Arsenal Tactics Show They Are Not Thought Through

So with the International break now upon us it’s now the perfect time to look at what’s going on in the Arsenal camp at the moment, and I’m going to have a look at the Arsenal tactics during the last few games in which we have tried our hardest to build up false hope then stuff ourselves over quite spectacularly.

First up, let’s have a look at the formation we played in the last game:

Arsenal formation vs Swansea (BBC Sport)

Let’s look at this from the back to the front.

In goal we have Szczesny which so far has been absolutely fine, despite his increased tendency to get sent off . and so far I couldn’t really hold him at fault for much that has gone wrong.

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Moving forward we have the back four made up of two left backs, a young player who doesn’t know his best position yet and ageing centreback. This is where I start to have a problem with the team. We did not strengthen properly in the summer after Vermaelen left and it is beginning to haunt us. The second goal against Swansea came because Monreal could not compete properly in the air, and whilst Chambers is fine going forward he does get exploited late on in matches against good counter-attacking teams. A sign that Arsenal tactics are just not thought through on a personnel level.

In the midfield I don’t have any problem with Sanchez, Oxlade-Chamberlain or Welbeck here, because I just want them to focus on scoring and creating goals. And although Welbeck could do with another run of goals he is not the reason we collapsed in the last two games.

The 3 midfielders of Cazorla, Flamini and Ramsey all need to take a good long look at themselves and realise what their best roles are and also what they’ve been asked to do. I don’t think Cazorla should be in this team at the moment, because I don’t think he offers more than Ramsey when they’re played in the attacking midfield role. I think it is Wenger desperate to keep certain players in the team that pushes him to include Ramsey as a defensive midfielder, because he is not selfless enough to play in that role. He is not yet as mature as Fabregas, who can read a game situation and know when to push forward or when to track your man.

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Flamini is meant to be the experienced head in the centre of midfield and if he is charging forward to try and stifle play well into the opposition half, maybe it’s the Arsenal tactics that have been relayed to all? Maybe the tactics are wrong on both the personnel and the instructions?

For me there are two things that need to change when we’re talking about Arsenal tactics. In personnel I think that the defensive midfield pairing has to contain Wilshere, because he’s currently dealing very well with that role for England and I think he could develop into a strong defensive midfielder for Arsenal. Plus pairing him with Arteta or Flamini I think it’s less likely the midfield is going to go walkabout at a crucial time, because you’re more likely to get an earful from Wilshere than you are from Ramsey if you stray forward. Plus I do view Wilshere as a player more likely to take orders if necessary.

So in my eyes the tactics that Arsenal are playing seem to be fine going forward, but later on in the game there does have to be a shift in attitude which we have not seen of late. I think a change in both instructions and personnel in the centre of the park is needed to help get Arsenal moving again.

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