Is Arteta Breaking Free from Positional Play?

[@brianmaluleka9189]

This explains why Havertz is highly rated by Arteta, a players who intelligently picks up space and the right positions on the pitch is really important in this system

[@CAESAR2222able]

When havertz find that spaces, opposition will fill that space with a player and left some space in the same time maybe martinelli space odegaard or saka space😅

[@julianm5333]

but does it almost as slowly as Pogba.

[@timeisontheessence]

The last 20 mins in the 3-3 game vs Southampton last season is ironically the best form of Arteta's rotations in my opinion. Yes that game was chaotic but all the players were in sync, incisive and were pulling off rotations seamlessly. They just couldn't get the goal in the end. Arteta probably looked at that game and thought about achieving that level of rotations and movement in a way that can be chaotic or controlled

[@dionmerm14]

Maybe the urgency of the situation made the players take more risks by constantly leaving their positions. It's indeed hard to track that much movement as a defending team, but a mistake can lead to counter attacks. It's risky and very difficult to execute under normal circumstances. But yeah, if Arteta has a dream, that's it

[@adliezan7186]

Xhaka and partey effect

[@isodin5415]

Todays game against west ham proved exactly your point. Good job

[@InPursuit-ToddMay]

Love the way football is evolving constantly. It never stays still, there is always opportunities to learn, adapt and overcome. We have some of the most revolutionary managers in the history of the game currently coaching

[@ayell91]

Actually it was invented by johan cruyff total football.. arteta uses the same idea but with different way of execution.

[@AletileFelix-1]

This is by far the best analysis of Arteta's Arsenal football philosophy. A baby will understand in detail the way you broke it down in pieces. Good one

[@kikemarino6806]

HANDS DOWN my favorite football tactics channel. I love the explanations, animations and real game videos! Keep it up, I'll gladly watch all of your videos!

[@youngthecreator22]

This is so well explained, thank you. I think ESR will fit into this system very well given his qualities.

[@ayell91]

He need to adapt faster and gain his form asap

[@boluwatifeola5534]

That's if he stays fit. If not move him on and get available players for the team. We can afford to keep having players that are only available for 10games, when we have over 50games per season

[@dlau9991]

To be fair, Thomas Muller doesn't have a clear natural position either. Perhaps Havertz could take him as an inspiration.

[@zwehtunphyo1753]

Maybe Muller doesn't have a clear position but he knows his role on the field very clear, which is Space Finder that he calls himself. On the other hand, Havertz still finding it hard which role he will have to play according to Managers.

[@Bnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn578]

HAVERTZ has a big problem, in that he is terrible.

[@FootballMan-eb6qx]

Muller is a genius of game but Havertz is not

[@HarazMart-hf8go]

​@@zwehtunphyo1753 raumdeuter position

[@Football_Advanced]

@@Bnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn578pls watch the people play before you spout nonsense

[@kianjimmy590]

Hey I love your videos. Superb! Hey y ou said arteta learned it from pep in the beginning , but pep does not do rotational football or total football, but strict positional play. At barca, wingers gad to stay wide n high n only run in the box at the right time. Xavi n inniesta were asked to stay on their side n never to interchange. They said he used timo put cones to separate the pitch in two to make these two understand. Everybody had a strict position. Rotational football is different from positional play.

[@50andcounting]

Brilliant channel. Cant compliment you enough. I have a keen interest in tactics and this insight was quite brilliant. Bravo 👏🏾

[@johncarveti8375]

This seems to be most effective when the first team is bedded together for a time. As pointed out, when there is a need to bring in new players unused to playing together (nevermind understanding the system itself), the system can fall apart rather quickly. Would the demands of a full season allow Arteta to keep picking the same players because of their familiarity with each other?

[@qwnermaN]

Love that you also include the cons of artetas way of coaching, so we get a clear understanding why his tactics works and why they sometimes dont

[@mortiphago]

Total football is back baby

[@JogaBonito1982]

it’s still positional play with or without rotations between players within predefined positions. relationism doesn’t have predefined positions to make rotations the positions that are adopted in an attack are purely situational and come as a result of the relations between the players in the specific moment. hence the idea is to have people closer to the ball. arsenal are not this kind of team, even this season.

[@nimascolari1508]

It irritates me when everyone thinks pep created all things in modern football. Puskas was using free form positioning. Holland's total football touched on it, too. It wasn't Pep at all. He just brought it back.

[@Ice_de-artist001]

I love this,most especially making Kai a possible big player to watch,they should fight for a trophy this season

[@evanbrockwalter]

Watching this after their eight-game winning streak, it is more obvious than ever why this is such an effective system, and how Havertz was such a great signing. Great video.

