Squillaci was an athletically challenged center back (neither particularly quick or particularly big) who arrived at Arsenal at age 30. If he hadn't learned his craft well enough by that age to make up for his athletic deficiencies, he was never going to survive in the PL.
It's not about Wenger, it's the game has changed. There's a rigidity to team structure that's come about in the last 4-5 years - the likes of Rodgers (don't laugh), Poch, Klopp, Tuchel, and Guardiola have really pushed the idea of juego de posicion as both a defensive and attacking tactic, and it looks like that approach requires extremely detailed coaching. Wenger used to be really obsessive when he first came to Arsenal (according to him), but at some point, probably with the invincibles, he decided that the players were smart enough to figure it out. Team structure has gotten complicated enough that players can't figure this stuff out quickly, and Wenger really doesn't coach this stuff. It's a shame, because some of Arsenal's play in possession, even now, is gorgeous.
He's fine even now, except for a horrible tendency to ball watch. A lot of these issues would be minimal if we had a functioning midfield, but they give the ball away like crazy and we come unglued as soon as the other team gets the ball. This team is terrible in both attacking and defensive transitions.
Yes the zonal play there is really bad. Mustafi or someone else should be defending that zone but he's too far back leaving that space for Alonso to run into and then its too late It's really a great example of how defending space is important
This is why I was snorting with laugher after Wilshere's goal and the commentary team starting spanking on about a new contract for him The base of midfield was a nightmare all game.
Sure, but my point was that he was considered a pretty good CB at Monaco and Sevilla before transferring to Arsenal --- where he tanked.
He's just another in a long list really. I think you have to be William Gallas good to cope but most of the dudes Wenger signs are not quick
Yeah, the pundits seem to have forgotten that really good chance Cesc should've converted in the final seconds of the 1st, where he just strolled past Wilshere to the edge of the box to receive that pass. Wilshere's recognition of danger there was almost (not quite) as bad as Denilson watching a not-so-speedy Rooney "sprint" by him in that CL (right?) match years ago.
Yeah - I guess one of the best defenders of his generation looks good anywhere! I've said the same with BvB - they don't look so clever minus Hummels whose positioning covers for a lot of sins
That's down to teaching and coaching - not that many people can process 4-5 pieces of information and make correct split-second decisions quickly. The right solution (as done in the NFL) is to simplify what the players need to look at, give them a robust yet simple decision tree, and practice. Yesterday it looked like Chelsea's players were doing addition in possession and defense, while Arsenal were trying to solve differential equations.
It's 2018 so I guess I can make a rugby post! But yes - this is huge in NZ Rugby pattern recognition is crucial - so that all the players will realise how to find the solution in a split second In order to do that - you have to have a good shared idea of what the solutions look like Conte is good at giving chelsea a good basis of patterns
Yeah I was thinking about that also. I didn't know of Mustafi before he came, and I've not researched his prior background. What did he play more of before Arsenal? I recall hearing that he'd played left fullback a fair amount. Also someone on this board was musing about him being a good DM... does he have any history of that?
That was my follow-up point about Mustafi and the goal. Zonal defense seems ill-suited for certain situations. And one of those is when you're defending a zone, and an attacker blitzkreigs into your zone from behind you. It's very hard to thwart that. The attacker has already built up a ton of speed, while you're relatively more static in your zone. Good luck trying to follow him... he's got the head start... you're gonna lose that race. So then it's matter of watching the attacker, predicting his impending movement, and beating him to the ball. But if he's behind you, behind your zone, then you'd have to turn your head, or your body around, losing track of the ball and the cross, which would be equally suicidal, no? The whole thing is a very difficult balancing act. And I think it's why some pundits lambaste zonal-marking, and favor man-marking instead. My sense is that man-marking has probably more problems associated with it, including that it can rip apart your defensive shape. In the end, I figure that most teams try to employ some sort of hybrid, which is primarily zonal w/ exceptions for man-marking as needed. But I really don't know. So I will await enlightenment from one of the experts on this board.
