As things stand
(Mostly) ignoring that call, let’s talk box arrivals, the subtle showdown against Villa’s block, the problems with distances in the midfield, Bu-kai-yo, Sterling, Timber, Calafiori, Raya, and more
“The truth about the world, he said, is that anything is possible. Had you not seen it all from birth and thereby bled it of its strangeness it would appear to you for what it is, a hat trick in a medicine show, a fevered dream, a trance bepopulate with chimeras having neither analogue nor precedent, an itinerant carnival, a migratory tentshow whose ultimate destination after many a pitch in many a mudded field is unspeakable and calamitous beyond reckoning.”
― Cormac McCarthy, Blood Meridian
That one’s a little dramatic for a football newsletter. But what do you expect from McCarthy? I love it. It stays.
I hope this e-mail finds you well.
It’s been a week for the senses. Some of the outgoings have rightfully pulled on our heartstrings. Reiss Nelson has joined Emile Smith Rowe at Craven Cottage. Aaron Ramsdale is at Southampton. Eddie Nketiah, he of 116 Premier League appearances for the club, is now at Selhurst Park. They all had vital contributions at key stages of the project, and deserve their flowers.
Praise also befits the namesake of this newsletter. Particularly on the outgoings front, Arsenal were able to stick to their valuations, stockpile funds, and right-size the squad — all while avoiding some of the bloat that has plagued the previous season. Really, the only outgoing deal I have actual reservations about is the Sambi one, which was an option (rather than an obligation).
The final day came with its tribulations. Most dishearteningly came news of Mikel Merino’s shoulder injury, sustained in his first training session, and likely to keep him out for a while. I’d give you my shoulder, Mikel, but it is also fucked up.
On the incoming front, there was a rollercoaster wait. The team pivoted from an exciting, if expensive, young keeper in Joan García when the price got too high, and signed 35-year-old Neto on a season-long loan.
We Arsenal faithful, hoping for a last-minute surprise, were chastened when The Athletic reported the following:
As things stand, no further incomings expected at AFC beyond Neto.
The recriminations began.
Arsenal social media was alight with rage.
…which changed once James McNicholas offered a three-word followup.
As
Things
Stand
That tweet preceded the big news of the night: Arsenal would sign Raheem Sterling, the 2018–19 FWA Footballer of the Year, and logger of 187 Premier League goals and assists, on a season-long loan. Even better: over 50% of his wages were covered, and any search for strings attached would be in vain. I’ll share some of my snap thoughts on him below, and will follow that up with a huge scouting report in the next week or so.
Then came the Brighton game. I won’t be talking much about it, as I’m still a bit salty, and complaining about the refs makes for uninteresting prose. I’ll say this: 100% of everyone knows the game devolves once you start giving second yellows and suspensions for unwarned, ticky-tack, inconsequential moments (especially if we’re not talking about contact). You could do it three times a game. There's a reason you don't.
The issue, then, is not one of broader inconsistency. The refs are tremendously consistent about this kind of thing, as they should be. This was an exception.
Otherwise, it is safe to say, there is no shortage of stuff to go through.
For now, let’s talk about some of the interesting tactical subplots to the first three weeks, and see what we can learn.
As things stand.
1. Is anyone home?
There are untold improvements in the detail work of clubs. With so much more information available — tracking data, sophisticated analytics, better video analysis — teams can drive home the little things.
Cutbacks defy this gravity. They remain one of the most potent weapons in the sport. If there have been any advancements in defending them, I haven’t noticed.
For the winner against Villa, you saw their entire backline get pulled down — all six of them, in this case — as Saka delivered a ball near the penalty spot for Trossard to drill home on his first touch of the day.
To give you a sense of how prevalent these kinds of chances are, here’s a clip from a match I was watching earlier that day. The similarities track right down to the deflection to the crashing LW.
Fine, I’ll meme.
So why did this chance hit for Trossard, but not before?
These are chaotic situations that are seldom executed with technical precision. But a lot of it comes down to movement within the box.
