Thursday 30 September 2010

Assists of the Week - Sunday 26th September 2010

Serie A dominates this week's selection, my personal favourite being Andrea Lazzari's delightful outside-of-the-boot throughball in Cagliari's 2-4 defeat to Juventus.

Wednesday 29 September 2010

Manchester United Attacking Statistics 2007/2008

(Click on tabs underneath to see different categories)



Standout attacking performances:

Carlos Tevez
2 goals, 1 assist
Man Utd 6-0 Newcastle

Cristiano Ronaldo
1 goal2 key passes
Sunderland 0-4 Man Utd (Premier League)

Cristiano Ronaldo
3 goals
Man Utd 6-0 Newcastle (Premier League)

Cristiano Ronaldo
2 goals, 1 assist
Newcastle 1-5 Man Utd (Premier League)

Cristiano Ronaldo
1 goal, 3 assists
Man Utd 4-0 Villa (Premier League)

Cristiano Ronaldo
2 goals, 1 assist
Man Utd 4-1 West Ham (Premier League)

Cristiano Ronaldo
2 goals, 1 key pass
Dynamo Kiev 2-4 Man Utd (Champions League)

Nani
1 goal, 2 assists
Man Utd 4-0 Arsenal (FA Cup)

Wayne Rooney
1 goal, 1 assist, 1 key pass
Man Utd 4-0 Wigan (Premier League)

Wayne Rooney
1 goal, 2 assists
Man Utd 4-1 Middlesbrough (Premier League)

Wayne Rooney
2 goals, 1 assist, 1 key pass
Newcastle 1-5 Man Utd (Premier League)

Monday 27 September 2010

Arsenal 2-3 West Brom - A Comedy of Errors

Not much to say about this defeat really, for 70 mins Arsenal put on a textbook display of how to lose a football match in a game that they were really expected to win quite comfortably.

Some grim stats:

-Eboue completed 8/15 passes in 56 minutes

-3/10 of Arshavin's corners found a teammate

-Nasri completed 1 pass into the box (a corner)

-Song won 5/11 tackles

-Eboue and Rosicky attempt 0 tackles; Koscielny and Diaby lost the 2 tackles they each attempted

-Clichy lost 6/7 aerial duels

-Nasri attempted 10 shots; the next highest was Sagna with 4; Chamakh and Arshavin managed 3 apiece in 90 minutes

-West Brom had 5 shots on target during the match, they scored from 3 of them; Arsenal had 6 shots on target despite having 30% more possession

-Arsenal conceded 2 goals within the space of 3 minutes
_____________

Sit back and admire the incompetence on display:

Sunday 26 September 2010

Athletic Bilbao 1-3 Barcelona - Midfielder Goals

Last night's away fixture vs Bilbao saw Barcelona face a resolute team who looked to defend deep and narrow with two banks of 4 (sometimes 5+3 or 4+3). This tactic generally works well against Barcelona as it denies the attackers space to receive the ball and run at the defence, and it invites them to cross into the box, where tall centre backs will win aerial balls with ease against Barcelona's diminutive front line.

Rather than play into Bilbao's hands, Barcelona fullbacks circulated the ball back into the middle where, due to Bilbao's very deep midfield line, Barcelona's own midfielders had time and space on the ball. Fielding a 4 man midfield with Keita, Iniesta and Xavi in a close triangle ahead of Busquets, Barcelona were able to build attacks from the middle and use the momentum of their midfielders to open up space for shooting opportunities.

Keita opened the scoring after playing the ball wide to Iniesta and making a surge into the box, where he received the ball back after a neat one-touch pass from Villa. Xavi doubled the lead after a masterclass in patient passing from Barcelona, Maxwell drawing several defenders deep before circulating the ball back into the middle for Xavi, who'd gained several yards of space to fire off a (deflected) shot into the back of the net.

In stoppage time, with Bilbao chasing the game, Busquets received a loose ball in his own half and with one touch, brought it down for Keita, then proceeded to follow up the attack with a 60 yard run into Bilbao's box, where he was on hand to convert Pedro's cutback.

Saturday 25 September 2010

Assists of the Week - Sunday 19th September 2010

The Barcelona-Panathinaikos game threw up quite a few excellent assists, including my personal favourite of the week, a brilliant flicked pass by Djibril Cisse.

Thursday 16 September 2010

Arsenal 6-0 Braga Analysis

A fantastic display of flowing football from Arsenal, aided by an unusual formation and the deployment of teenager Wilshere in a deep midfield role. The Gunners continued their excellent form in the absence of Robin van Persie - unlike last season - thanks to Marouane Chamakh's typically intelligent play in the centre forward role, which bodes well for the rest of the season.

