Arsenal: Lessons to learn from Marcos Alonso usage

Marcos Alonso is a left back who plays like a left wing-back. Perhaps Arsenal and Hector Bellerin could learn some lessons in how Chelsea use their gung-ho defender.

In the increasingly astute and tactically aware modern game, it is natural for coaches and clubs to adopt the strategies of their opponents. The NFL is often described as being a ‘copycat league’. Well, football is beginning to, ironically, copy that characteristic. And so, it makes sense for Arsenal to perhaps look at what others are doing and borrow elements that they believe are productive and replicable.

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The Jurgen Klopp-Pep Guardiola style pressing has already swept through the Premier League. Antonio Conte and his three-at-the-back fetish has come and gone. Even the artistic luxury of an attacking midfielder is quickly being driven out of the game because of the copying of teams who have achieved success without them. This copying is something that Arsenal should continue to employ.

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Much of the Gunners’ troubles this season have stemmed from the way in which they use their full backs; the absence of a wide outlet to evade high-pressing opponents, the lethargic tempo at which they move the ball from central space to wide spaces, and the exposure that their positioning has caused on the counter-attack have all been detrimental to the shape and progress of the collective team. These issues are not necessarily the fault of Hector Bellerin and Nacho Monreal. They are a symptom of other, more deep-rooted causes embedded elsewhere.

Arguably, the best full back in the league is Marcos Alonso — he might not actually be the best, but he is certainly, alongside Benjamin Mendy, the most effective. The way in which Chelsea use him is fascinating, especially since Maurizio Sarri has re-installed a back four which should mean that Alonso is fielded as a more traditional full back, is something that Arsenal could learn from.

As this excellent piece by Mark Thompson details, Sarri is using Alonso like Conte was last season, as much as a wing back as a left back, even though he is using a 4-3-3 not the 3-4-3 or 3-5-2 that Conte used last season which naturally allows Alonso to push higher up the pitch. Since his move to Chelsea, Alonso has always been an attacking full back, but now he is doing so from a position that shouldn’t provide him with the freedom that he receives. So what is Sarri doing?

Well, the first thing to note is the make-up of the midfield three: Jorginho anchoring the midfield, flanked by N’Golo Kante and Matteo Kovacic. The latter pair is extremely athletic, able to cover vast spaces and fill in gaps that are vacated by other players, namely Alonso. Jorginho, meanwhile, is a rangy passer with great distribution. He allows Chelsea to build possession and give Alonso the time he needs to work his way up the pitch.

Contrast that to the trio that Emery has been trotting out: Granit Xhaka and Matteo Guendouzi, neither of which have either the natural engine and athleticism of Kante or Kovacic, and Aaron Ramsey, who is far less disciplined and is equally as desperate to be unshackled and allowed to roam free as the full back who he could be covering for. Where the Chelsea midfield is composed such that it allows Alonso to almost recklessly bomb forward as he pleases, the Arsenal midfield does not offer the same protection and structure for Bellerin and Monreal.

The other element that Sarri has included is a greater balance between both his full backs. While Alonso is busy surging his way into the penalty area on the left flank, on the right, Cesar Azpilicueta, a man who played almost two full seasons at centre-half and is probably the best defender in the Premier League, is far more reserved and cautious in his positioning. That is not to say that Azpilicueta does not get forward. He does. But he does so with a greater awareness and defensive mindfulness than Alonso, as likely instructed by Sarri.

Again, Arsenal do not have the same set-up. Both Bellerin and Monreal push as high up the pitch as is humanly possible, frequently getting to the byline and into the penalty area, very much akin to Alonso and not Azpilicueta. They also do so at the same time, as evidenced by Monreal’s goal against West Ham United. That leaves spaces down both flanks for an already exposed centre-half pair and unathletic midfield to cover against the counter-attack. It is not, as I’m sure you are quite aware, a good plan of action.

As Alonso and Chelsea prove, it is possible to have a bombarding wing-back, essentially, as a component of a back four. But there have to be plans in place to allow such an overloading, attacking approach to not unhinge and undermine other areas of the pitch. Arsenal are yet to learn how to master that, but a quick look across the capital could solve their problems.