Mikel Arteta’s Tactical Masterclass: Arsenal 3-2 Liverpool

We’ve all heard of the term “Tactical Masterclass”, haven’t we? That’s exactly what happened against Liverpool. How did Mikel’s Arsenal get the better of Liverpool and their gegenpress? Here’s a comprehensive analysis of the game, for better understanding the factors that resulted in a remarkable victory for Arsenal.

It was a match of two halves, and Arsenal excelled in both of them. First half was all about counter pressing without possession, and second half was more about control. We’ll take a look into both halves separately.

Right from the off, Arsenal were planning to ensure defensive security, and so Tomiyasu started ahead of Kieran Tierney. After getting the first goal in the very first minute, Mikel decided to bypass Pool’s press, counterpress high and exploit their high line. So, instead of keeping possession and imposing control, Arsenal decided to win the ball from Liverpool and create transition situations from all over the pitch. Arsenal didn’t risk Pool’s geggenpress, and exclusively built from long kicks in the first half.

As a result, there was hardly any build up pattern for Arsenal in the first half. Pool were building out from the back, Arsenal were pressing in 4-4-2 shape, very high, almost man v man, as Odegaard and Benny also joined the press. Tomi was a bit conservative for safety.

Arsenal’s high line counterpress rewarded them on a regular basis. Pool with all the possession were creating nothing, as Arsenal were winning the ball everywhere on the pitch, and created many good chances from transition. Liverpool had the ball, but Arsenal had control.

Liverpool built in 3-1 or 3-2 shape. Since Tomiyasu wasn’t joining the press, Martinelli had to cover 2 players, that gave them numerical superiority. But Arsenal’s organization made life difficult for them high up the pitch.

In the second phase, liverpool progressed in sort of a 3-2-5 shape, occupying all the lanes. They were unable to pin Arsenal down though, as they kept losing the ball. Trent was not overlapping, and an isolated Salah was getting bullied by Tomiyasu.

So, Liverpool had possession, created nothing, but only from the Gabriel mistake. And Arsenal kept winning the ball and kept trying to create transition opportunities, and created quite a few big chances. The second goal came from a sublime counter attack.

Talking about the second half, Arsenal continued to play counterpressing football, and almost scored a goal, only if Odegaard passed the ball to Saka in space. But against the run of play, Liverpool equalized, and Arsenal started playing their default football. Arsenal started to impose better control through possession after conceding. Now we saw build up patterns in 3-1, 3-2, 4-1. During progression, Arsenal’s 2-3-5 shape was visible, with Tomi staying further back.

Liverpool made changes to cope with Arsenal’s dominating football to see the game off. Arsenal forced them into a 4-4-2 mid block! They were managing their press, which gave Arsenal even a better opportunity to get a better grip, and Arsenal took that opportunity gracefully, and kept attacking in settled play.

Possession with penetration, Arsenal in settled play pinned Liverpool back, which is their favorite situation to create. Liverpool’s box was being overloaded constantly, which got Arsenal the penalty. This was the result of purely dominating football. Best part was that Arsenal never lost the grip till the end. During the final few minutes of Liverpool pressure, Arsenal managed to keep calm, and even keep possession and create. It was flawless throughout the game.

The defenders had a wonderful game, playing in such a high line. Unfortunately, both their mistakes cost us goals. Martinelli, Saka and Jesus dominated their flanks as expected, while Xhaka and Partey were wonderful game both in and out of possession.

Liverpool lacked quality both with and without the ball. With so much possession, they couldn’t create anything, apparent from their low xg of 0.8. Instead, they couldn’t contain Arsenal’s counter attacks as well as settled pressure.

It was a tactical masterclass in the sense that Mikel neutralized Salah with Tomi, and successfully exploited their out of form and quality midfield that can’t press or create well, by choosing to counterpress over possession and control. Klopp had no answer for any of that, and so eventually Arsenal came out on top. A magnificent victory to continue marching on for Mikel and his boys.