[@تومأفضلمنجيري]

Keep going, buddy you’re channel is amazing I hope that you will provide Arabic translation for the rest of your videos

[@NewtonGarikayiChari]

Very brilliant analysis of the Arsenal game play which is exactly a replica of Guardiola's tactic in the past two seasons with city merged with some tactics adopted from his Barcelona.

[@miguelporras8366]

We really need an Inter video. The way Inzaghi alternates positional defence and man marking, and also uses stoppers as added strikers (Pavard) or playmakers (Bastoni) is amazing

[@martinlizee7086]

Excellent video as always, I wish you a great new footballistic year and a lot of success in your professional plans !

[@maximoyer]

Hi Meta!! I've been busy lately so I haven't been able to catch all your videos, but I have more time now so I'm exited to go through them!! Also, the stadium and ad-boards are looking sick!!!

[@maximoyer]

p.s. I finally have a new job as admin; deleting bot comments!! 😆 Maybe you started getting targeted at 200K subs?

[@Krizantuz]

Awesome Channel. Tactical Lucidity top notch. ❤

[@Cianfss]

Man, we really need a video on Thiago Motta’s Bologna!! Thank u so much

[@aleksk9643]

And Girona

[@AW-kr9fl]

This explains a lot. Many casual fans who criticised Havertz and are demanding a number 9 don’t understand this and our style of play.

[@iris7484]

great production as always

[@Kobble8]

There’s some similarities between Arsenal and Girona. Especially with the rotating left hand side

[@simon9476]

I would love to see a video about Thomas Tuchels Bayern munich :) he changed the way they play very much and made Leroy Sané a god

[@abd-bm3cd]

LET THE MAN BE A FINISHER: I want to see Arteta fixate Gabriel Jesus’s position higher up the pitch. I never thought I’d feel more strongly about losing out a player’s quality up front than Lacazette. We can’t do Gabriel Jesus wrong like that again. What a footballer he is. You can see that during buil-up. But I feel at the same time it’s criminal to do a potentially prolific goalscorer like that. Our mindset should be to set Jesus & Nketieh up for more easy goals. Then the wingers to get in on the action. Then the midfielders, to get shots in out of the box. There’s no use rotating random mofos upfront vs such low defensive blocks.

[@abd-bm3cd]

I don’t want to see Gabriel Jesus starting attacking plays with Jorginho/Elnenny Cruyff turning in the attacking third. Shoot from outside, distribute out wide, push through balls forward to Gabriel, Martinelli, Saka etc

[@Wilcoranking]

As long as Saka and Marinelli especially continue to just cut inside and bomb away at goal Jesus will be limited. Switching those 2 and have them stay wide and put crosses in we'd see see different results. Quite frankly based on the personnel they have 4-4-2 is probably their best formation, with the fullbacks providing auxillary wing support

[@bna919]

Jesus isn't prolific simple as that. He can score but he's not prolific. Setting up the team to have one player score the vast majority of goals means that the player has a lot more pressure to convert chances regardless of their quality

[@abd-bm3cd]

@@bna919 I agree. But on the other hand I more so feel that Gabriel Jesus possesses the skill to finish and take on any last defender. With the right mindset, confidence and tactics. I’m not saying he’s gonna score and beat defenders every time. I’m just confident he has the ability to cause big problems in the opps box more often that not. Recently I saw some mention of Gabriel Jesus playing in that attacking midfield slot where Havertz plays… It seemed crazy to me at first, but if Joelinton can do it, why not? He’d add ‘firepower’ & has the work rate… 🤔

[@bna919]

@@abd-bm3cd Jesus already rotates a lot it doesn't matter which position he starts in. Making him start deeper would only take him a bit further from the goal which would mean he would have less and lower quality chances to score

[@dmjmaxwell8535]

It's looking as if he's combining positional and relational approach into one

[@jjjjjjjpostFC]

Man we need a Liverpool video plz man

[@FootballMeta]

Liverpool video coming soon 🙌

[@tedmartin83]

All I saw last night was Arsenal players taking too many touches and West ham letting them muck about getting nowhere. They are beginning to play the same way Chelsea did at the start of the season.

