Arsenal's Greater Squad Depth and Focus Can Lead to FA Cup and CL Success
With the Premier League title well and truly out of reach, if Arsenal are going to win a trophy this season, the club will have to prove its mettle in a pair of cup competitions.
Fortunately, the Gunners are well-equipped for tournament football. Specifically, manager Arsene Wenger's team boasts the squad depth and focus all cup winners need.
Arsenal offered a reminder of both in the comprehensive, oddly serene 2-0 dismissal of Middlesbrough in the FA Cup fifth round. Taking on the Championship leaders, who'd already knocked out reigning Premier League champs Manchester City, posed a tricky-looking challenge, even at home.
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But Wenger was still able to rotate his squad without undermining quality. He was also able to coax maximum determination from his players even in what might rate as the bottom of the club's list of priorities this season.
Wenger appeared to make that clear ahead of the game, per Sky Sports: "Our basic is always to finish in the top four and then win a trophy on top of that."
If you gave Wenger a choice of which trophy he would want to act as the cherry on the cake, he'd almost certainly opt for the UEFA Champions League, a prize he's never claimed, over one he's won five times.
So it was easy to worry when the Frenchman noted how his history of success in the FA Cup had sometimes harmed Arsenal's European campaigns, per ESPN.co.uk:
"Many times a cup game was in front of a Champions League game - for instance this week we play in the cup and then next week in the Champions League.
Many times we lost some players. I remember against Manchester United when we played against Chelsea in the Champions League three days later we lost some because we took the game seriously.
"
Those words echoed like a verbal paving of the way to play an understrength squad against Middlesbrough. Thankfully, though, those notions were immediately dispelled when the starting 11 was released, via the club's official Twitter account:
Such a bold and attacking lineup was an immediate sign of intent from Wenger. Picking three strikers and a pair of No. 10s ahead of a back six that underwent five changes showed Arsenal wouldn't play the type of cagey game that's defined recent matches.
That was the most impressive thing about the performance. Arsenal started on the front foot and stayed there all match.
The plan was clear: Get at Middlesbrough's usually stingy defence quickly and early while dominating possession.
Forward Danny Welbeck confirmed Arsenal's intent during a post-match interview, per the club's official site: "It was a good team performance and I think we had to set up very well. We had to be aware of their counter-attack play and I think we dealt with that pretty well. ... We knew we had to press them high up the pitch and make sure we did well on their mistakes."
If you wanted an indication of just how seriously Arsenal are taking the most famous domestic cup competition in the world, it came from the intensity of their attacking approach.
The quick, intuitive passing, the bevy of forward runners from every area of the team and the intricate triangles were classic so-called "Wengerball," the fluid brand of forward-thinking football the Gunners have embodied since late 1996.
Some may worry that the return of Arsenal's daring, ball-hogging approach will undermine the team in tougher games. That's so often been the story in the past, particularly in daunting away fixtures.
A greater commitment to ceding possession, dropping deep and striking on the break has led to more favourable results recently. The 2-0 away win over City in mid-January still serves as the prime example.
The clearest indication of the shift in styles came from Arsenal's opening goal against Middlesbrough. After relying on lighting-fast, brief exchanges of three or four passes between the same number of breaking runners, Arsenal took a true team approach, per Opta Joe:
But a comeback for a more open brand of football needn't be cause for concern. The Gunners played expansive, forward-thinking football at home to a team from a lower division. That doesn't mean they'll revert to doing the same thing on their travels.
When it comes to a style of play, it doesn't have to be one or another. Arsenal's ability to switch from passive to proactive could be evidence of a squad finally showing the tactical flexibility many believe it's lacked.
That kind of flexibility also happens to be essential to cup success. The Gunners used it last season when they outlasted a rampant Liverpool side in the fifth round, before overwhelming Everton in the quarter-final.
Say Arsenal get a tough away draw in this season's last eight, perhaps a trip to battle Premier League rivals Liverpool or Manchester United. There's no reason why Wenger's men can't replace the attacking fluency that blew away Middlesbrough with the siege-based template that worked so well at City.
Tournament football is after all largely determined by the best plan on the day. Arsenal now have the ability to set up differently to suit a particular tie.
Such flexibility still demands maximum focus to adequately perform contrasting strategies. Focus is a quality that's coming to define this squad, as Wenger noted after reaching another FA Cup quarter-final, according to the club's official site.
