Arsenal went to Mansfield in the FA Cup fifth round and advanced despite struggling early on with an alternate lineup and formation.
Two brilliant strikes from Noni Madueke and Eberechi Eze unlocked what was an even and entertaining affair.
Mikel Arteta rested most of his usual starters and went with an alternate lineup. It was actually the first time he started with a back-three rather than the preferred back-four this season. But it was a short experiment – more on that later.
Mansfield did have their moments, looking to attack Arsenal’s wide centre-backs down the wings – especially Christian Mosquera.
Nigel Clough must have watched a lot of the Brighton players (Yankuba Minteh in particular) have success pulling the Spanish defender out of position and tried to do the same with his forwards.
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The Gunners’ preference from playing down the middle also made it easier for the home side to recover possession quickly. A lot of those recoveries actually became chances of their own.
Whenever Gabriel Jesus, Kai Havertz or Max Dowman offered support and received the ball with their backs to the goal, there was always a Mansfield defender giving them no room to breathe.
The hosts also managed to hurt Arsenal in a number of different ways: open play, fast breaks, set pieces. But ultimately, despite their good performance, it wasn’t enough.
What adjustments did Arsenal make in order to beat Mansfield?
Central → wide play
Despite having four wingers on the pitch, Arsenal forced their attacking actions down the middle for the majority of the first half. There was a heavy emphasis on starting and finishing plays in central zones.
But Mansfield overloaded these areas and made it difficult for the Gunners to find success breaking down their defence.
The match required more wide play from Arsenal, as Noni Madueke and Gabriel Martinelli, in particular, were hardly ever activated. Especially in conditions to take defenders on, which is what they do best and a valuable asset when trying to dissect low blocks.
Arteta’s men had as much as 56% of their attacking actions coming in the central corridor, around the 20th minute mark. And the only time they managed to do anything truly dangerous was when goalkeeper Liam Roberts gifted Max Dowman the ball in their own defensive third.
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It took them just over 30 minutes to start using the wide areas as a means to access the central ones. Turns out they needed to go to the wings, condition Mansfield’s defensive movements in order to create openings inside.
The right side in particular excelled in that. Noni Madueke was instrumental to getting Arsenal in good attacking positions. Of all good things they did in the match, most of them had him involved. Not only did he score the first goal, but also created a lot of opportunities for his teammates and himself as well.
And they had to go wide (again to the right) in order to find space down the middle once more for Eberechi Eze’s goal. It took them a while to recognize, but they did eventually adjust to what the game required.
Back-three → back-four
In terms of strategies, Mansfield probably executed theirs better than Arsenal in the first half. A lot of it was due to the exposure the Gunners suffered by having three centre-backs and one holding midfielder as their defensive options.
The defenders had no cover from the wing-backs, as they were both wingers. Kai Havertz charged forward when Arsenal had possession and Christian Norgaard found himself completely on his own when tracking back.
With all that, it’s no surprise that when Trossard left with an injury, Mikel Arteta replaced him with Piero Hincapie. The three-at-the-back experiment lasted just 35 minutes.
From then on, Arsenal controlled spaces much better. Structurally, they limited Mansfield and suffered a lot less in transitions.
The hosts took 10 shots in 65 minutes after Arteta’s formation change, as opposed to eight in the opening 35. They did score in this span, though it did come after a Marli Salmon error that gifted Will Evans the ball.
It was actually everything that Mansfield wanted, since it left Evans one-on-one with Mosquera and he won that battle quite easily.
In terms of footballing structure, Nigel Clough came up with a solid game plan to try and nullify them while also doing enough to give them a chance of scoring. But it’s hard to compete against so much talent – which is exactly what sent Arsenal through.