At the start of the 2021-22 campaign, all hope seemed to be lost for Arsenal. After losing their opening matches to Brentford and Chelsea without scoring a single goal, the Gunners suffered an embarrassing 5-0 defeat at the hands of Manchester City. To make matters worse, their arch-rivals had beaten Guardiola's men on the opening day of the season, and sat top of the table at that time. Meanwhile, the Gunners sat rock bottom, with Arteta's future in doubt. Weeks later, Arsenal and Spurs faced off in the North London Derby, where the Gunners came out guns blazing, securing a stunning 3-1 victory. Ever since, Arteta's Arsenal have been full of light and positivity, playing some of their best football under the Spaniard. Arteta may not have fully flipped the script on his abilities, but for the meantime, Arsenal sit in fourth place, full of promise for the future. So with that, here is our 2021-22 tactical analysis of Mikel Arteta's team.
Tag: Bukayo Saka
Futbol Masterminds – Italy Win Euro 2020, England’s Penalty Woes, and Southgate’s Substitutions
Kausty and Rhys break down their thoughts from the final match between England and Italy, including Gareth Southgate's substitutions, England's penalty woes, and the Player of the Tournament going to Gianluigi Donnarumma. Be sure to follow the show @futbolmasterminds on Twitter and subscribe via Spotify and Itunes!
Euro 2020 Final – Italy vs. England – Tactical Analysis
Euro 2020 has officially come to a close, with Italy crowned as tournament kings. England gave a mighty effort in the final to stop Italy from taking the crown, but as the match wore on there was only going to be one winner, and that was Roberto Mancini's Italy. Nonetheless, the final proved to be an intriguing tactical battle. We break it all down in our Euro 2020 Final tactical analysis.
Italy vs. England – Euro 2020 Final – Tactical Preview
After the craziness of the Round of 16 resulted in France, Germany and Portugal all being eliminated from the competition, the match that was expected to take place in the Euro 2020 final will now come to fruition. Italy and England have been the two best teams at the tournament, and the only two teams to not only go unbeaten, but win all of their games up to this point. Here is a tactical preview of the Euro 2020 final battle between Italy and England.
Futbol Masterminds – Southgate’s Selection Headache and Paul Pogba’s Roller Coaster Ride
Kausty and Rhys dissect all eight Round of 16 ties, including in-depth analyses of Gareth Southgate's winning tactics for England against Germany, and Didier Deschamps' losing tactics for France against Switzerland. Kausty has some choice words to say about Paul Pogba, but Rhys comes to the Manchester United man's defense, calling it one of the standout performances from a player at the tournament so far. Rhys and Kausty also disagree on how Southgate should progress his team moving forward, and make their picks for the final of this summer's championships. Follow @futbolmasterminds on Instagram to see more of the show and subscribe via Itunes and Spotify!
Arsenal – the ‘Mentality Kittens’ bound for more failure
Last season’s FA Cup triumph over Chelsea was supposed to herald the start of something special for Arsenal Football Club and Mikel Arteta. Instead, it's the Blues who have taken a huge step forward under the influence of Thomas Tuchel, with a return to the FA Cup final one year on and a UEFA Champions League final in their wake. Arsenal meanwhile have spectacularly regressed toward mediocrity, hovering in and around the likes of Leeds, Everton and Aston Villa.
UCL / UEL Semi-Finals – what we learned this week
In a week that saw Neymar battered and bruised at the hands of Manchester City, Christian Pulisic dazzle against Real Madrid, and Edinson Cavani terrorize Roma to bits, the UCL and UEL semi-finals threw up a ton of action and intriguing sub-plots. Here is what we learned this week in the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League semi-finals.
