The TWO Arsenal line-ups for next season?

Wenger to build two different Arsenals by Sam P

One of the biggest things achieved by Arsene Wenger at Arsenal in recent years is the formation of a plan B, something that many football observers were beginning to believe was a foreign idea to the prof. It is still true that the boss wants his team to play in a certain style that is fluent, exciting and easy on the eye but he also wants to win and that need has forced him into a change of tactics.

That change, as well as an improved injury list and some top additions through the transfer market, has given Arsenal fans a real belief that we could finally regain the status of the champions of England. But while the second half of the season saw the Gunners win away against Man City and Manchester United, it also saw us struggle to beat lesser teams like Newcastle, QPR and Burnley.

That is why I think the boss will tweak his tactics again next season and have two different Arsenal’s ready to play depending on the situation. Against the big clubs, especially away from home, the Gunners will be compact and defensively strong with the pace up front to utilise the counter attack. The starting XI could look like this:

Ospina
Debuchy, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Monreal
Coquelin, Ramsey
Alexis, Ozil, Welbeck
Walcott

Bags of pace there and the added bonus of work rate and defending from the front with our wide men and with Ozil and Ramsey able to turn defence into attack in an instant. Against teams that we expect to defend deep and frustrate us I think we will use the pacier full backs and more creativity, like this:

Ospina
Bellerin, Gabriel, Koscielny, Gibbs
Arteta, Cazorla
Wilshere, Ozil, Alexis
Giroud

Obviously and additionsd in the summer transfer window could change things, like Schneiderlin for Arteta or Cech for Ospina but in principle, what do you think of the two Arsenal teams?

Tags Giroud Walcott

26 Comments

  1. Theo would not last a month in a sole lone striker position. He will make a turn on one CB and then the other CB will cut him in two. We play balls into OG and cut off him for a lot of our attack and I think AW was gearing up Danny Welbeck for that role as he was when Sanogo played.
    If we had all 3 forwards along with Theo in close proximity to the box then maybe it could work as the Defenders would have to account for all 3. It would have to be practiced like that however in training.

  2. Both of these line ups are not good enough to be crown Cl champions and also Epl. The king is right. We need at least 4 new players to have a chance to even compete and not actually win it.

    Sterling is so overrated, i feel srry for the team who gets him for 40m. Nice player but damn thats way to much. I simple hope that Walnutt sign his contract and stays away from injuries.

    We need: Cech, Higuain, Ricardo Rodríguez ( future), Kondogbia.

    1. Higuain isn’t good enough for my liking. In Serie A he’s scored 35 goals in 69 appearances for Napoli. When Cavani was playing for Napoli he scored 78 goals in 104 appearances in the league. Around 3 goals every 4 games. Big gulf in class. Higuain is better than Giroud, but not that much better and still not even close to Aguero or Costa. In terms of value for money, he’d cost us more than he’d improve us.

      1. Costa is not in the same league as Aguero. Costa and Higuain are in the same league.

        1. Costa has 26 appearances in the league this season, 20 goals. That’s way ahead of Higuain. But I agree Aguero is better, I just put them together for a comparison.

          1. Costa will flop next season. His record in the first half of the season was goal every game but second half his form dipped and also he has bad knee and too
            many hamstring injuries. Also he fights every game likely to get him suspension.

            1. I thought he would flop this season given Chelsea’s record with strikers, but he sure proved me wrong, so I’d be tentative of saying it again. But his hamstring injuries are strange, Chelsea are normally great at avoiding muscular injuries, if they can’t figure it out then there must be an underlying problem, plus it affected him at Atletico as well. Wouldn’t be the first player to have their career ruined by hamstring problems, just ask Michael Owen.

              1. Well but remember Higuain at Real m. The Seria A is a leauge full of teams who are fighting for points. All parking the buss tactics, pure anti football. And Napoli is far from being an Arsenal or Chelsea aswell.

                He is better then Giroud in everything. Us going for him once proved it.

  3. I dont understand the Higuain hate. Napoli offered more money than Arsenal so Real Madrid agreed to sale Higuain to Napoli. I have seen plenty of people here saying we should not sign him because he rejected us.

    1. Not because he rejected us, from what I heard, he didn’t reject us – we rejected him first. I heard we had a deal in place for him and then we decided to drop it and go in for Suarez with the infamous £40m+1 bid. After we couldn’t get Suarez we went back for Higuain and understandably he wasn’t too pleased about being snubbed for Suarez, so he went to Napoli. But anyways, that’s just what I heard.

      The reason I don’t want him is because I don’t think he’d really improve us. His goalscoring record really isn’t that impressive compared to other top strikers.

      1. I dont mind if u dont like him because of his record but i have seen few comments from others saying I dont want him at Arsenal because he rejected us and joined Napoli.

  4. Plan B? Sorry, but I didn’t notice it at all against Chelsea, Swansea and Sunderland, despite Giroud being on the pitch. We have a very strong squad though, and I like the idea of different line-ups, but unfortunately Wenger doesn’t do rotation…fans shouldn’t forget that.

    1. We dont have a strong squad honestly. Number wise we have bigger squad but talent wise its limited. We have a very injury prone squad and even with fit sqaud we are behind Chelsea and
      Man City. We just need 3 players and we will be strong challengers.

