Europa League 2018/19 Tactical Analysis: Valencia vs Arsenal

The second leg of the Europa League semi-finals between Valencia and Arsenal was poised brilliantly. Arsenal had a two-goal lead but with the recent comebacks of Liverpool and Tottenham against Barcelona and Ajax respectively, it would have been premature to write them off. The fact that Valencia had defeated Huesca 6-2 during the weekend in the La Liga was even further cause for apprehension for the Gunners.

In contrast to that, Arsenal were effectively out of the top four race in their domestic journey as they could manage only one point against Brighton when they needed three to stay alive. The pressure was all on Unai Emery to perform as Valencia had nothing to lose, and in their own home stadium – the Mestalla – no one was expecting them to adopt a defensive game plan.

However, Arsenal defeated them comfortably in a six-goal thriller to book a place against Chelsea in the final in Baku. Valencia opened the scoring in the tenth minute but Arsenal responded in kind and more as both of Arsenal’s strikers – Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette were in top form, the latter even getting his first hat-trick for Arsenal. In this tactical analysis, we’ll talk about the tactics employed by both managers and how Emery was the more decisive of the two.

Line-ups

Arsenal lined up in a 3-4-1-2, with only two changes from the first leg’s starting eleven – Shkodran Mustafi was benched for Nacho Monreal while Lucas Torreira came in for Mattéo Guendouzi. Valencia moved back to their tried-and-tested 4-4-2 after the unconvincing experiment with three centre-backs in the first leg. They made three changes as well – Facundo Roncaglia, Mouctar Diakhaby, and Carlos Soler were replaced by Daniel Wass, Kevin Gameiro, and Francis Coquelin.

Valencia’s possession-plan

Structure

It was clear from the beginning that Arsenal hadn’t come here expecting to dominate possession and be protagonists with the ball. Valencia set up an expansive structure for attacking with the ball and pressing off it. They lined up in a 4-4-2 which morphed into a fluid 2-4-4 with both of the full-backs moving up and providing width. They had a double pivot of Francis Coquelin and Daniel Parejo in the centre of the field to provide stability and a base for the attacks to spring from. The double pivot has been at Valencia since Emery himself was the manager. Parejo himself admitted in an interview about Emery’s tactics and the similarities between his Arsenal and Valencia.

“…It surprised me to see three centre-backs sometimes; he never did that here. But he has always liked to play with a doble pivot, two in the middle. The best coaches adapt and he hasn’t been there long, so it will take a while still…”