We’ve covered this at length, but one of the primary objectives for any team should be to generate space and shots in the “second six-yard” box, which makes up for a disproportionate amount of goals — in the Premier League, or any league.
Here’s a little graphic I made to illustrate an “ideal,” controlled, oversimplified version.
You want to create sensory overload for both the keeper and the backline, dragging them down, crowding their space, and creating gaps between the first and second lines.
If executed well, it looks something like this. There’s a near-post runner, a middle-post runner, a far-post cleanup crew, and then Tomiyasu arrives late to drive into the side net.
Here’s another, even better example. Havertz drives towards the near-post, Jesus crosses him to the far post, and Martinelli hangs around to either clean up in the second six-yard-box or at the far post.
Later in that same game, Martinelli arrived late into the second six-yard-box to clean this one up.
Even here, when it was crowded, you can see the elements: Jesus pushes the line forward, Ødegaard goes into the soft spot, Havertz at the far post. This little movement from Havertz, which goes against normal human impulses — he immediately goes in the opposite direction of the ball — was an early sign at Arsenal that he’s got “it” as far as movement goes (“it” being “spidey sense”). It was also on his Chelsea tape plenty.
When these situations are optimal, the crosser has three options: the cutback (perhaps the best pass in the sport); driving it low and quick to the striker; or popping it into the mixer and seeing what happens.
Why do we bring this up? A few reasons.
When Arsenal struggle, they fail to score from these opportunities. And there are interesting reasons for that.
It has to do with Martinelli’s struggles.
There may be help on the way.
This is a different kind of cross, but two years ago, you saw this:
In a more standard crossing situation like this, you basically want everyone crashing the central-to-far-post areas. Jesus can be very “alpha” with movements in the box, actually, but he sometimes reverts to his false-nining impulses. In this moment, they all hung tight. Nobody attacked the ball, and it meekly fell.
My overall take on Martinelli has been:
He probably hasn’t progressed dramatically in his overall game. But he has a harder job, hasn’t really fallen off a cliff, and most of our impressions are skewed by his previous finishing prowess.
He was the victim of dysfunctional dynamics for half the season. Since, it’s been simple misses, regaining form, and overthinking — while Trossard reaped the rewards of a more functional side.
Now, he’s working to rediscover his sense of timing. He looks like he’s thinking too much.
It’s a common cycle among youth players especially: a hyper-talent comes along, working on instinct and blasting in goals. A coach then vows to make them a complete player. In doing so, the player has too much information bouncing around their head and loses some of their original panache. The coach then tells them to go back to trusting their instincts. (I’m not speaking from experience or anything.)
Early last season, Martinelli was essentially restricted from central areas. For whatever reason, Havertz and Nketiah didn’t really click. Havertz was learning a new role on a new team and didn’t play with a lot of confidence. Nketiah hung out in the box a lot. This generally clogged the middle from Martinelli, and their runs weren’t always filled with a comfortable sense of what the other was going to do; sometimes, they’d double up. Arteta talks about observing relationships on the pitch, and Nketiah and Havertz weren’t always additive to one another. It happens — and it impacted Martinelli.
I think this graphic is tremendously helpful in understanding the last two years.
I should also note that I think Martinelli’s a better finisher than he’s been, but that 22/23 looks unsustainable to me, which also factors into our impressions. He nailed like, every central shot that year.
On the topic of crosses: here against Villa, you’ll see things generally working as they should on the left. Rice releases Martinelli in behind, and there are three runs: Havertz near post, Saka far post, and Ødegaard coming through the middle. Martinelli decides to hit it quick, which looks like a solid call to me.
Later in the game, we saw another good example. Again, this was from some players that have a good mutual understanding, all in comfortable roles: Havertz at striker darts centrally (near post was too crowded), Saka at RW goes to the far post clean-up area, and Ødegaard at RCM arrives late for a chance-on-a-platter.
But here’s where some of the newness trickles in and impacts Martinelli.
