This ‘Situational Game’ is an 8v5+GK working on creating & finishing against a low-block focusing on the use of wide triangles.
How Arteta defined a Situational Game in Elite Soccer Issue 130, “We set up for what we call a situational game. It’s not a positional game, it’s a game engineered to create a specific situation that we want to work on – in this instance, it’s one focused on us attacking in the final third against a low block.”
The session is set up with an 8v5+GK in one half of the pitch. The attacking team of 8 is split into three coloured bibs, 3 orange, 3 red and 2 green. The two sets of 3 are to identify each wide triangle, red being the left and orange the right. The two green bibs represent the striker and central-defensive midfielder. This structure of eight player’s is representative of Arsenal’s 2-3-5 attacking structure used frequently in the final third. The only two offensive outfield players not used in this session are the two centerback’s. The defensive unit is in the shape of a back four, 1 CDM plus the Goalkeeper. The overload for the offensive team is designed to increase the success & volume of varied repetitions as the purpose of the session is to work on creating & finishing vs a low-block.
The In-Possession offensive team have to try and create and score in the central goal. While the Out-of-Possession defensive team must try to stop the offensive team from scoring & try to counter and score in either of wide goals placed near the half-way line.
The end of the video shows the representative nature of this session as Arsenal’s last game vs West Ham in the Premier League shows how Arsenal use the 2-3-5 structure and specifically for the third goal Arsenal create and score using their 3-5 attacking structure.
Mikel Arteta's 8v5+GK Situational Game