Arsenal Vs Newcastle United: Lucas Torreira does three brilliant things

Lucas Torreira changed the game when he came on in Arsenal’s 2-1 win over Newcastle United. The snappy midfielder did three brilliant things: he played simple; he played fast; he played forward.

It was a dreadful first-half performance against Newcastle United on Saturday afternoon by Arsenal. Usually, in away matches that do not go their way, it is their defending that lets them down. While, in this case, their defending wasn’t anything to write home about, it was not their play without the ball that was the problem. It was their play with it.

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Specifically, the inability to evade the fairly soft, tentative press of Newcastle was completely hamstringing this team’s ability to build attacks from deep. From slow and tentative play by Petr Cech and the centre-backs to a lack of options, passing lanes and angles in midfield, Newcastle were able to hem Arsenal in without too much difficulty whatsoever.

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And then, in one tactical change at half-time, the whole complexion of the match changed. Suddenly, the match was almost exclusively played in Newcastle’s half, Arsenal controlled the pattern of play with extended periods of possession, and it was the hosts that couldn’t find an outlet against a pressing opponent. All this came about because of the introduction of Lucas Torreira, who was brought on in the place of Matteo Guendouzi at half-time.

There were three very plain, somewhat obvious but utterly brilliant, things that Torreira did in possession that had a huge impact on the collective play of the whole team: He played simple; he played fast; he played forward. It doesn’t sound like a lot, but it completely changed the match in Arsenal’s favour.

First, he played simple. Torreira did not complicate things. He did not force passes that weren’t there. He rarely tried to dribble past an opponent. He simply looked up, quickly surveyed the field, picked the best option to pass to, and passed the ball — he only played three long passes and 30 of his 31 total passes were on the ground. It sounds simple. It is simple. And it’s also extremely effective.

Second, he played fast. Unfortunately, I could find the statistics (if someone knows a way, then please correct me), but Torreira played a lot of his passes first or second time. He did not delay his release, he rarely dallied on the ball, and he looked to move the ball as quickly as possible, even if it was just a sideways pass to a full back or centre-half. Torreira provided tempo.

Finally, he played forwards. Of the 31 passes that Torreira completed, 21 were forwards. Guendouzi, who completed 41 passes, only managed four more forward passes than his replacement. Moreover, of Torreira’s 31 passes, seven targetted the final third. Of Guendouzi’s 41 passes, only five targetted the final third.

By doing these three things in possession, Torreira completely changed this game in Arsenal’s favour. They may not sound like much but they are all brilliant elements of his distribution that contrasted greatly to Guendouzi’s first-half troubles. Long may it continue.