The REAL Reason Why Jorginho Was KEY For Arsenal Against Liverpool

Arsenal got their most important victory of the season to maintain their title challenge against Liverpool Man City in a big 3-1 win against Liverpool. While many of the players had very good games, Arteta's change of strategy and tactics made Arsenal dominate Liverpool over the 90 minute. And one of the players that came in being Jorginho was the best player on the pitch picking up the Premier League Man of the Match award. But how was Jorginho so good in this game? Let's get into it. Now first of all I'm going to be a bit egotistical here and say that I told you so because I did a video about Jorginho playing in this game a few weeks ago and that he should play more. I thought against Liverpool in the FA Cup he was excellent and really helped us dominate that game. But obviously people only looked at the result and we missed so many chances that we lost but I think in that game we deserved to win. And I think this game was actually very much the same other than there was poor mistakes on both teams. Now since Arsenal signed Jorginho there's been so much criticism of him. We signed him for 11-0, he's a 32-year-old, third in Ballon d'Or a few years ago, he's very experienced, won the Champions League and the Euros. And overall I think he's been a really good signing for Arsenal. He can come in, he's obviously made some mistakes. He made a mistake against Tottenham this year, he made a mistake last year in a big game. But that's why he's not a starting player. But when he comes in like this I think he can be really effective, especially with Rice in there. Now of course Jorginho is going to look good alongside one of the best midfielders in the world, Declan Rice, but I still think he's been a proper solid player for Arsenal. I think when he's on it he is one of the best double sixes in the world and I know that might seem a lot but I think that's fair enough. Now Jorginho is a pure midfielder and I think this helps the team a lot. He's very experienced and understands where to stand and where to be. And he's someone that knows his strengths very well so he's not the most mobile player in the world but knows where to stand to be able to get to the ball in time and make sure he doesn't make a mistake. He often played on the left side of the midfield this game, a position where it's been a lot of problems for Arsenal this season. Now I think some of the problems Arsenal have had with Havertz is that he doesn't really stay in midfield, he likes progressing up to help with the ball. This and he's also not the best passer and he's not the best on the ball player, meaning it could be a risk giving him the possession under pressure. Jorginho stops all of this, he's one of the best under pressure, he's very good at turning and making sure he has the ball at all times. In this game he controls the tempo very well and this is one of the reasons why Arsenal bought him, the tempo control is insane. He knows when to slow the ball down when Arsenal need to sustain possession and just get back into position and just calm down but he also knows when to do a quick really good pass to get the ball forward. This is something I don't really think many of the midfielders for Arsenal have and he's got very good at doing them inside passes to the winger or helping the play. I think Martadeli in this game got the ball a lot more because Jorginho was working with him down that left side. Jorginho is someone that you can simply pass the ball off and make a run and you know that he'll probably find you with that pass, he's very comfortable in them positions. And the double pivot worked really well for Arsenal in this game because usually Rice is the guy that's a bit aggressive, he goes up, tries to win the tackle but he switched with Jorginho quite a lot in this game. If it was up the left side of the pitch, Jorginho would be the one that engages first, going to try and win the ball back while Rice sits back so even if it gets past Jorginho, you know Rice is still going to be there and that's your best tackler on the ball. When Arsenal didn't have possession, they also created a box formation. This is where the midfield all worked together so Havertz and Odegaard were the front two trying to press the main defenders and Jorginho and Rice were in behind making sure they couldn't pass it out to the midfielders. This is something we kind of did in the first game against them at the FA Cup and I think it really, really worked again. And often we kept it close enough so Rice could come over and help if the ball went to someone else or the other way around. They often didn't get confused because they're very disciplined Jorginho and Rice in that midfield. A lot of credit has to go to Odegaard and Havertz as well, they pressed really, really well. And the pressing structure was really good and the Liverpool centre-halves didn't know whether to step up or sit off Odegaard and Havertz because their movement was excellent. And not only that, Jorginho can also pass the ball phenomenally. I think there were so many counter-attacks and creative chances that he did from long distance play and he's got great deep line play-making role and he can really pass the ball especially on the floor really far away. And this just helps the wingers, this is another more progression we have in the team, we're not just relying on Odegaard to have it. And there's no doubt about it that Rice and Jorginho pivot is sort of perfect for Arsenal. Jorginho has a lack of mobility but with Rice's brilliant mobility he kind of helps him and can get to the positions that he needs to be. This makes sure Liverpool can't really counter through that midfield, unless they get a lucky deflection or a bounce out. It also helped Rice's passing generally because he doesn't have that angle bias and doesn't have to do everything. He doesn't have to receive and play on his left side as much as with Jorginho in that left-centre mid-role and Zinchenko tucking inside. This means he can open up and play down the right comfortably without dampening their