This hasn’t been the case as much on the left, where new relationships are forming, experience at Arsenal is lower, and things aren’t always as decisive.
This showed up in the first half when White worked his way into a great overlap-and-cutback. See:
You can see the problems here. Martinelli’s not really doing anything wrong, but with Havertz out of the box, Rice should be coming alive more quickly to make a central striker run, probably angled toward the near-post, dragging players down. And Timber should be pushing up into the soft spot to rip this. Rice is smart at finding space in the box, and has his moments. But in newish positions, these moves aren’t second-nature for them yet.
Again, here’s generally what it could have looked like:
Even better (at least to me, with this team) is the idea of the LCM driving at the post. Here is the kind of dynamic I’d like to make a case for: Havertz or Merino driving at that far post area, with Martinelli coming through the middle. This goal-hawking is, essentially, how Trossard won the game against Villa.
Much has been made about Martinelli missing Xhaka. I think that’s somewhat true — Xhaka helped with balance — but if you look at Martinelli’s goal output from 22/23, there’s been another relationship that needs rekindling: direct access to Saka.
This direct access is pivotal. Even when crosses are overhit, as @bastiandotnet has noted to me, they can turn into accidental switches: restarts that are difficult for the opponent to navigate. It’s worth noting that both Arsenal goals against Villa were scored after direct Trossard-to-Saka connections.
I call passes from Saka “Glengarry leads,” which may be a reference that escapes some of you. They are valuable, and you want to give them to your best finishers. The more you get the wingers interacting directly, the better.
It’s not perfect yet otherwise. Here, in a rare Øverlap, he pops it up into the mixer like White may. It wouldn’t make a difference, but I’d like Rice sliding into the penalty spot here.
White, meanwhile, played conservatively against Brighton, as Mitoma is one of his trickiest matchups. He can sometimes almost play as a right-winger, pushing Saka into the #10, but look at all his received passes on the day.
Game-stated played a huge factor, but still.
2. A showdown in build-up
As always, there was an interesting, subtle chess match with Emery. Said Arteta:
“Today they did something a little bit different to what we expected, especially in the first phase of build up in the way they behave. But this is what we have to do, you know, against any formation, any opponent, any behaviour that we are finding to be a threat from many areas, and that's a big compliment for the team.”
The primary update, as far as I could tell, was something that is growing in fashion: a much more active presence of defenders in the wide areas, starting narrow but then trying to cut off easy balls to the wingers. This essentially turns the block from a 4-4-2 into 4-2-4.
Not only is passing through the block going to be difficult — as it always is — passing around it is going to be difficult, too. And that’s often what Arsenal wound up doing last year: they’d give up on central access, fling it out to the wingers, and ask them to carry it up and make it happen.
This time, with Timber as a new pivot player, things looked competent but fairly static. While there was some straightforward progression, and some technocratic passing, there weren’t those moments of real break. Those easy balls out to Saka and Martinelli were denied.
So they started probing for solutions.
Here, you’ll see an option I always like when things are feeling stuck. Ødegaard dropped and Timber went wide.
This made it so that there was one less central option (Havertz essentially filled in for Ødegaard), but there was a possibility of confusing the opposing full-backs. Martinelli dropped in and Timber went running. Gabriel, as he often did in this game, tried to hit it over the backline. No dice, yet.
Here, we see something that feels genuinely new this year — perhaps Calafiori brought it from Italy. Gabriel drove through the middle, Timber slid behind to cover, and the two exchanged places. This has been an option for some other players (Saliba, White), but this isn’t often something you see from Gabi XL.
Gradually, headway was made.
We often talk about football in oversimplified, numbered formations. As my friend Alex just wrote:
[I]t's just quite easy to just see football in numbers, and then it's even easier stop short and think you've understood everything you need to. This season, I'm trying to ban myself from using numbers to describe what I see. And it's challenging, but fun! You go from asking "why are X team playing a 3-2-5" to "why are they inverting the FB? What advantage is that giving them? Why are they pushing the CM high, what's the thinking?". I'm finding it's leading to more moments of learning.