Sure, it's not easy, but well coached defenders can do this. Moreover, here, Alonso hardly could be described as blitzing into the area. It's more than a jog but not even a sprint. Watch it again. http://arsenalist.com/f/2017-18/arsenal-vs-chelsea/chelsea-goal-1-2-alonso.html In that same clip, Holding actually does what you claim is suicidal, he has a quick glance up to see where Bakayoko is. Mustafi appears to as well early in the move but either doesn't see Alonso or doesn't view him as a threat at that point. And again, I'm not claiming that it's the worst error in the world or that Alonso didn't do a good job of timing his run. But I think even Mustafi would be disappointed that a guy ran across him to get to the ball first. And my overall point was that I don't agree that the majority of fault for that goal should be attributed to AMN for letting a quick player who was fresh having just been subbed on from slipping one cross by him.
I agree its hard but I do think in that case he is too far back - so he is not protecting the near post zone behind his fullback AMN who does then get beaten Someone should be defending that zone - but possibly it should be the left centre back in which case Mustafi is correctly defending his own zone Hard to know what the set up is. As you say - hybrids with man orientation do also exist - but i think overall you can't track that run - someone had to be defending that space in the first place
Thanks for this! You can see the zonal fail here. The left CB seems to caught between trying to mark an attacker and cover the near post zone to support his fullback Now when we roll the tape - notice also how the midfielder has not dropped to pick up the attacker in the hole. Also Mustafi seems to have stayed too far back.... and alonso saunters in near post So at the final ball you can see 1. Left CB is neither covering the near post zone or covering the player in the hole 2. Midfielder is not goal side of the free man in the hole 3. Mustafi is defending nothing as there is another spare man behind him Seems like a complete system fail
I don’t think Wenger has a clue with a 3 cb system and we have no cms who protect a back 4 properly We don’t press or counter and we have too much play slowed down by guys like Sanchez Hopefully we bring in a coach who likes player with pace and strength as well as technical ability. Diary must be the last physically dominating presence we signed?
Mustafi will be 26 by season's end. Some these comments are as if he's a 20 yr old reserve call up. He's not playing up to his contract and making far too many mistakes that Chambers did years ago. He needs to be better. FFS, some want to give a pass to him because he had to lead with Holding and Chambers? He's a German NT player who was on the WC & Euro squad, he better be able to lead a line based on his age and experience. I know a lot of defenders peak later than forwards/midfielders but he should be better.
It's the same issue that happened with Clichy and others Once Cole left, the institutional knowledge of the position left with him and all the mentoring - too soon for clichy Yes Mustafi ought to be maturing but who is he supposed to learn from as the senior partner? Per is done. Kos is always injured and not even that great. Youngsters like Holding and Chambers learn nothing. And its the same in midfield. Who are Wilshere, Xhaka and Ramsey supposed to be learning from?
Thanks for that clip Yos. My initial comment about Mustafi was made in realtime, during the match, without any replay IIRC. In fact, until you provided this clip, I'm not sure I watched it back. Clearly I should have! Mustafi's not as blameless as I thought. But as with Jitty's very excellent subsequent post, I think it was a collective fail: 1. AMN got a bit too tight on Zapa who then turned him pretty easily and delivered a hard low cross which was one of 2 major offensive factors in the goal. 2. Mustafi should've had more awareness of Alonso... he never turned his head, even briefly which he could've gotten away with, but even if he had, he'd have seen Alonso just outside the penalty spot jogging slowly. 3. Alonso hits the spot and then runs quickly towards near post (not a jog). Even if Mustafi had predicted his movement, he wouldn't have been able to track him. 4. Chambers was probably the one who was best positioned to see what Alonso was doing and track him, but that wouldn't be zonal then, so I presume that's why he didn't. 5. Holding was a bit in no-mans-land as Jitty so nicely pointed out. Had he been closer to the goal he could've intercepted that cross. So I'll concede that Mustafi is not as blameless as I thought. But clearly the blame falls more broadly than just him. Phil Neville's commentary alludes to that somewhat.