Arsene Wenger says that he is going to use both a back three and a back four this season, but admits his familiarity with the latter makes it an easy option for him.
Arsenal had a tepid first half during the 3-1 win over Cologne on Thursday night, but changing to the back four, with Sead Kolasinac coming on, helped spark a turnaround and a much more assured second half performance.
In the post-game press conference, the manager was asked by our very own James from Gunnerblog, if he was thinking of using the system from the start now.
“I want to use both systems when it suits the team or when we need to do it,” he said.
“Because we played for a long time in a back four, it is easy for me to switch from a back three to a back four.”
It’s certainly something Wenger feels much more comfortable with, and it allows an extra body in midfield to help control that vital area of the pitch.
Whether he uses it on Sunday at Stamford Bridge remains to be seen, as the back three has seen us win the FA Cup and the Community Shield against Antonio Conte’s men.
Tactics. Crazy idea.
It’s a new age !!
Need a player who can switch midfield and centre-back positions at the drop of a hat.
Or is that Mr Niles?
God no. Wenger used to unearth gems, now he just shatters them by throwing them into the deep end with no water wings.
Chambers or Bielik, if they develop and reach their potential (though Chambers might be better on the right side of central defence in a back three).
Tolaji Bola could plausibly deputies for Monreal as a left back in a back 4 or the left centre back in a back three.
Does this mean we dont know what our best formation is?
its the best formation for the situation, against weaker teams at home the extra centre back can sometimes be wasted, but also it depends on the opponents formation.
Wow. you suggesting Arsene changes tactics depends on the opponent?
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i think we need extra CB when we want to defend from set piece teams like stoke
What I’m surprised by is repeatedly seeing the team fall behind with a back 3 (regardless of opponent quality) then trying to claw back into the game with the back 4. Seems like the back 3 doesn’t give us the additional defensive support, nor any further attacking strength.
Completely agree. Couldn’t understand our formation in the first half yesterday, it’s exactly the same mistake he made against Liverpool. He stubbornly played a back 3 at anfield playing bellerin at lwb and Ox at rwb, with monreal at lcb. Why didn’t we just play a back four, with Ox as a rw? He keeps dicking around with player positions, just play the players in their best positions, that to me seems like common sense, yet he continues to make these rookie mistakes. At half time yesterday he took off a cb (which must have shattered holding’s confidence) and brought… Read more »
Just make it a permanent back four, no point in having a back three if we cant get the ball out of defence.
We need cazorla back ?
Can’t help but feel Conte and Chelsea will have been working out how to exploit an Arsenal back three. Would love to see us start with a back four on Sunday.
Also gives Kolasinac more chances to roam forward and to flatten Gary Cahill and his elbows into a fine paste one could easily spread on a toasted slice of farmhouse white.
paste, sandwiches…. you sure you’re not hungry mate ??
Kolasinac would probably get forward even more as wing back.
My ‘hunger index’ is currently at an all-time-since-just-before-lunchtime high
I agree, but then we must play Elneny as the extra safety man in midfield.
we need Extra midfield not Extra defence where our problem nowadays is weak midfield
Against Chelsea definitely.
I would go with
Cech
Bellerin Mustafi Kozzer Kolasinac
El Neny Xhaka
Ozil
Welbeck Alexis
Lacazette
use Ramsey as a super sub to run his as$ off at the end of the game and help control things. That line up also allows us to play a higher tempo game like we did against Bournemouth (maybe even more so) and El Neny will give Xhaka a little more freedom. So much more balanced. But we really need to hit them with swift attacks
Problem is Dave M, Wenger favourites Ramsey and Monreal aren’t in the starting line-up and we all know how Arsene likes to make sure his favourites are starting
I’d go for a 4-3-1- 2
Bellerin Mustafi Koscienly Kolasinac
Ramsey Xhaka Elnenny
Ozil
Lacazette Welbeck
I think Sanchez still lacks match fitness and having played Thursday night the Chelsea game might be too soon for him to start. He’d be a brilliant player to come off the bench along with Giroud if need be.
Having said all that, I think Wenger will probably play a back three and continue to play that unless it really gets ugly…
But that gives us barely any width.With a back 4, it surely is dangerous to suggest Bellerin and Kolasinac bomb forward like they do right now? Unless you mean pushing Ozil out wide, which pretty much negates the strengths of our best player
Wenger must divorce the back 3 at least for the Chelsea game. That system works well with a tight midfield which we currently lack. We have very good attacking unit and having all of them deployed in front will give Chelsea problems. Wellbeck and Sanchez on the wings, Lacazette in front and Ozil in the number 10 role. I think that will do us well with high pressing up front..
Yeah, but we beat them twice already with a back 3. Wenger won’t talk about changes he’s going to make to the press, but something tells me we may see a back 4, like a 4-2-3-1. Or a blend of that, depending on if we are attacking or defending….. It will be an interesting game.
yeah, if you got the players, but we don’t have the players.
ok, so who have we got…
I mentioned last season that Wenger had to switch to back 3 to see out the remainder of the season and try to secure top 4. BUT that it would not be a solution to fit all our issues as teams will figure it out and we will have to switch to back 4 again when need be. Much of this will revolve on how our deep midfield set up works. We switched to back 3 in part bc neither Granit nor Ramsey are accomplished tacklers and we needed added defensive steel in the middle with the extra Cback. We… Read more »
I think we are seeing as well maybe two different approaches dependent on our players up top.
If we play Welbeck/Laca or Alexis Laca, maybe a 3-4-3 helps with two front men ahead of Ozil.
If we play Giroud, it is better to have the mobile second strikers coming of him with those deft touches of his. In which case a 4-2-3-1 will suffice better.
But these are all permutations which will as mentioned in the end, depend as well on midfield shape.
Back three, back four…don’t care. Just make sure Bellerin is on the right and Kolasinac is on the left.
Wenger doesn’t have a clue. Least of all about 3 at the back vs 4 at the back defensive tactics.
I’ll be pleasantly surprised with anything better than a 2-0 loss on Sunday. Hope for better tho’. COYG
Seems like we’ve got devided opinion on this…let’s just take a vote,majority wins it.for back three thumps up while those against..,well thump it any direction aside up
Most of us want a formation change for the Chelsea game, but Arsene, with all due respect, isnt the one to tinker with his system once every while. The man sticks with what hes got. Simce moving to a back three he has never started a game with his classic system, but he does tend to change it up like he did against leicester when we are in desperate need of goals which I think comes to our advantage. I think he is a professor in many ways. He builds an eternity if plays and routines in that formation and… Read more »
If Pep made the tactical changes Wenger made against Leicester City, we would not have heard the end of it from the press. He would have been lauded as the greatest thing since man first walked on the moon. Perspective
Where?
Go James!
I can’t see how both Monreal & Kolasina play in a 433 & for me both should be starting. The 3 at the back can work, we just need the right players in the right positions. Having said that, our FA Cup final win & excellent performance are completely at odds with how we’ve performed so far this season with a back 3, especially considering who started that day. I’m confused.
I think we should use a back four but have ozil drop deeper next to one of the b2b mids with xhaka / coq behind them covering the cd’s