WITH the media praising Arsenal’s early transfer business and with the obvious excitement over the addition of Gabriel Jesus, there will undoubtedly be pressure applied to Mikel Arteta.
As an ardent supporter of our cool Spanish manager I have no issue with it.
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta will have more pressure on him this year now he has completed his squad ‘jigsaw’Credit: GettyJesus and Arteta embrace following Arsenal’s pre-season game in NurembergCredit: Getty
Over several windows Arteta has been backed by the club and is now close to being able to call the squad entirely his own.
I am also fine with the level of expectation being raised because I know Arteta has the same goals for himself and his carefully assembled squad.
The new confidence I feel – and the reason for the acceptance of this new pressure on Arteta to deliver in 22-23 – is based on the obvious fact that the final pieces of the jigsaw have been, or are about to be, added to the squad.
Until now there have always been constraints on the formation and playing style, given the personnel he inherited.
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For too long Arteta played systems to suit the players he had available – 3-4-2-1 in 2019-20 to win the FA Cup or 4-2-3-1 in the main – whilst always wanting to play 4-3-3 with a pressing style.
Arsenal’s young coach has never made any secret of the fact he hoped to implement his own variation of 4-3-3 and as we approach the new season the final tools are in his box.
For a pressing 4-3-3 or 4-1-4-1 out of possession to be effective, all the attacking players must be willing and able to not only sustain pressure throughout a match but must also understand why they are doing so.
It is often about forcing the opposition to play the ball where you want them to by narrowing angles, as much as harrying to win back possession high up the pitch.
If you consider the front three in the 2020 FA Cup final of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Alexandre Lacazette and Nicolas Pepe, these were not players likely to be able or willing to adapt to Arteta’s desired philosophy.
The fact that, with so little experience, he adjusted his principles to find a system to suit those individuals and win was a huge credit to him in my view.
Last season, in the home straight we saw a glimpse of the desired system with Eddie Nketiah replacing Lacazette in the centre of the front three.
Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli, and Emile Smith Rowe all understood the press and were excellent exponents of it, with the fitness to sustain it.
They were joined by Martin Odegaard, the most advanced eight, whose middle name is ‘Press’.
Lacazette simply did not fit the profile of a pressing forward. He did not have the fitness or the inclination to do what the team needed.
And unless all the attacking players are synchronised and consistent the press will never work.
A vastly improved Nketiah was able to provide the missing link, but Arteta was obviously going to seek an upgrade or competitor for the young Englishman once he had committed to staying on the project.
So, whilst much of the fanbase were calling for a tall target man such as Ivan Toney or Dominic Calvert-Lewin, the Arsenal manager already knew the perfect man for the role he envisaged for his high pressing 4-3-3.
That man was a player he knew well from his time at Man City; Jesus.
Jesus, right, in discussion with Arsenal star man SakaCredit: Getty
A mobile, energetic number nine, who having played for Pep Guardiola for so long, would require no coaching for the role.
With Martinelli/Smith Rowe, Jesus/Nketiah, and Saka all backed up by Odegaard, Arteta now has a young, willing group of attacking players who can maintain the press in a coordinated fashion.
It’s a team able to pressurise the opposition into losing the ball in their own half or force them into passing long or centrally with Arsenal’s fullbacks backing up their wingers.
There may yet be another wide attacking addition to support those mentioned above and we now have Fabio Vieira to back up our potential new skipper Odegaard.
And with the new five substitution system, we will be able to play the way Arteta wants us to play for the whole 90 minutes, even if the personnel change in the second half.
Jesus is a game changer for Arteta, Arsenal, and the fanbase. He is the final piece in the jigsaw, and the reason our manager and we supporters should welcome the heightened pressure and expectation.
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The Brazilian is desperate to play in the World Cup later this year and, finally allowed to play in his preferred role, will, as his own manager has predicted, reap chaos.
So I think we will see quite a different Arsenal in 2022/23. And I cannot wait to see it.
Follow Dave Seager on Twitter @goonerdave66 for more views on Arsenal.
