2017-18 Squad analysis and Tactics

[Angelito]

It's a simple equation: you cannot win the league without a top class midfield. We haven't had one since Cesc - Flamini days.

Cazorla - Coquelin is the closest we got to having a good midfield.

I know Ramsey has his fans. I admit that under Simeone or Klopp, a player like Ramsey would be great. I also believe that under Simeone even Xhaka would be good. But under any other manager, a partnership of Xhaka and Ramsey is despairing.

4-3-3, 3-4-3, or 4-2-3-1 - it doesn't matter as long as Wenger is here.

[tufnelltoughie]

From recent results it would seem we have the wrong squad and no tactics whatsoever.

[Luzh 22]

From recent results it would seem we have the wrong squad and no tactics whatsoever.

Recent results? 10 years isn't recent results my friend.

[CrimsonGunner11]

Probably our strongest XI given who we have available. Seriously considered Niles over Bellerin at RB. Think the difference in quality between the two is narrowing

[Santi]

Elneny would be the key player in our team if we used a f***ing 4-3-3. He'd be incredible at just sitting there and killing everyone.

[thebigbangtheo]

I'm inclined to agree with regards to Elneny except for one thing...when he has played there he has proved just as ineffective as anyone else. Instead of just sitting in front of the defense forming a shield and having that as his primary objective, he abandons the position and pushes forward in his more natural game as a genuine box2box midfielder. That he has the engine, strength and tackling ability to play the role is not in doubt and of all our other midfielders the most suitable along with coqelein. However, neither possesses the inclination, determination or pure defensive nous required to excel in the position. It's just not their natural game.

Kante, Wanyama, Matic, Fernandinho, Dier, these are the defensive midfielders of our rivals. Liverpool like ourselves don't have a bonafide defensive midfielder and have pressed Henderson into the role given he has the discipline to his game at the cost of his more natural central midfield role. Chelsea won the league with kante and matic, Utd bought matic to give licence to pogba and form a midfield, kante is kante..nuff said, when spuds where for a moment looking like they could win the league it was no coincidence wanyama's signing was being hailed as a masterstroke, fernandinho is the pivotal figure that allows the City juggernaut to rumble on, he's the oil in the cogs of the machine as it were. We need a genuine DM, a clone of Petit would do nicely. The importance of the defensive midfielder role has not been lost on the winners of this league, just ask Leicester City and Chelsea.

[thebigbangtheo]

As we don't have an experienced defensive midfielder in our squad, I'm inclined to think f**k it, let's just go for broke and play our best attacking team in our best attacking formation and defend from the front, because defending from the back with 3 central defenders is no longer the tactical masterstroke of a solution it was at the end of last season.

To that end, I would propose a team consisting of:

Cech;
Debuchy
Mustafi
Koscielny
Kolasinac;
Ramsey
Wilshire;
Lacazette
Ozil
Sanchez;
Giroud

We are set up in the formation that best suits our style of play, 4;2;3;1

Debuchy is in because he is better defensively than Bellerin and so much better than many Gooners appreciate Imo, due primarily to the series of unfortunate mishaps his arsenal career has undergone.

Jack and Rambo form the base of the midfield which should be very fluid and effective at transitioning the ball from back to front both quickly and in more measured fashions. Both are decent defensively as midfielders go, but focusing on the team's strategic defensive frailty defeats the object.

Ozil is at the pinnacle of the midfield three and is flanked by Sanchez left and Lacazette right as bonafide wide strikers with great work ethic, pace, intelligence and presence.
I think Lacazette positioned on the right would not hinder his striking opportunities in the box but broaden his areas of the pitch in which to be most effective and score more goals whilst creating a shitload too. Not the same as Sanchez but similar and good enough to make it worthwhile and it would be a bit like what we did with Henry but in reverse.

Giroud up top as the centre forward and essentially the central striker of three, benefit being his ability of bringing others into play and creating chances. All three will create chances for each other and will also be supplied by Ozil in chief backed up by Wilshire and Ramsey.