These numbers are the base of everything, and I’d argue they’re still useful. But to Alex’s point, they can often lead us to overlook something more important: the why behind everything. Specifically, games are often decided by more subtle details — the speed of actions, the corresponding moves, the distances between players.
Now, look closely at how smart this all is.
Of note:
Partey drops between the CBs, which squeezes the two pressers together. Without standard pivot midfielders behind them, they lose their guardrails.
Rice moves out of the pivot and up to the more advanced LCM spot. Ødegaard also drifts upfield. This leads to the two defensive midfielders having too much space to cover.
Timber then comes out-to-in. He re-enters the fray from the touchline and into the middle of the pitch, moving players around. This attracts the attention of Bailey first (who runs with him), then Onana (who has to hand Rice off to follow him), then Rogers.
A lane is now open and Rice is free to receive.
In the second half, then, we saw more of Ødegaard in the pivot. Arsenal saw what could happen when those wide players were overburdened, and smelt blood.
...and that’s when the distances changed ever-so-slightly. While that last move worked on Bailey and Onana, McGinn and Tielemans aren’t nearly as agile with changes of direction — so Arsenal started tilting the shape over to the right to discard some of Villa’s block (their right) and pick on the other, slower side. You can see where Timber is now:
The players kept swirling in the blindspots.
Eventually, White moved McGinn around, then did the same against Watkins, carrying the ball until he was guaranteed of their pressure. Then he passed it back to Saliba. Voilá, there are gaps for Ødegaard to drop into.
This extra help started stressing that side, and Timber’s subtle lean to the right helped him become the free man more often.
Arsenal started putting the pedal down, and the goals started flowing.
3. Problems with distances
We’ll start here, again, in build-up. Here was the base formation against Brighton.
This formation sure looks like Arteta’s preference. It’s what Xhaka did in 22/23. It’s what he signed Havertz to do. And in all likelihood, it’s the role that Merino was signed to fulfill.
There are obvious advantages in attack. You get an extra man in the frontline. Those moments we described in the first section — box-crashing on crosses of all kinds — are dramatically improved by increased presence up there.
There are tradeoffs, though.
Let’s look at that same graphic again, and only highlight the two midfielders who patrol the middle in a block. Look how far they are from one another by default.
This means, in the event of a ball-loss, the top holding defensive midfielder in the world (Rice) may be 20 yards (or more) upfield from a #6 who may jump well and rip it, may drop back from over-caution, or may get turnt-and-burnt on pace.
To give you a sense, this is how they’d like to regroup.
This was the key deficiency exploited by Morgan Rogers and Villa.
Here, Martinelli lost the ball while dallying on a transition opportunity upfield. Rice is a little frustrated that he wasn’t able to get hit with a ball, and is the second-highest Arsenal player. When Rogers regains it and starts running, look at the distance between the defensive double-pivot.
Partey is left to defend Rogers by himself in an acre of space. Rice isn’t even in the frame. It doesn’t go well.
Here, Rice was stripped of a second ball opportunity upfield. Normal stuff, no big issue — but he got hit and took a moment to get up. Look at the distance between he and Partey when Villa go to attack. And look, again, who is situated on that line between them.
Again, it doesn’t go well.
These distances were created in more settled situations, as well.
Here, Arsenal were caught in the transition phase between pressing and blocking. Rice is asking others to intervene directly with Onana. Partey, as he often does, drops all the way to the backline. You want your midfield to be compact, but look at the distance between these two, which was Rogers’ happy place.
Partey drops back to mark McGinn, who is already marked by White, Rogers receives between them, and Rice tries hastily to catch up to the play. Because he starts further upfield than Rogers, he has ceded high ground, and looks much sloppier than when the play unfolds in front of him. Both of them looked scattered in response. Rogers, in fairness, was playing out of his mind. This is one of the best performances by an Arsenal opponent for a while.
