Arsenal vs. Olympiakos: 5 Tactical Watchwords for the Rookies

Arsenal lost their final UEFA Champions League Group F match against Olympiakos Piraeus on Tuesday. They conceded three preventable goals through rookies mistakes; they could have conceded even more. The goals gave Olympiakos the win they thoroughly deserved, even if it proved meaningless in the end. 

After an impressive display against Manchester City at the Emirates a week ago, expectations were high for Arsenal's second XI who took to the field at the Karaiskakis Stadium. But from the start, it became quickly apparent this would not be an easy night—and it wasn't.

Apart from the goals, Arsenal lost both their reserve keeper, Łukasz Fabiański, and their now first choice left-back, Andre Santos, to injuries. To say, therefore, that the night went horribly wrong is no exaggeration. 

The loss and the manner in which it came about could prove damaging to the confidence of this set of players. It certainly does not help Arsenal's case regarding the depth of the squad. It could also prove harmful to Arsenal's defense, which was just beginning to look comfortable.

The defeat is less painful because it possesses little value in the larger scheme of things, but this is not to say a Gooner or two may not even now be thoroughly miffed by the ragged way the team played.

While it's easy to blame the players, what is less easy is pinpointing exactly what was tactically amiss in Arsenal's game.

I neglect therefore to analyze individual players vis-a-vis their blame-worthiness or the reverse. In the following slides, I discuss five tactical errors that led to Arsenal's disjointed performance at Olympiakos.

WATCHWORD 1: Never Play at the Rhythm of Your Opponent

Rhythm or tempo is very important in football. It constitutes initiative; the team that wins it dominates the other. 

Olympiakos dominated Arsenal throughout the match, and the main reason for this was the tempo and rhythm of the match set by Olympiakos. It was fairly fast and suited Olympiakos' game plan perfectly.

To achieve their goal of winning the match and ensure qualification to the next round of the competition, they needed to be constructive.

Fast rhythm and tempo was necessary for the success of this plan. They executed it perfectly, hardly allowing Arsenal time on ball.

This proved disconcerting to many of the players, and led directly to the rookie mistakes the back line consistently committed; this, in turn, led to the goals Arsenal conceded.

So what should Arsenal have done? See the next slide.

WARCHWORD 2: Be Destructive When Goals Are Not Your Purpose

Destructive football is a tactical strategy employed to frustrate the opponent—think Barcelona versus Internazionale at Camp Nou, UEFA Champions League 2010 semifinal.

Inter Milan were not in this match to win it. They didn't need goals necessarily, so they defended. Jose Mourinho would claim later that Inter Milan deliberately surrendered possession to Barcelona upfield so as to maintain their shape.

By destructive then, I mean defensive. Two things are crucial.  

The first is to refuse to play at the opponent's tempo, which is likely to be fast if they are in need of goals, which they usually are.

It means, therefore, that you plan this—that is, destructiveness—as part of your strategy beforehand and have a player (often the holding midfielder) designated to break up the opponent's default tempo when you have the ball.

The second pertains to the shape of the team as the reference to Mourinho indicates. This is where a 4-5-1 formation is useful. The key here is that the team is not playing necessarily (again the word) for goals. Goals are fringe benefits.

Tough tackling (do not think bad tackling) is necessary for this strategy to work. Your aim, remember, is to disrupt the opponent's rhythm and tempo.

To this end, long balls over the top, to nullify the midfield, are are also crucial. It means you need a center forward, who is strong on the ball, not only to make challenges up front, but also to hold possession while awaiting reinforcement from the midfield. (I think Marouane Chamakh is capable of doing this.)

The above exposes two errors Arsenal made in this game.

First, they tried in vain to play at the same tempo as Olympiakos, attempting, when in possession, for fast breaks that never worked. If anything, Arsenal almost always surrendered possession immediately as a result of passes made to players under duress.  

Panic often was the result. This was as true in the midfield as it was in the defense. Nor can we say the attack was any better.

Second, they played the wrong formation in the match. This has less to do with traditional formation as it does with maintaining defensive discipline as a team. There was neither rhyme nor rhythm in Arsenal's defensive shape in this game.

For those who wonder why the same team was successful against a stronger Manchester City side, this is the main reason.

In the former match, the team displayed tactical defensive discipline, whereas here, they stubbornly and stupidly persisted with attempting to play Arsenal's trademark constructive football, which in this case was ill-advised and unnecessary.

WATCHWORD 3: Never Make Panic Backpasses

Although I have emphasized the importance of backpasses elsewhere, Arsenal gave us a masterclass in this match on how not to make backpasses.

Many are blaming the goalkeepers for errors that weren't their fault. True, they panicked, but they shouldn't have been put in that position in the first place.

I cannot think of any backpass made to either of the goalkeepers in this match that looked comfortable or deliberate.

