Against Liverpool, shorn on short notice of Gabriel Jesus’s services, Arteta deployed Havertz as a kind of false nine with Jorginho and Rice at the base of the midfield. Havertz, despite his lanky frame, grappled admirably against Van Djik and Konaté, ultimately playing a key role in getting the latter sent off in the late stages. Yes, Havertz’s touch let him down too many times, but he still played a vital role. Frequently, when a false nine drops deeper to receive touches, it leaves the attack without a focal point. In this situation, however, Havertz dropping deeper created space up the pitch for Ødegaard—perhaps second only to De Bruyne for chance-creation—to slot in between the lines to reeive the ball and create chances for Saka and Martinelli.
Against Liverpool, Jorginho and Rice played instrumental roles in dictating the tempo while controlling the middle third. Jorginho in particular delivered a MOTM-level performance, ministering and managing the middle of the pitch and going to great lengths to neuter Liverpool’s much-vaunted gegenpressing with calm, cool, recycling and redistributing of possession. Denied their ability to win possession high up the pitch, Liverpool were all but bereft of options.
The upshot? A 2-1 win that perhaps flattered our visitors.
Against West Ham, Arteta might have been tempted to adopt the same template. After all, if it worked against the league-leaders, surely, it would work against mid-table Moyes, right? However, here’s where Arteta showed some true tactical nous and flexibility to boot.
We knew that Moyes would set up with two banks of four, designed to soak up pressure and hit on counters. To counter this, Arteta dropped Jorginho despite the Italian’s admirable performance against Chelsea, restored Havertz to that #6/LCM role, and started Trossard in the false-nine. These are early signs of Arteta becoming one of the most-adaptive and flexible managers in the Prem. He had Kiwior and White hugging the touchline with Rice in a deep-playmaking role. While this worked for controlling possession, it didn’t work quite so well in terms of unlocking West Ham’s defensive lines.
For one, Ødegaard was having to drop far too deep to receive the ball, often in our own third. We want him receiving the ball in our opponent’s third, of course, all the bettter to find space between the lines and to create chances for the front three. For the first half an hour then, Ødegaard was getting touches, but by the time he’d carried the ball forward, the Hammers had dropped back to defend in numbers. At around the 25th minute, then, Arteta’s tactical nous came into play. He asked White to invert, Zinchenko-like, rather than hug the touchlines. It was a gamble to offer Ben Johnson space to run down our right flank, but it was well worth it. White created the kind of overload that allowed Ødegaard to stay higher up the pitch, receive the ball in the final third, and slice and dice. What’s more, West Ham now found themselves struggling to deal with that overload, having to commit players further forward to deal with White even as Ødegaard shifted higher up.
The fact that this shift happened on the half hour not only shows that Arteta is growing and evolving, it also exposes the weaknesses of many managers, Moyes included, who have little choice to but to wait until halftime to make significant tactical or strategic changes. Soon after this shift, we had scored four goals. West Ham just could not figure out how to adapt to Arteta’s tweaks.
Unlocking a parked bus has long been one of the most-difficult dilemmas in football. On this occasion, against this opponent—and Moyes’s sides are always one of the best at it—Arteta found the keys to that bus…and he did it on the fly, in real time. I’m not sat here saying that this approach will work against all parked buses (it was a gamble to invert White and to give Johnson acres of space, assuming he’d never be able to use it). Still, Arteta outwitted one of the cagiest, most-cautious managers just one week after outwitting one of the savviest, most-aggressive managers in the Prem.
Set aside the scoreline and the result for a moment and savor the process. Ah, yes, “trust the process.” Arteta is learning and evolving along with the young players in the squad. While we may still be the dark horse in the quest to win the Prem, his willingness and his ability to learn and adapt on the fly might just emerge as one of the key difference-makers by season’s end. 31 March looms large, of course. If Arteta continues apace, doing the double over CIty would depart the realm of the unthinkable and enter the realm of the possible.
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