The recent midfield signing, Arthur, has finally debuted his appearance for F.C Barcelona substituting in the last quarter of the clubs first league game against Deportivo Alaves. Playing merely for the last 13 minutes as the left central midfielder, the 22-year-old was not without a vital influence on the game, let alone his assist to Coutinhos goal. He has it what would add value to Barcelonas defensive and tiki-taka set up. Here is the detailed tactical analysis of Arthurs performance on his debut at Barcelona.
Defensive positioning
With his solid positional awareness; a sharp line of sight; and the ability to read the game and the opponents, Arthur showed his intense presence against Alaves. When off the ball, he intelligently positioned himself to block the key spaces between the opponents. The picture below exhibits a glimpse of the defensive moves of the Brazilian in his debut fixture. The midfielder stopped the opponent ball-carrier first with his speed and a potential tackle which would force the later to pass to his teammate only to get the ball back after some distance. But the young Brazilian international followed him back blocking his passing route from the inside. This way Arthur not only covered the depth with his dynamic defensive positioning but also slowed down the attack Barcelona was about to concede.
Passing and on-the-ball acumen
Arthur played with a 4-3-3 set up when substituted in the last quarter with Rakitic as his right counterpart in the central midfield and Busquet at the base of it. (Valverde switched to this formation by the second half from the 4-4-2 in the first half when he brought Coutinho in the central midfield replacing the right-back Semedo for Roberto.) The formation changes with Arthur in the last quarter then made Coutinho move up as the left winger-forward.
Arthurs position at the left of central midfield, which was used to be played by Iniesta before, is a booming stage for him to not only show his defensive intelligence as a midfielder but also his passing acumen. Against Alaves, he was found to keep picking spaces and adjusting his position and the line of sight confidently in accordance with the movements of players. In a snapshot of the fixture below, as Arthur passed to his teammate, the opponent went on to press the later from the front which opened space behind him. Arthur dropped into that space to enable his teammate to pass him back and take the ball out of the press.
