Can Arsenal only score against a high press?

The three goals Arsenal scored against Southampton were encouragingly varied. When you’re a team that struggles to hit the back of the net as it is, you’ll take whatever you can get.

Gabriel’s second half header took Arsenal’s tally in the season up to 21 from 15 games, a rate that if continued will see the Gunners score just over 53, two fewer than they managed across the entirety of last season.

It’s a figure that has to improve, although the signs aren’t overly encouraging that they will.

Fortunately, the addition of Nicolas Jover over the summer is helping in that regard. That’s now eight goals scored from set pieces for Mikel Arteta’s side, two more than the whole of last season, and in 23 fewer matches.

https://twitter.com/Arsenal/status/1470004843599495168

Can Arsenal only score against a high press? Mikel Arteta’s struggles to coach attacking play in phase two of the build-up is a growing concern

What about the rest, though? The opening goal against the Saints was a thing of beauty, going from back to front in majestic fashion and scything through a high press that had caused serious issues in the opening 20 minutes. It’s a goal all teams would love to score and one Arteta instructs his side to create when building out from the back.

It’s also one that they can’t score unless Southampton adopt their approach. Playing out methodically from the back and taking those risks is only effective when the opposition position themselves to be played through. When teams don’t do that, you end up with the tepid and laborious football seen at Goodison Park.

Breaking down the numbers, that’s now 13 goals in 15 games that weren’t scored from set pieces. Is the only way Arsenal can score from open play when they break through a high press?

The answer is neither a definitive yes nor no. It sure helps, though.

Blowing teams away in the opening stages of matches was a welcome trend that was set during the ten-game unbeaten run, on which occasions it was the Gunners’ own counter-pressing and intensity that paid dividends. But looking across the majority of the goals being scored, the amount that have come in transitional moments when winning the ball back tells its own story about the side’s struggles to create from attack vs defend situations.

On the occasions they have scored against teams sitting low and asking to be broken down, they quality of the opponent is brought into question: Watford, Newcastle and Everton spring to mind. The odd fortunate bounce here or decision in their favour helped.

There is an interesting contrast emerging. Previously, sides would find joy coming on to Arsenal and getting in their faces, whereas now that approach is one that enhances the Gunners’ chances of scoring. Sitting deep and frustrating, Arsenal struggle to build patterns in the final third where they aren’t presented with spaces to play into.

With so much emphasis on spacing, positioning and decision-making deep in their own half, once the opposition only begin engaging in phase two it means Arsenal’s vague attacking principles offer little threat.

Scoring only a handful of goals from spells of extended possession in the final two thirds of the pitch, as far as Premier League data points needed to work out how to nullify the Gunners’ threat, there are plenty for opposing sides to choose from: how do you stop Arsenal scoring? Give them the ball.

It’s been evident across the season that Arteta has not managed to coach effective phase two play. The quest to score goals you can frame over the fireplace has too much reliance on being engaged in phase one in order to progress.

Circumnavigating that requires extensive work on the training pitch as it’s one of the prime areas where Arsenal look weakest. Up until this point, the team has to be grateful for Jover’s set piece work. It needs backing up.