...seems to be the received wisdom for cancelling out our boys. What formation should we play to counter this and with which players? Personally I think the problem is in the middle. Paddy and Cesc are not winning this battle and everything else gets shut down as a result!
4-4-2... The way Arsenal likes to play it, the formation is fluid anyway. All teams are better when they maintain possession and Arsenal isn't doing that at the moment, by accounts. That's down to the central pairing in midfield as much as anything else, and this is where we now are week. Paddy can't do it all himself, but right now he must. We have to keep the ball more effectively and play for the one-nil as well to get the result. It's not like 4-5-1 is new against Arsenal, or that this team hasn't before faced tough-tackling opponents who sit 10 men behind the ball.* The same game plan must apply. *Except Cesc, because he's 17-freakin'-years-old and has never before played regularly against EPL opposition. Do we here collectively regard him erroneously as one of the Arsenal's core veterans? I don't and we shouldn't.
4-3-3 But I haven't seen a lot of tactical diversity from Arsenal. Of course it is hard to argue with the results. However, a three man attack (Pires, Henry, Reyes/Pennant) could cause a lot of problems at their backend. just a thought.
Here's an interesting article about the current failings of your team. It includes some comments from Wenger along the lines of the 4-5-1 tactic. http://football.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,9753,1365023,00.html
I agree, except for this part "Just as it took 18 months to build an aura of invincibility, but only 90 minutes and three dodgy refereeing decisions to shatter it, so it will only take one trademark Highbury shredding to get them back on track". I notice that the Manu fan machoward had no arguments with the opinion on the refs decisions. Let's hope the "Highbury shredding" occurs tomorrow.
I'd like you to point out to me the parts of the article that are incorrect. As far as I'm concerned it's pretty spot on. Teams are playing five in midfield to stifle us, fact. Pires and Henry are arrogant gits, fact. Wenger used to take off Bergkamp after 60-70 minutes of every game for a defensive minded player (and often still does), fact. Patrick Vieira is playing badly (and has admitted it himself), fact. Wenger goes on about the young players being good enough to be in the first team, but he doesn't rest the senior players and put them in, fact. I don't like to see unfounded crticism of our team, but this article seems to set out all the points that are costing us points at the moment accurately. And he didn't even mention a dodgy keeper (or two now if you take Almunia's performances into account. And no, Fowler shouldn't have scored on the side of the goal he was covering in the City game either) and lack of depth at centre half. As far as I'm concerned this is constructive criticism, accurate points which should be taken on board and addressed by Wenger and his staff.
Good shout... really stand up to admit that the criticism was constructive... I thought Wenger unwise to complain of 5 man midfields its almost as if other teams are using tactics that Arsenal have either a) not seen before or b) are not allowed to use. All the great teams in the world come up against that - the key is just to find a way to beat it. Other than that - I think other than not using young players more and not resting Henry, Wenger has made very few tactical mistakes. Sometimes football is about having luck, form and alot about matchups..
And why is it that weekly a new Arsenal player comes out and says they are injured, but they are never rested? I'm sorry, but the way we are playing right now its not too risky to take a Henry operating at 50% and replace him with say Van Persie for example (I know he's injured, but you get my point). But here's major problem with this team. Why do we desperately need to play Henry for 90 minutes tomorrow against a team that cant score when we could line up someone else in his place? Because after two injuries we have no depth. Its sad, but this state of affairs seems destined to continue until the January transfer window.
RIght about the lack of depth. Arsenal has a great first XI and some promising youth, but no real in between. The depth and quality of the reserves is what gets a team through the tough times. AW has done a great job of finding young talent, but they need to be nurtured and brought up to speed. This takes time. January is going to be a critical point for the remainder of the season.
I agree with this. First, an injured player isn't going to be as effective and second, they risk aggravating the injury even more and being out for longer in the long run. That is a bit harsh. Losing Van Persie, Bergkamp and Aliadiere to injury is just unfortunate. If you take Drogba, Gudjonssen and Kezman out fo the Chelsea squad who would play up front for them? You can have as much money as you like, but you can't have ten strikers at your club just for the off chance that you'll have six of them out. Liverpool are currently short of recognised strikers, but Benitez came up with a formation to get the job done. Maybe Wenger needs to look at a temporary change of formation to get the best out of his fit players.
