up, now had its own way of defending. Rather than adapting to what the other teams would throw at them, we finally had our own style.

It was a style that’s very similar to what we see today - though now with much better players. In essence, it’s the same shape and the same ideas - pressing from the front, but willing to drop back into a shape that resembles a ‘442’ block.

[2021 - Liverpool]

Ramsdale

Tomi-White-Gabriel-Tavares

Saka-Partey-Lokonga-ESR

Lacazette-Aubameyang

Vs

[2024 - Leicester]

Raya

Timber-Saliba-Gabriel-Calafiori

Saka-Partey-Rice-Martinelli

Trossard-Havertz

Same look, similar responsibilities for the players, same ideas. Much, much better players. Quite a typical big game approach for us these days.

Before the 21/22 season, we wouldn’t always set up like this. We had two years or so of a lot of different ways of defending, depending on what the opponent would do. We could press high, we could drop off early, we could defend in a back 5 with wingbacks, we could clog the middle of the pitch. 

Our numbers, our setup, our passing, all depended on how the opposition would hurt us. There seemed to be a lot more focus on what the opposition would do - and only based on that, what we would do.

In the 2020 FA Cup semi-final vs Man City, we had 3 center backs, 2 wingbacks and speedy attackers, looking to block them from playing and attacking on the counter ourselves. In the same year, against Mourinho’s Spurs we had 4 defenders and an extra midfielder - we looked to block them from playing on the counter by controlling the middle of the pitch. Two very different styles against different opponents. In the FA Cup final, against Chelsea, we again played 5 defenders - this time to counter Tuchel’s strong wingbacks.

In attack, sometimes we’d counter. Sometimes we’d simply cross it into the box all game, sometimes we’d try and play our way through into the box. The setup looked to be from back to front. How we’d defend would influence how we’d attack. It was just what would work for that particular game. We didn’t know what Arsenal we’d get - in defense or in attack.

You could say it like this - the specific instructions given to the players for each individual game were remarkably different and often unrelated.

There was one idea - to win. Give us the best chance of winning. From late 2019 till around the 21/22 season, Arsenal didn’t have its own style - there wasn’t enough time to implement it all. There were the beginnings of something there, but we needed to win now, so Arteta found a way. Through configuring the style, shape - and how to play within those, to what was best suited for the game at hand. 

What we can see here is what makes the current version of Arteta’s Arsenal so dangerous - adaptability.

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PHASE 2/3

All this is not to say we were playing randomly. We did have core footballing principles that have been in place since day one. (a) Defending as a team and (b) trying to get an extra player, free to receive, in each third of the pitch, so we could easily move the ball forward.

But within that, we didn’t really have our own way of dominating the game, of putting our own stamp on the game. It depended more on what would work on the day.

Dominating the game is not limited to just on the ball. Today, Arsenal dominate the game off the ball as well. 

Teams work on both attack and defense simultaneously, and more often than not both are connected. We started our progress under Arteta by getting the first principle right - defending as a team, with every player, including the attackers. We know how much Arteta values his defense. Our signings, still to this day, lean towards players who are top defenders - both in money spent and in number of players.

There’s a huge value placed on collective defending along with duel winning. Even the attackers we sign are great defenders. Arteta understands that in the transitional, second ball nature of English football, you need to win your duels. 

Calafiori, in a recent interview, spoke on how in England, they seem to care less about defending. Even till the 90th minute, teams are throwing players forward on the counter. Arteta sees this, accepts it, and plans for it.

This is not to say Arteta is or was a ‘defensive’ manager - he just knows how to coach a very strong defense. The FA Cup winning run in his first half season in charge showed that he knew how to coach a deep block and play on the counter. In the PL we were building a dangerous press. Right from the start, those who weren’t intense enough while defending were out - Ozil being a good example.

It makes sense - he’s a disciple of Pep, of La Masia - he wants the ball. What better way to ensure you have the ball than to have players who are great at winning it back? 

It’s a sort of different approach to Pep, who just doesn’t want to lose the ball, and will ensure this  by bending the game to his will. Arteta is more adjusting, he knows there’ll be times when he won’t have the ball - but his players will win it back. 

