What Went Wrong? West Ham - Arsenal Review

It's very easy to see that Guardiola has taught his players how to play against a team who park the bus for 90 minutes. You play wide. When a team is defending in their own penalty area it means they are under pressure. This also means that the midfield is almost drawn back to the penalty area as well. Therefore, the space between midfielders and defenders becomes extremely narrow, as well as the space behind the defensive line. Manchester City knows how to play against this, and they show it match after match. You play wide. If space is almost none existing you spread it out. You play with two wingers who play extremely wide. This way you spread out the play, and make defenders play in spaces they are uncomfortable with as they want to keep the spaces tight and narrow. It's extremely important that the wingers stay wide, or you make it narrow again. Rio Ferdinand, a former world-class defender, explains:

Rio Ferdinand on Arsenal's tactics against West Ham:

“When you play against a team that just come and sit narrow in their penalty box, you have to move them out to areas where they don’t want to be, where you can create space within the back five."

“You get wide - Man City do it remarkably well."

“They get their two wingers and they can stay wide for the good of the team so the defenders have to come out and spread."

“Once you get people spreading then you can get runners to go in the space."

“Arsenal today played into West Ham's hands."

“They played narrow, they played through the middle where West Ham were strong."

This leads me to the next problem:

The Lack of 1 vs 1 Players

Who does Arsenal have, except Sanchez, who is great at 1 vs 1 situations? None, if you ask me. Once again, take a look at Manchester City. Sterling, Sane, Agüero, and Jesus. For the above tactic to work, you need players like this. You need players who can dribble past a man or two. Iwobi, Walcott, Welbeck, all have speed, but they are simply don't possess enough technical skills to do what's needed. Of course, it makes sense, that we are not doing what's best for the situation we saw yesterday when we don't have the material for it.

Xhaka

In games like this, you simply don't need players like him. He spreads the ball wide, but that could have been done by any player. What we need are players like Wilshere, Ramsey etc, who runs the ball, but still capable to act as a playmaker. Cazorla, we need you. Players like Cazorla is a perfect example. Technical, can shoot, can run with the ball, and sees everything. Xhaka still hasn't impressed me. Neither is he strong defensively, and neither does he create chances or benefits the team in the build-up phase.