Arsenal: ‘Playing the good players’ is not enough

When asked about how he will fit Mesut Ozil and Henrikh Mkhitaryan into the same side, Arsene Wenger said he will just ‘play the good players.’ But for Arsenal to have success, that is not enough. There needs to be a clear, forward-thinking plan.

Manchester City are a team stock full of wonderfully talented footballers. The names roll off the tongue: Kevin de Bruyne, David Silva, Sergio Aguero etc. And while the quality of their personnel has obviously combined to create the belligerently relentless attacking force,  there is also a method, a plan, a strategy to their play.

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Pep Guardiola is not just a spender. He may have spent money. But he has also fine-tuned his players, positioning them perfectly in a system that works in conjunction with every single component. Like a purring engine where the players are the pistons, it is Guardiola who is the engineer.

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So when Arsene Wenger was asked about how he would fit Henrikh Mkhitaryan, the man who is set to replace Alexis Sanchez in a straight swap with Manchester United, and Mesut Ozil, two players who, although extremely intelligent and aware, are very similar in many facets of their respective games, in the same side, his answer was somewhat concerning:

"“Just play the good players! They can always play together. Today, what have you on the pitch? They’re all attacking players. [Alex] Iwobi, Ozil, [Jack] Wilshere, Lacazette, [Granit] Xhaka. They’re all offensive players, basically.”"

Now, to an extent, Wenger does have a point. Good players, especially clever ones like Ozil and Mkhitaryan, have the capacity to adapt to one another, moulding their individual play to suit the collective play of the team, which will inevitably alter a little given the new addition. But that does not mean that he can cobble together all the good players in the world, throw them onto the pitch and expect his Arsenal team to suddenly play like Barcelona. It doesn’t work like that.

There must be a shared and committed intention, a system and set of tactical priorities that every individual buys into, thus performing their element of the conjoined unit. Take, for example, the aforementioned instance of Guardiola and his City team.

In particular, look at the way that de Bruyne and Silva, two players who are extremely alike, both in their respective strengths and weaknesses and in the way that they play the game, the decisions that they make, the positions that they take up. Guardiola does not simply throw them onto the pitch and expect them to get on with it. He provides with clear instruction.

De Bruyne is tasked with starting in a deeper role, initiating attacks rather than ending them. Silva is given a greater license to roam, especially down the left flank, but does not drift over to the right all that often. When City enjoy extended periods of possession, they rotate their positions in unison with one another, to ensure that their play does not grow stale and predictable, and so that they can continually move the opposition defenders in and out of their positions, disrupting their defensive structure.

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Wenger must implement the same plans with Ozil, Mkhitaryan and the rest of his players. The lack of clear instruction and tactics has been something that Arsenal have been heavily criticised for in the past. And justifiably so. Wenger needs to adopt a more detailed and demanding approach. Asking them to create is wonderful, but they need to platform to be able to do so. It is up to Wenger to provide it.