But as someone who comes from the Pep Guardiola school of thought, he still had to get (b) right. Our ‘positional play’, where we try to create situations where we have an extra man, an unmarked player to pass to, who can then move the ball forward freely. When done right, this should give Arsenal an extra man to progress the ball, and then an extra man to attack the box with. And if you have that, you’re more likely to put that unmarked player in positions to score, or create space due to that unmarked player. That’s the theory of it. Through this, you can start dominating games.

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PHASE 2/3

Of course, every manager has an ‘ideal’ vision of how they want to play football. In a perfect world, how their team would play. But the reality is, the quality of players dictate how you set up. Towards 21/22 we saw a new, exciting, more attacking side of Arsenal. A team that wants to hold on to the ball, pin the opposition back, and create chances through that.

We had a more settled shape and starting eleven - and we started to control games. We now wanted to stamp our own authority on the game rather than reacting to the opponent. This was a next step for Arteta’s soon to be super team.

The passing numbers looked very similar to the previous season - an average of 53% possession, similar pass completion %, similar passes into the box. We had fewer passes overall, yet we were more dominant. We had more passes in the opposition half, higher xG and more threat. We could now effectively get the ball forward with more numbers up the pitch, and be more dangerous when we were in those positions.

No longer were we slowly passing it in our half, waiting for the players to move to the ‘correct’ positions so we’d have a free man. Through practice, it was coming naturally, which meant more time higher up the pitch. No longer were we passing it around in that dreaded ‘U’ shape around their box. We had more ways of breaking through teams.

Tomiyasu stepped into midfield, Xhaka pushed forward, and Arteta finally was able to create the ‘modern’ structure of defense and midfield. 5 attackers along the opposition back line, 3 midfielders roaming around the box, ready to recycle and win second balls, 2 defenders to cover anything that came across. It’s the same structure with different personnel that is so effective in pinning teams in, even today.

However, the defense was still weak. There’s only so much you can do with players like Tavares, Cedric, Holding and Tierney. With all due respect to them, they’re simply not up to the mark, neither on the ball nor while defending. Not if you want to fight at the top. The team conceded an xGA of 45, only the seventh lowest in the league, and finished fifth.

Without great defenders, the focus had to be shifted towards scoring more than we conceded - again, the need of the day is always the same - to win the next football match. Our defense wasn’t good enough, so our attack had to cover up, and we had to keep more of the ball. Arteta was restricted by the players at his disposal.

Still, through the next two seasons, we became better at both (a) and (b). From top 4 challengers, the team stepped up to fight for the league in 22/23, playing a similar style of football, but ultimately, not having nearly enough quality to challenge Man City.

Each season, we improved in both xG and xGA. Mainly because we added higher quality players to a great tactical setup, but also because this team now had a certain belief that we could and would win every game. Still, a manager can only do what his tools - the players - allow him to do. Once Arteta was able to add the players he wanted, his real vision started to show. 

Sometimes, it’s easy to forget how far we’ve come. How deep we’d fallen, how far we were from the top of the top. It takes a long time to build a squad of players who can compete and execute at the highest level.

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PHASE 4

At the end of the 22/23 season, after finishing second and winning 26 games - our highest ever at the time, it was clear the quality wasn’t enough. On the pitch, we weren’t able to execute everything we needed to. Rob Holding was forced to play center back away at Manchester City, in that 4-1 loss that effectively ended our hopes.

In response to that, Arsenal went big in the next window - we needed the quality. Declan Rice, the best midfield defender in the world, David Raya and Jurrien Timber were added to the defense, which was still a bit thin on quality, and Havertz was added to the attack. 200+ million spent on a team that just finished second.

We went for it and it worked. In the 23/24 season, we posed a genuine threat to the title - it was a new Arsenal. Up until around this time, Arteta had one half of his vision - his team could control the ball, create enough chances and score enough goals to win a majority of football matches. But we’d still lose our duels, and he was upset.

Now, finally, with an improved defense, they could dominate off the ball too. This was the next piece.

