- 5 minutes ago
This video examines how Mikel Arteta utilizes his squad depth to change games. We analyze the statistics and tactics behind Arsenal's successful substitute performances, questioning if the bench is their biggest asset.
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00:0080 minutes into the game against Nottingham Forest and Arsenal, the champions of England, haven't had a single shot on
00:05target.
00:06That is until Nani Madueke, a half-time substitute for Eberre, Eze cuts him from the left, hits it with
00:12his right and the ball's in the back of the net.
00:14Arsenal's only shot on target, all three points in the bag.
00:17Eight days earlier, Arsenal are 1-0 down to Leeds. Bruno Guimaraes comes off the bench and scored the winner
00:22six minutes later.
00:24None of this is new. In fact, Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has a name for these players, finishers.
00:29But how does it keep happening? Is it more than just luck? And if so, it begs the question, is
00:34Arsenal's best team actually the one that starts the game or finishes the job?
00:42After that win at Forest recently, Arteta said Arsenal's depth would be the key to defending their title.
00:47That's a bold claim from a team that didn't have a shot on target for 80 minutes.
00:50But last season's numbers actually do back that sentiment up.
00:54Arsenal won the league, as we know, and their top goal scorer was Victor Jokeres with 14.
00:59That is the joint lowest total in Premier League history of a title-winning top scorer.
01:06Now, normally when a team wins the title, there's a guy, like the main man, 20 to 30 goals, his
01:12own chant and a statue being readied.
01:15Arsenal won it with something closer to a committee.
01:18Saka and Eze with seven apiece, Trossard with six, Zubimendi with five, and so on.
01:23But the question isn't actually where did the goals come from.
01:27It's how did they arrive?
01:29Well, part of the answer was, as the premise of this entire video alludes to, sitting in the dugout.
01:35They scored 121 goals in all competitions, and 24 of them came from substitutes.
01:41Add the assist, and it's actually 40 goal contributions from the bench, a total bettered only by Bayern Munich across
01:48Europe's big five leagues last season.
01:50That's roughly one goal in every five, and it wasn't even just one super sub carrying the load.
01:55By March, eight different players had scored off the bench.
01:57The point I'm making here is that these substitute goals of late aren't brand new.
02:03Since the start of last season, Arsenal have racked up 28 goals from players who have come on.
02:09That's eight more than the closest challengers, Brighton and Chelsea.
02:13Plenty of clubs have a good bench, sure.
02:15But what's the difference?
02:17Well, Arsenal are winning the league.
02:19Their bench wasn't a late rescue service when their ideas had failed,
02:22but rather a fully developed thought of plan of how they would go on and win games when the situation
02:28called for it.
02:29The truth is, Arsenal are never looking to survive a game.
02:31They're looking to win it, and what that does is bring me to my next question.
02:35What exactly is this plan, and how does Mikel Arteta account for it when looking at his next opponent?
02:44The finish is delivered because the game changed.
02:47That's Mikel Arteta after the Forest game, and it's not a throwaway line.
02:50It's the whole plan in seven words.
02:53Finishers is a rugby union idea.
02:55Basically, players who start on the bench and come on to change the game,
02:58not just replace someone for the sake of it.
02:59And Arteta has said that they can matter more than the starters.
03:03Last season in Bilbao, Gabriel Martinelli scored within a minute of coming on,
03:06and the manager said afterwards that he looked at him on the bench and could see in his eye that
03:10he was ready.
03:11After the West Ham win towards the back end of last season,
03:14he told the players at half-time that if the game wasn't going the way it needed,
03:17they'd have to change it.
03:18And they did.
03:19Trossard came on, and the finisher made the difference.
03:22Having to substitute someone almost denotes that the game has gone wrong.
03:25It needs changing.
03:26But what Arteta is suggesting is that the finishers are finishing the game rather than starting,
03:30as they have specific roles in both their tactical efforts and what they individually bring to the team.
03:36Forest defended in a shape like a Christmas tree, his words, not mine, with no space to play through.
03:42He knew that if Arsenal hadn't scored in the first 30 minutes, Forest weren't going to change,
03:46because they believed that with the clean sheet still intact, they were doing well, so they wouldn't change things.
03:51It meant that the plan was then about patience, taking more risks as the game went on,
03:56and believing that once the physical level dropped towards the end of the game, that the spaces would open up.
04:01And what happened?
04:01A big victory on the road on a ground where they haven't won in the past two seasons.
04:05However, if this all seems a little bit vague and surface level,
04:09let's dig deeper into the actual personnel making the difference once they've been sent on by Arteta,
04:14because they fall into three distinct categories.
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04:49Right then, back to the video.
04:54The first is the tactical switch.