I really don't see a better way of utilising the best players we have in our squad.

[EliteKiller]

The truth is we can't "park the bus" after two decades of Arsene in charge we have a squad that is totally lacking in any quality DM's .... so what do we do?

Against weaker opposition, which is 90% of teams we play, then a full on attacking philosophy is the best option .... win games by scoring more than the opposition that makes sense and only requires a back four ..... Arsene can do this, in fact he has little choice but to do this, with the very average midfield players he's collected he needs to play to our attacking strength ....

Against the best teams he's tried a back three ... in fact he did this against everyone for a while, no surprise against the weaker 90% our wingbacks got forward and we looked a good side .... those same wingbacks who are so poor defensively that they can't even get a start when we switch to a back four .....

however ....

Against top quality opposition, with our back three horribly unprotected by our midfield, and with our wingbacks totally outplayed by their opposite numbers, we have been cut to pieces .... if it wasn't for AOL we'd be mid-table .... and the AO might well be off next month .....

Arsene has f***ked us all ways ... back four with no pace at CB and very average fullbacks ... back five with no defensive cover in midfield ... the squad is just completely unbalanced .... loads of midfield clones, loads of second rate strikers, and an ageing, tired, well beaten down defense .... only one man to blame and he's still getting 9m a year .....

Solution - sack Arsene - but as that's not happening then spend 100m on two quality DM's .... would change the whole dynamic at the club ....

[CrimsonGunner11]

As we don't have an experienced defensive midfielder in our squad, I'm inclined to think f**k it, let's just go for broke and play our best attacking team in our best attacking formation and defend from the front, because defending from the back with 3 central defenders is no longer the tactical masterstroke of a solution it was at the end of last season.

To that end, I would propose a team consisting of:

Cech;
Debuchy
Mustafi
Koscielny
Kolasinac;
Ramsey
Wilshire;
Lacazette
Ozil
Sanchez;
Giroud

We are set up in the formation that best suits our style of play, 4;2;3;1

Debuchy is in because he is better defensively than Bellerin and so much better than many Gooners appreciate Imo, due primarily to the series of unfortunate mishaps his arsenal career has undergone.

Jack and Rambo form the base of the midfield which should be very fluid and effective at transitioning the ball from back to front both quickly and in more measured fashions. Both are decent defensively as midfielders go, but focusing on the team's strategic defensive frailty defeats the object.

Ozil is at the pinnacle of the midfield three and is flanked by Sanchez left and Lacazette right as bonafide wide strikers with great work ethic, pace, intelligence and presence.
I think Lacazette positioned on the right would not hinder his striking opportunities in the box but broaden his areas of the pitch to be most effective and score more goals whilst creating a shitload too. Not the same as Sanchez but good enough to make it worthwhile and a bit like what we did with Henry but in reverse.

Giroud up top as the centre forward and essentially the central striker of three, benefit being his ability of bringing others into play and creating chances. All three will create chances for each other and will also be supplied by Ozil in chief backed up by Wilshire and Ramsey.

I really don't see a better way of utilising the best players we have in our squad.

Imo, its a good idea if you have clinical finishers and players who will defend from the front for a good majority of the game. This philosophy works for teams like Liverpool and City because they have the players to make it work. Using your lineup as an example, we have players like Giroud, Ozil, and Ramsey who are not really known for making the most of chances presented to them and then we have players like Giroud, Ozil, and to a lesser extent Lacazette who are not aggressive enough when it comes to applying pressure. Yes it will work against certain teams but not most imho. We will most likely get outscored with this approach because I can see us being wasteful in front of goal and then the opposition punishing us on the counter because we didn't defend well enough from the front.


