Well you had your answer - Issa Diop 😅

Nice thread - can’t remember who went down injured but remember both managers took advantage of this to have a chat about shape, which is clearly where Arteta made this tweak

I did this challenge starting with Wolves then went to Koln, Troyes, Sassuolo and Granada, before taking Walsall up the leagues. Best save I ever did!

The fact we’ve been done on the front post, despite having bodies to cover that space shows where we can elevate the ability of the squad to handle these situations.

A new, aerially strong defender is a must.

We’re understaffed aerially, that’s clear. Taking Strand Larsen out of these scenarios doesn’t help, nor does Lemina’s absencr. Andre’s reaction here is a case in point. He doesn’t impact Solanke’s run enough and is a non-entity at the point Bentancur gets off the ground.

For me, Cunha and Hwang are effectively doing the same job. There’s then a gap, where the ball is delivered in front of Dawson. The fact Bentancur and Solanke both make the same run, puts bodies between Dawson and the ball. Its a good, flat cross and a good header.

It’s a well-worn argument that a player on the run will beat a stationary man, but with a blocker, you should give your free men a good chance to attack the ball. Bentancur being unopposed is the problem. That said, the coverage from the free men isn’t brilliant.

As the movement starts you can see Bentancur isn’t accounted for, with Andre on Solanke and Gomes on Dragusin, so first issue is immediately obvious. JRB clearly covering the edge of the box, with Semedo covering any back post deliveries as well.

We’ve maintained a hybrid set up, with players to attack the ball (Dawson, Cunha, Hwang, Doherty) and some M2M (Bueno, Andre, Gomes, Semedo). The front post is overloaded, as it has been most of the season. Doc is the one positioned to protect the backpost.

I think he’s clearly simplified things. Telling we went so Portuguese heavy with the team selection first time round. Also helps that it was Leicester

Unable to do a recording just yet post-baby arrival, but please do let me know your thoughts, share widely and if there’s anything you saw give me a shout!

I don’t care about Jeff Shi…. 🎶

Leicester were more than complicit here, but the lack of threat to our goal can only be a good thing. A couple of other points:

- Rodrigo was targeted with high balls and will need to contend with this more
- Formation match up vs United will make it a 1v1 game in many areas

Cautionary tale:

- Semedo is recovering from a forward run with Guedes filling in
- Changeover happens with miscommunication
- Winger is in behind and ends up with Toti clearing off the line
- Would have been 2-1 due to a really basic error

Direct play:

- First two goals scored from similar starting positions
- Clear directive to overload the back four with forward runners
- Important the pass goes in behind so we can recover positions or pick up second balls if we don’t find our man initially

*Terrible defending

Out of Possession:

- Genuine back five
- Semedo presses when the No. 10 drifts left, with Doherty covering the LW as an orthodox FB
- This stops the midfielders being dragged out of the middle
- Allows Guedes to maintain a high starting position

We tended to gravitate to the right hand side, mainly due to Semedo’s ability to look after the ball, but also Rodrigo not being a natural left-sided player.

Rodrigo is also more a runner off the ball, and as when he played vs Fulham his job was to help create space for Cunha.

Build up:

- 3-2-5 (Where have we seen that before?!)
- Genuine WBs providing width
- Toti starting wide for extra time and space, supported by Sa stepping alongside Santi
- Guedes/Cunha as No. 10s

There was nothing starkly different, but we weren’t in a hurry to get the ball forward and the front three loading the back-line caused them a number of problems. It allowed us to go direct and that got us our first two goals. Going ahead for once was huge as well.