While Chamakh has been able to fill in for van Persie and perform a similar role as a false 9 within Arsenal's system, Theo Walcott does not have a direct replacement. Against Bolton Rosicky came in, while last night Nasri started in his place. Both are naturally central playmakers, and even though on paper they were playing on the right of Arsenal's 4-3-3, in reality they both drifted infield and acted as extra central midfielders when Arsenal were in possession. See the following average position graph:

The replacement of Walcott (a forward who naturally plays high and wide) with Nasri (a central playmaker) resulted in Arsenal's 4-3-3 morphing into a diamond 4-4-2 that was slanted to the left. Song held the midfield and covered the area in front of Sagna, while Wilshere protected Clichy but had more license to get forward. Fabregas played at the tip of the diamond and wreaked havoc in the final 3rd.

The skewing of the formation towards the left meant that Arsenal were able to focus their attacks down that side, as the following diagrams demonstrate:

Arsenal's attack chart, showing a clear preference for attacks down the left

Arsenal's shots (in yellow), the majority coming from the left

It was therefore no surprise that 5 of the goals (including the penalty) originated down the left side of the pitch, helped by some slack marking from Braga's right back, Miguel Garcia. Andrey Arshavin played a key role, scoring one, setting up two more and playing a part in another. Arshavin is often criticised for being wasteful in possession and in front of goal, but this is exactly what he's in the team for; not to give the ball away, but to be ambitious and expressive without having to feel restrained (within reason of course). His advanced role gives him freedom to try killer passes and shots more often than his teammates, and it's no surprise therefore that he gives the ball away more often than any other Arsenal player - but it also means that he's able to have a direct contribution to quite a lot of Arsenal goals. The same applies to Fabregas' role, to a lesser extent.

While shifting the formation to the left worked wonders for Arsenal, it did of course mean they were slightly vulnerable down the right. It didn't matter in the end though, Braga were guilty of not reacting to Arsenal's unsual formation. Faced with an overload down their right, they continued playing a symmetrical 4-3-3 and didn't look to shift their formation in response. In addition, they focussed their attacks down their right and didn't take advantage of Arsenal's exposed right flank. Braga's left flank was in effect underused, while their right flank was overworked.

Braga focussed the majority of their attacks down Arsenal's left via Alan,
instead of exploiting the Gunners' exposed right flank. In addition, centre
forward Matheus constantly made diagonal runs towards Arsenal's left.

Fabregas and Arshavin did most of the damage in the final 3rd, but they were aided greatly by the quick, accurate and incisive passing of Jack Wilshere. The young Englishman - playing as the link midfielder - was able to keep the ball circulating and to service the more attacking players throughout the game. He got forward often, bagging himself an excellent back-heeled assist for Chamakh's goal and playing an excellent ball over the top in the build-up to Vela's 2nd. He certainly offers something different to Diaby's counter-attacking and Denilson's tidiness, and Wenger often talks about the need for a cultured left footer to provide balance in the centre (think of the Vieira-Petit partnership).

With the intelligent passing of Wilshere from deeper, the probing of Fabregas from further up, and the extra presence of Nasri centrally, Arsenal were able to pass their way through the middle with more ease than they would normally do, and produced some scintillating football in the process. Notice how much Wilshere features in the following video:


This game will live long in the memory of Arsenal fans, and for Wenger, it was further vindication of his stubborn quest to produce a beautiful, yet successful brand of possession football.

Wednesday 15 September 2010

Assists of the Week - Sunday 12th September 2010

13 assists to choose from this week, including some lovely chips. Serie A features a lot.

Monday 13 September 2010

Analysis of Chamakh's movement vs Bolton

Following on from the post yesterday about Chamakh's first few games at Arsenal, here is a very short analysis of Chamakh's movement in the 4-1 win against Bolton and how it created space for others to exploit, particularly Arshavin.

Sunday 12 September 2010

Marouane Chamakh - First Impressions

After just 4 games into the season, I have to say I'm really impressed by the Moroccan. When he was signed on a free in the summer, a lot of fans (Arsenal included) questioned his goalscoring record and some claimed he was no better than Bendtner. But there's so much more to his game than simply being a goal-getter.

One of the main things that stands out about Chamakh is his heading. According to OPTA, he scored 17 headed goals in his last 2 seasons at Bordeaux. He's scored twice so far for Arsenal and both have been headers. He possesses fantastic leaping and neck power, and he throws himself at the ball instead of waiting for it to come to him. We saw this in action during the very first game, when he challenged Reina for a high ball and resulted in the keeper fumbling the ball into his own net. That sort of aerial threat is needed against teams who pack the box, defending deep and narrow (as Spurs and Man City did last season, knowing that they'd clear any aerial balls into the box). Bendtner, as decent a header he is, is not on the same level as Chamakh in that regard.

