Arsenal vs Brentford: 4 tactical improvements needed

Arsenal travel to Brentford on Friday and while supporters haven’t had much reason to be especially confident supporting the club of late, that might have reached new depths heading into this one.

But it’s Brentford? They’ve just been promoted from the Championship and are playing in their first top-flight fixture since the 1940s? All of which is true, and all of which is entirely irrelevant if Arsenal don’t turn up. Thomas Frank has built a very strong side.

In terms of the lineup it’s pretty straightforward. We’re fairly certain of a Sambi Lokonga and Granit Xhaka midfield pivot, just as we are of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Emile Smith Rowe and Nicolas Pepe filling three of the four forwards positions.

Throw in a back five with Ben White that picks itself and the player flexibility at Mikel Arteta’s disposal isn’t especially reassuring. In forward departments it can be if Bukayo Saka is given a start, which is far from out of the realms of possibility. It’s urged.

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Arsenal vs Brentford: 4 tactical improvements needed from Mikel Arteta’s side for opening Premier League fixture on Friday

Thus looking at the side as we expect it, one almost identical to last season’s only with a younger David Luiz in the team and a 21-year-old yet to taste Premier League football, what improvements in terms of style and approach will need to be implemented?

As a coach – he’s classed as a manager but what the players do on the pitch is his key responsibility – it’s Arteta’s job to extract the best out of what he has. Edu can focus on not buying James Maddison or waiting too long to secure a backup goalkeeper.

There is more to come from this team. Numerous mistakes were made last season by the manager that didn’t paint the best version of the players he has, and now it’s time he showed the world why he’s so highly regarded.

For Friday there are some improvements that have to be on display in order to secure a positive result. They’re issues within the team’s style that require work and can be carried through across the whole season, but for Frank’s men these tactical alterations are urged.

1. Maintain Penalty Box Presence & Centrality

If it is going to be Alexandre Lacazette starting up front for Arsenal then this issue differs from having Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang leading the line.

All are familiar with Lacazette’s desire to drop deep and facilitate play from in front of the opposition back four, but in doing so and feeding players out wide, it leaves a gaping hole in the penalty box. He can’t do both.

Just as Kieran Tierney’s deliveries are the best at the club they’re also the worst in terms of finding a target…because there is nobody to aim for. His hold up play is strong, and while he isn’t the type to thread a pass through the eye of a needle, he can feed those in wide areas.

It’s a remit he fulfills but systematically adds nothing to the team.

Should the captain start at centre-forward then Emile Smith Rowe needs to maintain centrality in that zone. Always available for a pass in every advanced area, the return of hoofing the ball into the box against Tottenham will bear no fruit here.

Brentford may opt for a back three, one containing physically imposing and aerially strong centre-backs. The width needs providing from the full-backs who are being fed by the midfielders, not the striker. Occupying two of the three central defenders allows the width to pull wing-backs and one of the three out of position, which then opens the space.

A Lacazette No. 10 with Smith Rowe supplementing full-backs out wide will do little to trouble the Bees.

2. Allow Ben White to Switch the Play

Having someone who can drive out of the his own penalty box up until the halfway line was one of the key reasons behind Arsenal pursuing Ben White so heavily this window.

Those carries and zipped passes along the turf can move Arsenal from phase one into phase three with pace. They aid in recycling the ball with greater tempo and reduce predictability in trying to get the ball into the final third.

Arsenal are so painfully slow at doing this.

But beyond that, the need to isolate defenders in a back three system becomes paramount. Operating as the right sided centre-back, creating overloads on that side of the pitch becomes a crucial component in opening the gaps for Tierney or whomever plays at left-winger to make the out to in runs.

It’s no new formula to exposing spaces against a three/five-man defence. This has been adopted on numerous occasions before. However, Arsenal do so in phase two and three, by which stage the opposition are in shape and given time to lace their boots. So often the horseshoe passing patterns with Xhaka in the centre dragged on without any penetration.

Having a central defender who can hit those diagonals, or at least find the feet of the forward players who can shift the ball on economically, is a valuable asset.

3. Find the Forwards in the Right Spaces

Why do Arsenal not score enough goals? Is it because there aren’t enough goals in midfield? Is it because Thomas Partey can’t hit a barn door with a banjo?

It boils down to chance creation.

Nobody cares who scores so long as the goals arrive. In Aubameyang and Nicolas Pepe there are goals. Throw in Saka and Smith Rowe who, despite an unwillingness to heap pressure on them, need to start finding the back of the net more frequently. There is confidence in them to do so. They’ve got all the tools.

Pepe won’t be creating chances – he statistically ranks among the lowest in the group – so him picking up the ball on the touchline or anywhere other than in and around the penalty box does nothing for him nor Arsenal. He has to be found in the right zones, just as the rest.

It comes down to balance and combination. So long as there is a symmetry of penalty box arrivals, athleticism, runs in behind, off-ball movement, take-ons and connectivity, the players on the pitch will be in the right spaces to have shots and create chances.

The right personnel is key; without a stable forward line that doesn’t lean more towards one profile the use of space is nullified. Without that, Arsenal are left with players treading on each other’s toes in areas that don’t trouble the opposition.

4. Play Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang at Centre-Forward

It does get somewhat frustrating continuously wanting the best No. 9 at the club to be played at No. 9.

There are those who point to his successes being fielded out on the left in previous renditions of Arteta’s Arsenal, yet in those prior setups the emphasis remained on him being a low-touch player. Why? Because he is.

This isn’t someone who made his career on being involved in every facet of build-up and picking the ball up on the touchline ready to beat his man. Aubameyang isn’t a wall-pass option to aid others. He needs helping more than anyone and being thrust out into wide areas limits any attacking output.

Following on from the previous point, there are better options to be collecting the ball in the half-spaces when faced with a deep block than Aubameyang. It’s having the right personnel with the right balance in the right zones.

Put your striker in a position where his few touches are of use. Far from as hopeless in linking play as he is often criticised for, having him in central zones and playing on the shoulders of defenders is where he can do damage.

Against an expected back three, it won’t be down to him to pull defenders out of position laterally, and instead to stretch them. His pace hasn’t gone and the diminishing responsibility of playing vertically is hindering his output. Arteta has to return to using him that way.