Arsenal: The one key difference at half-time

Arsenal looked like two different teams in their win against Swansea City on Saturday. The one key difference made at half-time was a simple one: movement.

It is very easy to see when Arsenal are playing well. They pass with pace and precision, their attacking play is brimming with confidence and risk, they are clinical in front of goal and creative in and around the penalty area.

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Equally, however, it is very easy to see when they are playing poorly. Players walk around the pitch, aimlessly, their passing is loose and erratic, shoulders slouch, heads drop, and confidence seeps away from them, slowly and painfully.

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Against Swansea City on Saturday, we saw Arsenal’s best and worst. In the first half, although they controlled the game with 78% of the possession, they were blunt in their play, failing to engineer angles and opportunities in the final third, enabling Swansea to sit deep, contract the space, and remain disciplined, not allowing themselves to be dragged out of position, continuing to be connected as a conjoined and cohesive unit.

And then, in the second half, it was as if a switch was flicked. Arsenal’s play was quick and purposeful. They carved open their visitors time and time again, with incisive through balls, neat and fast interplay in and out of the midfield, and a consistent threat in wide areas from the advanced pair of wing-backs in Sead Kolasinac and Hector Bellerin. But what was the difference? Why was there such a disparity between the performances of the two halves?

Well, there are many answers. From the simple improvements in individual execution to the clear instruction to Alexandre Lacazette to influence the game more by dropping deep and drifting wide, there were many little changes that Arsenal made from the first half.  But, perhaps the most significant alteration was nothing more than mere movement off the ball.

As Arsene Wenger dictates to his players to keep the ball on the floor, moving it quickly through the midfield, it is essential that there is movement off the ball to create options for the player looking to pass. When the team is stale and stagnant, rather than dynamic and fluid, options become limited and the tempo slows, making it easy on the defence.

But in the second half, there were numerous runs off the ball to feed. That movement subsequently created pockets of space in and around the penalty area to drift into. With the wing-backs bombing forwards, Lacazette and Alexis Sanchez spinning into the channels, and Aaron Ramsey surging from a deeper midfield position, it freed up Mesut Ozil to float from position to position, looking to influence the game as he receives the ball on the half-turn.

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When the Arsenal team is bursting with dynamism and fluidity, with dartings runs, surges from midfield, overlapping defenders, and drifting strikers, they become extremely difficult to contain. The movement off the ball creates problems. It is essential that they play with the same verve, vibrancy and energy as they did in the second half against Swansea throughout the season.