Tottenham Hotspur – Arsenal: Rivals React To Defensive Transitions Very Differently (0-1)

Whereas Arsenal dropped their block as deep as they could on the defensive transition, Tottenham Hotspur kept their players high ready for the next attack. This drastic difference was the base for the North London derby that was produced, Spurs incapable of playing through, whilst Arsenal calculated their moment to strike.

Tactical analysis and match report by Joel Parker.

We decided to make this article free to read. If you want to support our work, consider taking a subscription.

Though Mikel Arteta’s path is well-trodden in Premier League management, the sprint to surpass Manchester City feels even tougher. As Arsenal prepared for the tenth North London derby under his tenure, injuries on international duty may have screwed up solutions against one of the league’s better buildup structures.

Tribal feelings aside, this was also a crucial fixture early into the second season of Angeball. The Spurs buildup is flexible and efficient at finding avenues through, but the defensive repercussions that come off can rub people the wrong way. Postecoglu’s response to this is not to resort to a Plan B but to do Plan A better: but can this produce the long-term stability that is required at one of the league elites?

Arsenal has found that stability, but entered White Hart Lane in more rocky circumstances. Declan Rice’s suspension prompted calls for Riccardo Calafiori to replace him, but an injury whilst with Italy put that into question. Martin Ødegaard being injured a few days later rubbed salt into the midfield wounds, how Arteta would fix it would be a test of his mettle.

Spurs made four changes from the team beaten by Newcastle United. This included a ballsy midfield choice of both Dejan Kulusevski and James Maddison making up the midfield three, no Yves Bissouma and Pape Matar Sarr as Rodrigo Bentancur supported the two attacking choices. Micky van de Ven and Dominic Solanke returned from injuries to start.

Both Rice and Ødegaard’s unavailability resulted in Jorginho and Gabriel Martinelli coming in to replace the pair. As a result, Jorginho and Thomas Partey made up the midfield, in a game where Arsenal strictly kept to their 4-4-2 defensive arrangement.

Spurs’ lack of wide threat

When time on the ball is shorter than usual, Arteta shows more mentorship from David Moyes as opposed to Pep and this game was a good example. Spurs faced a compact and narrow 4-4-2 block, that denied any space forming between the lines. Circulate the ball back and Arsenal would occasionally follow up the field to prepare for the pressing trigger, but the game followed a similar pattern of Spurs holding the ball just inside the Arsenal half and looking for a route through.

9^th minute: Standard Spurs buildup. Maddison dropped out to receive next to Bentancur and Trossard stepped to engage. As Maddison played the ball through, Son and Udogie had switched positions and Son received the ball with three Arsenal players situated around him. Son tried to dribble towards the fullback, but both Saka and Partey were able to tackle.

In possession, Maddison moved out of the block to aid circulation between the center-backs and Bentancur, followed by the inside fullbacks doing similar movements, so the emphasis was placed on the wingers to create something – that wasn’t a cross from Pedro Porro or Maddison. Four minutes in, a rotation between Solanke and Heung-min Son saw the South Korean cutback to Kulusevski, whose shot from close range was in a perfect position for David Raya to save. Outside of this interchange, Tottenham lacked any incision to create down the channels.

Both Son and Brennan Johnson are accomplished direct runners, both capable of scoring but whether they are the one-versus-one specialists, comfortable in holding width for long spells, remains to be seen. When the ball filtered towards the wings, too many touches and lack of direction led to similar outcomes – seeking Porro or Maddison to provide output. Even when Son deceived Ben White, in the Eighteenth minute, letting the ball slide across and a feint to create separation, his carry led to him facing both White and Bukayo Saka, and the ball circulated once more.

Exchanges to rotate inside were also limited. Both Destiny Udogie and Porro often use the halfspace in the forward line as a starting point to move from. Once the ball reached the winger on the touchline, the fullback was already in a spot to move into against a defensive block that had already shifted onto that side of the field. Tottenham’s passing tempo was way too easy for Arsenal to kill, so easy in fact that Arsenal did not need to double up on the Spurs winger. This created a further problem because Arteta’s team could keep the extra bodies in the center of the block, so passes inside from Son or Johnson were easy to block off. When the ball was played from Van de Ven to Son, Saka held his spot and the triplet of White, Thomas Partey and William Saliba would occupy Udogie and Maddison. Switch the ball to the other side, and a similar dilemma would be created for Johnson against Gabriel Martinelli, Trossard or Jorginho following Porro’s run deep and Jurriën Timber as a spare man to cover the space inside.

24^th minute: Strength in defensive shifting from Arsenal maintained the defensive overload they established down the channels. As Spurs circulated the ball back to the right side, Jorginho moved from zonal coverage to man-marking Porro, whilst Trossard moved to block the direct pass into the inside fullback, Martinelli was able to peel off into a deeper position to occupy Johnson. Behind them is Timber to cover the space a Spurs attacker could potentially move into.