Teams are now taking pains to generate this separation. Here, Mitoma dropped deep so that, in Arsenal’s man-marking scheme, Partey would have to follow Pedro out wide.
It’s then hit to space, where Partey is asked to sprint to the corner and defend like a full-back.
For bonus points, see how the move was timed with Baleba dropping deep in the middle, dragging Rice away. This distance between the lines ensures that it takes as long as possible for help to arrive in the box.
This doesn’t look like a final-form, totally locked-down, buttoned-up Arsenal out-of-possession shape. It is compounded when Rice is upfield and Partey himself loses it — because Rice is around to help clean up the situation. Against Brighton, Partey had four losses that led directly to shots:
With Brighton’s front-two attackers (Pedro and Welbeck) marauding around, Rice was a little gunshy about letting them get behind. When your middle-two midfielders don’t press, you don’t have a press.
There is nuance, of course. There’s been good stuff. There have been line-breakers, ball-wins, and periods of sustained pressure. The connection can improve, and Rice doesn’t look fully up-to-speed yet. So what’s the problem?
The system calls for an elite ground-coverage #6. At this stage, Partey isn’t that. Oddly, he’ll be better against top teams when the block is closer and the press is lower. Less distance to cover.
Rice is that. But because of his positioning in attack, he is often far away from the ball and catching up to the play. There were several plays where Arsenal lost the ball and Rice was our highest player. I, uh, don’t really want Rice to be the highest player on a ball loss.
This space is being exploited. This leads to some cascading confidence issues where the press isn’t as fierce or committed as we see otherwise. This is central to Arsenal’s identity.
Final thing: when Rice is super-high and pinning the backline, he can’t really turn and carry.
Luckily, there is a solution here. The first one is to roll with the Merino/Rice/Ødegaard midfield. But that won’t be possible for a period.
Here’s what I tweeted after Villa:
I'll write about it, but we've been pushing Rice up into the fake-10, with Timber or Zinchenko behind. Last year, Rice eventually stayed back with Jorgi, and the LB (Tomi, etc) went up into the half-space. This kept Rice's distance to Jorginho closer. This game had me thinking that again.
The solution to Rice being too far away from Partey? Rice being closer to Partey.
Last year, the coaches saw this vulnerability with Jorginho, and dropped Rice low to protect him upon ball losses (and Jorginho was also careful about said losses). They pushed the left-back up into the line:
It’s time to do that kind of thing with more frequency. Calafiori and Timber should both be comfortable up there; Timber on the half-turn (and off the touchline), and Calafiori roaming around like a weirdo, looking for interesting ways to receive.
With Merino some ways off, and Partey likely to continue on, this feels like a necessary change.
4. Bu-kai-yo
Through three weeks, Bukayo Saka has originated 100% of Arsenal’s goals. The result is one goal, three assists, and an assist robbed by a slight deflection. It is never too late to remove the qualifiers from his praise. “One of,” “young,” etc. Be gone.
Meanwhile, there has been much consternation about the ideal role of Havertz. Here’s one big advantage to him playing at striker: he is closer to our best player.
The Brighton goal started through one of the best leaners on planet Earth. There are nuances to how and when to apply your weight to your opponent, and Saka is elite at it in every situation.
From there, Saka swatted it forward on his first touch — and Havertz nailed it home on his first touch. This is where that striding and recognition comes in handy.
What a finish.
This follows up a Wolves game in which the two combined forced to open the scoring.
The second goal in that one, too, was after a simple Kai-to-Saka connection. Havertz got an assist for his efforts (his efforts being: getting to play with Saka).
These stretching runs by Havertz look more confident and better than ever. He is really able to spin up some speed.
His layoffs have been immediate and proven pivotal in several counter-attacks.
The pair, too, deserve so much praise for how they played when down to 10 men against Brighton.
Havertz, too, is a good leaner. He has no business getting to this, killing the ball so easily, and generating such a good opportunity — both for himself and Saka.
