Arsenal Vs Liverpool: Beware the press, at both ends

Arsenal host Liverpool on Saturday evening in a crucial Premier League contest. Unai Emery and his players must be acutely aware of the threat the press poses, at both ends of the pitch.

The modern game is all about pressing. How to execute it. How to counter it. How to play through it, around it, over it. It was pressing the Jurgen Klopp so brilliantly used to dismantle Pep Guardiola’s tika-taka dominance. It was pressing that led to Guardiola’s inexorable success in the first place, even if it was accompanied by relentlessly controlling possession. And it is pressing that now pervades through almost all of the best teams in the world.

Catch the latest episode of the Pain in the Arsenal podcast right here

When Unai Emery arrived at Arsenal in the summer, the first word out of his mouth was ‘pressing’ — it wasn’t actually his first word, but you get the gist. He was intent on his players being two things: protagonists, as he called them, on the ball, and incessantly hungry without it.

More from Pain in the Arsenal

Although those two ideas are still yet to fully come to fruition, it is noticeable how Arsenal have intensified their hounding and harassing of opposing defenders, and how they have worked on being able to contain and carve through opponent’s pressing schemes, something that they struggled with greatly in the latter Arsene Wenger years. Emery understands the importance of the high press, and also recognises that it is essential that his players both know how to conduct it and counter it.

That is something that he shares with Saturday’s opponent. There have been few proponents for the high press in the modern game like Jurgen Klopp. He labels it ‘heavy metal’ football. He wants — demands — his teams to play at an extremely high energy level, outrunning their opponents with sheer industry and weight of will. It is something that the Liverpool style has been built on since his arrival three years ago.

When Arsenal face the masters of the press on Saturday, both in regards of pressing the opponent and in being able to beat it, they must beware the threat that it poses, at both ends of the pitch. Liverpool have a penchant for carving through teams with slick, slicing football, scoring with tremendous speed and frightening frequency. If Emery and his players are not careful, they could very easily get caught out.

This comes when they are pressing Liverpool: the front three of Mohamed Salah, Saido Mane and Roberto Firmino almost invite the opposition to play a high line and attempt to squeeze the pitch as it provides them with more room to work in if a more direct, longer pass is played into them from deep.

And this comes when Liverpool are pressing them: there are few teams that have the cleverness in transition to first doggedly win the ball back in advanced areas of the pitch and then immediately parse open the defence with just one or two extremely quick passes like Liverpool.

Klopp’s team really is the master of the high press, in its execution and in how they play against it. Emery will want to press his visitors at the weekend. And his team will also be pressed incessantly. It is crucial, therefore, that they are acutely aware of the threat that it poses, at both ends of the pitch. This really is a fascinating match-up.