From Anonymous : Remember when we had 4 strikers?
Hi Myles
Many thanks for posting my “Djourou for Sagna lost the game†comment the other day.
Here is a follow-up thought concerning Arsenal\’s recent tactics, and why Wenger has lost his way.
It has been on my mind for some time.
Remember the days when we had four strikers?
Bergkamp, Henry, Kanu and Suker. Those were the days that we used to play a 4-4-2 formation. I remember Wenger used to say it was essential to have four top quality strikers in the squad.
Where are these top quality strikers now? We now have van Persie, Chamakh, maybe the South Korean boy, and… who? Where is our prolific goalscorer? Where is our Ian Wright? Where is our Thierry Henry? Every top team needs one.
I remember those days fondly. Why? Because when chasing a game, when trying to reverse a lead, when trying to grab a victory, Wenger would take off the defensive players, throw caution to the wind, and throw on his 2 additional strikers, and more often than not, he would get the result! And it was great excitement!!
This also relates to Wenger\’s recent tactical change in abolishing 4-4-2.
Why has he done this? He is a 4-4-2 man and always has been. Remember when he first came into the club, he abolished the 3-5-2 of Bruce Rioch and went to 4-4-2.
It was a great move and a successful one. That is the formation that won him his trophies, and made him successful.
This 4-5-1 or 4-2-3-1 or whatever you want to call it, just does not work! A top class team should always have two strikers. One just dropping off and one up top.
This is Arsenal, a great club, teams are scared to come and visit the Arsenal, so why take the pressure off their defenders by only having one striker?
I find this is a somewhat defensive formation, to make up for the current team\’s lack of ability to defend.
Didn\’t we always criticise away teams who came to us with a 4-5-1 formation and flooded the midfield? Where was their ambition? Now the same can be said of us.
Don\’t get me wrong, when we play against some of Europe\’s elite, such as Barcelona or Man Utd etc, maybe a 4-5-1 would be a better plan to retain possession, but against Swansea, Newcastle, Bolton, Wolves, etc, go 4-4-2!!
I also find that 4-4-2 gives the players more responsibility. Especially to the midfield. The 2 in the centre of the park have extra responsibility on them.
When you have 3 in the middle, I sense that they do not feel that responsibility. “It\’s ok, I can attack because there are 2 people behind meâ€. But then the other thinks the same way and then they leave just one behind!
This current team can play 4-4-2 if given the chance.
Keep the goalkeeper and the back four. Sczeszny is world class, as is Sagna. Partner Vermaelen with Mertersecker or Koscielny. Mertesecker shouldn\’t be penalised for his lack of pace. Lots of great central defenders don\’t have the pace, key is to read the game, and have an organised back four. Look at our own Tony Adams! And then choose between Gibbs or Santos.
Then the interesting bit. The midfield. Who are the next Vieira and Petit or Gilberto?
I think Song and Wilshere could be the 2 central midfielders for Arsenal.
The left winger has to be a Pires mould and I think Gervinho is looking like that man.
The right winger? Interesting one as I wouldn\’t go for an out-and-out winger. I would go for a Ray Parlour-type player to both attack and defend, to make a midfield 3 on occasion.
This would be Ramsey. Remember that Fabregas also played this role on occasion when first breaking into the team.
Who are your 2 strikers?
Van Persie or Arshavin can play the Bergkamp role. They both have the technical ability to do it. Up front? Not sure. We don\’t have Ian Wright or Thierry Henry.
But is it time we gave Walcott a chance there? He was bought as a striker and is craving it. He is fast, and is a good finisher. He just needs to time his runs. He doesn\’t need a trick to get past a full back, just time his runs.
He is quick and can finish. If the team are losing, throw on Chamakh, Park, Arshavin, and go for it!
Will Wenger be brave and do it?
Go back to 4-4-2, Arsene!! Get back to what you know and do best.
Sczeszny
Sagna Mertesecker Vermaelen Gibbs
Ramsey Song Wilshere Gervinho
Van Persie
Walcott
Myles says :
You’ve dropped Arteta !
Theo would be offside when Robin took his third or fourth or fifth touch.
RVP is not DB10 : one touch, then a killer pass.
Ramsey is a good up-and-downer who can finish. Much more of a goalscorer than Ray Parlour of Dirk Kuyt, so that would work.
He’s good at running into scoring positions and has a bit of craft. Ramsey could move around a lot, finding spaces, linking things, pulling defences around. Arsenal would be less predictable.
Walcott and RVP score goals but I don’t rate either of them, so I already regret getting drawn into picking an Arsenal team to contradict yours.
I’ve only seen Gervinho a couple of times, so I have no idea what he might do in the next three seasons.On what I’ve seen so far, I wouldn’t mention him in the same breath as Robbie Pires.
Neither of us picks the system or the team, so it’s a silly exercise.
But it will soon be obvious to most Arsenal fans that this 4-3-3 is a system consructed around players who are no longer there.
As a new chapter explaining failure, it would be called Denial continued.