With Rice and Merino out, I think we’re fairly likely to see Havertz back at LCM for the derby. Once things get back to normal, I think we have plenty to look forward to with this connection.
5. That Brighton goal
This is splitting hairs, as a goal could have arrived at a different time, and it would have been understandable. But I think the team could have been set up better in the period immediately following Rice’s red card. I understand Calafiori may be on a minutes count, and was probably not fully ready to go from a warm-up perspective. While he got ready, some different moves could have been made.
Play resumed at 50’. By 57’, and down a man, the team was leaning like this on an Arsenal throw-in. Look at how high Saka is on the other side, and how much White has come over. Brighton won the ball.
That’s how you’d normally approach a throw-in. But it’s different when you’re outnumbered.
As Brighton recycles it, look at the ground the Arsenal players have to cover to reinstate their shape.
This causes the hand-off that resulted in the goal. White follows Mitoma back to his home position. But Saliba is already marking Minteh out there, and wants White to stay central — he motions for White to rotate to CB for the moment, but White keeps following Mitoma out there. This gives Minteh a step and Dunk hits him.
Gabriel is cautious to directly intervene (I thought there was a 100% chance he goes to ground here — he had a step), and Pedro goes untracked through the middle to clean up the rebound.
Bah. Arsenal could have been more cautious, essentially swinging one of the wingers down to do a 5-3-1 until Calafiori game on.
This issue of overstretching was immediately fixed with the Calafiori sub. The team did go with a 5-3-1. I think Ødegaard probably should have come off at this time too; he was limping everywhere after taking a nasty hit, dulling the transition threat, and this isn’t his best game-state.
…and the team eventually settled into this shape in attack, with Havertz floating on top of the shape to try and stretch the defenders.
Good fight was shown late.
🔥 Speed round
👉 A note
This article has honed in on the little details that could improve. It is worth restating: Arsenal looked the superior team against Brighton. Tactically, physically, and quality-wise.
👉 On Timber & Calafiori
They haven’t fully showed their potential yet, but in early days, I think Arsenal fans have plenty to be excited about with their two new defenders.
I don’t think we really have to pick apart the progression stuff too much with Timber. He’s been solid, playing a new position, showing some smart nuance with his movements, and returning from an ACL.
Perhaps the best sign is something like this. In which he was generally able to keep up with one of the Premier League’s fastest players on a dead sprint, and then defend the space from there.
I expect some of the progression stuff to improve. I think there will be some variance on the defensive side — Premier League wingers are impossible, and space defending is hard — but that doesn’t mean he can’t be a defensive upgrade on Zinchenko and Kiwior out wide.
Calafiori has only played in moments and has already proven himself to be a heap of fun. I mentioned in his scouting report (and those of others) that one of the plays I over-index is a “deep regain” — that is, what is the player’s impulse when they get the ball deep? Do they want to control it, or hoof it? Calafiori was trying to set off counters with his dome.
Here’s another one. Look how quickly he released our striker into space. Wait, that’s Saliba.
…and this is the kind of situation where we may see an adjustment period for both of them. We still see this kind of thing from White from time-to-time, including against Mitoma on Saturday. Calafiori goes to close out the space but wingers are just a bit quicker when going side-to-side.
…and here’s another hilarious run of play. He intercepts it twice and goes to make a run up the right wing before play is stopped.
I think there’s a solid chance we see some Calafiori starts in the big matchups to come. His presence will require a lot of recognition from his teammates, lest gaps open up. But hopefully that swashbuckling confidence is contagious.
👉 On Sterling
I’ll write a huge scouting report in the days to come.
In the meantime, I shared a few bits about the deal that I really like:
The front six depth of Saka/Havertz/Martinelli/Sterling/Jesus/Trossard is just … good. Six fully UCL-ready, 'win now' players. This is not one of those teams that is set up for the perpetual "two years from now."
Overall financial risk profile on the move is low. Even if his performance isn't what you hope, the risk is low.