The key to getting the best out of his heading is to deliver hanging balls into the 6 yard box close to the keeper. It takes the defenders out of the equation and leaves Chamakh to contest the keeper one-on-one in an aerial duel, which given his bravery, shouldn't be a problem. In the pre-season friendly against Legia we saw how this tactic could work when Nasri delivered a nice tempting ball in to the 6 yard box which forced the keeper to commit, allowing Chamakh to nip in and head past him.

He also offers an outlet for long passes when under pressure. His chest control and first touch are very tidy, and he's much more adept at winning flick-ons than any other striker currently at the club. At the moment the team hasn't yet adapted to take advantage of this, and it's tougher when you don't have a strike partner in close proximity. In time we should expect Fabregas/other attacking midfielder to make the necessary runs to get on the end of his knock-downs, as Gourcuff did for Bordeaux.

Setting aside his obvious aerial prowess, the biggest threat he offers in my opinion is his movement. It's just brilliant. You often hear fans reeling out the "he makes the other players around him play better" cliche when defending a non-prolific striker, but in Chamakh's case it really is true.

When Adebayor was sold a lot of Arsenal fans (myself included) were wondering how the team would cope without a real presence in the box, but what became apparent was that one wasn't necessary. With the 4-3-3 formation, the emphasis was on stretching the play and creating space for runners into the box, whether that be from midfield (Diaby, Fabregas) or from the wider areas (Arshavin, Walcott). Van Persie was brilliant as the centre forward because he dropped deep, drew centre backs out and created that space for others to run into. It was no coincidence that Arsenal averaged 2.9 goals a game with van Persie in the side and 1.8 with him out.

Chamakh is similar in style, but the main difference between the 2 is that in addition to dropping deep, Chamakh also loves to drift wide. Consequently the 2 wide forwards have enjoyed much more freedom to make diagonal runs inside. Chamakh and Walcott seemed to have built up a good understanding in pre-season, and against Blackpool Walcott was able to hit a hattrick thanks to Chamakh's movement. For the 1st goal, Chamakh drifted left, the whole Blackpool defence shifted in that direction, and space was opened up for Walcott to come inside. For Walcott's 2nd, Chamakh drifted to the right and Walcott took up his spot in the centre forward role. It wasn't as dynamic a move as the 1st goal, but it did demonstrate the understanding the 2 have in swicthing positions. When Walcott comes inside, Chamakh moves to the right to avoid congesting the space the in the box.

Against Blackburn, the 2nd goal was initiated by Chamakh dropping deep and picking up the ball on the half way line. A centre back followed him, space developed in the middle for Walcott to run into, the left back was dragged infield and Sagna had space to bomb into, creating a goal in the end.

With Walcott injured, Chamakh was able to turn his attentions to helping out Arshavin yesterday, and his constant runs to the left opened up gaps for Arshavin to run into. Unfortunately Arshavin missed all of his chances but the understanding and movement was there. For the Cahill sending off, where was Chamakh? On the left touchline, drawing defenders out of position towards him and backheeling the ball for Arshavin to run into space.
Last season the quality of Arsenal's play declined after van Persie was injured, the team was unable to play the same fluid football with Bendtner/Arshavin as the front man, and began to struggle against organised opposition at the Emirates, exactly the way they'd done the previous season. But in Chamakh, Arsenal now have a quality replacement for van Persie, a player who allows the team to play the same fluid system in his absence, albeit without the goalscoring capabilities of the Dutchman.

Thursday 9 September 2010

Player Profile: Nicolas Anelka

Nicolas Anelka's career has been a tale of inconsistency and unrest, and it's only really in his late 20s that he's fully blossomed into a top striker. But go back a decade to his time at Arsenal and you have one of the hottest prospects of modern times.

Anelka was signed by Arsene Wenger in February of 97 as a 17 year-old, for a fee of £500k from Paris Saint-Germain. He made his debut coming off the bench in a 3-0 victory over Chelsea in April, but found his playing time limited by Ian Wright's presence.

In the 97/98 season, after a promising start the ageing Wright began to lose his form and fitness, and Anelka was given his chance to shine playing alongside Bergkamp. He didn't disappoint, scoring crucial goals against Coventry, Newcastle and Man Utd - the latter being his first for the club. The fixture against Utd always seemed to bring the best out of Anelka, with the Frenchman bagging 4 goals and 2 assists against them during his Arsenal stay. Anelka quickly made a name for himself as one of the league's top upcoming talents along with Michael Owen, and he finished the 97/98 season on a personal high, hitting the 2nd goal in the 2-0 win over Newcastle in the FA Cup final to add to the league medal he'd won a couple of weeks earlier.

