A major factor in Arsenal’s spring implosion last season was the loss of starting full-backs Kieran Tierney and Takehiro Tomiyasu. Losing Kieran Tierney to injury is, I think, considered the first sign of spring in England, along with blossoming flowers, rising temperatures and the ticking of clocks. Tomiyasu enjoyed a huge debut campaign, well, half a campaign anyway.
Muscle injuries dogged him in the second half of 2021-22. The result was that Arsenal ended the season with Cedric Soares and Nuno Tavares at full-backs (most of the time). Fast-forward to this season and Arsenal have bought Oleksandr Zinchenko and the long-awaited arrival of William Saliba has seen Ben White move to right-back.
Consequently, the absences of Tierney and Tomiyasu have not been felt. In fact, neither is probably a top-choice automatic pick right now. In a twist that can almost be described as irony, the door has been opened for Kieran Tierney again because Zinchenko’s soft tissue has been a bit spongy lately.
Being able to alternate between Tierney and Zinchenko on the left has been an obvious improvement on the situation last season when the talented but raw Nuno Tavares played on the left in Tierney’s absences. (Though it’s worth noting that there was a moment last October when Tavares was drafted ahead of Tierney.)
Ben White has been a revelation at right back and as a result Tomiyasu has returned to the team after muscle problems and has not been able to force his return to the team in any case. However, the Japanese international need not worry. The season is long and Arsenal will need him. What’s interesting, though, isn’t just the greater wing depth Arteta has at his disposal.
They are also the different profiles that you have available for him. While Zinchenko is a left back who plays as a converted midfielder, Tierney is a left back who plays as a converted winger. Both profiles have value depending on the state of the game and the opposition, as I explored in this article a few weeks ago.
The situation is similar at right-back between White and Tomiyasu, if we assume that Saliba has impressed to the point that he is now seen as an indispensable part of the defense (and Saliba’s rise is a timely reminder of the ultimate lack of definition in football). : situations can change very quickly).
Generally speaking, one of the reasons why I think Arteta has stayed with White is not just because the player has performed so well. I think he makes Arsenal’s form a bit more aggressive. Most people already know that Arteta employs the principles of positional play, which means that there are almost always five players ahead and five behind the ball.
Tomiyasu proved to be a very inspired signing due to his ability to roll inside and create a back three, while left back Tierney pushed up that side. In front of that unit of three, there would be a two-man barrier in midfield made up of Thomas Partey and Granit Xhaka to his left, with everyone else advancing towards the famous five lines of attack (see diagram below).
The introduction of Saliba at right midfield and Ben White at right back, along with the addition of Zinchenko investing in midfield, has changed this form from 325 to just over 235 (see diagram below). There are clearly a lot of rotations within this structure, especially to the left, while the right tends to be a bit more fixed, positionally.
Zinchenko releases Xhaka to push forward, but White, I think, plays that right-back role a bit more as a third midfielder than a central third midfielder. While Tomiyasu is a right-back who plays as an auxiliary centre-back, White is a right-back who sneaks into some of those mid-spaces where we see Zinchenko, right on the opposite flank.
Saliba is so good at defending the right channel that he can more or less be left alone. White’s advance leaves the space on the right back more vulnerable in theory. Crystal Palace tried to exploit this on the opening night of the season because their number one tactic is to hit Zaha early down the left. White and Saliba between them handled that tactic very well on the night and heavily chained Zaha.
However, Manchester United were able to expose Arsenal more effectively in these spaces. On Saturday, that is the exact space Tottenham will also want to hit. Arsenal need to hope they repeat Zaha’s shutdown at Selhurst Park and not Rashford’s exposure at Old Trafford.
Back in May at Tottenham, that space was the responsibility of Cedric and Holding and we all saw how it turned out. What is interesting for Arteta is how he deploys his full-backs throughout the season. At Spurs, Mauricio Pochettino regularly rotated his two full-backs, but this was an acknowledgment of the physical feats he required of them to plow the touchline.
White, Tomiyasu and Zinchenko all play in a more reserved style, investing in defensive and attacking spaces. I think one development to watch out for is whether the full-backs come in pairs. We haven’t seen enough pairings yet to judge, but I wonder if, for example, Tomiyasu could be a very natural balancer for Tierney, while White and Zinchenko’s penchant for helping control midfield could be complementary.
I suspect it won’t be as simple as that, but what is clear anyway is that the manager has four options in the two full-back roles and there is not a bad apple in the barrel. For now, I think White’s continued pick over Tomiyasu is due to a combination of taking care of Tomiyasu’s health and because White is simply playing too well to pass up.
However, that is a transitory situation and Tomiyasu will become more prominent in the coming weeks, especially given the tight October schedule. I will be fascinated to see how the full-back roles are mapped out over the course of the season, whether Arteta will regard the four players as different horses for different courses or whether form and fitness will continue to guide selections.
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