I think the best approach given the players we have is to solidify the defense as best as possible (i.e. starting the players best suited to fulfilling the defensive responsibilities of the team) and then hope the attacking players find a way to outscore the opposition over 90 minutes

[thebigbangtheo]

I think that since the change of formation to 3@the back last year we have tried to solidify the defensive attributes of the team and be more effective. Whilst we have had some success playing this formation, it has only been limited success with the games that it was most effective being at the end of last season culminating in our cup win and late charge for 4th. That degree of success has not been carried forward into this season, with the consensus being that the initial effectiveness of the switch has significantly waned and dissipated.

The simplest reason for this is that we DO NOT have either the type or number of players needed to play this system effectively for any length of time as opposed to being a tactical solution for a couple of games in the season. We don't have the couple or three 6ft 5in centre half's required, nor the 2 flanking players to defend as effectively as they attack for the wing-back roles, 1 maybe but not 2, and we definitely do not possess the robust, destructive and perpetual midfielders needed at the hub of the team.
Up front and the overall attacking prowess of the team is good and varied and if utilised probably could be on a par with any of our rivals.
So whilst I agree with some of your assessment but admittedly only to a small degree, I disagree in principle with the notion of persevering with 3;4;3 cum 3;4;2;1 as we don't possess the personnel to make it work, with those we do have being more suited to 4;3;3 or 4;4;2 and my own personal preference of 4;2;3;1.

The point I was trying to make previously was that given our situation in the league whilst having a reasonable chance of success in our other competitions, lets just abandon this failed attempt to rectify our defensive frailties, it hasn't worked. We don't have a genuine defensive midfielder or it appears anyone capable of fulfilling the role even on a temporary basis, so why bother continuing to flog a dead horse? For me, we might as well go the other way with 2 genuine central midfielders in Wilshire and Ramsey. Beyond the moderate defensive ability both possess, their objectives are primarily to be effective and efficient when we have the ball and ensure we retain it as much as possible. Getting the ball off our defenders and transitioning it quickly to the opposition box would hopefully only account for 20% of their efforts whilst the remaining 80% would be spent linking up with the four attacking players in front of them. We can no longer afford a midfield with greater emphasis on the three or four defenders behind them as opposed to the four attacking options in front of them.

I don't know why we need Ozil to be aggressive. Never heard that said of Messi, Iniesta or KDB. He's no Diego Costa but Giroud is certainly aggressive when a ball is there to be won in and around the box and Lacazette doesn't exactly strike me as a shrinking violet and I can't recollect one game where it could be said he didn't put a shift in.

By all means please indicate who in our squad are the players you would start with in order to provide the defensive stability and solidity you refer to.

[CrimsonGunner11]

The simplest reason for this is that we DO NOT have either the type or number of players needed to play this system effectively for any length of time as opposed to being a tactical solution for a couple of games in the season.

Agreed

So whilst I agree with some of your assessment but admittedly only to a small degree, I disagree in principle with the notion of persevering with 3;4;3 cum 3;4;2;1 as we don't possess the personnel to make it work, with those we do have being more suited to 4;3;3 or 4;4;2 and my own personal preference of 4;2;3;1

I didn’t say we should stick with the 3-4-3. There will be cases where a 3-4-3 would be our best option and there will be cases where it won’t. As you even pointed out, the formation was a godsend towards the end of last season. Its all about identifying when and when not to use the formation. and fwiw I personally prefer a 4-3-3 formation

I don't know why we need Ozil to be aggressive. Never heard that said of Messi, Iniesta or KDB. He's no Diego Costa but Giroud is certainly aggressive when a ball is there to be won in and around the box and Lacazette doesn't exactly strike me as a shrinking violet and I can't recollect one game where it could be said he didn't put a shift in.

Agree we don’t need Ozil to be aggressive. You suggested that we switch to a more attacking formation and start defending from the front. I pointed out you’d probably need the right players to do so and Ozil, imo, is not the type of player you’d want in your team if your aim is to defend from the front. Same goes for Giroud, imo. There’s a reason many refer to him as the lamppost. Lacazette isn’t bad in this regard and he does put a shift in but he can be static at times which can be a problem if you want to defend from the front

By all means please indicate who in our squad are the players you would start with in order to provide the defensive stability and solidity you refer to.