  5. continuity is key to a serious challenge…your starting 11 does not have a cat in hell’s chance of challenging for epl let alone epl and cl…then again we already have better options than debauchey merteshak ramsey walcott and wellbeck in your second XI and in squad .. but no way are gibbs and monreal top top class …so the talking heads are right…same as it ever was same as it ever was… still need a DM attacking option and world class left back… kondogbia will do rodriguez or damine on left … most difficult is attack personally not interested in higuan cavani martinez all over rated and overpriced… benzema better for us but also way over priced … lacazette might work but expensive vietto or younger option in aguero mould more likely

  6. If Chelsea get Benteke then they will have Costa, Remy and Benteke. That would be an awesome line up of center forwards. If United get Benzema they will have Van Persie/Falcao, Rooney. We need to keep up with the Jones’s

    We are fine with CAM: Ozil and Cazorla
    We are fine on the wings: Alexis, Walcott, Oxlade, Ozil, Welbeck
    We just need one more top centre forward to add to Giroud and Welbeck. Send Akpom on loan to gain more experience and sell Podolski, Campbell and Sanogo

    Unless part of Walcott staying is playing him as a centre forward. In that case may be useful to get another winger like Greizmann, Reus, Sterling etc.

    But if we got Lacazette or Martinez or Cavani or Higuain
    I think our attack will be good enough to fight for 1st

    1. Yes Chelsea and United would look awesome indeed. Costa, Remy and Benteke amassed an impressive 45 goals in all comps. Rooney, RvP, Falcao AND Benzema amassed 50. Our three main strikers Giroud, Alexis and Welbeck got 54. I will take whatever comes, presumably a Podolski replacement, but no-one is gonna scare me with these mere names on paper nor convince me that scoring goals is our principle problem.

  7. We can become champions of england but we just need to make one massive change.

    We need change.

    #wengerout

  8. I’m becoming sceptical about Wenger getting another DM.
    I don’t think he will.

    I think he is happy with the back of midfield. He probably thinks we have Coquelin, Flamini, Arteta, Diaby, Wilshere, Ramsey, Bielik, Cazorla, rosicky and Chambers.

    Flamini and Arteta are pretty much past it (no disrespect)
    Chambers and Bielik are not experienced enough
    Diaby is always injured
    Ramsey is good in box2box position
    Wilshere is fine in Ramsey position but not great defensively

    We really need another DM who is as good or better than Coquelin. Coquelin may get injured and even if he doesn’t, we play in four tournaments.

    I would recommend offloading Flamini and Arteta
    Either offload Diaby or give him payp contract.
    Send Bielik on loan

    Get a top DM like Kondogbia, Schneiderlin, krychowiak
    Or a good all around midfielder like Vidal.

  9. If Wenger signed:
    Cech
    Howedes
    Vidal or Kondogbia
    Lacazette or Martinez

    I would go nuts. I would run around the Emirates naked.

    1. If Wenger signs what is universally accepted by gooners as the necessary numbers and quality in key positions to mount a serious challenge on the PL and CL I will run around the Emirates naked with a cactus up my arsenal..

      To summarise, I can’t see it happening.
      I hope I’m wrong but we always seem to fall that bit short of what’s needed.

  10. 4-3-1-2
    Cech/Osp/Szny

    Bell/Deb Gabriel/BFG Kos/Cham Mon/Gibbs

    Coq/Vidal
    Ramsey/Arteta Cazorla/Wilshere

    Ozil/Zalalem

    TW14/DW23 Sanchez/OG12

  11. I think our two line ups should be like this:

    Ospina
    Debuchy Boss Per Nacho
    Coquelin Ramsey
    Walcott/Welbeck Ozil Sanchez
    Welbeck/Walcott

    Szczesny
    Bellerin/Jenks Per/Chambers Gabriel Gibbs
    Coquelin Wilshere
    Ox Cazorla Podolski
    Giroud

    The first lineup can be used against teams who play high line or those who are vulnerable to counter attacks. We can exploit our pace in this lineup. Starting from Coquelin breaking up play, passing to Ozil/Rambo then going to either wingers Alexis or Walcott or either to Welbeck using their pace to beat defenders and score goals. Walcott, Welbeck and Sanchez can interchange whenever they want.

    Second lineup is the one for those who defend deep. We can use our one-touch triangular link up and hold up play to create spaces or we can have distance shooters who can shoot from outside to have a go. Santi Podolski and Giroud can either have a go from outside the box. Or Giroud Cazorla and Wilshere can emulate their link up to create chances between tight spaces and anyone of them can shoot. We can also use crosses from Podolski/Gibbs or Ox/Bellerin to Giroud as an option also.

    Either way we can have rotation ensuring all our players are fit and competing and we can use two different teams for different oppurtunities.

  12. CM partnerships mixed up.

    Coquelin and Cazorla has worked so well due to Cazorlas intelligence and 2 footed ability, he has made himself available to Coquelin 90% of the time to recieve a pass once Coquelin wins it back. Cazorla hassles very well and wins balls back with determination, not because he is a good defender.
    Cazorla isn’t a ‘tough tackler’ even though he is a determined player, Arteta isn’t a ‘tough tackler’… Soft middle?

    Ramsey isn’t afraid of tackling and part of the reason Arteta looked so good 2 seasons ago now was due to Ramsey getting back and being tough in the tackle, I think this though has been overshadowed by the amount of goals Ramsey ALSO scored.

    Arteta is more about intercepting and positioning, we would need a B2B who will put his foot with strength, something Ramsey can do (and improve upon).

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