Arsenal: Unai Emery must embrace the modern midfield

Unai Emery has some wonderfully intriguing options in central midfield, but for Arsenal to be successful this season, he must embrace a modern set-up.

With Arsenal’s attack looking potent and their defense a noted vulnerability, it could be the midfield that will make or break this upcoming season. With a large variety of midfielders at his disposal, Unai Emery will have some vital choices to make to ensure that Arsenal can find the form that has eluded them over the last several years.

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After years of lacking the bite in midfield but possessing the skill and creativity, the tides have turned entirely. Emery’s three most relied upon midfielders all play the same position: defensive midfield. Several years after Alex Song left, with Arsenal fans tiring of Francis Coquelin and in need of a stalwart in the heart of midfield reminiscent of Patrick Viera, Arsene Wenger caved to the pressure of the public and splashed £35 million on a promising Swiss midfielder named Granit Xhaka.

It soon became apparent that Xhaka possessed some impressive skills, such as his ability to hit a long ball or whip in freekicks, but his mental lapses and lack of athleticism severely damaged his claim to playing the defensive position alone in the most competitive league in world football. From that season on, Arsenal have failed to qualify for the Champions League every year, and even as Emery took the reigns of the club from Wenger last summer, it became apparent that the defensive midfield position was one that he needed to address.

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In his first summer at the club, Emery invested £25 million into a proven tenacious holding midfielder in Lucas Torreira, as well as bringing in Matteo Guendouzi who immediately exceeded expectations and instantly became a first-team regular. This all led to the conundrum in midfield that Arsenal found themselves in last season. To many fans, it just seemed like Xhaka’s occasional poor performances were what undid all the progress, but there is a lot more to it than that, and to just blame Xhaka is unfair.

To put it simply, Emery essentially played with two defensive midfielders at all times, rotating between Torreira, Guendouzi and Xhaka fairly equally. Playing this way severely limited Arsenal’s ability to effectively occupy and attack space, which is vital in modern football. With the two midfielders generally staying at home and not joining forward in attack, Arsenal’s attackers were often left isolated or easily marked by defenders, since the opposition never had to be wary of an incoming run from midfield as Xhaka, Guendouzi and Torreira are all mediocre dribblers.

Aaron Ramsey performed this role at times, although Emery was rightfully hesitant to over-rely on a player who would be leaving at the end of the season and injuries scuppered his consistency throughout the year. Arsenal essentially had a stagnant midfield. Although the midfield rotated a fair amount, it was generally Torreira, Xhaka and Mesut Ozil who started together. Torreira did his job (as he always does) and stayed at home winning balls, while Xhaka stood right next to him and tried to pass his way out of anything without committing himself forward or contributing himself much on the defensive end. This left Ozil incredibly isolated.

Yes, Ozil deserves plenty of blame for the way he has performed over the course of the season, but this team was built for him to fail. Ozil and Xhaka don’t fit. They both feed off mobile teammates who can draw in defenders and create space for them. When they are both together, there is a lot of standing around, resulting in a lack of options on the ball and greater pressure from the opposition, which, eventually, leads to mistakes being made. They are both relatively immobile and poor defenders, and Emery cannot have any more than one player like this on the field at a time.

The only problem is that he often chose the wrong one to put on the field. Xhaka was maybe Arsenal’s most consistent starter playing something resembling a box-to-box role without the same offensive output. Xhaka was given the green light to play in a position where the team need someone athletic and intelligent, which Xhaka is not. Ozil’s lack of physicality is obviously concerning, but it is hidden away somewhat in the attacking midfield position as opposed to the heart of the midfield where Xhaka plays.

As the new season looms, Arsenal have made one key midfield acquisition: Dani Ceballos. It was the perfect move (as perfect as a loan deal can get), finally getting a skilled box-to-box midfielder who can maneuver out of traffic and push the ball downfield to start counter-attacks, as well as picking his pass from deep. He is the closest thing the team has had to Santi Cazorla since he played his last game in 2016.

When Cazorla was in the midifield, we saw a different Mesut Ozil. The space that Cazorla would create with his crafty dribbling and shiftiness would be eagerly occupied by Ozil, who feeds off talented and creative teammates. When Cazorla left, it was no surprise that Ozil’s performances deteriorated. Ozil needs intelligent, quick and technical teammates –, just like Ceballos — to help his attacking ingenuity come to the fore. The same is true for Xhaka, to an extent.

If positioned together correctly, there is the chance that Arsenal could finally have a modern midfield, with intelligent, interchanging, mobile players filling out each role in a cohesive manner. But if Emery puts Ceballos in the attacking midfield role in pre-season, as he did with Ramsey at times last season, this could backfire.

As of now, Emery may well prefer the presence Xhaka over Ozil, especially given that the former is ostensibly the leading captain. But Xhaka is a limited player. Defensive alertness and decent athleticism and mobility are necessities in his position, and he has neither. Ozil, on the other hand, can play at a significantly higher level, as he has shown at times in the past. Ceballos’ skill, intelligence and drive will help Ozil tremendously and could be the key to unlocking arguably Arsenal’s most gifted player.

An Arsenal midfield of Torreira, Ceballos and Ozil would be a well-rounded trio, a sharp contrast from what we saw last year. However, I still fear that Emery has the desire to foolishly play with two defensive midfielders at the same time behind Ceballos. The move would likely see Torreira and Xhaka play behind him, and although Ceballos in very capable as an attacking midfielder, he, like Ramsey is much better suited to a progressing box-to-box role, not the as the creative fulcrum.

No successful team in the world plays with two defensive midfielders at the same time. Chelsea tried it with Jorginho, pushing N’Golo Kante higher up the pitch. Iit severely hindered a team that underperformed greatly for the talent at its disposal. Manchester City and Liverpool have interchanging central midfields that have two mobile, creative players that flank a lone holding player.

This season, Emery is blessed with a plethora of midfield options. Given the talent at his disposal, if he gets it right, Arsenal could be set for a promising campaign; if he makes the same mistakes as last season, however, trouble will come.