Arsenal: Arsene Wenger’s New-Found Adaptability Brings Intrigue

Arsene Wenger has stated that his newly implemented 3-4-3 system brings the best out of the Arsenal players. His new-found adaptability brings intrigue.

Arsene Wenger is a very stubborn man. He has a set of principles that he unwaveringly sticks to, steadfastly and uncompromisingly believing in, behaving by and managing with. And very rarely does he change or adapt them. Moreover, he even more sparingly alters the tactical approach that Arsenal take, midway through a season or for particular opponents.

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But that is exactly what has happened in recent weeks. With the side struggling greatly defensively, suffering a crisis of confidence and lacking the same cutting edge in the final third that exemplified their performances earlier in the season, Wenger decided to implement the 3-4-3 system that has served Chelsea extremely well this season under Antonio Conte.

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And it is a formation that has garnered much attention, throughout the fan base and the media. Ahead of Sunday’s crucial North London Derby, Wenger was asked about whether he thought about changing to the formation earlier in the season. Wenger admitted as much, while also claiming that it is getting the best out of every player in the squad, stating:

"“In fairness, I wanted to do it a month-and-a-half ago, but I thought no, maybe we shouldn’t destroy the way we have played before, because we were 20 games unbeaten. When the confidence becomes fragile, sometimes just to focus on something different is important. At the moment it looks like it gets the best out of every player.”"

They are certainly very fair comments from Wenger. Although there are plenty of improvements still to be made, as a result of the tactical shift, Arsenal have been able to stem the downward tide with wins against Middlesbrough, Manchester City and Leicester City. And it also opens up many other, rather intriguing doors.

Perhaps Wenger is not as tactically stiff as first thought. Perhaps he is far more willing to experiment with an array of formations, approaches and players to put his side in the best position to win the coming game. Perhaps he has more ideas up his sleeve for the remainder of the season.

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They are all questions that are nowhere near to being answered. But the uncertainty makes it exciting and Wenger unpredictable. There is now great intrigue surrounding the Arsenal team sheet, and that makes very dangerous.