Match date: 11 December 2013

Despite already being on 12 points entering the final match of the group stage, Arsenal still had a chance of getting ousted from the Champions League, while Napoli, tied on 9 points with Dortmund, had a few scenarios that would see them through to the knockout stages at either the expensive of Arsenal or Dortmund.

Both Rafa Benitez and Arsene Wenger set up their sides in a 4-2-3-1, and both had fairly fluid attacking quartets, for at least the opening half of the match.

Napoli’s Pressing

Throughout the match, Napoli pressed Arsenal very well as they desperately looked to get at least 1-0 win over Arsenal regardless of the scenarios dependent on the Marseille v Dortmund match. Overall, Napoli’s pressing was very effective and they gained some scoring opportunities from it, one being Higuain pressed Szczesny only for the Polish goalkeeper to try to deftly chip the ball to an Arsenal teammate and rather have Higuain head it into the side netting.

Above, you can see just how many times they regained the ball in Arsenal’s half, winning six of their eight attempted tackles, and the numbers that Napoli were able to get around the ball frustrated Arsenal, as they had an increasingly hard time playing around the Napoli’s high press. What was also evident in the match, and the picture above shows a fairly good representation of it, is that Napoli’s pressing was relatively together. Albiol and Fernandez played a high line and helped eliminate the space in midfield for Arsenal to play in.

In the screen capture above, you can see the amount of pressure that Napoli were putting on Arsenal. Both Pandev and Callejon are pressuring Mertesacker, with Higuain close to Koscielny and in midfield, Dzemaili is right next to Arteta and Mertens is closing to Flamini. This was not unique to this moment; Napoli were consistently applying high pressure and made it difficult for Arsenal to play out of the back and instead, they chose to try to get the ball to Giroud as much as possible. As the deepest pressure relief, it was mostly Szczesny’s task to play over the press.

Higuain’s goal came about because of pressure he put on Mertesacker, causing the centre back to clear the ball all the way to Fernandez. Napoli then worked the ball up to Higuain, who turned well and scored. Napoli’s second goal was the result of Behrami putting good pressure on Ramsey in Napoli’s half, winning the ball back, and then countering well.

Tomáš Rosický

The Czech international has now been at Arsenal for six years and, while he’s had his fair share of inconsistency, he has done well for the Gunners and showed his abilities against Napoli. His passing was good throughout, his tackling was decent, but what aided Arsenal’s cause the most on the day was Rosický’s work rate. Playing with Özil and Cazorla in the side meant that Arsenal’s midfield was going to be very narrow and Napoli’s full backs, Maggio in particular, enjoy getting forward, which theoretically is problematic for Arsenal’s lack of width, especially when Napoli played long diagonals to the full backs. However, Rosický was quick to cover both Özil and Cazorla throughout. As he was when Flamini made several runs forward into the Napoli penalty area.

Benitez’s Change

What won the game for Napoli was Benitez’s substitution. While Pandev had a decent match in support of Higuain, he looked fatigued from the high press that he was instructed to play and looked void of ideas when he got on the ball. At around the hour mark (Benitez’s favourite time to make a substitution), he took off Pandev and introduced Lorenzo Insigne. It was a significant change as Insigne is pacy and tricky, but could also aid in continuing to press Arsenal when they had possession.

Bringing on Insigne meant that Callejón moved inside in support of Higuain with Mertens and Insigne on the right and left, respectively. Callejón’s influence on the match increased greatly once given a freer role behind Higuain. Of the two chances that Callejón created in the match, one being is assist to Higuain, both came after he was moved inside. His pressing in that area of the pitch and his ability to link Napoli’s midfield with Mertens, Insigne, and Higuain was vital in the continuing the pressure that Napoli were putting on Arsenal in the last half hour of the match.

Insigne provided Napoli with a good attacking option on the left as Napoli seemed to focus their attacks down the left through him and Armero. Insigne was certainly the main outlet, however, especially after Wenger replaced Rosický with Ramsey, meaning that Arsenal’s midfield was still narrow, but lacked the work rate of Rosický, relying instead on Flamini to help Jenkinson with both Insigne and Armero, which in turn allowed Callejón more space to break into in the middle of the field, especially with the absence of Arteta after receiving his second yellow card.

Wenger’s Faults in Loss

Had this been a match that Arsenal absolutely had to win rather than not lose, Wenger certainly would have brought on Theo Walcott. With Napoli’s pressing, there was an incredible amount of space for Arsenal to play diagonal balls into. The screen capture below is a good representation of Napoli’s pressing and the space it opened up.

Despite this being on the right side of the pitch, imagine this scenario with Walcott on the opposite side. With six Napoli players in this area of the pitch, the pace of Walcott could have easily created chances for Arsenal. Following the introduction of Insigne for Napoli, Arsenal created just one scoring chance.

When all was said and done, with Dortmund scoring a second goal against Marseille and Napoli only scoring two goals, Wenger’s substitutions worked well enough. Bringing on Monreal added cover on the left side of Arsenal’s defense, making Insigne a more predictable option for Napoli’s attacks and while Insigne had his say on the match, Arsenal were able to contain Napoli just enough to qualify.

Conclusion

Had this been a league match, Wenger’s substitutions would have certainly been different. With Napoli’s pressing, it was an opportune time to bring on someone with Walcott’s pace, but knowing that if Arsenal didn’t concede too many, that’d be through, Wenger opted for defensive substitutions.

Overall, it was certainly a nervy 20 minutes for Arsenal after Napoli scored their first goal and Napoli certainly could have gone for another goal much quicker than they did, but waited only until the news about Dortmund’s second goal reached them to push on for another, which left them with little time to score two more goals.

Benitez and Napoli will certainly feel hard done by finishing third in their group despite winning 12 points. They are in fact the first side to not progress in the Champions League despite amassing that number of points.