A different kind of control
Exploring the subtle ways that Jorginho helps stabilize Kiwior and the rest of the team, and why playing the percentages isn't always the answer
In the 41st minute, Newcastle had a free kick near the halfline. With Kieran Tripper lining up to take one of his endless barrage of dead-balls — he’s taken 182 more than the next-highest player in the league (Trent Alexander-Arnold) this year, and created 91 shots from such opportunities — it was crucial for Arsenal to be well-organized.
As always, Jorginho was screaming instructions about how to set up:
Next, he establishes where he wants the line to settle in, paying particular attention to Kiwior and White out wide — but with Xhaka and Gabriel also paying attention:
With a concern about timing, he forces Kiwior out of no man’s land, and asks him to swing out and track Isak behind, who was currently unmarked:
…and Kiwior tracks back just in time to match his stride. Every Newcastle Giant is now accounted for, Isak gives up the ghost to look for a second ball, and the offside line is near-perfectly linear:
…and voilà, Kiwior is perfectly situated to head the ball out of harm’s way:
It’s a relatively simple situation, but one that hasn’t been kind to Arsenal over the last few weeks. Jarrod Bowen exploited uncertainty in the offside trap for a goal in the disappointing West Ham draw. John Stones also ran free for a back-breaking header at the Etihad, narrowly being played onside by a shoved Benjamin White.
Newcastle is Newcastle, so Arsenal were still tested on these. Fabian Schär got free on a header, requiring another worldie from Aaron Ramsdale, not long before Schär took out his frustrations by scoring on his own net. But throughout the contest, there was a general sense of rugged effort and discipline, influenced no doubt by the stubborn legs and big brains of Jorginho and his batterymate Granit Xhaka.
(While I have you: Riceido is still the dream, but this game really helped me envision the potential merits of a midfield pairing of Declan Rice and Martín Zubimendi, however slim the likelihood. Having a bully, a controller, and a slick attacker in the middle — all of whom are super technical and smart — feels very Real Madridy to me. It’d look a lot like the Xhaka/Jorginho pairing did against Newcastle … if you had them beer-bong the fountain of youth, and pumped them full of designer steroids. In addition to everything, I love Zubimendi’s backline coverage).
The real pairing of note, however, may have been Jorginho and Kiwior. It’s worth remembering that when Arteta’s hand was finally forced into a change against Chelsea, he opted for two changes — putting this tandem on the pitch together.
Why pair them up? Let us count the ways:
Speed: Common sense would seem to indicate that a spine of Xhaka, Jorginho, and Holding is just too slow to survive in the Premier League. Kiwior helps offset this.
Communication: I’ve seen it speculated that Jorginho can help communicate with Kiwior in Italian. I don’t know enough to confirm, but I do think it’s reasonable to conclude that the young defender is helped by a relentlessly educating coach-on-the-pitch in his area.
Security: The stats show that Partey and Jorginho are pretty even in terms of ball security and “low losses,” so I’ll just share my uncorroborated feelies on the matter: Jorginho can get bypassed in midfield transition, but seems a little better at making sure his deep passes don’t turn into immediate transition opportunities towards the RCB. The team’s 82 losses were down on the season average of 95. Jorginho also works a bit more horizontally, providing more outlets.
…and finally, a simple matter of form. Holding wasn’t his best self at Anfield; watching back, he maybe was his best self at the Eithad, which is more or less concerning, depending on your interpretation. On the other hand, Partey was given an impossible task against Man City, and performed it poorly — looking to modulate and angle his runs in weird ways (just form? maybe a knock?), and getting burnt by callous geniuses pretty much every time he did.
It happens! A change was overdue! This is why you have depth!
As a result, Kiwior was able to play confidently and within himself from the opening whistle. Two minutes in, Tripper tries to find Callum Wilson through the middle, but Kiwior is able to keep an eye on it, stop in his tracks, and calmly get it to Xhaka (who promptly gives it away again, but that’s for another time):
We talk a lot about running speed, but not as much about stopping speed — which is really important in these high-line roles. In car racing, they have a concept called “engine braking.” I remember hearing that simply letting off the accelerator in a Formula 1 car is as powerful as slamming the brakes in a road car. Something, something, Kiwior.
A little later, he showed he could make the right judgments to break the press. There was a simple plan here: attract numbers towards the Arsenal left, and have Zinchenko pass his way out of it. (Whatever his issues in back, this part worked. He was instrumental as always).
Zinchenko finds Kiwior, who is comfortable in making sure Isak commits towards him. He bypasses the shorter options to pass it up to Ødegaard, and the press is broken:
And it wasn’t long before his near-handball. His mindset on this was near-perfect — I remember hearing that one should approach these situations as a “keeper without arms,” instead of flailing with feet or spinning around like so many do. Look how similar he is to Ramsdale for proof.
But put your hands behind your back, bruh:
Kiwior’s confidence wasn’t shaken, and his transfer buddy Jorginho kept moving around laterally, in ways that opened up easier passing lanes for him:
In all, Arteta couldn’t have hoped for much better.
Which brings us back to Jorginho, and the concept of control.
After Anfield, we wrote “The Case for Control,” in which we (I) outlined how hurried clearances and pointless long-balls helped invite a bombardment that ultimately proved unsustainable.
Control takes many forms, however, and is not just about possession. It is often about playing with intention, and being able to dictate a desired style of play upon your opponent, instead of just responding to circumstances. Against Liverpool, it probably would have been best to see out the game with some more composed passing, as their lower-third defending is still exploitable. Basketball suited a Liverpool team chasing a lead.
But when are Arsenal at their best? When they are plucky, direct, and take measured risks. As an example, here is a list of Arsenal’s ten lowest-percentage passing games of the year. Notice anything?
That’s right: 9 wins, 1 draw, no losses.
