Arsenal Action

[Curt.B]

If we beat Chelsea I'll feel much more optimistic, in line with you Craigie. It is do-able, if we beat Chelsea.

[Sinbad]

Just think about it, If wenger went back to a 4-4-2 what a great team we would have.

...................................Fabianski
..Eboue...............Gallas..................Vermalen..........Clichy
..Walcott..............Cesc..................Song................Nasri
.......................Arshavin...............R Van persie

The sad fact is that only Cesc is playing well in this 4-3-3/4-5-1

Arshavin, Eduardo, and loads more cant play in this system. Time for wenger to admit this is not working and go back to the tactics that won us the league

[Dial Square]

We have to play 2 strikers, its as simple as that. We need to get back to 4-4-2.

I remember Arsenal having Bergkamp just playing off Henry with Pires and Ljungberg on the wings. Vieira and Gilberto holding the park and thats what we need to get back to.

Song and Cesc in the middle, Rosicky, Nasri, Walcott, Arshavin, Vela can all play on the wings. Sign a new striker and play 4-4-2 FFS

[Curt.B]

Wenger has somehow forgotten that you determine your tactics based on the players abilities; you don't change the player's abilities to try and fit your tactics.

[Sinbad]

He is trying the play the Barca way.

Only problem is our players are not in the same class.

We need to get back to 4/4/2

[AK brigade]

Name me a team who has won anything in football recently that plays 4-4-2?

[Sinbad]

Name me a team who has won anything in football recently that plays 4-4-2?

Don't be stupid, Look at Liverpool playing 4-5-1 with Torres. It doesnt work. Dont you remember Wenger playing 4-5-1 in the FA cup final with Bergkamp as a lone striker?

[Curt.B]

Name me a team who has won anything in football recently that plays 4-4-2?

I don't know...but I could name you one team that hasn't won anything playing 4-5-1- Arsenal.




And its not that the formation is bad, it works for barca, it just doesn't work for us.

[Sinbad]

Name me a team who has won anything in football recently that plays 4-4-2?

I don't know...but I could name you one team that hasn't won anything playing 4-5-1- Arsenal.


And its not that the formation is bad, it works for barca, it just doesn't work for us.

thats because Barca have world class players all over the pitch. They dont have Almunia, Denilson etc

[Craigie]

Doesn't matter what formation you play as long as it suits you. If you play average players or players out of position it's going to be bad. We would've won it playing 4-4-2 in 2008 IMO if Rosicky hadn't got injured and possibly Eduardo. For the first half of that season we were the best side in europe. We created many chances that Robin and Adebayor wasted but they both still scored a load in the games they played. I think the contributions of Hleb and Rosicky got overlooked that season when we started to fail under the pressure. We had a perfectly balanced midfield with Hleb running, dribbling, being direct and untouchable, Rosicky, the wildcard, all his goals seemed random but always a good alternative outlet to Hleb, Cesc the playmaker and killer ball specialist he got something like 19-20 assists that season and Flamini the work horse that dealt with anything.

The only benefit for us of playing 4-4-2 now would be getting some use out of Eduardo and Vela which I'm all for if it puts Denilson on the bench and that certainly needs to happen. Don't get me wrong I think 4-3-3 will be our best formation in the future when Song has a bit more experience of being an all round DM and Ramsey/Diaby are good enough on a consistent basis and of course Robin being fit and we sign someone to go on the opposite wing to Arshavin.

But right now the situation is actually ridiculous, because Arshavin wants to play behind a striker, Eduardo, Vela and Bendtner want to play in front of an Arshavin. We have Nasri, Rosicky, Cesc all fit who were all first choice in a 4 man midfield last season, and we have Song who has really proved himself to play in the other spot. We've also got our fullbacks that can't cross but are good players that suit better to a 4-4-2 system, we have our first choice centre backs and goalkeeper, we have a PERFECT Arsenal style 4-4-2 team, and a bad 4-3-3 team, but we're sticking to the 4-3-3?