Arsenal: The back three is back… but is it “back” back?

Arsenal deployed the back three for the first time in awhile, and now one has to wonder if this formation is actually back, or if this was just a cameo.

If you’ve been trying to get a read on Unai Emery’s intentions for Arsenal going forward, then you may have found yourself, like me, scratching your head when the starting XI against Vitoria was announced. I wasn’t going to criticize before I saw how it worked but I was most definitely scratching my head.

After seeing the back three fail time and time again last year, I assumed it was over. Especially seeing as how it only really seemed viable because Sead Kolasinac and Ainsley Maitland-Niles were better wingbacks than they were fullbacks.

It was an unfortunate necessity. But this year, we haven’t seen the back three at all, and there’s reasoning as to why—we have actual fullbacks now. Quite a few of them, really.

Against Vitoria, there were a lot of curious things going on with that back line. For starters, Kieran Tierney replaced Sead Kolasinac, despite Tierney moving into the Premier League fixtures and Kolasinac seemingly set to be the midweek guy.

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Odd. Although, to be fair, Tierney completely crushed the role and may have been the only positive performer from the match.

Odder yet was the fact that Hector Bellerin didn’t start, despite him not being present in the Premier League lately. You could draw conclusions from that if you wish, but as for myself, I refuse to read into Emery’s decision-making any more than I have to.

And then there was Sokratis, starting in the center of the pitch despite seemingly being embedded in the very fabric of the Premier League squad.

So the big question is what this means going forward. Is Emery really considering the back three again and, if so, should we be as worried as seems inherently necessary?

On the bright side, if we do go with the back three, we have better options now. But, that said, I think this was more of an experimental leap than a statement of intent. Emery has fullbacks that play as fullbacks primarily, so it wouldn’t make sense to put any more centerbacks out there than we already have. More doesn’t always mean better. And it wouldn’t here.

Now, whether Emery agrees with me, who knows. He probably doesn’t. He doesn’t agree with anyone, and that oftentimes includes himself.