Arsenal: Laurent Koscielny, Schkodran Mustafi Partnership Takes Stand

The Arsenal vs. Chelsea match was reminiscent of a 04/05 Arsenal display. It’s always been said that when the passes are flowing for Arsenal, they truly reach another level, but what about their defense?

It feels good to get rid of your demons, doesn’t it? Every time Arsenal plays an established top four team, the doubt start to creep in. I always tend to prepare for the worst.

But finally, after five long years, we were able to dismantle Chelsea. It wasn’t all that long ago that the roles were reversed and Arsenal always seemed to have the upper hand in these encounters.

Jeez, it felt good to have things go back to how they used to be, at least for one match. And it wasn’t just any old win, it was a comprehensive win. Domination.

Lots of talks will be centered on the attacking play of the Gunners. And it was absolutely memorizing, the intricate passing, the movement off the ball, and viciousness in front of goal, all of it.

But the offense was only able to do so well with the ball because of the overall team’s effort to dictate the game without the ball.

Off the ball is where the Gunners won the game. When Chelsea had the ball, Arsenal set out to hunt.

Arsenal hunted in packs and closed down the space on Chelsea. The intent to get the ball by having multiple points of pressure on the opposing player is something that has been lacking on this defensive side of the game.

Koscielny and Mustafi set the defensive tone for the team. It’s impressive the amount of understanding and coagulation the two have gone under in such a short period of time.

Mustafi was excellent off the ball. He can be seen talking to players, pointing, shouting and setting Arsenal’s defensive shape. He’s simply at a higher level than our other CBs and can keep up with Koscielny’s level of play.

With Diego Costa acting as the focal point of the attack, Chelsea would play the ball into Costa’s feet with his back turned to goal. Before Costa could control the ball, Mustafi would pressure Costa and have his presence felt.

This did a few things to Arsenal’s defensive shape.

For one it made the defensive line more dynamic. Instead of having a flat line of four, Mustafi pushes forward to contain Costa almost in the role of a stopper. A stopper, an old school position, is where a player floats in front of the defensive line and snuffs out an attack before it escalates. Think ultra-defensive midfielder.

It almost gives you an extra player in midfield when Arsenal is stretched offensively.

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Second, the tactical change allows Koscielny to drop and be a solo CB with Monreal and Bellerin dropping back as well to keep defensive solidarity. Essentially not creating any gaps in the back line for the opposing team to expose.

Mustafi deters the attacks to the point where he wins the ball, which often happened against Costa or delays the attacker enough for Coquelin, or another midfield player to come and give us a two-on-one situation.

The Gunners haven’t been able to defend in this manner because they didn’t have the personal to do so. With Mertesacker in defense, his lack of pace doesn’t allow him to drop back and be the solo CB nor can he be anticipatory and step in to play the stopper role of Mustafi.

It’s only due to Mustafi’s similar traits to Koscielny regarding pace, anticipation, tactical awareness and tenacity that the two defenders can pivot off each other.

We’re beginning to see the tangible benefit of having two agile defenders. Their partnership allowed no shot on target through 60 minutes.

Hopefully, their partnership will continue to grow and in doing so will allow Arsenal to keep the pressure on their opponent’s half.

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