[@matthewsengendo6302]

And if coaches learn this tactic from Arteta there going to exploit him more than ever especially in The Ucl

[@barca-vibe]

@@matthewsengendo6302 atl madrid going to be a problem

[@hegeliandianetik2009]

​@@matthewsengendo6302Arteta does opposition analysis too lol

[@asrarmohammed4075]

They had 24 shots, you cant win them all simply

[@brissprilla]

A philosophy Arteta, Pep etc. learned from Cruyff

[@Pinoffin]

Bro pls make video on PSV, they are invincibles so far in dutch league with perfect win rate. And love your content.

[@khadiijoabuukar3360]

Thank you for explanation, Great work

[@PernandoTurnip-g4q]

I am one of the fanatical Arsenal fans from Indonesia

[@aliticx]

I remember seeing Arsenal’s first PL game and thinking wow if they keep this form then i can see them winning the champions league.

[@MilanastiReport]

Excellent content!!

[@petercorbett3794]

‘Positionality’ does not mean ‘everyone playing in a position’. It means that positions are only defined according to where about everyone else is, and that is fluid and changing. The Dutch teams and Cruyff glimpsed this, Guardiola and Arteta are just now starting to put flesh on those bones. I saw an interview with Jack Wilshere who I think now coaches Arsenal teenagers, and he was asked if the youngsters were taught to play like that too, and he said, not really, have you ever tried to play like that? It’s very complicated. Not every full grown player can handle it.

[@tweetarankin7948]

I really enjoyed this video I feel what you are saying😮 this is arteta 😮

[@karumehuie1407]

What about traditional play right back and left back overlap the wingers to the stretch the field. 😢 Saka constantly double team what we can do to stretch the team no by overlapping

[@alessandrolelli3212]

Wow,it's a so amazing way of playing football!!! But,one thing that comes in my mind is:''Can the players be confused at the beginning?''

[@CeifadorSinistro]

Parabéns belo canal vendo aqui do Brasil um belo estudo

[@fillipe4700]

love the vids

[@FootballLessons]

It's a well-made tactic that demonstrates how Arsenal defies positional play. But for what purpose? The goal is to enhance the quality of ball progression, maintain possession to the end zone, and recover the ball swiftly and high up the field. However, your video also demonstrates how little the wingers move in and out around the box. Terrible fixed attacking tactics around the box centred on a 70% right side combination headed by Saka and Ødegaard take over the fluid strategy. Because Martinelli and Saka never switch sides, this makes their scoring attempts extremely predictable for defensive strategies. Martinelli is never doubled defensively, but Saka is constantly doubled to keep him from getting inside on his left foot. That, in my opinion, explains why Arsenal fails to score in so many games in order to win or draw. It truly amazes me that a manager generating huge costs (the staff and the transferts) would not attempt to make these 2 players to switch places in order to force the defenders to adjust their tactically efficient but inflexible stances, which eventually may put them in a vulnerable position.

[@TegsFC]

funny this video came right after arsenal lost to westham lol

[@FootballMeta]

yeah lol I swear my videos are a curse

[@CCGBacon17]

Just asking if you guys could do another video on futsal or 5v5 tactics, I'd greatly appreciate it thank you so much if you do it

[@fadli_dzul21alphy26]

It's just like anime blue lock.. Everyone in attacking mindset and act like true forward when scoring but when def they just changed to who is marking the opposite to rotate and use it as a new formation or build up

[@BenGunn-om3yx]

This is a good analysis, but it is postmodern football. Rinus Michels developed this way of playing football in the first half of the 70s. He had great success with Ajax and later the Netherlands national team. Cruyff adopted this style of play and further developed it. Guardiola adopted the basic idea from Cruyff and Arteta adopted it from Guardiola. But Arteta has taken the style back to basics. This is called total football. Efficient, aesthetic and power-demanding😊

[@BenGunn-om3yx]

...ps! When Michels had to choose a goalkeeper for the national team, he chose Jan Jongbloed. Not because JJ was the best goalkeeper, but because he could act as the 11th player

[@karumehuie1407]

Questions I ask you 😢fullback no overlap again to stretch the opponents

[@barca-vibe]

325 is the same as 433 with overlaping fullbacks and the dm sitting on cb

[@thrombolic]

Kinda reminds me of the Dutch team in 1974-1978 ⚽️

[@martinbootneck]

I thought exactly the same thing.

[@AbrahamRichard-Tagoe]

I'mma need you to do that classic teams analysis on Luis enriqies 4-3-3 system at Barcelona 14/15-15/16.

[@Apudubled]

Can you make a video on psg s tactics with luis enrique?

[@ahmedakanni3149]

No body is talking about hw good the analysis is.

