Nine Jimmy Rimmers – Arsenal and Football

Now that was a game. Except for the first fifteen minutes of the second half, we dominated from start to finish. And yet for a long time it looked like it wasn’t going to be rewarded. But finally Arteta stole the ball and ran into enough space to line up a great shot and score.

Before that we hit the post several times and had a crazy goalmouth scramble where the ball travelled the whole width of the goal before being cleared. Early on, a Van Persie header hit Vermaelen and bounced away.

Through the game the midfield belonged to Arteta, Rosicky and Song. For the first twenty minutes, City could barely touch the ball. It’s hard to say which of the three played best as they all put in such a terrific effort. The three of them dominated our Man of the Match Poll, with goal scorer Arteta topping the votes.

Gibbs and Sagna exploited tons of space left by a narrow City defence. Early on Ya Ya Toure hobbled off after what looked like a fairly light challenge from Song. Mancini took the opportunity to reshape his midfield, which helped but didn’t regain them the initiative.

The main talking point was how long big kid Balotelli would stay on the pitch as it seed that every one of his tackles was led stud first. His worst was a high one on Song, just below the knee. The referee didn’t see it, but the FA might take a look. After the game, a fed up Mancini actually seemed to encourage them to do it. Eventually Balotelli picked up two yellows and trudged off.

Whilst Balotelli was bonkers, the rest of his teammates looked beaten from the start, Kompany and Hart excepted. They looked like they were still on the case. Kompany was fantastic. He has a great knack of knowing where the trouble is and was a big part of why it was just one nil.

Arsenal were great as a team with everyone pulling their weight. Benayoun made a rare start and put in a big shift all over the pitch. The three subs, Santos, AOC and Ramsey didn’t make a huge impact. Santos looked very rusty, I hope whatever ailed Gibbs isn’t serious. Santos picked up an early yellow, but fortunately he didn’t have to do too much defending. Fortunately, because in his time out injured he seems to have got a little vague on both ‘left’ and ‘back’!

The other worry, apart from Gibbs early departure, was Koscielny picking up a tenth yellow and therefore a two match ban. At least it’s against Wolves and Wigan and he will be back for Chelsea. One more game and he would have reached the end of season cut-off and safety!

With Mertesacker out injured, his replacement isn’t easy. Squillaci or Miquel? Arsene Wenger could drop Song into the back four, but with Frimpong and Coquelin crocked there isn’t a straightforward replacement as defensive midfielder.

But for a couple of days we can rest easy, celebrating a good win that was more comprehensive than the one nil suggests. Back into third too! It’s still tight out there after our Loftus Road slip, but job well done today.

With all the changes in personnel, there is fresh debate on what would be the most effective formation.  Many believe that Arsenal’s switch to 4-3-3 was solely designed to fit a team around the massive talent of Cesc Fabregas.  But that now Cesc is gone should we revert to good old 4-4-2!

Actually the debate has been around a while, even before the departure of Fabregas.  Playing a loan striker makes it very difficult to maintain the form of a second striker, blunting the attack when that second striker is called into action.

The debate has been given fresh impetus this week by the comments of Robin Van Persie that he enjoys the free role that he has in the Dutch team.  Some pundits point to the four goals Van Persie scored during the 11:0 demolition of San Marino as an example of what Arsenal are missing. Given San Marino’s record in international football I don’t see that this proves anything.

Equally unconvincing is any blog post contrasting Arsenal’s tactics with experience of a tactic tried out playing FIFA Football on a games console!

But despite these two rather spurious arguments, the debate is a real one.  Robin Van Persie does tend to drop deep, linking with the midfield.  Sometimes this means that we don’t have a player further forward in the box and some chances get wasted.

But is a return to 4-4-2 the answer?  If you look at how most successful club and international teams are playing, it isn’t 4-4-2.  Most are playing with one or even two holding midfielders and a lone striker.

The most successful formation at the last World Cup was two holding players and a fairly fluid group of four in front of them.  This is how Manchester City are set out now, with De Jong and Yaya Toure providing a tough shield and turning regained possession into forward movement.

It isn’t actually too far off what Arsenal had when the centre of it’s midfield was patrolled by Petit/Gilberto and Viera.

The challenge of playing this way, and incorporating two strikers, is that in the fast moving Premier League you will need attacking players athletic enough to roam all over the pitch to give you the width when you want it.

Using the Arsenal squad this way you could play something like this (injuries allowing of course):

_______ Walcott _______
_______ Van Persie ______
__ Gervinho ______ Arteta _
_____ Song ___ Wilshere __
Santos _ Verm _ Mert _ Sagna
________ Szczesny _______

What do you think?

If that’s too defensive for you, and expecting too much running from Arteta, how about:

_______ Walcott _______
_______ Van Persie ______
Gervinho __ Arteta _ Ox Cham
_________ Song _________
Santos _ Verm _ Mert _ Sagna
________ Szczesny _______

Either way you’ve got five contesting the midfield when possession is changing and that is where games are won and lost.  I  think that playing four across the middle against Chelsea, City and other top teams would see us being taken apart.

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Please note. The author has no idea whether these formations will help you win at FIFA Football.