It wasn’t just quality we added. Crucially, these three very versatile players allowed us to move towards something we’d put on the back burner after Arteta’s first two seasons - our adaptability. With so many players who can do so many different things well, we were suited to various styles of play.

So many of Arteta’s signings are extremely versatile players. Cedric, Willian, White, Tomiyasu, Jesus, Trossard, Kiwior, Havertz, Timber, Rice, Calafiori, Merino, Sterling - 13 players, 11 still in the squad, who can play at least two positions to a very high level. Saka, Martinelli as well. This is not only to counter injuries, but more to be able to play in different ways with different players depending on the opposition and the context of the game.

Ben White is a very different right back to Timber, who’s different from Tomiyasu - all three center backs who have been converted to right back, but so different in the way they approach it. The same can be said for Kiwior, Zinchenko and Calafiori. Three left backs, three different approaches when each of them play. That’s by design - we need different solutions to different problems.

One of Arteta’s biggest qualities as a manager, as a football mind, going back to his Manchester City days, perhaps even going back to his playing days, is his understanding of the opposition. That’s his big strength. There have been reports of Arteta, even as a player, receiving calls from Pep Guardiola on how to tackle certain English teams.

As City’s assistant manager, he found a solution to beating Arsenal - cut backs. City scored a goal through this in game, and famously, Arteta stayed on the bench, refusing to celebrate his own plan coming to fruition. 

He is naturally great at figuring out the opponent’s plans, where to limit their advantages and how to attack their weaknesses. He’s now capitalized on this edge by building a team that can do most things really well, to handle whatever advantage Arteta and his staff might find.

In his press conferences, he always makes a point to speak on the ‘context’. This is key - because what’s happening in the game, in terms of the score, the momentum, the stakes, naturally informs what a team needs and how a team plays. This Arsenal team is set up to handle whatever context is thrown their way.

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If you’ve read this far, allow me a bit of armchair psychology. As much as everything above is my opinion, it’s sort of rooted in some level of evidence. This is straight up just my opinion:

The way a manager sets up a football team is a representation of the manager himself. Arteta grew up in the Basque country, which has a strong focus on the collective. Moved to La Masia, where there’s a heavy emphasis on playing with the ball. His core values come from here. He then moved to PSG, Rangers, then to Everton under Moyes, learning how a smaller team plays in England. Then he captained Arsenal as a bigger team in England. Finally, he worked under Pep Guardiola as an assistant. 

He played for different teams, in different countries, under different managers, having a lot of different roles. So many different contexts. It shows in the way we play football.

There’s a clear team spirit, a clear understanding of the collective, and each person's importance in the collective. We’re a team that wants to own the ball and win games by controlling the ball and controlling the spaces. Yet, we’re happy to sit back and defend when we have to, happy to concede the ball and space when needed. 

We want to pass our way through, yet we’re happy to go long if that’s more effective. We have such differing styles, sometimes polar opposite styles, because Arteta has seen so many ways of football, all which have unique ways of winning - he incorporates it all. Sir Alex was similar in this sense.

This is pretty unique in management, where managers are generally more toward the stubborn side, 100% convinced of their own methodology. Pep Guardiola, Ange Postecoglu and Maurizio Sarri are a few in a long list of examples. We’re probably going to see more managers in the Arteta mold, open to different styles moving forward. As Arsenal manager, this chameleon-like quality took Arteta to his first trophy as a manager, the FA Cup with a squad he had no right to win it with.

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With another window under his belt, we see a step forward in the vision. Calafiori and Merino, two strong duellers, who are progressive attackers in their own right, come into this already very versatile team. Two more versatile players who are different from what we had before, and operate uniquely in unique areas on the pitch, to help tackle different contexts or problems.

Now, in 24/25, within the two principles of (a) and (b), Arsenal can do anything and everything. 

There’s no dogmatic way of playing, no set idea of what we’re going to do - we're not building up to a final form of any one particular idea or style of play. We're building up to a final form of everything.

In October 2024, we're as close as we've been to that vision, and we only get better from here. There's no situation, no context, no game state that we're not well suited for, not well coached for or don't have an idea for.

