Gameweek 5: The Post Mortem. MCI v ARS, NEW v NOR

Man City 1 Arsenal 1, Newcastle 1 Norwich 0

Summary:

Ramsey is the secret weapon for Arsenal as the Gunners bossed possession, clear cut chances and most importantly, City's midfield. However, as both teams made their tactical changes, it was quite disappointing to see both goals come from set pieces. Arsenal, however, can take heart from the fact that they have outperformed City's best XI, and the points will surely be merited for their performances soon.

It's reactive vs proactive defense as Newcastle's calculative bunch take on Norwich's energetic squad, but it's an early error that decides the game as both teams didn't do too much to influence the game tactically thereafter. Unsurprisingly, both sides were unable to produce the moment of magic as the game ended the way it started.

Lineups:

Man City field a 4-4-2 (tentatively) with Lescott and Kompany in central defense, Clichy and Zabaleta on the flanks. Ahead of the standard backline is a much more fluid 4: Javi Garcia and Toure are flanked by Sinclair and Silva, and Aguero starts in place of the in form Tevez alongside Dzeko. The reason I labelled City's formation as tentative is because of the fact that Sinclair and Dzeko aside, the other 6 players in midfield and attack are able to drift out of their position depending on circumstances.

Arsenal, on the other hand, have Diaby back from injury and takes the place of Coquelin from last week. The more surprising inclusion was Ramsey, who is supposedly starting on the right flank instead of Walcott, or Oxlade-Chamberlain. Gervinho maintaining his place as the lone forward also probably surprised many, but their gameplan against City probably would'nt be as surprising.

Tactical Notes: 

• City players "secondary positioning" paying dividends, but Arsenal are more than prepared

In the first half, City utilised the positional flexibility of their offensive lineup to create chances. Aguero and Dzeko pulling wide to receive the ball, as well as Sinclair and Silva switching flanks to challenge the fullbacks are not sights we haven't seen before, but it shows that the most simplest of things, when done properly, can yield results.

Arsenal, however, were winning most of the 1v1 battles when City's players had the ball in dangerous areas, with Gibbs, Mertersacker and Jenkinson all able to thwart the likes of Sinclair, Aguero and Dzeko.

Arsenal, however, were flying on the attack and looked significantly more dangerous than city. With Arsenal's quality in the pace of their forwards and fullbacks, as well as the passing caliber of their central midfield, Arsenal fancied their best chances to be on the counterattack.

City's defence had some steel in Kompany taking up a relatively advanced position while Toure and Garcia attempted to shut Arsenal down high up the pitch to prevent these counters, but Arsenal were a different animal compared to last week.

• The Ramsey effect

While usually Arsene employs Oxlade-Chamberlain or Walcott to exploit weak fullbacks, with Zabaleta and Clichy a class above their usual rivals, Wenger used Ramsey to initiate attacks from deep, as well as on the counter when pace was needed to get past the challenges of City's high pressing defence.

With Arteta and Diaby usually spraying passes in midfield, they are quite unlikely to be the ones bursting forward with the ball on the counter. Arsenal love to receive the ball in between defense and midfield, and City allowed Arsenal to do so only on the counter. Arsenal managed to use the ball well with Ramsey and Santi constantly having options ahead of them whenever they received the ball. The result of this central-midfielder heavy lineup is the "double pivot" of Santi Cazorla and Ramsey ahead of the usual double pivot.

This also allowed the fullbacks, Gibbs and Jenkinson to take up really, really advanced positions as Diaby and Arteta sat back, allowing Cazorla and Ramsey to bring the ball forward. Jenkinson found himself as the unlikely receiver of Ramsey's key pass and nearly set up Podolski for a good shooting chance, which is the result of Ramsey being in the starting lineup.

This worked against the central midfield pairing of Yaya Toure and Javi Garcia, who strangely weren't executing the hard pressing strategy as well as others, and as a result Ramsey had acres of space to run into, and on a couple of occasions managed to play incisive passes to Gervinho. The Arsenal forwards' wastefulness in finishing let them down, however, and they were punished when City led at half time through a set piece.

• Arsenal permanently keep Cazorla and Ramsey central, City switch it up to  involve Yaya Toure and Silva more

In terms of tactical progression, City attempted to bring Yaya Toure more into play by withdrawing Sinclair for the relatively defensive Rodwell, while Arsene Wenger locked Ramsey in the middle with Cazorla instead of starting on the right wing, with Walcott coming in to take his place. Giroud also came into the fray for Podolski, which pushed Gervinho out to the left instead.

