Sporting Star Highlights Tactical Tweak That Was Crucial To Arsenal’s Emphatic Win

By The Editor
on 27th November 2024

Martin Hjulmand says hosts couldn’t cope tactically…

Sporting skipper Martin Hjulmand believes Arsenal’s tactical tweak of dropping Kai Havertz in as an extra midfielder was crucial to the visitor’s emphatic win.

Arsenal matched our greatest away win in this competition—the infamous 5-1 win against Inter at the San Siro in 2003—and deserved every bit of that comfortable result.

You rarely see such a scoreline in this tournament with no mitigating circumstances, while Mikel Arteta’s men could’ve added to the result after missing a few chances.

Hjulmand revealed that Havertz constantly popping up in attacking midfield positions across the pitch gave the Gunners superiority in that area of the field.

The Danish international says the overload in that area of the pitch could be felt by the hosts and caused Arsenal to race into a 3-0 half-time lead.

“When they deployed their striker more like a No10 and sometimes almost like a No8, they had more players in midfield,” Hjulmand said in his post-match interview (via UEFA.com).

“We could feel that on the pitch, they’re a tough opponent. It didn’t go well, we’re not satisfied and we need to do better.

“We gave Arsenal a lot of chances in the first half and they were very effective. It was a tough night

“We’re going to analyse this game through the video, because it wasn’t good enough for us,” the former Lecce midfielder said.

Overloading the midfield against a 3-4-3 system is crucial to controlling the game given how quickly Sporting are usually able to manoeuvre to a box midfield with their dual No. 10s.

While Hjulmand highlights Havertz dropping into midfield, Arteta went further by deploying two inverted full-backs on either side with Riccardo Calafiori and Jurrien Timber tucking in to provide extra support.

It was our most fluid performance this season and, unsurprisingly, comes when the boss has almost a full-compliment of players to choose from.

A trip to West Ham beckons on Saturday with the team now gaining momentum – the scene of our 6-0 thrashing last season.