"We controlled the game from the first to the last minute," Wenger said. "They had one chance at the end from a header, but overall I’m pleased with the way we attacked, the way we defended and with the way we played together with a good focus for 90 minutes. That’s basically it."
Arsenal displayed exactly the sort of determination and concentration the club will need to enjoy successful runs in two competitions. With the demands of the league calendar, particularly the now annual scramble for a spot in next season's Champions League, a constant worry, it's easy to lose some sharpness for other competitions.
Judging by how committed they were against Middlesbrough, the Gunners don't look like they'll have that problem. It will also help to have a plethora of quality players to choose from.
Wenger proved that when he made seven changes from the team that beat Leicester City 2-1 in the Premier League. Goalkeeper David Ospina, centre-back Per Mertesacker and full-backs Nacho Monreal and Hector Bellerin dropped out. As did midfield destroyer Francis Coquelin, playmaker Tomas Rosicky and forward Theo Walcott.
Yet Arsenal still kept a clean sheet, scored twice and created numerous chances. The performance from a refreshed group owed everything to the quality of the changes.
Welbeck came in for Walcott and offered his usual brand of graft and energy, albeit without the latter's attacking threat. Kieran Gibbs was more adventurous from left-back than Monreal, and new boy Gabriel Paulista had a relatively solid day while Mertesacker took a well-deserved rest.
Wenger endorsed the quality afforded by his deep squad, per the club's official site: "We have a week now to prepare for the Crystal Palace game and I did rotate today as well. I changed two defenders from our last game. It shows that everybody’s focused and has the quality to compete for places in the team. At the moment, in every single position, we have two very good players."
But more than giving players a rest to keep things fresh on different fronts, the Gunners now have the cover to absorb injuries and still stay strong. This was most obvious in midfield while Aaron Ramsey missed out.
The Welshman's form has been poor since the turn of the year. But at his best, he still represents a key figure in this squad.
As the player who most often hovers between the defensive and attacking portions of midfield, Ramsey possesses box-to-box talents that link the team together. Arsenal couldn't survive without those qualities when Ramsey was missing last term.
But a loss that once broke this squad's momentum is now easily absorbed. Against Middlesbrough, that meant shifting pocket-edition magician Santi Cazorla a little deeper.
It was a change Arsenal's mini marvel responded to superbly. Wenger cited the 30-year-old's experience and mastery of central areas as key factors in making the move a success, per talkSPORT.
One consequence of another astute outing for Cazorla was what it meant for fellow playmaker Mesut Ozil. The languid schemer was afforded more freedom to roam in advanced areas, where he proved a nightmare for the Championship side's defence.
Numbers from Who Scored detailed Ozil's early impact:
The pattern continued after the break, leaving Ozil as Arsenal's most consistent creator by the end of play, according to Opta Joe:
It's a terrific bonus to know Arsenal aren't so reliant on Ramsey. Perhaps more significant, Wenger now knows how he can make a Cazorla and Ozil partnership in the middle work.
It may be too attack-minded for a gruelling away fixture. But this pivot of technical wizardry can be perfect in games where Arsenal need to seize the initiative and break down stubborn opposition.
The Champions League last-16 tie against Monaco, specifically the home leg, springs to mind. It's not the comfortable draw many rejoiced when it was first set.
The Ligue 1 outfit is physical and compact. Manager Leonardo Jardim is a ruthlessly pragmatic tactician who knows how to stifle the opposition.
In many ways, Monaco seem ideally set up to engineer a classic smash-and-grab spoiling job. Wenger's teams have certainly been on the receiving end of plenty of those.
But things look a lot different this time. With Welbeck, Walcott, Olivier Giroud and Alexis Sanchez, along with creative talents Ozil, Cazorla and Rosicky, Arsenal have the attacking resources to cause any team problems.
With Serge Gnabry, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Ramsey and Jack Wilshere eventually set to return, things could get even better on that front.
But the Gunners also boast the defenders and functional midfielders to steal a few results themselves, say away from home in Europe. They may even be able to welcome back veteran skipper Mikel Arteta in time for some hugely significant games.
Arsenal still have a ways to go in both competitions. It's certainly too soon to anoint the club as anything more than a contender in each.
But armed with a deep and focused group of talented players at both ends of the team, Wenger won't have a better chance to build on last season's FA Cup win.
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