THIS is How Arsenal Turn Their Season Around.

I think it's fair to say that this season for Arsenal has not been plain sailing. And for a lot of you, you'll still be trying to hide yourselves from the clip of that Trossard miss at the end of the Chelsea game in vain attempts to hide yourselves from the searing frustration of what could have been. But what if I told you that to start today's video, a video that is going to look at the tactical pathway coming out of, dare I say, a much-needed international break for Arsenal, what if I told you that we need to watch Trossard's miss again? Well, I'm not going to put you through that, but I am going to offer you a different slant on it that will hopefully give you some energy and a reset going into the rest of the video and, of course, the season. So, Trossard's miss in the dying embers. I, like many of you, was tearing my hair out at how close we were to a win that, let's be honest now, would have completely changed the tone and complexion of how I would have presented the exact same points in this video, but also the general outlook for us as fans. It was another moment, becoming one of so many other flashpoints you already feel have dotted our season that's just 11 games old, that have seemed vital, yet have slipped by. But two things can be true and the miss interestingly came after a period of real dominance following Pedro Neto's equaliser and with five to ten minutes more I'm confident we would have found that elusive winner. But that's not meant to make it right, but it is here to offer you that other angle and it leads us to where we, where Arsenal are now. Because I think it's a logical argument to make that Arsenal from now could accrue more points than anyone else this Premier League season, but I also agree that nine points off the top is a long way. Yet I maintain belief that this domestic league season still has so much promise for us. I'm not asking you to by the end of the video suddenly shout from the hilltops, Arsenal are winning the league! No, but I want to show you that over the next 27 games of this season we still have a massive part to play. So with all this context let's channel those emotions that we were feeling at the end of the Chelsea game and over the last four or five games to how we are going to try and turn this difficult start around. Let's start with Mikel Moreno and his cameo against Chelsea and its larger implications. For many of you the jury might still be out on Mikel Moreno, but for those of you who hadn't seen his performances last year for Real Sociedad, his cameo against Chelsea was a quintessential Moreno showing. Being as economical as possible with his touches, showing his capabilities when he's platformed as this vertical, ambitious and forward-thinking midfielder. In the first half against Chelsea before Moreno came on, our build-up felt quite spread out. Here we see one of our pivots dropping into the back line with the other almost stacked on top, often inciting Odegaard to make those deep swings to receive lower on the right-hand side. This was a picture that we saw a lot and it proliferated through the first half. It was fluid, our build-up, we modulated between shapes and it saw us gain a lot of possession in the middle chunk of that first half in Chelsea territory. But why couldn't we build on that control? We should have spent longer on the ball versus Chelsea. That was my takeaway from the instant reaction because this Chelsea team, remember, is a team built for attacking space quickly and with devastating effect. And although we were chasing that winner when Moreno came on, I want to take you through how the template in possession was slightly tweaked and how we became, as a team, I felt much more interconnected. Largely, this is how we will tilt our attack with Moreno in that high eight role, particularly when in and around the box. But although Odegaard becomes more that organiser of our build-up when he drops out, it was nice to see how we could modulate our pivot from either side with Moreno helping out here. But the key here is look how tight our midfield three are. And when playing against the current meta in football where the distances an opposition pivot out of possession must cover are absolutely massive, here in this image we have that overload with that tight midfield three. We're going to start simple but in this example Odegaard makes that deep swing, Partey is in that back line stretching the press, but Moreno here just floats on top keeping things close to knit together the rotation on the right hand side that you also see. In the scouting report of Mikel Moreno we spoke about his tendency to do this and float on top and how he is an off-ball mover. More on that later and then how in possession he becomes a figure for our attacks to flow through and I think we got a picture of that against Chelsea when we're ticking as a sort of a unit. How slick and dynamic our play looks suddenly. Odegaard here is dropping again, Timber is stretching through the half space, Kai is false nining his way deeper, Saka is pushed inside and White moves on the outside. Who knits it together with one touch? It's Mikel Moreno. This is at the start of his cameo but it's a sign of how things developed in the game. And this leads us on to talking about our pocket play and our central thrust and how that improved against Chelsea as the game went on. We've obviously missed, with reference to our maybe lack of central access in recent