Again circumstances will/should dictate who starts which games but I think our base lineup should look like the lineup I posted earlier on in the page. If, for example, we want to be more defensive, we can take out Wilshere or Ramsey for Coquelin or Mustafi. If we’re feeling confident about a win then we can go with the lineup you posted or something similar.

I could be completely wrong with my assessment though. Just thought I'd share my opinion on the topic

[EliteKiller]

The issue with 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3 is that we don't have the DM's to protect the back four .... the very reason we switched to a back 5 was to cover for this weakness, it worked, and still works, against sides who park the bus and apply no pressure to our back three .... however against a side with a combative midfield (all the top five rivals) we just get overrun ... that's why we're back with a back 4 so Arsene can play three 'average' players in midfield to cover for the lack of 2 proper DM's ...

The problem this creates is despite having AOL as an attacking force, with seven players effectively defending or playing from deep the service is pathetic .... just look at the last few games to see the number of chances created and our shots on goal .... that's bottom five numbers not even close to top four ...

We need 2 quality DM's .... we have done for ages .... Xhaka was a bust, and the role is beyond Aaron or Jack .... so let's spend some of our vast wealth and let's do it now ......

[Arsene Nose]

I miss 442.

[thebigbangtheo]

Crimson..ultimately that is the only thing that every single one of us as fans are entitled to..our opinions, and as such there are no right or wrong's..just opinions you agree with more than others or absolutely not at all.

If I was looking to build a team to play on the front foot with the high press tactic then admittedly very few of our players would be considered. Instead of a Giroud I would be looking at someone like Diego Costa and Ozil would be swapped out for someone like Luca Modric. However, we are not referring to building a team as it is a case of having the team and trying to eradicate the gremlins within.

Whilst hustling and harassing players relentlessly is not typical of Ozil's game, following the lead of Sanchez, Lacazzette, Giroud and Ramsey I imagine he could prove very effective. Not in a Costa or Vardy like way by getting in the face of opponents, but in being able to steal the ball if they don't have it fully under control or force a mis-placed pass. More of a sly pickpocket than a mugger with a knife as it were. Similarly, given the instruction and being inclined to follow the example of his fellow attackers but more importantly stay in the team, Giroud trotting (I initially put galloping, but in having had to suppress a laugh myself I thought better of it) around applying pressure might not produce a chance for himself but force a mistake for the others to capitalise upon.

So whilst I will again agree with you on these two players not being one's that I would actively seek to play a pressing game and defend from the front, the mission statement as such is 2017-18 squad analysis and tactics, the issues being how best we resolve our defensive deficiency and maximise our attacking potential.

[PairyGrows]

There are three steps in preparing tactics for a team. First, certain principles have to be established. Then, a tactical framework is set up corresponding to those principles. Finally, once the framework is in place, it can be used as a point of reference for the preparation of each match. Simple enough.

It seems we've stopped somewhere between the first two steps. Our primary principle is clear; our aspiration is to play 'the Arsenal Way' which means attractive attacking football. But we don't seem to understand how to put 'the Arsenal Way' into practice.

'The Arsenal Way' emphasizes improvisation above all else and as such requires a cohesive group of supremely talented footballers to produce consistent results. Plug in a less cohesive and talented group of footballers, and the system starts producing results far less consistently.

The players simply don't understand their roles in the system. They're 11 individuals thrown on the pitch, not a well-drilled unit. That's why they stand still when we have the ball. That's why they commit school boy errors when defending. That's why no one steps up when things are not going well.

Will it change? Hardly. Wenger is too infatuated with his principles that he doesn't care if they're not translating to success on the pitch. Until he goes, we can't expect for much more.