Arsenal: The most important aspect to fix

Arsenal have committed more ‘high turnovers’ than any other team in the Premier League this season. If there is one aspect of their play that is the most important to fix, this is it.

Santi Cazorla was a uniquely brilliant central midfielder. Having developed as a wide attacker with terrific close control and slaloming dribbling skills, when he dropped deeper, into a central midfield role, he used these rare qualities to progress Arsenal up the pitch, receiving the ball under pressure, spinning away from futile, would-be challengers, and dribbling or passing forwards into more advanced areas of the pitch.

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Ever since his horrific ankle injury in late-2016, his absence has been hard-felt. The Gunners have been consistently unable to play forwards when in possession, pressed into submission because their midfielders have lacked the ability to dribble past opponents and progress the play. This is why there was such adulation over Dani Ceballos’ home debut against Burnley.

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This season, I was hoping that Unai Emery would be able to solve this pressure-evading shortcoming. However, the early signs are not positive. The north London outfit struggled to play through Newcastle United until the second half, the Magpies compact as they sat high up the pitch in the first half, space only opening up in the latter stages, while Burnley and Liverpool both caused them serious problems, both limiting the control that the Gunners could exert through extended periods of possession and forcing turnovers high up the pitch.

That latter statistic is something that Opta have tracked this season. As the below graphic painfully highlights, Arsenal currently lead the Premier League in high turnovers committed as well as conceding over 0.5 XG from the shots that result from these turnovers:

The weakness against high-pressing opponents reverberates throughout matches. Because Arsenal cannot play through the high press, they struggle to provide attacking foundations for their talented strikeforce, forced into long, aimless clearances that are difficult to control.

Moreover, their possession stats fall as a result, unable to protect the ball, meaning that the already unconvincing defence faces relentless waves of attacks, and they concede more shots on goal as the opposition are winning the ball back closer to the goal, rather than deep in their own half, at which point Emery’s side can reorganise and get into a solid, defensive shape.

If there was one aspect of the team’s performance that could be improved to have the greatest impact on the overall level of the team, it would be this: the ability to play out from the back, to exert control on matches as a result, and to avoid committing turnovers deep in their own territory.

At present, fixing this seems a long way off. Emery has shown little ability to construct a pressure-beating system, many of the players are not good enough to take responsibility for beating the press, while Cazorla is now playing in Spain. How Arsenal could do with a prime Santi.