times, we've Odegaard just simply as a central reference play but neither him or Moreno as we'll get on to are carriers like Timber, Wanyeri, Saka or even Miles Lewis-Skelly who can bob and weave in and out of the pockets or drive a team up the pitch like Declan Rice. But Moreno does add bite to our small space play with the speed with which his brain works. How he can turn so nimbly for someone who's six foot three and how he makes complex things look really simple at times. This is one of a number of examples where Partey, Moreno and Odegaard actually linked up together on the ball. We can see how Moreno here waits for Enzo Fernandez to bite, rolls it into Odegaard at a really nice angle for the Norwegian and you just get a sense with a bit more sharpness and rhythm this becomes a massive chance for Odegaard. This is a nice spin as well deeper from Moreno and as Partey receives look at that fortified build-up allowing Odegaard to float for himself now into that cavern of space between the lines but we just can't access him. I think rocking and rolling in this example who we can find in between the lines in the pockets who can kick-start those wide rotations that we've come to know and define with this Arsenal side who can then attack the box who facilitates the other players to dominate a zone between Odegaard and Moreno rocking and rolling in the interiors. It does seem much more balanced doesn't it? I think that these are the best examples to exemplify what Moreno's role in this fully oiled Arsenal machine that Arteta had in mind at the start of the season looks like. He has the presence of mind here to know where each of the four Chelsea players are trying to counter-press him as he feints one way and shuffles the other and these movements populate his in-possession game especially in the pockets and actually these movements become more dominant than him actually taking touches on the ball. He generates time for himself with these little feints and shuffles and here you can see how he accelerates play with that natural left-footedness speed of play onto Trossard and I want you to remember this image here because this is how we tie Moreno into the team going forward because placing Moreno in the midfield I don't have to tell you that's not going to suddenly make us win the title. So how does the team move forward together tactically? That's the question but one more passage of play first and I know I promised not to return to that Trossard miss so don't worry I'm going to stop just before we get to that heartbreaking ending. I want you to remember this image too. What do you see? Is it Raya splitting Gabriel and Partey? How it drags Enzo out? How this leaves room for Saliba to be that first receiver in midfield? Because as Saliba spins and finds Mikel Moreno who then waits cleverly for Pedro Neto's jump, feints one way then the other, again not taking an extra touch but spending a fraction of time longer on the ball to wait for these angles to open up releasing Timber as the fullback away and out of respect to every single one of you watching I'll stop it here. So let us return to these two shots. How does Arteta take these templates and return to potentially a vision that he had at the start of the season? Well that is a question isn't it? But this video has led up to this point explaining how Moreno becomes one unit in a sum of returning parts. Not only Martin Odegaard but Declan Rice in the number six role. Timber on his strong side at right back and Calafiore returning to at left back. With this recomposition let me tell you what these images tell me. Starting with the one on the left because it reminds me of this shot against Southampton. Moreno rocking in those deeper zones, Calafiore gallivanting as the outside man pushing Martinelli inside where he can dart beyond or hang around in the box to sharp shoot. I think in the game against Chelsea I was really struck by how clever and dynamic Timber's movements were in the half spaces and with often the space he created it often just left us short of a left footer to tie things together. But it also shows us how Timber, Calafiore and White who of course is injured for the festive period now, but how these dynamic movers from full back are so vital to how we play now. Let me explain a bit what I'm talking about because I can't help but look at the fluidity in this example with Rice and Partey stretching this Chelsea press and not get excited for Calafiore back in the left back. Not just to provide that strong footed overlap but to make the most of the space our fluid build-up now creates. With White undergoing that small operation Timber is the standout right back option now of course and we have to manage minutes definitely for both Timber and Calafiore but I cannot emphasise the importance enough of having these big pushers back on the flanks on their strong sides for us. Plays you can add thrust and punch give us an out ball but also offer the unpredictability in those different zones especially without Oerdegaard. I think we've missed this alternative to moving blocks around that unpredictability in our movements especially in relation to Calafiore who sort of marauds and punches holes in opposition blocks in these compact defences. I think we've missed that without Martin Oerdegaard. But also a word for White who like I said has undergone that small operation now and will miss the festive period. He's probably best used as a quarterback style right centre back right back