[@megatzulfadli9306]

Its kind of expanding on the futsal strategy. Humm

[@fedora3841]

as much as i really like arteta as a manager and respect his passion and new ideas for his team, this video is pretty poorly timed as this simply didn't work vs west ham yesterday 😅

[@yabai7652]

the only thing that didn't work was our poor finishing, and of course it goes without saying another 35 defensive error

[@rishabhmishra98]

whatever system you play, at the end it only comes down to basics

[@fedora3841]

@@rishabhmishra98 absolutely, and a system can only work so long as you have the right players too

[@roychen5235]

And sometimes it does work.

[@fedora3841]

@@roychen5235 certainly worked on sunday 😄

[@amosssebaggala5700]

This works well on defensive teams..the system can easly break into tough defence

[@CinematographerCinematic]

That happened against Porto just this week.

[@angostura7797]

My Sunday pub teams been playing a free system for decades…everyone is a striker 😂

[@clocks8791]

What happened to the good ol 4-4-2 Football had got so technical

[@Apudubled]

Hey Meta, can you do a video on PSG s tactics with Luis Enrique s arrival in the club?

[@cikato670067]

This is the reason G.Jesus have problem to score when main striker dropping to collect the ball.

[@unclem7816]

Whoops. Badly timed. West Ham's players stayed in their positions.

[@jonatanolsen37]

Positional play was invented as a countermeasure for man marking. To counter positional play , they started doing zonal marking. West ham uses zonal marking. To counter zonal marking you need to overload certain zones with a more fluid approach.

[@Footballhighlights-p4k]

The only time Success comes before Work is in the dictionary.

[@davide7708]

This is so cool but at the same time it's so chaotic for a viewer.

[@manchestercityforever2024]

Can you make another Manchester City video? Considering a rocky start they're having. 🤔🤔

[@dlau9991]

I was thinking the same thing too. As far as I know, Alvarez looks more comfortable playing as a number 9.

[@FootballMan-eb6qx]

@@dlau9991 If kdb return Haaland Will play like last year if he gets balls to tapin otherwise Alvarez is better 9

[@PEROgamer25-pk7xm]

@@FootballMan-eb6qx Nah, if Haaland is not injured he wouls score 😃. And I think both should play as 9 😁😀in Peps formation, it should contain 2,9s and think a 4-4-2 would work

[@AliKhatri18177]

​@@PEROgamer25-pk7xmno way u just recommended 442😂

[@emmanuelakena5365]

@@AliKhatri18177 brexit 442

[@preciousmichael9506]

Football meta 💪🏾🔥⚽️❤️🖤

[@marvinschneider9309]

Havertz is weird to me. I think he has everything to be the best player in the world, but he somehow isn’t even close. His physicality and pace is nearly perfect. Also technically he can do basically everything. I think the biggest problem is in his head and if Arteta solves that and gives him confidence, I think we could see one of the best midfielders around.

[@dariuspalmer2829]

Best player in the world lol

[@sw33tialucard]

Best player in the world? Best player at Arsenal isn’t even achievable for him😂

[@jonniesmooth]

Arsenal fan logic in a nutshell

[@marvinschneider9309]

I am Liverpool fan but ok 👌🏼

[@jonniesmooth]

@@marvinschneider9309 so you have just outed yourself as an idiot?

[@siberianTiger639]

As an Arsenal fan, who watches almost every Arsenal game, I don't think we are positionally fluid at all. On the contrary, I think we are quite rigid, and those rotations are pretty predictable for most of the time.

[@ll0047]

As an Arsenal fan this is good but pointless if your opponent sits back and defend - then break and score

[@allenlopez9731]

Excellent!

[@King78-s70]

Thomas partey came late to arsenal, we'll never have another like him

[@joethompson2677]

Breaking free from the title race too

[@alvaroobregon8471]

Saka barely rotate with the others, he usually stuck on the right wing, he should be able to search for more places to shoot and score

[@younessbo4840]

Could you please make a video about box to box midfielder

[@rikkert2006]

Make a vid of psv! How they do it so good

[@Andrew-h6l7j]

Makes you wonder how they go about signing a number 9? No way Toney buys into this.

[@Champ19898]

Isn’t this Dinisamo football that he plays with Fluminese or Malmo are currently playing?

[@WasilMoh]

Now au happy ,you expose our tactic,wot award did u get?

