Arsenal Vs Crystal Palace: 5 things we learned – Old habits die hard

3. The importance of line-breaking passes

Arsenal started superbly. They scored the opening goal with a sweeping move, pressed well to recover possession when they lost it, and moved it quickly when they did have it to break out of their own defensive third and control the game as a result.

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But as the first half wore on, especially in the latter 20 minutes, Crystal Palace stopped sitting off their visitors, pushed up the pitch, and pressed with more intensity. During this period, Arsenal struggled to play through Roy Hodgson’s side, an increasing number of passes played between the centre-backs and goalkeeper as a result.

Put simply, fewer forward balls were played into Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Alexandre Lacazette and Mesut Ozil, inviting pressure in deep areas, and eventually succumbing to lumped clearances which usually result in a turnover. But when Arsenal did have control of the game, it was often due to David Luiz, Lucas Torreira or Granit Xhaka playing forward passes to progress the play.

Playing out from the back is the correct approach from Mikel Arteta. Successful teams must be able to do it to control games. But it must also feature the right type of passes, passes to break opposition lines. Without them, the facade of control only grows.