Arsenal Tactics: Hector Bellerin and Nacho Monreal not the problem

Arsenal’s full backs have been exposed in each of the three Premier League matches this season. However, here’s why Hector Bellerin and Nacho Monreal aren’t necessarily to blame.

There are times as an Arsenal fan that I yearn for Jose Mourinho. I don’t care about goals. I don’t care about exquisite passing triangles. I don’t care about beautiful football. I just want to watch my side defend a 1-0 lead against Huddersfield with 11 men behind the ball, safe in the knowledge that our defence is an uninspiring, impenetrable wall.

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Oh to be called boring.

As it is, we Gunners must endure every moment through our fingers, relieved even at 4-0 only when the final whistle blows. We all remember that Newcastle game.

It seems that not even a new manager and a few new players will change that. As the West Ham United game showed, one forward pass by the opposition can still leave the centre-halves suddenly, unbelievably exposed in a two-on-two situation. Of course, the upside of that comes in Nacho Monreal’s equalising goal against the Hammers, both full backs flying forward, linking up to restore parity and confidence within the Emirates Stadium.

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Alan Shearer’s analysis on Match Of The Day shows five Arsenal players pushed up across the West Ham box, with Monreal and Hector Bellerin on either wing. As the move goes on, Bellerin runs into the channel, cuts the ball across from the by-line and Monreal sweeps home from six yards. According to Shearer:

"“Excellent. Very, very good. Very positive.”"

And this pattern was visible in virtually every Arsenal attack. Indeed, the full backs were involved in every goal against West Ham and the pattern remained against both Chelsea and Manchester City.

It makes it easy for any analysis of Arsenal to argue that the core of the problem defensively for Arsenal is their flying full-backs. Shearer argued that ‘both of them can’t go’ at the same time. We could even be getting to a point where the narrative around Shkodran Mustafi is rewritten to ask what any centre-half could do when left so isolated. While these points of criticism against Monreal and Bellerin seem more than fair, I just can’t buy it. It doesn’t make sense.

We’ve seen already that if Unai Emery isn’t happy with your ability to follow instructions, you get dropped. Aaron Ramsey and Mesut Ozil can attest to that. So surely, after two games of flying forward at every opportunity, Bellerin would be dropped too? If, of course, he wasn’t doing as he was told. So what if he and Monreal were, who would we blame then?

On Match Of The Day, ‘balance’ was the buzzword for Arsenal to move forward, as it was for Emery in his post-match press conference. And balance is in many ways, the essence of the game.

If we look at Pep Guardiola’s City last season, they could often be seen with five players across the opposition box too. It was slightly different to Arsenal’s, however. Raheem Sterling and Leroy Sane would hug the touch-line, Sergio Aguero slotted into the middle and David Silva and Kevin de Bruyne would slot in between Aguero and each winger. To compensate for the forward runs by De Bruyne and Silva, the full backs often came into central positions alongside Fernandinho to create control if and when the ball was lost. The attacking formation, then, was something of a 2-3-5.

This gave Man City incredible balance, an ability to dominate territory and possession while being difficult to catch out on the counter-attack (City’s defensive record was the best in the league last year with 27 goals conceded).

In Arsenal’s system, Bellerin and Monreal are essentially wingers creating the width for Iwobi, Aubameyang and Mkhitaryan to exploit centrally (based on the starting XI v West Ham). So what is the job of the midfield?

Whoever it is that plays in the midfield, this is where the lack of balance appears. Too often, all three of Aaron Ramsey, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Alex Iwobi pushed forward when one needs to offer protection against the counter. Meanwhile, Granit Xhaka and Matteo Guendouzi also galloped forward to leave acres of space between them and the centre-halves.

Clearly, Emery and the players have work to do to achieve the balance and control that Arsenal have lacked for so long. If the midfielders can resist the temptation to bomb forward, they might just be able to keep a clean sheet soon. If not, I hear Jose might be looking for work.