KEOWN TALKS TACTICS
FROM MICHELS TO CRUYFF TO PEP... IS ARTETA NEXT IN THAT DYNASTY?
LISTENING to Kevin De Bruyne’s analysis of Manchester City’s 3-0 away win over Arsenal last week, he sounded like a manager. He explained how their opponents’ front four would press but when City bypassed them, everybody would stay up. Only 18-year-old Gabriel Martinelli might drop to help defend, he said. As De Bruyne explained, that gave City ‘spaces all over the pitch’ to exploit. The Belgian has clearly been well educated by Pep Guardiola. So has Mikel Arteta, you suspect, and he will know Arsenal back to front after that match. He will have seen how disjointed that forward line of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Nicolas Pepe, Mesut Ozil and
Martinelli was. City set traps to test Arsenal’s team intelligence. Rodri and Ilkay Gundogan sat in midfield while De Bruyne had a free role. Then there was Gabriel Jesus up top, Raheem Sterling on the right, Phil Foden on the left. When Arsenal had the ball inside their own box, City’s two wingers stayed on the full backs — Sterling on Sead Kolasinac, Foden on Ainsley Maitland-Niles — while Jesus sat on Calum Chambers. That forced the ball to Sokratis. When that happened, Sterling would fly across to close in on him with right back Kyle Walker pushing on to Kolasinac. This left De Bruyne in midfield, free to patrol and pounce whenever they regained the ball. So, while City left three up, Arsenal left four. City had bodies in midfield; Arsenal didn’t. One killer pass and Freddie Ljungberg’s front line could be taken out. This is something Arteta will want to work on, though it will take time for him to implement his ideas. It is not going to be an easy fix. Arteta has been part of one of the greatest think tanks in Premier League history. Guardiola is one of the best ever to manage — the man in charge of a winning machine. He is friends with chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov and has spoken of his admiration for current world champion Magnus Carlsen. I think his football is influenced by that. He is strategic in everything he does, reacting to every move his opponent makes. You could even say his full backs are like rooks, raiding the flanks. De Bruyne can be seen as a knight, slicing through midfield. The Belgian knows City’s