So why not try and start attacks earlier? In high-pressing situations, Jorginho moved up the chain to cover Bentancur or one of the wingers curved around to press inwards on a center-back (if Kai Havertz/Trossard had dropped out the first line to cover the Argentine.) Firstly, Van de Ven had uncharacteristic moments in possession where routes down the channel got closed, which led to shaky moments on the ball. Secondly, even once the line was exploited, fullbacks did not drive the ball up the field and could have opened spaces elsewhere in the defensive block.

Crosses were the order of business for Tottenham, with Solanke hanging around the back post and constantly trying to wriggle around Saliba or Gabriel. Both center-backs made his job difficult by keeping very tight and Spurs crosses had a habit of landing too close to David Raya.

Transitions provide the games’ entertainment

This was a game of very few opportunities but Spurs should have produced more from a couple of situations where their high press produced a turnover. Arsenal deployed a spacious deep buildup structure, with Partey and Jorginho as the pivot, often followed by one of Trossard or Havertz coming out of the forward line. Fourteen minutes in, Maddison followed Partey’s pass back to Saliba and White’s ball back inside to the center-midfielder deflected off Son. Solanke received in space, on the edge of the box, but no shot was produced.

However, Arsenal where capable of exploiting Tottenham, as shown by Trossard playing Martinelli in, a few moments later but perhaps squaring the ball to Saka was the better option, as opposed to shooting at Guglielmo Vicario.

18^th minute: Chance for Arsenal after Tottenham reset from a transition. The ball is played back to Jorginho and the passing lane to Trossard is not blocked. As Trossard dropped with the ball, Romero was led away from the high defensive line but Porro began to back peddle to cover the run from Martinelli. The ball is played through to the Brazilian.

Nevertheless, both Arteta and Postecoglu have very different responses for their teams when possession has been lost. Arsenal’s response to dropping the entire block into its defensive third is very effective at putting fires out – even if it’s a hindrance to their counterattacking ability in these phases. Whilst Spurs seem to put all hope onto their two center-backs to stop the opponent from transitioning against them. Albeit, Van de Ven and Cristian Romero are more than capable of defending one-versus-one, the instruction to leave players high is counteracted by Arsenal not having to put as many of their own attackers in the phase. At the start of the half, Martinelli was played behind the fullback by Trossard again, only this time it was Romero pulled out to the touchline. Even though Porro and Bentancur were in positions to engage with Martinelli, the Brazilian was still allowed to cross, but Vicario gathered before Saka could strike.

The lack of chances from settled possession can be credited to Arsenal’s arrangement. In possession, Partey dropped between the center-backs and they could be seen more as a 3-4-3 formation in some phases as one of the front two dropped to assist Jorginho in midfield. With Martinelli and Saka maintaining width, the objective to exploit Spurs’ highline through longer combinations down the channel did see them get the ball down the field at a much faster pace but also had few players attacking the center of the goal.

Unusual positions in Arsenal’s pass map. Partey as part of the circulation with the center-backs, both forwards in similar positions to Jorginho and emphasis on getting the ball to the wingers.

Corners decide another derby

It was clear that intricate buildup was not going to decide the North London derby; and when it comes to transitional/off-ball situations, one team is head and shoulders above the other. Spurs had plenty of corners themselves but were ineffectual, often taking them short and working the situation into the same wide dilemmas they had throughout the game. From the second phase of a Spurs corner, Saka’s attempt at goal was blocked and the winger was tackled by Udogie for an Arsenal corner. The set-piece movements were executed like they usually are, filtering space out for Gabriel to move into. The inswinger found the center-back, and Arsenal got into the lead with just under half an hour left of play.

Postecoglou turned to Sarr and Wilson Odobert from the bench, like-for-like changes that had not addressed the deficiencies down the flanks. Arsenal had an easy task blocking them out of the center and Spurs were still playing in the same pattern – Maddison moving out to aid, lateral passes around the defensive block and nothing being engineered down the channels to create good chances. Solanke still tried to wrap runs around the center-backs, but nothing could separate himself from Gabriel or Saliba.

Once Timo Werner was introduced, Son joined the center of the field as Maddison was replaced. Shots from range caused no trouble for Arsenal, as they comfortably held out their third straight win at White Hart Lane.

Takeaways

This was a cagier North London derby than the usual ones we see. Neither team particularly dominated in the attacking phase, yet the script was already in place. Arsenal’s deeper block was under very little threat against Tottenham, before a set-piece goal decided the tie.

Not many teams in the Premier League have the off-ball arrangements that Arsenal produce, but Arteta’s team showed that if you block out the center, Spurs’ attacking ability has major limitations if your halfspace is not opened up. A win at a pivotal time for Arsenal, whilst the pressure could start to creep up on Postecoglou if games follow this pattern.  

Use the arrows to scroll through all available match plots. Click to enlarge.
Check the match plots page for plots of other matches.