Arsenal have always played 4-4-2. So why did Wenger change it this season?
Wenger use to always play 4-5-1 in champions league games and in the big games to try and win the game in midfield, But it never worked.
Our great teams under Wenger were 4-4-2
————————————————-Seaman
—Dixon——————-Adams——————————-Campbell————-Cole
—Parlour——————-Vieira——————————–Petit—————–Overmars
——————————Bergkamp—————————Anelka
Then it was
—————————————————— Jens
–Lauren—————————Toure————————-Campbell————Clichy/Cole
–Ljungberg/Wiltord—————–Gilberto——————–Vieira——————Pires
————————————-Bergkamp/Kanu—————Henry
Everybody knew their job
Now we have Eduardo on the wing 1, Arshavin the next, Walcott up front then on the wing, Nic on the wing???? 
its a shambles
If Wenger played 4-4-2 with the players we currently have fit our team would look something like this
—————————————————- Almunia
-Sagna—————————Gallas————————–Vermaelen—————-Clichy
-Walcott————————-Cesc—————————–Song———————Nasri
———————————–Nic——————————-Arshavin
As you can see, 2 up front and big man and little man partnership. Arshavin playing the Bergkamp/Kanu role just off the striker and 2 wingers.
Time for Arsenal to return to 4-4-2
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this is a good shout but it is easier to defend against a 4.4.2 than a 4-3-3 with the oppossiion just packing the bus in their box. the 4-3-3 allows more fluidity and more movement and allows fabregas to get furthr up the pitch more. if u cd analyse the game vs utd, we were counter attacked for the goals ad the players who had responsibilities to break up the counters were abysmal especially denilson. he was shocking, how we would love to have flamini or diarra playing instead. and another thing which is also puzzling Almunia seems to bottle it each time against a big team. he is a big game bottler every arsenal fan can see this i dont kno why wenger cant. expect an error from him against chelsea ( mark these words)
The problem is that we don’t have Ljungberg/Pires-esque wingers. Walcott can’t cross and he’s too predictable and Nasri is too slow.
I agree with the 4-4-2 formation spacaily when Arsenal
play with m.united, chelse,Liverpool.and Man.city.
Song isnt good enough to play DM in a 4-4-2. He doesnt have the pace to cover this whole area himself. That is why wenger put 3 in the middle to help out song. We would need a flamini type player to change back to a 4-4-2.
Walcott and nasri aint good enough wingers either to play this system. In truth we dont have the players to change back.
Only player that this system would suit is arshavin, but it would stop cesc getting forward and we would concede even more.
It was not the 4-3-3 formation that let us down with utd but the starting 11 in this formation. We have generally looked good in this formation but you have to play the right players. Arshavin is a 2nd striker at best but often likes to come from deeper in midfield and could be considered a midfielder as well. Pairing him with rosicky and Nasri was like playing a back 4 and 6 midfielders and no recognised striker. They had set up for effective pacy counter attacking, we didn’t. The counter attacking tactic and the respective selected starting 11′s won the day not the general superiority of one squad over the other. It is difficult to swallow all this men against boys rubbish when they are not truly better, but Fergie just out-thought us again on the day. We have unnecessarily given the media a massive stick to beat us with. It is time to play theo through the middle. A top 3 of him Arsh and Nik would have carried more threat aerially, in the box and with the pace on the counter. Nasri should have dropped deep with Cesc. If Nik and Theo are not deemed ready to play as strikers then we should have bought. If they are not match fit then we should have bought, with the run of games from Jan to early feb in mind. I personally believe that given a run of games Nik and Theo could come good up front. theo will never be a great winger. It is time to play him through the middle as a striker which was always AW’s long term plan.
we dont have 2 fit strikers, end of conversation , theres no way anyone could have watched the the game sunday and thought ” we dont need to buy ” we are depleated ! this is a massive managment error, arshavin playing upfront on his own , with an injury ! and out of position , all it takes if for 1 / 2 ore injuries and we are fukked! no excuse not to buy !!! shocking , i sat there at the emirates sunday with my head in my hands watching rosicky and nasri taking it in turns trying to support another midfielder as a striker,
ohh and 1 more thing , denilson is shit ! i watch him make awful errors, game after game and not get dropped, rather have ramsey in there ! was his poor control tht gave away the 3rd goal , he cant tackle , he cant play the holding role , he aint got the legs for box to box, whats his point ? denilson and almunia in a starting 11 will never win silverware ! both not fit to wear the shirt, we have become a club that has one interest and thats profit ! not trophies ! its beggining to sicken me , i have been a season ticket holder since i was 12 , and i am furious with the clubs lack of ambition for silverware! stoke and manchester united games + no buys in the transfer window could have cost us cesc !
tactically fergie got it right. he used park nani and rooney to break quickly and we were poor. i hope wenger doesnt make the same mistake against chelsea and play an attackin outfit to be counter attaked!
almunia (sighs)
sagna gallas cambell vermaelen
eboue song diaby arshavin
fabregas
Bendtner
hope wenger plays his cards right this time
every arsenal fan can see this but not wenger, hes gna come out with stats prove denilson is the most efficient rah rah rah bull shit…. i would much rather have ramsey in there aswell. anyone but him even merida. denilson offers us nothing, so pissed off atm. wish we signed vieira at least untill the summer
my five year old son could have written this article and perhaps even make it interesting and informative! something of which you have failed to do.
Erm.. that first team never played together.
Wenger has proved obstinate to the extent of damaging the team. 1. We’ve struggled in the post v Persie injury period. No striker bought.2. Almunia is shit. I rather Manone by far. Another yr without cup & we r done.