With Rodwell alongside Garcia in defense, City sat deeper and had more men to thwart Arsenal's advances, and in fact relied on counterattacks to punish Arsenal, which was the sensible thing to do. Gibbs' forays were actually dealt with relatively well, and Jenkinson was going up against Silva now, which made the Arsenal right back think twice.

With Arsenal's fullbacks relatively muted, and Yaya Toure's influence growing, Arsenal were now relying more on Arteta, Cazorla and Ramsey to make plays while City nullified them with their deep defending. A really good save from Joe Hart aside, Arsenal didn't make much more but they used their set pieces well and equalised from a corner.

Fantasy Implications:

While City don't have a constant XI yet beyond Yaya Toure, even investement in the Ivorian will be quite sceptical in the coming weeks as his influences usually only grow in the second half, and for his price tag there are alternatives starting to surface. Arsenal, however, have Santi Cazorla at the heart of everything good they do, so he is a must keep for now, and we will monitor Aaron Ramsey's run in the squad based on this game to see how he fares in the coming weeks.

Newcastle 1 Norwich 0

Lineups:

Newcastle stick to their guns as they line up a 4-4-2 against Norwich, with Ba impressing against Everton last week. However, with Gutierrez lining up on the left instead of the right last week, and with James Perch likely to play defensive midfield, Anita would be responsible for covering the right back spot if Perch does venture into midfield. This also implies that the wide right was identified as an area for Ben Arfa to pick up the ball and start his runs, which also implies that perhaps Hughton sees a weakness in Norwich's left side...

Norwich, however, surprised most by fielding a 4-5-1 with Hoolahan playing behind Steve Morison up front. Now I admit that I have not seen much of Hoolahan and what is known to me are only his set piece capabilities, but when Norwich initially got promoted, he was usually at the heart of Norwich's attacking plays as he also takes set pieces. He will be the difference today if Norwich were to get something our of this game.

Tactical Notes:

• Garrido's error allows Newcastle to take the lead, but manages to create chances through Newcastle's passive defense

The key features of this opening half were (a) Newcastle's passive defense, (b) Norwich using the space on the left and (c) Ben Arfa's influence.

While Garrido played the worst possible offside trap possible to gift Newcastle the lead, they responded reasonably well with Hoolahan regularly running into the left space, causing Anita some trouble and even managing to force a header off the line.

Norwich's positively play, though were aided by Newcastle's stand-off approach. Instead of going hard on their opponents (they are severely missing Tiote) they stood off to block shots and Norwich had a couple of free headers at goal to show for it.

However, Norwich's lack of bodies in the box and Surman's underperformance meant that Newcastle's lead lasted until half time.

An interesting talking point of this match is Newcastle's passive defense against Norwich's high pressing one. While Newcastle's careful tackling approach (11 fouls to Norwich's 20) became a risk when playing offside traps (Harper saved a 1v1 against Surman from a failed offside trap) while Norwich's hard pressing approach allowed dribblers such as Ben Arfa to beat them and create chances. 

• Newcastle sit back and protect the lead, Norwich revert to their dynamic two up front which predictably doesn't yield results

In the second half, Norwich's response was to bring on two strikers for Morison and the misfiring Surman, Newcastle withdrew Cisse and brought on Obertan, which significantly reduced Ben Arfa's influence.

Norwich were essentially relying on Hoolahan to generate chances to the front two of Jackson and Holt, while Newcastle wanted to use the space left behind by Surman's departure in bringing on Obertan.

An interesting substitution, though, was Cheikh Tiote's introduction. While it was understandable that you'd make a like for like substitution, Anita's role was more as a right back rather than a defensive midfielder.

 This pushed Perch permanently to right back (where he's supposed to play) and personally it was a real shame to see that happen as Perch had been a positive influence playing in defensive midfield alongside Anita.

With Ben Arfa's influence waning, Pardew brought him off for Ameobi to keep Newcastle's structure rigid at 4-4-2, and successfully closed out the game. In terms of tactical progression, both teams did as expected, but sadly for Norwich, they were relying more on the numbers game more than anything to win the game for them.

Fantasy Implications: 

Demba Ba's 90 minute outing will certainly cause a bandwagon in the coming weeks. Ben Arfa's value also will be quite popular for being the creative spark in Newcastle's attacks, but with Man United, an improving Sunderland and West Brom in the horizon, you could hardly see Ben Arfa's value skyrocketing just yet. For Norwich, Snodgrass was surprisingly muted, which implies that he underperforms either against quality defence (Gutierrez in this case) or it's just a case of the away blues. Hoolahan's contribution to Norwich's attacks certainly puts his case forth, but with Norwich favoring the 4-4-2 at home, I can't see Hoolahan starting behind the front two unless Hughton decides to push Hoolahan left, which will limit his effectiveness.