The following season he was entrusted with a regular starting role in Arsenal's attack, starting 34 games in the Premier League. He performed brilliantly, finishing joint 2nd top scorer with 17 goals, just 1 behind Owen and co. For such a young man, his composure was remarkable and he netted away at Old Trafford and White Hart Lane. In total, he scored 8 game openers and hit 6 winners, underlining his knack of scoring when it mattered.

The high point of his season was the home fixture against Leicester in February in which he hit a 1st half hat-trick, becoming one of the youngest to do so in Premier League history. The 6-1 win over Middlesbrough at the Riverside in April is best-remembered for Nwankwo Kanu's audacious backheel goal, but it often overshadows Anelka's excellent performance in which he scored 2 of the goals and set up a further 3. In recognition of his performances, he was rewarded with the PFA Young Player of the Year award at the end of the season.

Anelka was very much the complete modern forward. Tall, pacey and capable of holding his own against bigger defenders, he was physically built for the Premier League. But he was also a very intelligent player, making constant runs into channels, drifting wide, dropping deep and spreading the play around. Not too dissimilar to his successor Thierry Henry, albeit without the dedication and level-headedness of his compatriot - and that's where Anelka's problems lay.

He could have been as good as Henry and built himself a similar legacy, but he squandered his many opportunities by failing to settle down at a single club and chasing the money. The latter may not have been entirely his fault (his two older brothers - also his agents - were rumoured to have been behind most of his major transfers in his early years), but he was certainly guilty of not showing enough application for his many clubs, particularly towards the end of his stay at Arsenal. His constant whining - players not passing the ball to him among others - earned him the nickname "Le Sulk" and when he finally did leave to Real Madrid for a handsome £23m fee, many Arsenal fans were happy to see the back of him.

With the money made from his sale, Arsenal were able to build a brand new training ground and his departure paved the way for the signing of a player who was to become the finest striker of the past decade. So for that I thank him.

Wednesday 8 September 2010

Assists of the Week - Sunday 5th September 2010

Due to the international fixtures last week, there were fewer assists to choose from than usual and consequently only 6 make the cut.

Monday 6 September 2010

Player Profile: Emmanuel Petit

When Arsene Wenger signed Emmanuel Petit in the summer of 97, few could have predicted the impact he'd have in his first season at Arsenal. With his blonde locks and 'exotic' name, he didn't seem like the sort of character to anchor the midfield of a double-winning side. Indeed, before joining Arsenal he'd played mostly as a centre back for Monaco, but in an inspired move, Wenger - having managed Petit before - saw the potential in him to perform in that role.

Wenger's reasoning for making the switch was simple; he'd wanted a left-footed partner for the right-footed Vieira, a cultured player capable of bringing some composure to midfield, with the ability to hit long accurate passes into the more attacking players. The fact that Petit had been a defender previously was an added bonus as he was able to apply his positional awareness to the role and form a solid barrier in front of the defence, along with Vieira.

Petit took his time to register his first goal in Arsenal colours, but when he finally did in April, like London buses two came along at once. First he netted in a 5-0 demolition of Wimbledon, finishing off an excellent team move, then 10 days later he hit a powerful drive from outside the area to give Arsenal a crucial 1-0 win over Derby.

But that was just the icing on the cake, throughout the season he'd been a calming influence in the centre of midfield with his tidy passing and tackling. He was often the architect of quick counter attacks with long balls hit over the top for Marc Overmars and co to run onto, and his set piece delivery helped settle several games. To crown off his magnificent debut season, he set up the opening goal of the FA Cup final against Newcastle, playing a delightful chipped ball over the top of the defence for Overmars to run onto. Arsenal went on to win 2-0 and Petit had secured a league and cup double in his first season at the club.

Petit experienced disappointment in his next 2 seasons as Arsenal failed to win any major silverware, and along with Overmars departed for Barcelona in the summer of 2000. He is still held in high regard by many Arsenal fans and it's difficult to feel any ill-feeling to a player who gave his best on the pitch and helped rejuvenate the club into the major European force that they are now. Merci Emmanuel.

