Tottenham midfielders James Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski spread far apart uncharacteristically when in possession in Arsenal’s half, forcing their markers Jorginho and Thomas Partey to follow them. That affected Arsenal’s ability to immediately counter.

Tottenham’s midfielders normally crowd in the center of the pitch or around the ball on either wing. This post shows examples of their normal positioning. For that reason, it was jarring to see this approach against Arsenal, with either midfielder spread apart.

Jorginho was tasked with marking Dejan Kulusevski, and Thomas Partey marked James Maddison. If Partey moved to the center of the pitch between Arsenal’s center backs, Arsenal’s right wing, made up of Bukayo Saka or Ben White, then shared the responsibility to mark Maddison.

Tottenham knew they would manmark both midfielders tightly; they purposely spread them apart to create space centrally.

Tottenham midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur could sit in that space, but the space wasn’t really meant for the midfielders. It was a space for left-winger Hueng-Min Son, left-back Destiny Udogie, or right-back Pedro Porro to drift into or attack. The fullbacks normally like to invert and then attack inside of the midfielders through into the channels forward, all the way up to the front line. This added space created a cleaner pocket for them to receive the ball, one-on-two with the wingers running towards Arsenal’s fullbacks, rather than one-on-three with Jorginho or Partey helping.

The second reason behind why creating that space was smart was that it further pushed Arsenal back into their own end. When Arsenal play away from home, they have a tendency to defend deep, sit back, to counter. It’s an effective strategy.

To counter that, Tottenham spread the midfielders apart; that somewhat weakened that potential counter from Arsenal. They didn’t stop it; Arsenal had plenty of chances in transition, but they weakened their ability to maintain possession after transitioning to attack.

Havertz, Trossard, Martinelli, and Saka were all ready for the counter, but that space meant that it would take time for Jorginho and Partey to get into position to help circulate the ball if the initial attack into Tottenham’s half failed. It rarely failed (didn’t end in a shot), but if it did, Arsenal would be more likely to surrender possession.

It is a monumentally difficult task to beat this current version of Arsenal, but Tottenham’s problem overall was that technically they were well below par. Their passing wasn’t sharp, nor was their touch. If you can look past their deficiencies on the day, you’ll see a strategy that a more technically proficient team could execute that tactic against Arsenal, and they might see a different, more positive result.

Match: Tottenham 0-1 Arsenal, 15 September 2024