By Merlion
September 30 2022

Can Arsenal Counter-Pressing Succeed Against Counterattacking Tottenham   Against Brentford, we saw Arteta using possession plays with 20+ passes each to score the last 2 goals. Arsenal managed to drag Brentford defence out of position to give Xhaka and Fabio Vieira a yard of space and a second to pick their spot for the pass and shot respectively.

A free roaming Jesus counter-pressed Brentford to prevent them from building their plays from the back, resulting them pinned in their half. What Arteta did is to squeeze the playing pitch with both centre-backs station as high as the 52-yard line. This is based on Johan Cryuff Total Football with playing field compressed vertically to 30 yards with the 3 lines not more than 10 yards from each other. 

Mikel Arteta added in gegenpressing with both inverted fullbacks joining Partey in the midfield to cut off all Brentford passing lanes, and instantly pressed all ball receivers. 

The key change from last season is to deploy Xhaka high up playing as a hybrid number 8 & 10, providing another playmaker with defensive steel to counter-press. Arteta was able to do it because with Zinchenko spending more time as the “interior full back” in support of Xhaka in the middle.

It created a beautiful triangle with Martinelli and Zinchenko working in tandem, interchanging from bye-line to cutting inward and Xhaka as the metronome with his quick thinking and quick passes. When both Martinelli and Zinchenko are attacking, it is Xhaka who will stay behind to protect the left flank. 

Ten Hag expected this counter-press and ceded possession to Arsenal using quick counter-attacks to exploit the immobility of Xhaka . A relentless pressing Martinelli was caught high up on the pitch during Arsenal counter-attacks. 

That was how Antony scored his goal with both Martinelli and Xhaka caught out of position. A desperate Zinchenko trying to close down Rashford to cut off his passing lane and failed, resulting in Anthony having a 1-on-1 to score. 

Lesson learnt. Against Brentford, both Saliba and Gabriel marked both forwards out of the game and a quick Tierney protected the left flank and better coordination with Martinelli to avoid another “Anthony” situation. 

But Spurs are a different kettle of fish. Conte had improved their defence and played to the strength of their superb counter-attacking side with Kuluserski-Kane-Son. Their quick transition from defence to counter-attack, with the Kane-Son telepathic understanding has torn apart many teams. Plus, knowing Arsenal will always play out from the back, instantly pressing Ramsdale and ball-receiving defenders could result in Arsenal making one or two howlers which their quick forwards can capitalize on them. 

If Arsenal are to beat Tottenham and stop their counter-attacking from being effective, our three most dangerous players on the left flank (Zinchenko, Xhaka and Martinelli) must counter-press instantly, win the ball and feed it to either Martinelli or Jesus to have a clear shot at goal. 

At right flank, it is Odegaard, Partey and Saka need to counter-press, win the ball and feed it to Jesus. Plus, the dribbling skill of Saka and Odegaard during counter-press may result either one of them running clear with a goal-scoring chance. 

Unfortunately, Conte knows that will be how a counter-pressing team will play and Spurs will execute an accurate long pass from out of defence directly to their attacking forwards; as seen many times, with Son or Kulusevski running clear and Kane pulling away from his markers. 

We saw that we were caught out often with our full backs and midfielders caught out of position when our opponents counter-pressed successfully, most vividly by ManU. 

We won six league games with our attacking 5-3-2 formation with inverted fullbacks and lop-sided attacks on the left flank with Ben White hugging the bye-line to open up space for Saka to cut inward. This formation could come a cropper against a swift counterattack of Kulusevski-Kane-Son by-passing our midfield. Especially if Son, immediately attacks our right flank which could beleft exposed with White still struggling to race back from the opponent’s box. 

Against Tottenham, it is back to the basics, as Rinus Michels emphasized in Total Football, there must always be three players at the back during the attacking phase to guard against counter-attacks. Ben White has a crucial role, and he must always keep an eye on Son (or Richarlison), man-mark him as necessary, but never fully commit to attack leaving Son unmark hovering around the centre-circle. It will leave Saliba-Gabriel exposed against Kane and Son in a 2-on-2 situation which always favor forwards with telepathic understanding and an incisive passer like Kane. 

All top managers always coached their team in positional plays to ensure they will always have superior numbers to defend, e.g. when facing 2 attackers, the Defence must ensure a 3 vs 2 or 4 vs 3 situation to press and win the ball, and to cut off all passing channels and through balls into the box. 

The trend is that we have scored in all eight league games played, and we can score against Tottenham too. But can we keep a clean-sheet to eke out a narrow victory? 

Or will it be  déjà vu like the many times we have played Spurs away, having all the possession and then losing the game. The key is to score quickly and then defend in numbers and use their tactics against them.