[@FranzAslow]

make a vidéo about ralf rangnick tactics he make a very good job in austria

[@PanasNet]

the op know arsenals game but didnt know how to stop

[@FlashMeterRed]

aren't you describing total football rather than positional play

[@elgoritv]

Gonna use this for PRO CLUBS on EA FC 24 LOL

[@oluwatoniolugbenga8113]

I see why he wants Ivan Toney 😊

[@Footballslaves256]

I don't knw which longs yo talking about we are soo passive to pass time

[@TonyVasachi]

That's how Bayern play when Müller is in..am a city fan But playing such system vs Man United you will see dust..there is no dangerous team than man united and Atletico Madrid in chaotic unorganized system...see what happened to Liverpool and city playing ATM earlier on..it only applies playing against small teams

[@winterbird4447]

Saka and Martinelli just stay on the wing, holding their positions…

[@matthewsmith6051]

And in one video you've blown apart the criticism of Havertz and the signing of Raya, and the absurd idea Arsenal need a dedicated striker. I said from the get go that Toney would be like a tit in a trance within this system - it doesn't suit him at all and Arteta isn't going to revamp the whole concept just for one player. Most of Ramsdale's stats are actually better than Raya, but he just won't learn to play ten yards further up, so he's out. That's life in the big city, kid.

[@davidgeorge316]

I'm tired of this "Pep acolyte" gimmick content creators used to describe Arteta. They couldn't be more different from each other

[@nooriskandar5068]

This kind of play, needs high coordination from captain..

[@RICKYYY32131]

But I don't get why G.jesus is dropping down next to Rice sometimes leaving zinchenko and odegaard upfront , all it takes is one mistake and counter attack in that situation and they are done no ?

[@edwinmahonga4063]

Artata never inherited nothing from pep but Arsen wanger

[@hazimmujic6606]

Great analisys. Have to say tho, so far it's proven that this doesn't really work.

[@FergieSert]

Do Enzo's Leceister

[@TheFazunkl]

More like Arteta is Breaking Free from the Сhampion`s title

[@arifinrohan8595]

Despite its success in the Premier League, I do not believe this style of football will do well in the Champions League where you need players with very specific skills and abilities in key areas to either attack or defend. You can move a player to whatever position you like but he will always have strengths and weaknesses that'll either help or hinder him in playing key roles.

[@thMact]

My mate, after 9 secounds I passed this video, Jesus in this place making mess to the team, whats good with zina in "9" position if he fucked up everytime hes own, and the left winger is left alone, and have to defend cpuse zina loosing ballas all over the pitch. I love Ur channel, the best on the net, I love Arsenal, but seriously, arteta just fuckled up the job again. ( west ham game)

[@arturzaduryan6108]

It looks fantastic on paper but Havertz have come down so low to take the ball up maybe 2-3 times the whole season. He actually is never part of this second line of rotation, he starts getting involved with the ball only at the third line, and the reason is simple: he's actually quite average (or in fact bad for his position) at holding/retaining the ball; it goes without saying you don't want to give away easy balls in CDM area. In reality, even Jesus comes in the 2nd line more often (exactly for the above reason), but not in the box square position presented in the first part of your video. I like your videos and your vision, but this one is too theoretical without reflecting the actual Arsenal reality

[@JackSchitt-p9t]

I noticed this too about Havertz. Intricate passing in the CDM area is done by Jorginho, Rice, and Odegaard, and sometimes Jesus dropping in. Havertz is more often the out ball over the top to win a header to knock down for Saka or Martinelli.

[@FrederickTechieGuggisberg]

I love Arteta

[@Moh-hr9fy]

Isn’t this what Ancelloti is doing

[@comic_dream]

What I dislike for Arteta tactic: 1. Too rigid, over possession, over conservative play mindset, kill the creativity to move forward and chance of counter attack 2. Over rely on technical and skill player. It doesn’t allow any open play mistake. Especially the position change & transition in the match. Means it kill off young player and bench player game time. It waste the chance to nurture young player. That’s why he can only search ready made young player in market. 3. High stamina consumption tactic. High pressing and whole team movement is good. But it unable to last for whole season without proper squad rotation. It cause the player fatigue and now it shows in the recently result. 4. Arteta tactic is a combination of high individual ability and team moving system. This tactic choosing player to fit into his system rather then using existing player to create a system. This is the problem part. It means once we lose the certain ability of player, the system will collapse, it wont have any plan B. Because the system is too precise. Timber early season injured is one of the situation didn’t expect and cause the tactic collapse. Havert slow start in the season also another problem for the system. This system is too perfect and it wont work if one of the part is not connected. this is the reason why Raya start ahead of Ramsdale too. Raya composure at back field and long pass accuracy is the reason he is pick for this system. Arteta is a tactic planner but may not a good coach to develop young player. This is what I worry a lot. Over the year, I don’t see much game time for our academy.