Arteta’s Arsenal experiment has ran its course and must end

There were no great qualms over Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal lineup in the 4-0 defeat to Liverpool. Only one position was up for real debate and while there were cases to argue either way, the selection of Nuno Tavares wasn’t without merit.

In terms of formation it was relatively straightforward as well. The 4-2-2, 4-2-2-2 or 4-4-1-1 shape, however you want to put it, has brought some moderate success of late with the newfound strike partnership of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette.

Having Lacazette as the second striker who can harry, be a bit of a shi*thouse and get in the opponents’ faces has given Arsenal the lift they sorely needed from the Crystal Palace game onwards.

Coming into the team he brought a new energy and vigour. Acting as the No. 10 style glue that links midfield and attack, his reintroduction into the team has helped with building up through the thirds. The mini-revival since his involvement can’t go unheralded without mentioning his name.

Arteta’s Arsenal experiment has ran its course and it is time for Alexandre Lacazette to drop out of the Premier League team in the quest for creativity

It is, however, looking like this experiment has ran its course.

Pre-match it felt like the right selection to make. Lacazette is a player who laps up the big occasion and more often than not follows that through with a committed and effective display. At Anfield he had started in that fashion, ruffling Liverpool feathers, joining in with the press and getting himself about.

His usage was somewhat miscued, though. Aiming to be more of a midfielder than a striker on this occasion, he was neither here nor there with Arsenal lacking anything progressive in central areas, and as is customary his powers faded around the 60-65 minute mark. Fabinho had dominated him physically, even though he’d done OK considered the circumstances.

There have been inklings of his impact in the team starting to fade in recent outings. What he brought to the table in matches against Palace, Aston Villa and Leicester was an invigorating energy, bite and connection, something that has gradually drifted as the games have gone on.

Teams are recognising how the approach works, and managing their way around it. Watford’s three-man midfield found ways to nullify him, just as the Reds had too. In a general sense, he hasn’t been offering enough, especially in regards to attacking threat.

Arteta’s experiment brought about the desired result. This was a way of making Arsenal more cohesive and compact, but it’s time to change it.

And that means one thing.

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Time for Arsenal to Bring Martin Odegaard Back Into the Team

Praise needs to go to Arteta for making use of a player who would otherwise be raking in hefty weekly earnings only to occasionally get a start in the Carabao Cup. Equally, Lacazette has come in and brought new life into Arsenal when it would be easy to play out the final year of his deal in relative comfort.

As opposition teams familiarise themselves with the current setup and as Arsenal continue to struggle for creativity and threat  in attack, Martin Odegaard should be brought back into the fold.

One of the more startling statistics from the season so far is that Arsenal are averaging just 46.5% possession. Of course, game state impacts this as the times when Arsenal have got themselves in front they’ve proceeded to surrender control of the ball, yet even in those instances they need someone to wrestle back the initiative.

Odegaard is someone who when he’s on the ball has everyone in play. The passes around him are almost all viable options as he has the technical craft to not only thread the balls others can’t, but to also see them in the first place. Lacazette has been a temporary fix to a problem he isn’t designed to solve.

Introducing the Norwegian back into the fold won’t solve everything either. The issues of chance creation across this team aren’t solely down to choices of personnel. And while Odegaard still has to improve how he imposes himself in matches where Arsenal are losing a touch of control, the ‘solution’ each time this has happened over recent weeks has been to bring him on off the bench.

The role that Lacazette has been playing is more of the No. 10 than what the 22-year-old has been asked to adopt this season. Getting him higher up the pitch into the areas where Lacazette has been operating and putting more faith in the midfield duo of Sambi and Thomas Partey to progress from deeper may bring about valuable threat.

Does Odegaard need to do more though? Absolutely.

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Bringing Martin Odegaard Back Benefits Arsenal’s Future

Part of the reason for the introduction of Lacazette has been down to physicality: Odegaard is not a back-to-goal player like that.

Him being further forward doesn’t have to constitute that though, and instead will come down to having bodies at the right distances to keep the ball moving within the team. He needs to be influencing the game in the final third.

If you’re asking Odegaard to play a hold up role then you’re using him wrong. Bringing him back in for Lacazette wouldn’t be a like-for-like switch, as the system and shape of the team needs to differ in response.

What Arsenal do have in their possession is a brilliant creative midfielder with a sky-high ceiling. As helpful as Lacazette has been, the long-term solution to the creation issues are there to be solved by the 22-year-old signed over the summer for £30m instead of the 30-year-old set to leave for free in the summer.

This spell of games with Lacazette in the side was not set to last. Even when it was producing the better performances of the season against Aston Villa and Leicester it was never going to survive Premier League football for the entirety of 2021/22: teams find ways to counteract an ageing strikeforce and Lacazette’s inability to play beyond 65 minutes was never sustainable.

Drawing a line under the Liverpool match and forgetting its existence for a minute, this is a change that should still happen. On the quest to be more creative and to score more goals, however that might transpire it has more chance to happen with Odegaard in the team.

Most important of all, it’s more beneficial to the long-term future of Arsenal if it’s him.