{"id":196,"date":"2026-02-24T07:30:23","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T07:30:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/?p=196"},"modified":"2026-02-24T07:30:23","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T07:30:23","slug":"how-arsenal-adapted-to-igor-tudors-tactical-system-much-more-effectively-than-spurs-did","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/?p=196","title":{"rendered":"How Arsenal adapted to Igor Tudor\u2019s tactical system much more effectively than Spurs did"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Arsenal\u2019s shortest away trip of the season felt, going into the game, like their biggest test so far.<\/p>\n

Reeling after sloppy performances had seen them throw away four points at Brentford and Wolves, Arsenal were under serious pressure and faced a side hoping to benefit from football\u2019s fabled \u2018new manager bounce\u2018.<\/p>\n

Part of the problem of facing a side with a new manager, of course, is that you can\u2019t be entirely certain how they will play. But Arsenal seemed well prepared for the new approach of Tottenham Hotspur interim head coach Igor Tudor, which was largely about man-marking in midfield. In fact, Arsenal seemed more comfortable with Spurs\u2019 approach than Spurs did themselves.<\/p>\n

Spurs\u2019 basic shape was a 5-3-2 without possession, which featured Xavi Simons roughly playing in a front two with Randal Kolo Muani. Sometimes, formations don\u2019t matter too much when a side is using man-marking, because the formation is essentially dictated by the formation of the opposition.<\/p>\n

But Spurs\u2019 problem throughout the game was the situation below: the Arsenal full-backs, particularly right-back Jurrien Timber, had no direct opponents. Everything stemmed from this.<\/p>\n

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Here\u2019s the first example. Arsenal are playing out from defence, and Timber is free. Djed Spence has to push forward and close him down, but he\u2019s too late to put any pressure on Timber, who plays it on to Bukayo Saka. This then drags Micky van de Ven out from the back, opening up the entire left half of Spurs\u2019 defence. Eberechi Eze looks to run into that space. This set the tone.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

Saka had his best game in several months, largely because he was afforded so much space. Here, Arsenal again look to play out to Timber, but Spence pushes up and closes him down. So David Raya instead launches an excellent ball downfield. Saka has drawn Van de Ven wide, then runs in behind him, and Guglielmo Vicario has to sprint off his line and head clear, to prevent Saka reaching the ball first.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s another example. Timber is again free as Arsenal build from the back. Spence is again simply too deep to put serious pressure on him, and is easily bypassed as Timber plays the ball to Saka. Van de Ven is now acting as a left-back, and there\u2019s huge space between him and the other defenders. Eze again looks to run into that space, but Saka can\u2019t quite find the angle to slip him in.<\/p>\n

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Another typical example here. This is a strange one \u2014 Spence essentially presses too wide, and Timber simply takes a touch inside and goes past him. This means Pape Matar Sarr has to jump forward and close down Timber. Again, Eze is free to run into space, and if Timber had passed right, Saka and Eze would be overloading Van de Ven, who looked uncomfortable throughout the game with how much space he had to cover.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

Tottenham\u2019s sluggish press was the main reason Viktor Gyokeres suddenly looked like a world-beater, as the same was happening on the other flank. Piero Hincapie was free for a pass from Declan Rice, Joao Palhinha had to jump forward and close him down \u2014 inevitably, too late to prevent being bypassed \u2014 and this left Gyokeres able to find space on the outside.<\/p>\n

He looked very sharp here, but look at the amount of space he has when cutting past Radu Dragusin \u2014 there\u2019s no other defender close to the Romanian.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

Then came Arsenal\u2019s opener. Timber is again free. Spence shuts him down, but Saka is free out wide. Van de Ven doesn\u2019t want to venture out there, so tells Sarr to move out and close down Saka. Sarr looks reluctant, and checks over his shoulder to note the situation in his midfield position. He half-tackles Saka, but Saka emerges with the ball, and this drags Yves Bissouma over to help out. Two central midfielders are almost at left-back, leaving various Arsenal players free for a cut-back. Eventually, Eze is the player to turn the ball home and give Arsenal the lead.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

Spurs seemed to change their press at points. Here, Timber receives possession and it\u2019s Sarr who moves out from midfield to shut him down. Van de Van is now the one tracking Eze, and Spence is on Saka. This probably made more sense, although it\u2019s worth looking at how empty the centre of the pitch is, and how much space there is to get the ball directly into Gyokeres.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

A few minutes later, Spurs went back to the previous approach. Spence was consistently too far away to put pressure on Timber, and this move was so easy for Arsenal \u2014 Van de Ven was too far from Eze to prevent him poking the ball in behind for Saka, although the pass slightly spun away from him, and Sarr was able to recover.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

Throughout all this, it was never entirely clear what Simons was offering without the ball \u2014 one possible solution would have been for him to shift left into a 5-4-1, and focus on nullifying his compatriot Timber.<\/p>\n

Saka, meanwhile, was causing all sorts of problems \u2014 here\u2019s a second direct pass from deep, this time from the eternally unmarked Hincapie. Vicario has to save.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

Into the second half, and the same old problems.<\/p>\n

Here, Timber is free. Spence moves out towards him, but simply gets bypassed and Saka gets the ball on the outside. Van de Ven goes across, but so do Sarr and Bissouma. Spurs end up with four players primarily concerned with Saka, and \u2014 just like in the reverse fixture \u2014 Eze is free on the edge. Rice nods down the cross towards him, but Kolo Muani \u2014 the centre-forward \u2014 nips in to intervene.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

Then came the second goal, which felt incredibly simple. No intricate build-up needed here \u2014 it was just Timber free, and able to play the ball directly into a zone where both Eze and Gyokeres were positioned. Eze got in the way of Dragusin, and Gyokeres was free to curl the ball home.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

Spurs\u2019 problems continued throughout the second half \u2014 Eze\u2019s next goal came when Arsenal won the ball high, and the game was over by the time Gyokeres added a late fourth.<\/p>\n

It was clearly a hugely impressive performance from Arsenal, with the individual displays from Saka and Gyokeres particularly encouraging.<\/p>\n

One reason for caution, however, is that no other Premier League side will afford them this much space. Spurs didn\u2019t really understand how to play Tudor\u2019s system. They were never going to be fluent, in his first game in charge, against the league leaders \u2014 but in their current situation, they can\u2019t afford any more matches like this.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Arsenal\u2019s shortest away trip of the season felt, going into the game, like their biggest test so far. Reeling after sloppy performances had seen them throw away four points at … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":197,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-196","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=196"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipsport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}