Arsenal: Swapping players insignifcant; swapping plans crucial

Freddie Ljungberg took charge of his first Arsenal game on Sunday afternoon, a 2-2 draw with Norwich City. The game told a very clear story: swapping players is insignificant; swapping plans is crucial.

When Freddie Ljungberg’s first team selection was unveiled an hour before Arsenal’s 2-2 draw with Norwich City on Sunday afternoon, there was an audible gasp rippling through the fanbase. It was the same. The anticipated changes that were made never came.

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Once the game got underway and Arsenal’s patterns of play unfolded, it was clear that Ljungberg had worked on some things in the 48 hours that he had to prepare the team. There was a greater attacking onus, some positional rotation in the final third, and a clear focus on possession and control, rather than commanding the game through transitions. But the result was the same: a disappointing result.

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This has been the case throughout the Unai Emery era. While fans bemoaned Emery’s banishing of certain players, confusing use of others, and generally puzzling tinkering and team selections, the results often remained the same. It did not matter who he played and where he played them, the team played at a very similar level.

Lucas Torreira was not much more effective when played in defensive midfield or as a box-to-box player, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazaette scored goals whether central, out wide, as a lone centre-forward or as a part of a pair. Since being reinstated to the team, Mesut Ozil has had little impact on the team. The defence is still a major issue, despite the introduction of Kieran Tierney and the returns of Rob Holding, Hector Bellerin and even Shkodran Mustafi, who Ljungberg surprisingly thrust into action at the weekend, presumably immediately with regret.

Obviously, what players you play and the positions you play them make a difference. This is football, a game that is played by players. It would ludicrous to suggest that where you play them does not have an impact on the overall performance of the team. But in Arsenal’s case, there is something to the lack of change that changing the players enacted.

The overall point is much more foundational: it is not the players that need to be swapped, and the positions that they play in, it is the plans. Put simply, the Gunners rarely had a positive, progressive, beneficial plan that made the best of their players’ abilities. So when you swapped the players and where they played, all you were doing is replacing one ineffective piece for another.

If you are making a cake with the right ingredients but using the wrong recipe, swapping the ingredients for other, right ingredients will not fix the cake. You have to change the entire recipe. This the problem at Arsenal. Swapping the players is futile. It is reshuffling the pieces to a puzzle that does not fit.

As Ljungberg looks to lead the team forward, he must focus more on his underlying plans than the players he is picking. As Emery proved, changing players and positions does not matter if the plan itself is rubbish. And Arsenal’s plan is rubbish. They need new plans, and until they have them, nothing else will move the needle.