daredevil That's what I'm seeing which is the team playing the ball less through the centre which requires more skill and bravery, and rather more lateral passing which is easier to execute and less dangerous.
Okay, as we all know I am a bit mad, but I did go off to see if this was supported by any measurements a few days ago.
Here are some of Arsenal's Premier League passing stats per 90, showing last season versus this season:
| xAG | xA | A–xAG | KP | 1/3 | PPA | CrsPA | PrgP |
|------|------|-------|------|------|------|-------|------|
22–23 | 1.42 | 1.23 | 0.27 | 11.7 | 43.1 | 12.1 | 1.63 | 53.9 |
23–24 | 1.01 | 1.09 | 0.08 | 10.8 | 42.2 | 11.5 | 1.73 | 50.6 |
I grabbed the numbers from here: https://fbref.com/en/comps/9/passing/Premier-League-Stats. There are lots of other mundane passing stats which are also very similar, these are the "progressive" ones.
xAG: Expected Assisted Goals (xG which follows a pass that assists a shot)
xA: Expected Assists (likelihood completed passes become assists)
A–xAG: Difference between actual Assists and xAG
KP: Key Passes (passes that lead directly to a shot)
1/3: Completed passes into the final third
PPA: Completed passes into the penalty area
CrsPA: Completed crosses into the penalty area
PrgP: Completed passes that move the ball towards the opponent's goal line at least 10 yards from its furthest point in the last six passes, or any completed pass into the penalty area. Excludes passes from the defending 40% of the pitch.
As you can see these "progressive" passing stats are hardly down over 90 minutes, including right into the opposition penalty area. However, "xAG" (an obscure concept) has cratered.
Not sure. It would be interesting to restrict the comparison to last season's 50 point first half, as I'm sure our collapse after April makes a difference. These stats and your verticality claim can both be true, but the numbers don't seem to help evidence the claim.