Sunday 5 September 2010

Arsenal Attacking Statistics 2003/2004

(Click on tabs underneath to see different categories)



Standout attacking performances:

Dennis Bergkamp
3 key passes
Leeds 1-4 Arsenal (Premier League)

Gilberto
2 assists2 key passes
Arsenal 5-0 Leeds (Premier League)

Sylvain Wiltord
1 goal2 assists
Arsenal 5-1 Wolves (League Cup)

Thierry Henry
3 assists
Birmingham 0-3 Arsenal (Premier League)

Thierry Henry
2 goals, 1 key pass
Arsenal 3-0 Wolves (Premier League)

Thierry Henry
3 goals, 1 key pass
Arsenal 4-2 Liverpool (Premier League)

Thierry Henry
4 goals
Arsenal 5-0 Leeds (Premier League)

Thierry Henry
1 goal, 2 assists, 1 key pass
Leeds 1-4 Arsenal (FA Cup)

Thierry Henry
2 goals, 2 assists
Inter 1-5 Arsenal (Champions League)

Saturday 4 September 2010

Manchester United Attacking Statistics 1998/1999

(Click on tabs underneath to see different categories)



Standout attacking performances:

Andy Cole
2 goals, 1 key pass
Man Utd 5-1 Wimbledon (Premier League)

Andy Cole
2 goals, 1 assist
Man Utd 4-1 West Ham (Premier League)

Dwight Yorke
1 goal, 2 assists
Man Utd 3-2 Blackburn (Premier League)

Dwight Yorke
1 goal, 1 assist, 1 key pass
Man Utd 4-1 West Ham (Premier League)

Dwight Yorke
3 goals, 1 assist
Leicester 2-6 Man Utd (Premier League)

Dwight Yorke
1 goal, 3 assists
Brondby 2-6 Man Utd (Champions League)

Dwight Yorke
1 goal, 2 assists
Man Utd 5-0 Brondby (Champions League)

Dwight Yorke
2 goals, 1 assist
Barcelona 3-3 Man Utd (Champions League)

David Beckham
2 assists, 1 key pass
Man Utd 3-0 Nott Forest (Premier League)

David Beckham
1 goal, 1 assist, 1 key pass
Man Utd 3-3 Barcelona (Champions League)

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer
4 goals
Nott Forest 1-8 Man Utd (Premier League)

Paul Scholes
3 assists
Nott Forest 1-8 Man Utd (Premier League)

Teddy Sheringham
1 goal, 2 assists
Man Utd 3-0 Sheff Wednesday (Premier League)

Roy Keane
3 key passes
Man Utd 3-0 Sheff Wednesday (Premier League)

Roy Keane
1 goal, 2 key passes
Brondby 2-6 Man Utd (Champions League)

Ryan Giggs
2 goals, 1 key pass
Brondby 2-6 Man Utd (Champions League)

Friday 3 September 2010

Barcelona Attacking Statistics 2000/2001

(Click on tabs underneath to see different categories)

Ronaldinho Goals, Passes + Assists 2006/2007

Following the amazing exploits of the 05/06 season, Ronaldinho went into the World Cup with great things expected of him. Unfortunately he wasn't able to deliver (not helped by Carlos Alberto Parreira's tactics), and the following season saw him begin the decline that would eventually lead to his sale to Milan.

While statistically this was one of his best seasons at Barca, he was unable to replicate the dominating performances of old and the club finished the season with no major trophies.

06/07 season stats: 49 games, 24 goals, 12 assists

Thursday 2 September 2010

Assists of the Week - Sunday 29th August 2010

There's a lot of variety this week with some excellent chips, throughballs, floated crosses and long passes. Although not included in the video, this audacious backheel assist is well worth a look.

Wednesday 1 September 2010

Arsenal Attacking Statistics 2010/2011

(Click on tabs underneath to see different categories)



Standout attacking performances:

Andrey Arshavin
1 goal, 2 assists, 1 key pass
Arsenal 6-0 Braga (Champions League)

Andrey Arshavin
1 goal, 1 assist, 1 key pass
Aston Villa 2-4 Arsenal (Premier League)

Cesc Fabregas
3 assists, 1 key pass
Arsenal 4-1 Bolton (Premier League)

Cesc Fabregas
2 goals, 2 assists, 1 key pass
Arsenal 6-0 Braga (Champions League)

Cesc Fabregas
1 goal, 2 assists
Arsenal 3-1 Chelsea (Premier League)

Nicklas Bendtner
3 goals
Arsenal 5-0 Leyton Orient (FA Cup)

Robin van Persie
2 goals; 1 assist
West Ham 0-3 Arsenal (Premier League)

Robin van Persie
3 goals
Arsenal 3-0 Wigan (Premier League)

Samir Nasri
1 goal, 1 assist, 1 key pass
Man City 0-3 Arsenal (Premier League)

Theo Walcott
3 goals
Arsenal 6-0 Blackpool (Premier League)