build-up and high press down that left side. This also makes things a lot more smooth and a lot more quicker in possession. And despite not having a lot of athleticism and being not very mobile, Jorginho is a brilliant tackler, he's a brilliant defensive midfielder. If he's in that position, you know he's most likely going to win the ball. In this game, he made the most successful passes of being around 44, he made four interceptions, he had a possession retention of 87%, keeping the ball for Arsenal so much and made the most touches in the team, showing how much he controls the tempo and how important he is in that midfield. Everything runs through him and he also makes players around him like Rice a lot better. I also love the technical ability that Jorginho has. He's so good at little one-touch passes, so good at keeping the play moving and honestly, I think our midfield was so smooth today. I think that's probably the best midfield we've had in months and considering that's been a real problem for us on this season, that is very encouraging. And of course, when Jorginho plays, you need players around him to help. I think Havertz did a brilliant job today. I know you can look at the stats and be like, well, he didn't screw and miss a lot of chances but I'll press him so much better with him in there. He comes really deep because he still plays a bit like a midfield and really helps Jorginho and Declan Rice win the ball back many times. Jorginho often didn't put foot wrong but if he did, Havertz and Rice were there to make sure that they got the ball and all the Liverpool's midfield really struggled to actually hold the ball for long enough and actually get the ball out wide to Trent which they wanted. Jorginho mostly operated on that left side, helping the ball to Martinelli and being very progressive, giving Martinelli a one-on-one usually against the fullback. But he also wasn't afraid to come inside and if there's two or three players around him, you know he's going to make a good inside pass or retain possession very well. With runners like Odegaard going forward and Havertz moving from midfield to up front, it really worked to get us the ball up that pitch, especially in the first half. And you can see what Arteta wants to do. You can see why he probably wants to sign Zouber-Mendy to play that Jorginho role next year because I do think a double pivot is way more comfortable for our midfield and it gives Rice a lot more freedom to not really have the pressure to defend all the time. It can also help the ball go in progressive and doesn't hurt the build-up play having a bias of going on the left side and he likes to prefer us to go the other side. Jorginho is very calm and composed in there and I think overall he was one of the best players on the pitch, if not the best player deserving the Man of the Match award. Of course he gets help by the players around him but I don't think that takes anything away from him. We did really well and there's a lot of credit needs to go to Arteta to making Jorginho this viable for Arsenal, especially in these big games. And after the game, Arteta spoke about how much he really believes in Jorginho and said that he's an example and a role model to the team. Not only has he been brilliant on the pitch, he's been brilliant off the pitch helping every player that comes into the club. And people like Havertz feel a lot more comfortable with him being there and apparently he's brilliant with the kids and really helpful around the whole complete club considering it's only just joined last year. He really doesn't mind not playing games and when he does play he gives it everything he's got and plays brilliant. And I honestly think maybe he's someone worth keeping around. We kept Elneny around a lot because of the good vibes in the training ground. I mean not only is Jorginho giving good vibes, he plays and he's very useful playing. He's clearly still got a lot at the top of the game and he's not the most mobile player in the world so despite him being in his 30s, I think that he will continue to be this good for a few years now because it's just a technical ability and you don't lose that technical ability for a lot longer after the physical ability which has basically been shot to pieces anyway. Obviously Jorginho is a very experienced player and there's still going to be teams that want him. There were teams that wanted him last window and the window before so he might end up leaving if he wants to have more game time at the end of his career. But if he does want to stay, I do think we should maybe give him a contract extension. Obviously not too much more money, anything like that, but give him maybe a one-year deal or a bit more time at the club because I still think he's worth keeping around if we get an injury to someone important. And if we do get Zouba Mendy in next year, you have to think that he would be the starting centre mid with Declan Rice. But if he was to get injured or anything to happen to him, Jorginho would be a good option to play with Rice or Zouba Mendy. And honestly I think this double pivot role is really the future of Arsenal and I think even this season it should be definitely a big option in these big games. I'm not sure if you necessarily need to play against the lower teams in the league, but I do think it gives Arsenal a lot more control and I think we look a hundred times better with Jorginho and Rice in there as a double pivot. And Havertz up front, then Jesus and that's not nothing against Havertz but I think Havertz just presses and that boxman field role is much more better for Havertz. While Havertz I feel like struggles to do certain things sometimes but he's definitely probably a better striker than Havertz overall. Let me know in the comments what you think about Jorginho and let me know if you think he should play more, what should happen with him and what should happen with Arsenal this season. Thank you guys for watching. Please watch my other video where I talk about the match overall and let me know if you enjoyed this video in the comments. Thank you for watching.