Perhaps, but I'm harsh only because I love... In all seriousness though, Chelsea can weather the storm much better than we can because they've doubled up each position with strong talent. Take away those three strikers and you could easily move Robben and Duff farther up front. Of course, we arent owned by Roman (at least, not yet ), but look at Liverpool. They lost all of their top strikers (which we havent experienced yet) and were able to move Garcia up front, and will have Gerrard floating behind a striker tomorrow. Arsene seems too set in his ways to move the squad around, and really we've been hit less hard by injury than Liverpool has. With Paddy missing on Tuesday though, that is exactly what he will need to do in what is the biggest game of the year. I think frankly that Thierry needs to sit tomorrow, with Reyes operating alone up front, or at least rest Thierry after 60 minutes or so. Our midfield should be good enough to get the job done against Birmingham, and I'm sure Sol will be a rock at the back. Lets hope.
Maybe, maybe not. Until Duff and Robben came into the team Chelsea weren't creating much. Move them up front and you're back to having the strikers, but not so much in the way of service. It doesn't work that way. I agree that with our midfield against Brum, any striker worth his salt should be looking to score a goal or two, it doesn't need to be Henry. And as I've said before if we're two or three up at half-time then we shouldn't see Henry for the second half. Wenger needs to heed his own words and rest players who are tired or injured wherever possible.
Ive been playing a 4-5-1 with arsenal on FIFA 2005 and Ive had alot of success. It goes like this: Lauren..................Sol.....................Toure..................Cole ..............................Vieira.............Gliberto..................... ..I created myself in the game as an attaking midfielder Ljungberg...............................Me..................................Pires .........................................Henry
That's not entirely fair. If we moved to playing a 4-6, essentially, we could put Cole and Lampard in to provide service, and even have Glen Johnson as a right midfielder to provide width. Yes, however, losing every single striker on our team at the same time would hurt. Of course, it almost happened to us 3 weeks ago, when Eidur was the only healthy striker we had (Mutu, Drogba and Kezman were all out). He was replaced in games by Cole, IIRC.
I agree about a lack of depth at many positions, if you are comparing us to ManU or Chelsea. I don't see the January transfer window as much of a solution however. We've been thin compared ManU for a number of seasons (and Chelsea since the Roman takeover). In some past seasons, we've just been fortunate to make it through without injuries to some key players. I disagree about the transfer window being a solution, because I don't think previous transfer windows have solved the problem. They've helped a little, but not enough, as evidenced by the current thinness. The problem is the difference in revenue and resources available, vis-a-vis ManU and Chelsea. We can't yet afford to have as many high quality, proven back-ups at as many positions. Instead, the Arsenal way is to spend almost as much on our starting 11 as the other big teams. But, because of having less resources, we therefore have less to spend on back-ups. Instead, we have to use the youth system to provide a lot of the back-ups. Compare the recent teams for the ManU/Arsenal Carling Cup game. I think those rosters are illustrative of the differences in the back-up situations for the two clubs. I don't see the January transfer window as the light at the end of the tunnel. I see the move to Ashburton Grove(?) as more of a light at the end of the tunnel. That (coupled with continued success) will produce the significant revenue bump needed to solve the depth problem. For the last few years, I've felt that Arsenal was just trying to hold it all together with a skeleton crew, trying to eek as much as possible out of each purchase (because we couldn't make as many as the other big teams) until we could get into a bigger venue. (And Arsene's relative success at this, just proves to me how great a coach he truly is.) I don't know. My impression about the relative finances and the effects on those finances of having a bigger venue certainly be wrong, but that is what my impression of the situation is. Professor B
I've often been in agreement with you, but we'll have to part ways on this. Facts don't make articles. It's how they are used or distorted. A whole bunch of Guardian articles I've read recently do put the Sun to shame, both in the manner of style and how facts are used. No this isn't an emotive non factual statement! This a deeply unpleasant phrase, which I don't think is true. It is certainly true that Arsenal must have been pleased with themselves, who wouldn't be, but this remark smacks of the deep seated British loathing for anyone who is doing to well and needs "bringing down a peg or two"? AW and his team are rightly proud of their achievements, but, the eulogising comes from the media and the spin from the marketing boys. In his comments on the BBC website, after the defeat by Liverpool, Alan Hansen said, 'Arsenal pass and move with pace better than any other team I have seen in English football'. No, sorry, the hubris is in this journo's head. The truth is that he sounds like he's choking on envy? Plus 'mentally weak and leaderless' is a bit over-dramatic don't you think? Somewhere between what and what? 