i know the 442 is the ideal formation for the premiership well until recently with the effectiveness of the 451/433. whats your thoughts about the 352/532 formation? with fast centrebacks like sol and toure do u think the arsenal could integrate such a strategy?? i know brazil played this formation in wc02 with roque junior, edmilson, lucio as the centrebacks. roberto carlos and cafu as the wingbacks. gilberto as the invisible wall with juninho/kleberson as the link for ronaldinho, rivaldo and ronaldo.
I've already written about this in the past year, so I won't bother recounting too much. Arsenal's main problem trying to run a 3-5-2 right now would be the midfield. Pires would be completely out of place, as he is almost as effective defensively as David James in sunglasses. A 3-5-2 absolutely demands three midfielders who can tackle and are fast tracking back, and one midfielder who is an impeccable distributor of the ball. We have Freddie and Reyes, but that's it. If we had an acceptable holding midfielder, it might be effective against teams who cannot shoot from distance. In the back half of the field, our defenders are simply too slow to carry all of the defense. Campbell is not that fast, nor is Senderos. It would be up to Cole, Toure and Clichy to provide any speed, and you'll never see those three together as a back line. Of course, a formation is really just numbers, and you shouldn't place too much stock in it anyway.
i agree that pires doesnt possess tackling abilities and senderos is not fleet of foot. on the other hand i have to beg the question, how would a back three of toure-senderos-campbell not work(senderos being the anchor)? this isnt much worse then what brazil employed at the world cup with edmilson-r.junior-lucio.
The great Arsenal teams were build on 2 hard tackling midfielders who would provide lots of space for the wingers like Pires, Freddie, Overmars, etc. Highbury is pretty narrow so having the wingers sit on the wings is really important. Packing the midfield shuts down the wingers freedom & the "ball at the feet" play thats needs for the type of strikers Wenger recruits. Hence our problem today. It is not the formation but the huge hole in the middle with a youthful Cesc (he will be good), a good backup in Flamini & an invisible Gilberto. A strong center mid would free up the wingers from too much defensive duty & allow them the freedome to cause problems for the opponents defense, hence taking pressure of center mid. Fix center mid & we will fix our problems.
Exactly. That is why I'm not that worried about the declining play of Pires or Freddie. We're not as far from getting back to good form as some people around here seem to think. Give Wenger one physical midfield boss and we'll be off flying. Our wingers will get well with a solid CM pair and you'll see a much happier (and probably more effective) Henry too. Now if January passes and we haven't added one then I won't be expecting any change in form before the summer.
this is why the 5-3-2 formation can be useful. brazil used it to great effect cause it doesnt require a physical midfield boss(remember emerson was injured so he couldnt play at wc02), the centrally located players did have more workload tho as the wingbacks get forward alot more in this formation. (more attacking freedom for cafu and roberto carlos then they would have had in a 442 with the deployment of 3 centrebacks and a deep midfielder(gilberto).) henry can operate the wide areas on the left without reyes getting in the way. much like rivaldo did without ronaldinho getting in the way.
Something to think about is that the pitch at Ashburton Grove will be a bit wider-not sure exactly how much wider but it will be wider than Highbury.
I believe it will be also. Should still work out with the team we have. This will allow Toure to push up a bit when we are on attack (keep Sol/PS back as they are not as fast), play a defensive midfield role & keep a center wall. The wider field should benefit the wingers more, especially JAR.