By Prince of Highbury
August 26 2005

Are Arsenal predictable - do we need Plan B? A regular contributor to our forum discusses the issues: Wenger's tactical genius is good against "normal" 4-4-2 teams But the team has a weakness against highballs. I think we should keep our main style BUT be able to switch tactics any time we want.

This plan was created by Wenger to rule the Premiership almost 8 years ago, and has worked until now –however the emergence of 4-5-1 last season, also known as putting a bus in front of goal has begun to give 4-4-2 problems.

Arsenal normally play with left and right midfielders cutting in, and supporting the attack by creating chances (Hleb), or pulling the trigger (Ljungberg), this leaves a gap which is already left quite wide by our attacking fullbacks. This means that whenever Arsenal attack, it becomes a sort of 2-2-2-2-2 and leaves the flanks liable to attacks, and a midfield with only 2 players (Gilberto/Cesc), and thus they are very easily out muscled by midfield trios, or even one player (such as Makelele).

Players are also all over the place when the opponent counterattacks, leaving them with easy chances and obviously easy goals, as seen in Chelsea's game. Who was there to mark Lampard when he crossed? The midfield was obviously AWOL. However, there are obviously benefits to this form of play, one being the many goals produced, nice style of play and the fact that goals not only come from the strikers but also the midfield and even defence (CYGAN!).

For this formation to work well, we need SEVEN things. Our midfield needs to be more compact, to be able to prevent attacks from getting to the defence, and to support the defence from midfield without losing our attacking flair.

Firstly, Cesc needs to be able to distribute the ball like Pirlo does for Milan, in a held back position, so that our defence does not get exposed when a quick counter is made by the opposing team. Also, he needs to get stuck in more, to be unafraid of the opposition. Arsenal is getting the direct opposite of what English players get from the media. English players believe all the crap about how good they are, if Arsenal players believe that Chelsea are going to win it again then there is nothing you can do to stop them. As Wenger said, our players lack self-belief. They don’t think that they can score frequently anymore. We need to have that mentality, that we are sure to score when we go up. Gilberto needs to be able to kick, rather than just block and be a wall. He needs to get a reputation like Vieira or Keane; nobody messes with them, they know that they don’t take any shit.

Gilberto needs to cultivate that type of fear into an opponent, that no matter what you do, he won’t back down and he will never shy away from a 50-50 ball. Either he follows the Keane/Vieira style without losing his blocking capabilities, or he copies Makelele's role for Chelsea, where Makelele out muscles the other team’s midfield and prevents them from playing.

Secondly, our attack needs to pull the trigger more, rather than just passing the ball around so that after a while, the opposing defenders pick it up and start a counter, thus exposing our defence which is way up. The long ball works best for this, as it goes way over the midfield and leaves powerful strikers with a one on one with the keeper or defender, which was what happened against Chelsea. So, our attackers cannot afford to laze around and pass waiting for someone to open up the defence. They must take the initiative to be able to do it quickly and efficiently, to get past the defence for a one on one with the keepers. We need to have a policy of "shoot on sight", and go for the jugular as soon as possible, to get the opposing team to "open up" so our free flowing football will whip them. Also, an increase of accuracy would be helpful. It seems that only Ljungberg can shoot really well and hit most of the time. God knows how many shots we hit off target a season. The main problem is not creation, it is finishing. We need another player to be able to create those blind side runs to distract the defence and add another option for the finish.

Thirdly, our left and right midfielders need to be able to cut in less. Go straight up, past a 5 man wall in midfield and put accurate balls in to make opposition defence nervous. Wenger realised that against Newcastle, and once we tried the wings, we scored two. Just look at the video of Hleb that was posted here a while back. Hleb is great for running up, almost to the corner flag, and squaring the ball for onrushing strikers.

Fourthly, the players need to play with passion. No use just running around trying to play football when you do not give 100%. Wenger needs to be able to drop players who do not play to their limits, and give chances to younger players who have passion. The players need to WANT to play for Arsenal, not just in the big matches, but the small ones too. Last season we messed up against quite a few 'small" teams, getting draws and losses instead of wins. As Roy Keane said, it’s easy to motivate yourself if you’re facing a big team, it’s much harder to give yourself a reason to get stuck in against the smaller teams. Chelsea almost fell victim to this against Wigan, and they were lucky to win. Arsenal must not make the same mistakes again; players must be motivated and have passion for every match.

Fifth, set pieces. We need to improve on set pieces dramatically, not only in defence, but also in attack. Our defenders need to be more confident when defending set pieces, and believe that they will not mess up, instead of getting nervous when a dangerous set piece is given. As always positional sense is important, Wenger will have to work at this during training.

Sixth, headers and corners. Arsenal have never really used headers much to score. The thing is that having a ball on the ground does not create as much panic as having the ball float dangerously into the penalty area. That creates pandemonium. RvP has a good heading ability, and Senderos can score quite a few headers at corners if he is given the chance. Either that or we can use headers once in a while, to try and make opponents confused as to whether we will use Arial power or not. It seems that they already know what Wenger is going to do, to-pass the ball around and get it to Henry. We are far too predictable.

Corners are also very important. Corners always scare defenders, and it seems to me we are always beaten to headers in corners. How long has it been since we last scored a goal from a corner? (Wednesday night, but true not that often. Ed) Arsenal needs to learn how to score a scrappy goal from a corner. Yes, goals are better if they are nicely done but once in a while I wont mind if Arsenal win a scrappy match one nil due to a tap in from a corner.

Lastly, we need to stick to our formation. We cannot have players drifting wide and making huge gaps in the team. Henry often drifts wide, thus leaving us toothless up front and lacking a fox in the box. Players must stick to their positions. BUT not in a rigid way like Chelsea. Players should have freedom to roam but we should not find a forward clearing the ball from a corner. (Why not? Ed)