Arsenal: How the attack can hide the other team deficiencies

Arsenal are closing in on the signings of Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, despite some key shortcomings in other areas. Here’s how a great attack can make up for those deficiencies.

Arsenal have signed Henrikh Mkhitaryan. They are also pursuing Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. Adding players of such illustrious attacking quality seems like a progressive, forward-thinking move. These are, after all, the calibre of players that fans at the Emirates are baying to gush over.

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But there are concerns. Specifically, the worries focus on the disparity between the type of player that Arsenal are signing and the type of player that Arsenal need. They are not the same. That is the doubt that former striker Kevin Campbell has regarding the Gunner’s recent and impending transfer activity:

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"“Ozil and Mkhitaryan in the same team – can it work? I think there is going to have to be a serious plan of how to shore up that central midfield area because Arsenal can be gung-ho. You’re going to have to [play them all] because if they come to the club they are going to have to play. You can fit them in but you have to organise the back four and the midfield defensively. You need world-class players. You need a world-class centre-half and a world-class defensive midfielder in order to complement those world-class players.”"

And Campbell makes a very valid point. Arsene Wenger need not focus on his side’s inability to create chances and score goals. That is something that they are extremely proficient at. Instead, their shortcomings are of the defensive variety: a vulnerability in defence, a lack of steel and grit, a failure to protect and shield by the midfield. More attackers can’t solve these problems, right?

Well, perhaps they can. Firstly, there will be a greater margin of error in the team’s defending. Arsenal will score more goals. Thus, they can concede more goals and still win games. That is, obviously, not the point. Ideally, a team both increases the number of goals it scores and decreases the number of goals it concedes. But it is, nevertheless, an effect of possessing a deadlier attack.

Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, a greater talent in attacking areas leads to a more dominant and controlled team performance. Take Manchester City, for example. Individually, their defenders are not especially magnificent. Neither is their midfield tailored towards a stifling and stable defence. But because their attack is so dangerous and they possess a relentless ability to control the game through a dominance of possession, simply, they do not have to defend as much as other teams.

City can play a high-pressing, high-intensity style because of the skill of the attackers that they have in their team. They suffocate the opposition from the very front, hounding and harassing their opponents on every blade of grass. Wenger, with an attacking force involving Aubameyang, Mkhitaryan, Mesut Ozil and Alexandre Lacazette will be hoping to emulate that same stifling effect.

Next: Arsenal: Ideal starting XI with Henrikh Mkhitaryan

So, yes, there are other weaknesses in the squad that need to be addressed. Yes, a holding midfielder would be beneficial. Yes, investment at the centre-half position is a requirement. But bolstering the attack does more than just improve the attack itself. It improves the whole team. And that, for Arsenal, will be very important indeed.