Kevin de Bruyne had some interesting things to say on this topic:
“A lot of time when people make mistakes, they don't do it anymore. When I make a mistake I try to do it twice more. I think it's a way of learning where you go wrong and you understand more when you make errors. Maybe I look at it in a different way to other people. For instance, pass completion is a word that I don't care about. It’s not important to me because it doesn't define, in any way or form, the way that I play football. So I don't take it into account.”
At times, Arsenal have struggled when modifying tempo based on gamestate; when they turn the dial down even slightly, it can take the form of lethargic, high-percentage possession, or beleaguered hoofball.
As such, Sunday’s game didn’t carry many of the standard hallmarks of “control.” Arsenal had 45% possession. They had their second-lowest progressive passing distance of the year (1993 yards), and their second-fewest total touches (511).
The gameplan required discipline, practicality, and opportunism. Said Arteta:
“It was not only about playing or dominating certain phases. It’s about game management against a strong team. They were huge in the way they played and managed the game, and we had to do that even better than them, and I’m really happy with how we did it.”
Once Newcastle gets into their standard blocking shape, they can be difficult to score against. We’ve learned that the hard way.
So with the Magpies pressing at home, there were three key areas to exploit:
Attracting deep crowds and having Zinchenko pass out of it, as mentioned.
Upon regains, pushing immediately, directly, and with fast grounded balls (instead of the low-likelihood over-the-toppers that have creeped in of late). Arsenal completed their fewest long-balls of the season.
Pushing toward goal in second and third sequences when their shape is in flux: after free-kicks, corners, and throw-ins.
In practice, it looked like this.
At 13’, with the game going in Newcastle’s direction, Guimarães had a loose touch and Xhaka dispossessed him. Bruno was forced to foul, which set up a deeper free-kick.
Smelling blood, Arsenal pressed the issue as Newcastle fought to regain a coherent shape. Jorginho, Saka, and White form a gravitational pull to the right:
Then, as Ødegaard lines up to shoot, Jesus and White continue their runs. This gives Botman an extra thing to think about, which delays his reaction to the shot. He lets it through the wickets:
(That brings up a personal campaign. It’s a post for a different time, but I think there can be a conflation of “good positioning” and “running toward the ball and asking for it at your feet.” That’s how many on the team interpret their roles, yes — but if your entire team does that, you’re doing 5-year-old youth league bumblebee stuff. As seen above, you need people to drag defenders, hold width, hold height, and otherwise unsettle the defense and create space for others to operate in. A player can have 14 touches and have a brilliant game in a positional sense. Look at Thomas Müller. At some point I’ll tempt the wolves and write up a thing on how Fábio Vieira’s sense of spacing is actually an asset, if used correctly; he’s just a final-ball player, and his final balls haven’t been clicking. I still harbor plenty of optimism for next year.)
OK, back to this one.
Now, with some momentum, Kiwior plays it directly to Zinchenko. Ødegaard senses space to exploit in the middle and cuts into it:
…Zinchenko plays it directly to him — again, Zinchenko had several instrumental passes like this — and Ødegaard perfectly outside-boots it to a sprinting Martinelli for a golden opportunity:
Just three minutes later, Ødegaard calls for the ball — which catches the attention of Guimarães for a brief second. Zinchenko pounds in a pass behind his back to Xhaka:
Xhaka then hits a sprinting Striker Saka (nice to see) for another dinner plate opportunity:
Here was some lovely play by Jesus right after a press-break. Sensing everything that was about to happen, he started pushing the ball to his left foot to get a subtle lean from Jacob Murphy:
…and as soon as he got it, he switched back to his right and played Martinelli into space, leading to him hitting the crossbar:
There were others. Ødegaard pick-pocketed Joelinton and kicked off a great chance. Right before the half, Ødegaard also missed the best opportunity of the game, ingeniously worked by Martinelli and Saka. The chances were all high-quality, often originating through the half-space:
But what characterized them all was a sense of clarity and directness. And as the game wore on, it wasn’t all they had.
Pivotally (pivot-ally), Jorginho provided what was missing in recent performances, particularly those against Liverpool and West Ham. He was able to modulate tempo and dictate play without fully sacrificing the cutting edge, or resorting to hoofball.
His game became increasingly high-percentage. In the second half, Wyscout credits him with 21/23 passing (91%), 10 recoveries, and 12/16 duels won (75%). Whereas Newcastle continued their physical play — just a reminder that Bruno G got 0 cards, but Nketiah got 1 — Jorginho provided a frustrating sense of maturity, either exploiting their aggression via passes, or going down when the jig was up. The speed was exactly what it needed to be.
Here’s what Arteta had to say:
“He was exceptional. He was man of the match. There were question marks because it was going to be really physical but you want to go physicality against physicality, we’d have no chance to win the game, so we had to try for something different. I think he understood the game really well, he’s a really intelligent player, he gives a lot of security to the team. He dominated the game in many moments.”
There are countless things I haven’t mentioned. Ramsdale was sublime. The team’s hounding of Guimarães threw off everything. Tierney was the exact right tonic at the exact right time. Xhaka and Jesus played like dudes who have been there before. White and Gabriel deserve a lot of praise. Arteta pulled the correct lever every time, and it was a treat to see a set of subs as talented as Trossard, Thomas, Tierney, Eddie, and Nelson come on.
It was as satisfying a win as there’s been this year.
In all, this felt like a preview of the Champions League clashes we’ll see next year. Intense, physical, heated, skilled, and often evenly-matched. The game ultimately came down to a few, simple things: their shot hit the post, ours went in. Their defenders let a couple balls through; the likes of Xhaka and White didn’t.
Moreover, there was a mature manipulation of time and space that Jorginho was able to provide to an Arsenal side in need of it. And that may have been the difference.