Simply, try and find another profile like this 👆 without a fee (credit: Scott Willis of Cannon Stats). I just pulled his wider statistical profile for a longer piece, and I think basically 100% of people would be on board with it.
Those little darting runs behind the line are often what Arsenal need against mid-blocks: immediate speed as much as pure outlet. Added bonus: Merino is good at hitting those right away.
Should lead to more flexible deployment of Martinelli, some actual rest for Saka, a reasonable dependence on Jesus, and the ability (by proxy) for Havertz to cover midfield more. Floor is raised.
You don't really get to dictate the timing of Rice-style moves. They happen when they happen. Stars must align. I was impatient for it here (for attack or midfield). Alas.
As the days closed, and I considered some above-average younger winger signings, I kept considering the "VOR" — the Value Over Reiss — and found it kinda hard to convince myself of a real outlay. Still, we needed a fucking attacker.
I understand any frustration about there not being a big, speedy addition to midfield/attack. With this one, I was most hesitant on permanent deals or obligations because Sterling's career minutes load does not portend a winger I want to hold onto while he’s 32.
I also think there will be some shared ... journeys .. with form, and some inevitable weeks of grumbles. It'll feel Havertzy as he finds his zone and timing — a player is inextricable from his environment, but there was some spottiness in his Chelsea stuff. Even so, that can be offset with some of the depth, as he's not a locked-in starter, though he could become one.
What's really to like here? The club fortifies the present, and banks maximum cash/leverage/maneuverability for the future. There is a non-zero possibility that he just simply ... bangs ... in which case this is a coup.
The deal structure? Low wages, no fee, no permanent deal? Close to a no-brainer.
👉 On Raya
Raya’s been on a damn heater. He’s been incredible to start the year.
I’ll be sharing a quick scouting report on our newest keeper, Neto, in the upcoming week. My initial impulse is that the structure and idea is right — cheap, steady, veteran presence with good shot-stopping — but I’m less enthusiastic from what I know about his stylistic fit (cross-claming, ball-at-feet). I’ll keep an open mind and smash some tape.
👉 On reffing
Just to get you mad again (I hear rage sells), Arsenal and our opponents have split possession a perfect 50/50 so far. Here’s the result:
Arsenal: 51 tackles, 45 fouls, 10 yellows, 1 red
Opponents: 58 tackles, 29 fouls, 5 yellows
Arsenal have been a little open through the middle, so some more intervention isn’t necessarily surprising. But for close watchers of these players and these games, you’ll know that the Arsenal spine — players like Rice and Saliba — are perhaps too clean in my estimation, rarely committing the kind of tactical fouls that older players do. This usually means they avoid cards and cautions more than comparative players.
It hasn’t been the case early in the year. Wolves, Villa, and Brighton have all sought to be extra-physical in the early going. Villa was probably fair game: they did a great job of getting to the ball first. For the other two, you’re right to be annoyed.
Finally, some programming notes:
I’ll be watching a few Neto games in the days to come and writing up a (quicker) scouting report on him. I think this will be my first bonus post for paid subscribers. I’ve kept everything free to date, and will basically continue in that direction — but I also feel like I should also repay you wonderful people for all your support over the last year or two.
You can expect one of these extra posts every month or two. In my mind, they’re called “Extra Time.” Is that name already taken? I don’t know. But you can upgrade your subscription if you want to see that post.
Essentially nothing changes here. I intend to keep all my bigger pieces (these long-reads, scouting reports) free for all, 3 or 4 times a month. That includes the upcoming Sterling report, don’t worry.
I’ll be cutting down some of my activity on Twitter and the like. Most of my stuff will be here.
Thank you all, for everything.
Exciting days ahead, despite PGMOL’s best efforts.
Be good.
❤️
After just a few months of discovering your stuff, I'm already a huge fan. If there's a more thorough, more thoughtful, better presented blog for high level Arsenal analysis, I haven't found it. The sheer number of hours you must put into these articles blows my mind. Thank you for doing what you do.
Opening a football blog with Blood Meridian is the hardest thing I’ve ever seen