04:57Nony Madueke, being predominantly a right-sided player and left-footed,
04:59brought a big tactical change to the left-hand side when replacing Eze.
05:03It changed the angle of attack for Arsenal.
05:05Maybe it influenced how Calafiore decided to overlap or underlap,
05:08and it definitely changed how Nottingham Forest full-back Daniel Munoz decided to deal with it.
05:13After the match, Madueke said he'd gone down the outside too many times,
05:16so decided to switch it up and come inside.
05:18If you're Munoz, you probably don't mind showing him onto his weaker foot.
05:21Until he scores, that is.
05:23The next way these finishers change games is the personnel switch,
05:26whereby the incoming player brings something completely different.
05:29This is what worked so well for Mikel Moreno in the past,
05:32a midfielder sent on as an auxiliary striker with a completely different skill set to have at Sojokeres.
05:37And the third is a combination of all of these to change the game.
05:40A team that has spent an hour dealing with one version of Arsenal,
05:43and maybe looking to hold on to a point,
05:45then suddenly faces an entirely different game plan,
05:48due to multiple subs, different runners, different positions, different problems.
05:52It's often just too much to figure out on the spot, and none of this is random.
05:56Arteta's stated approach is simple.
05:57If the game isn't panning out, change it.
05:59But how often do they actually get the final say?
06:03Do Arsenal really win plenty of games late,
06:05or are we just remembering a few season-defining goals?
06:08And is it a two?
06:11I mean, let's count the points recently.
06:13In eight days this month,
06:14Arsenal won two games through players who didn't start against Leeds and Forest.
06:18That's six points from the bench.
06:19Is it luck, or is it a pattern?
06:21Last season suggests it's definitely a pattern.
06:24Arsenal scored 52 goals in the first half of games,
06:26and 69 after the break, including 11 in second half stoppage time.
06:30That includes Dalman's record-breaking goal,
06:32and have its late goal against Chelsea in the Carabao Cup semis.
06:35Now, second halves do usually produce more goals for everyone,
06:38so 57% doesn't prove much.
06:40There's sharper numbers on the bench, though,
06:42because 24 of Arsenal's 69 came from substitutes,
06:45around roughly a third.
06:47Interestingly, Man City were bottom of the table for goals and assists by subs.
06:51But a good bench alone doesn't make Arsenal special.
06:53Data compiled by OptraAnalysis in March of last year
06:56found that Villa Brighton and Bournemouth
06:58had won more points from substitute contributions than Arsenal.
07:00It's sort of like Arteta isn't planning and deciding
07:03who is best 11-R or who earned the shirt,
07:06but thinking to himself,
07:07if the game pans out like this,
07:09who do I need or want on the pitch when the game is decided?
07:12However, there is a big problem with all of this.
07:15If the best team, or the match-winning team, let's say,
07:17is the one that finishes,
07:19someone's got to start the game and sit out the ending,
07:21and it flips everything we thought about
07:23a player's perceived value in the squad hierarchy.
07:25So who pays for it?
07:30Last season, Victor Jokeres scored 21 goals for Arsenal,
07:33more than anyone else at the club,
07:34and this season hasn't started a Premier League game.
07:37He told Swedish broadcaster SVT that he's frustrated,
07:40and since then, there have been reports
07:41that he could push for a move in January.
07:43Questions have also been raised about what Eze needs to do
07:46to almost prove his worth to the club,
07:48bar his biannual masterclass in the North London derby.
07:51Jokeres starting and not scoring
07:54means he'll more than likely be subbed in order to change the game
07:56and won't be the one on the pitch when they win
07:59or even score the winning goal.
08:00On the flip side,
08:01he might be on the bench when the first half does the job
08:03and he isn't needed at all.
08:05This all points to the very underrated skill of Mikel Arteta,
08:08keeping an entire squad of highly paid expenses superstars,
08:12not only happy for the most part,
08:14but also buying into what he's doing.
08:16That's why these stars can sit on the bench
08:18and the system still works.
08:20Other clubs would have big names knocking down the manager's door,
08:22demanding to get on from the off.
08:24Jokeres is frustrated.
08:26Eze's taken off at half time,
08:27but Arsenal still keep winning.
08:29So if the stars can sit on the bench
08:31and the system still works,
08:33is Arsenal's best team really in the dugout?
08:36Honestly, no.
08:38Because Arteta never picks one team.
08:40He doesn't have the best team.
08:41He has an entire squad who have two major jobs to combat.
08:45Take the lead and if not,
08:47survive the first hour,
08:48keep the game in range and wear down the opponent.
08:50Then, get the right players in the right positions
08:52to change the game and make it count.
08:55The first XI may be the opening act,
08:57but increasingly more often,
08:58the finishers are the main event.
09:00The next XI may be the most important part.
09:01.
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