If the objective is to win at all costs, this team has positioned itself to have the best probability of that no matter the context

On the pitch, we're a top five team in the world at everything. Can many teams in history say that? We're ‘complete’ - throw us into any and every situation and we have a way to win the game. That is the adaptability that this Arsenal team has achieved.

We can press with dangerous intensity, we can maintain an annoying, intense, coordinated mid block AND can give nothing away in a deep block, to the highest of levels. How many teams, ever, could say that? Out of possession in any state we're really tough to score against. That itself is remarkable.

We're the same in attack. If a team presses us, we can build through. We've done it repeatedly against the most dangerous presses in the world. If that's too risky, we don't have to - we can go long to our big players and have players around who love to win second balls. We have a really good counter press to create chances if we don’t win them, too. We can build through slowly, or we can move the ball fast.

If the opponent is in a low block, we might not be the best at unlocking it, but we're one of the best teams at keeping them pinned in there. Inevitably, we find a way to score. We put teams under enough pressure with so many numbers and different threats that something just ends up going in. If not, we're the best set piece team in the world. Ruthlessly taking every advantage available.

In transition moments, on the defensive side, we generally are solid because of the quality of players and the willingness for every player to get back. Our attacking transitions aren’t the best - but we're going to sign a pacey attacker soon enough, only making that 'weakness' even lesser.

On top of all that, we have another advantage - this team knows all that it takes to win - to squeeze out the maximum advantage from each detail. Set pieces are a great example, and we are masters of the 'dark arts' too. We know how to slow a game down when needed, Ben White is constantly a thorn in the opposition's side, we’re happy to fake injuries or tactically foul if we need to kill momentum, we know how and when to waste time. 

These are all tools to help you win games, so Arteta adds them to our arsenal. Every variable possible is accounted for - every edge - be it psychology of players, % of shots that go in from certain areas, killing momentum, using fans energy - the whole length and breadth of every detail that comes up when thinking of why a win happened or didn't happen is accounted for. Every situation has a solution. That’s the team Arteta has now built.

Another bonus from this adaptability - this ability to play well in so many different ways - is that we can very easily change our plans based on the game state. This is another edge you don’t see in too many elite sides. Another way to control the result.

Against Brighton, after going down to 10 men, we set up in a low block and looked to play on the counter. Before that, we played with more intention, with desire to keep the ball and open Brighton up. It was no problem - we’re experts at both, and you could say we looked more dangerous after the red.

Last season, against Spurs, we took control of the game and went 3-0 up by half time. After this, we were happy to give up the ball and defend rather than continue to push up with the ball and leave spaces behind. Against Manchester United, a team that thrives on the counter, we were happy to give up possession once we had taken the lead, relying on our defense. Similar ideas against Liverpool.

How we do this - for example how we play on the counter against Liverpool or Spurs or Brighton varies, depending on them. But the idea of what we’re going to do remains the same. We’re going to defend deep, not give up dangerous spaces, be extremely difficult to break down and find our forwards in space. There are not many high possession sides in the world that can do this at such a high level.

On the flip side, once we do take the lead against smaller teams, we’re happy to take the sting out of the game by slowing things down. Often you’ll see Arteta, Odegaard, Rice or Gabriel motioning to the team just to calm down a bit. We’re even happy to let them have the ball.

This adaptability, this lack of stubbornness to stick to one style of play is fairly unique to Arteta among the top managers. It separates him from the rest - this team is capable of playing at different speeds, with different ideas and strategies. All based on the context of the game. 

None of this is new or revolutionary - teams have been doing this for decades. They’re very simple ideas. But putting it all together, seeing so many different facets in one team and executing them at the highest of levels is pretty rare. It looks like Arteta is going to reach that.  Maybe our squad composition sums this all up. Big, tall, strong players, who love defending, yet can play in the tightest of spaces.

The point of it all is to win the next football match. Through any context, Arteta has given the team the highest probability of doing so. 

This is not to say we’re the best team ever, of course not. But we’re close to being a very, very complete team, which is really exciting. I’ll leave it at that for now

TLDR (fair enough)

• We can very happily and effectively play any sort of game and win. It’s exciting