Arsenal: Arsene Wenger had a solution last time this happened

Arsenal are struggling to put together any sort of back line, but we’ve been here before, and the solution last time was pretty simple. So do it again.

Arsenal’s defense sucks. There’s no way around that. And it isn’t even one person’s fault, nor is it two or three people’s faults. It’s a systematic failure that has caused the same mistakes to occur time and time again.

This isn’t the first time we have struggled with defensive problems, however. In fact, it was just over a year ago that we were having the same, frustrating problems with the back line and Arsene Wenger had a solution – he swapped the back four for a back three.

The results were instantaneous. They went on a positive run that made many people believe that the back three was the way forward, and the back four was a thing of the past.

The problem is, Wenger’s intention was always to return to a back four, so he not only wasn’t going to stick with the back three, but he didn’t seem to care much about keeping hold of centerbacks who were solid in that sort of set-up. Selling Gabriel was, to me, a clear indication that the back three was not here to stay.

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But if you look at this year, the best performance they had defensively was against Chelsea, with Rob Holding, Calum Chambers and Shkodran Mustafi in a back three. Three centerbacks, all of whom have a solid presence on the ball, with a good deal of athleticism to boot. It worked to absolute perfection.

It hasn’t been as good when you ask Nacho Monreal to be a centerback, or ask Laurent Koscielny to be the centerpiece of the trio, because that isn’t in their wheelhouse. But get three athletic centerbacks, like we have, who know how to push play forward and distribute the ball, and this defense suddenly comes to life.

That’s the thing with a back four – it all hinges on that centerback pairing. If that pairing isn’t convincing, the whole defense falls apart, and I don’t think I need to state just how unconvincing that pairing (in all of it’s varieties) has been.

Not just that, but we have much better wingbacks than we do fullbacks. Meaning, in a back three, the wingbacks we would call upon are much more dynamic than the fullbacks in a back four set-up. Speed and athleticism versus tremendous limitations.

Next: 5 Things Learned Against Newcastle

Wenger needs to get over this desire to make the back four work, because there are so many reasons why it is currently failing.

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