'It was the best of times it was the worst of times'? If his first paragraph is an encapsulation of the extremes of views that people hold about our favourite club they need to be attributed to someone! This is pure garbage start to finish! If you look in the dictionary under redundant it says, "see redundant"! Alright there's a germ of a fact here, but, wouldn't it have been alot easier just to say "if you crowd the midfield it reduces Arsenal's rthym and fluency? This guy seems to write using the Jackie Collins Thesarus? Nice bit of A'level literature use of antithesis don't you think? "room to breathe" leaps elegantly to "asphyxiated Arsenal"! Pullitzer pure Pullitzer! Use of "fumed" to suggest childish petulance nice! Add in the words negative connotation with smoking and fires = Double whammy!! And no I'm sorry this is more sour grapes than fact! AW has often stated that the aim is to play football that is attractive, and it's more than churlish to suggest that he hasn't tried to deliver and had more than a measure of success, even so he also states that football is about winning and has frequently said we have to learn to win 1-0, particularly in Europe! Plus, AW has taken DB10 off after 70 mins because Opta stats showed a dramatic drop off in his performance at this point. Also, as I'm sure you know, AW usually leaves all his changes till around the 70 min point, be they attacking or defensive! It might be symbolic of not wanting to loose or be kicked off the park, but, that's one heck of a lot of interpretation. Does an unnamed "United Player" qualify as an objective source for unbiased comment? Sorry, I absolutely don't agree that Henry is an "arrogant git"! Tempremental yes, confident in his own ability yes, passionate about the club he plays for yes. Great personality assessment of someone voted one of the best 3 players in the world, 3 years in succession? As for AW's arrogance? Oh the freedom of the press! I don't think that a man who allows himself a modest smile when questioned of his teams success, continues to be unassuming and approachable, while unequivocally being described by the Arsenal board as the greatest manager the club has ever had? No I don't think that's fair! I take the point that there are several occasions where the temprement of the team has been in question, and we have suffered the consequences for that loss of Grit! It's just the way it's written, just too freakin gloaty for me; not to mention the thinly veiled and highly topically bit of froggy bashing prejudice? Well no, actually, Sol has not been imperious this season. Our early winning streak was without him and he hasn't yet made the difference since his return. What the freak is "an omnipotent figure in Premiership midfields"? Wouldn't say it like this but I have no gripes about the assessment of PV4. If not watching the EPL for the 1st time this season, this guy has to know that Titi grumbles about his fitness about the same time every year and has played on every year! Also is AW the only manager to keep faith with his best players when they are having an off period? Oh frock off! we used the least number of players in the Prem last year and did something no team has managed in over 100 years! I do like a good shredding myself! Yes we've got great young players, and I'm buying extra sunglasses for the future, but, generally they aren't ready physically and maturitywise for the Prem. Case in point - look at how Cesc is currently struggling, even with his undoubted talent. how can you make an argument about a player who is long term injured? JAR has had plenty of chances and has either done nothing or gotten injured. IMHO Jermaine Pennant isn't good enough to play for us and Clichy gets 1st team football at every opportunity. Van Persie is showing he's close to ready and is getting playing time, but is his temprement ready! Then after all the torrid, florrid and ill thought out superficial assessment and insults, we get the 'piece de resistance'! A final paragraph that basically says, that after all this vitrolic hot air, I don't have the faith to stand by my criticisms and the Gunners could very well be back to their best come the next game? Your supposed to fill the unforgiving minute with 60 seconds worth of distance run, not with 60 seconds worth of the runs? I reserve the right to be biased, ungrammatical and once in a while attempt and fail miserably to be clever in what I post on these boards. I make no apology! I am a fan, a supporter, whatever you want to call it, and it's my free time and I'll bloody well do what I want with it! But, to see someone paid to write this never ending drivel is truly offensive. If I bought the Guardian, to read the sports pages, I'd ask for my money back!!!
It is this year that there will be a winter break isn't it? If so my guess is that rests will be thin on the ground till then!
Seeing the article through absolutely biased and totally unobjective eyes there Mart. As you say, we'll part ways on this one, I like to think I can keep some perspective when people are crticising the team, you obviously just get riled whenever someone says anything bad about them.
Yeah but all the great teams in the world have very very very large amounts of money and arsenal don't. Secondly we haven't got a plan B because we haven't got the money to by a player to give us a plan B and thirdly if you look at the money you guys and Chelski have spent to get in the same league of us now we have got nowhere near that amount of money I think we r doing well for the amount of money we have spent do you Man U and Chelski fans??? No1ArsenalFan