The defenders themselves appeared to simply want to get rid of the ball. In such a case, this is when not to make a backpass. (Balloon the ball into touch instead.) For one, the accuracy may prove elusive. For another, the goalkeeper may panic, which is exactly what happened consistently in the match.

Concomitant to this are the countless failed attempts by Arsenal to play out from the back. The diagram shows Arsenal's approximate formation whenever they attempted to do so, pari passu the positioning of Olympiakos' front four (yes, you heard me right). 

Olympiakos' pressing strategy in this match meant that they had four players "on top" of the Arsenal back four whenever the latter attempted to play out from the back.

This pressing led to immediate pressure on Arsenal's back four and the holding player (Frimpong), who consistently panicked and made forced, inaccurate passes. This led directly to Olympiakos' first two goals.

Part of the problem with the attempt to play out from the back was that Arsenal's formation was too compact in the face of the pressing game Olympiakos played. I elaborate on this in the next slide.

WATCHWORD 4: Use Decoys To Nullify Pressure

The diagram demonstrates how to play out from the back in the face of pressure such as the one Olympiakos exerted over Arsenal's back five in this match. This, of course, is just one example of several strategies that a team could come up with.

First, the back five should push high, as though preparing for a goal kick or a punt from the goalkeeper. This forces back the opponent's pressing players.

One of them (marked by the slightly slanted dashed arrow) may still lurk in the spaces among the back five; that, however, does not matter. The holding player may keep tabs on said player. The arcing yellow arrow represents the ostensible goal kick or punt. 

Having pushed back the pressing players, the goalkeeper should (seemingly) change his mind and, instead, pass to one of the defenders. Since this is something planned, one of the defenders should be expecting the pass. The solid yellow arrow from the goal area simulates this.

The blue arrows marked A to E demonstrates another way of nullifying the opponent's pressure. This follows the first step.

After the pass, the opposing team will attempt to reassert pressure, in which case the holding team moves the ball quickly, as suggested by the arrows. Notice that the arrows go from one end of the pitch to the other.

The goal is to quickly move the ball away from pressure. When thoroughly rehearsed, it works, since the players involved are following a pre-prepared drill. In other words, like chess, there are moves involved.

Now if you think this all theory, watch Barcelona do it.

Review especially the early exchanges in their first Classico against Real Madrid last year, or this year's UEFA Champions League final against Manchester United, where the latter's strategy was to press quickly and high. But they quickly ended up exasperated because of this exact tactic I have highlighted.

Talking Barcelona, see next slide.

WATCHWORD 5: Be Deliberate in Your Shape and Formation

Many think Barcelona are currently the best team in the world. This is arguably true. They certainly possess the ball better than anyone else. Arsenal are the only team anywhere close. How do Barcelona achieve this?

They do it because their thinking is different from everybody else's. For example, most informed followers of football know about structural pyramids, but what many may not know, including coaches (for if they knew, wouldn't they replicate Barcelona's success?), is that Barcelona play their diamond differently. The red triangle shows this.

Where do you think the tip is?

Dani Alves! That's why he's not a conventional full-back, which is also the reason he is superb in Barcelona colors but mediocre in Brazil's.

In truth, the three tips are strategically important.

Whenever Barcelona line up for a goal kick, which they intend to pass out from the back, Eric Abidal takes up the position shown in the diagram, high at the extreme left of the pitch, while Dani Alves moves—counter-intuitively—up the pitch toward the halfway line.

David Villa rides high to the opposite end of the pitch on the left. This completes the weird diamond.

The yellow arrows show the strategic movement the players make from their default positions into the exposed spaces.

The black lines show how Barcelona make their incessant triangles. The blue circle shows Messi's roaming space; the solid gold arrow, his devastating diagonal run that often results in goals. David Villa is the trump card for the patient passing build-up, which is the hallmark of Barcelona. 

The passing is psychologically employed to tire out the opponent's defense and make them lose concentration, at which time David Villa springs the trap that beats the offside trap. Pedro can do the same, of course.

I sneak this into my analysis of this particular Arsenal game, to show how deliberate positioning can nullify an opponent. That's why many teams cannot handle Barcelona, but resort to fouls, which Barcelona gladly obliges.

So what's my point? It is futile to continue playing one way (as Arsenal did) when it's best to change strategy. Refuse to go forward, for example.

Play a high defensive line when you have the ball for a restart and force your opponent back into their own area.

Then use wide areas and the whole of the pitch to make passes. The goal here is not to advance forward but to keep the ball from your opponent. Move it quickly to areas of less pressure.

Diagonal long balls are important. This is also when backpasses can be made. Even a second XI is capable of this if well-rehearsed.

Conclusion

The big damage here may be the injury to Andre Santos. The defeat, though, readmits the question of Arsenal's depth as a team. It also raises concerns about the coming tight Christmas schedule. In this performance, the second XI did little to assure anxious Gooners that Arsenal will come out of this schedule intact.

There's nothing we can do but keep our fingers crossed.