hybrid with play happening in front of him and then when the situation presents itself he can offer support to sack on the outside and be that ghosting in over the top out ball down the sides as he does here in this example against Chelsea and he should bring this down but it's hard to be harsh on him given the context. But this comes after our build up has swirled and revolved and it was that big pusher from full back who emptied into the space we created. But we also with White against Chelsea saw sequences like this where he interchanged with Oerdegaard high and low and in and out and I just can't help but thinking how timbery these movements feel. But I haven't forgotten about the second image the one of William Saliba receiving in midfield. I think this is arguably more revealing. Obviously we have the full back injuring timber receiving it out of shot from Marino and getting free and pushing the left wing inside. But this is how we combine fluidity I think with a real sense of connection from front to back and having Marino again here is a piece that the attacks flow through and I think that connection from front to back is something that evaded us in our possession against Chelsea at times if you agree with me. Saliba making these forays into midfield of course is always encouraged when the time is right because he's always subtle and cute and progressive in these zones but it's symptomatic I think of what Declan Rice gives us in the six that we otherwise lack on the ball that drive from the base a carrier who can connect us in the thirds. Getting Rice guys to dominate a larger zone that's just natural to his profile. In the six he is simply elite and elite doesn't do it justice guys he's just so special and getting Declan Rice receiving here driving us forward or pinging switches to our wingers anchoring our play where let's be honest Thomas Partey was over aggressive not for the first time on the ball away at Stamford Bridge. Relocating that ambitiousness that Partey houses in the number six to the two eights potentially and adding some bigger space play to the base of our midfield again it's a much better balance for the team and it's Declan Rice in the number six he's just this dominant force and I want to see Declan Rice as reductive of his sounds I just want to see him dominate. It's also so obvious again what Rice in the six, Mourinho, Odegaard and everyone gives us for our outer possession game too. Against Chelsea we were largely good in this department there was certainly a change that Mikel had to make very early to ensure this and that early Chelsea onslaught. We started with this wholesale coverage of the Chelsea build-up with Odegaard our trigger to push up with Partey negotiating whether he followed or held back to man mark Parma which he was doing in our block and early on we saw situations like this arise with massive spaces left in our midfield which was at press which was more like a 4-2-4 than we've seen this season from Arsenal yet but this did change what Mikel did alter was our pressing triggers and it moved from Martin Odegaard moving through to which would leave that space in the midfield to our wingers who stayed narrower and also lower and pressed onto the Chelsea wide centre-backs we also tilted our press to funnel Chelsea to their left-hand side meaning Partey could get nice and tight to Parma where we locked off one side of the pitch without surrendering big spaces behind him we still had our moments where we lost it high on the left-hand side and we lacked that dominant Declan Rice sweeper at the base and this isn't to call our out-of-possession stuff against Chelsea bad it's just to show how obviously there is a level of bulletproofness we haven't seen yet with the players on the pitch and I think Mourinho showed against Chelsea in the same way that my scouting report said he would how he can help do that and it's about controlling the bounce maybe you guys remember that I said how it's one of his superpowers tidying up those chaotic pinball moments anticipating the second balls sucking in these stray bouncing balls into his body and here he does this waiting for Parma to commit and turns he finds Partey he shuttles it to Martin Odegaard again that one two three between the midfield three possession has been secured from a moment of real variance and look how we arrive in the final third as a result of playing through the centre we arrive with space and with momentum as opposed to having to break down another stubborn compact low block so after the international break there is a world where we start to see this oiled arsenal machine with all of its parts available as Arteta himself has been stressing out about in his press conferences and how he's said these first eight weeks of the season have just been a nightmare hopefully we can see this team and the team that Arteta probably envisioned at the start of the season being on the pitch together with a bit more regularity the nine-point gap to the top of the table of course still remains for Arsenal but the question is can we just get healthy over this international break because a big part of it is just who is on the pitch from now till the end of the season for us and hopefully with more minutes from these types of players there's a real chance of us striking up this festive run of form one that could just change the tide of momentum and then who knows but i really hope you've enjoyed this video i'll catch you in the next one see you later