Towards the end of last season, Arsene Wenger changed the team formation at Arsenal to arrest an awful run of form, and it worked brilliantly as the Gunners went on a long winning run and only failed by one point to get Fourth Place in the League.
But this season, the opposite has happened and Arsenal have struggled to score goals. Wenger confirmed that the idea is to have an extra midfielder to help with the offensive side of the game instead of the wingbacks, which has left Saed Kolasinac out of the team. He said: “He [Kolasinac] is highly suited for a wing-back role, for a more offensive role,”
“I think he will play again and I gave him a breather as well.
“He is working hard and I think he will play in a back four, as well.”
“I will still adapt because we are capable to play in a three as well, because the team has practised now in both systems so we are adaptable.
“But, for me, we didn’t score enough goals away from home. So that’s why [I switched].
“I felt as well that sometimes our game was a bit too lateral.”
But it’s great that w e want to attack and score more goals, but hasn’t our problem been letting in goals? We have already conceded 23 in just 19 games. Perhaps we should concentrate a bit more on defence? This is what Wenger thought about it… “We have been very consistent at home and the quality of our performances has been absolutely fantastic,” he said.
“We lost one game that even a neutral observer would concede that we had an outstanding performance in a unique game that we lost. Overall I believe the consistency is not in question.
“We have to find a balance, we are an offensive team and we take a gamble and a risk and we stand up for that but we have maybe to find a better balance between offensive and defensive efficiency.
“We always have a high number of players in front of the ball. If you look at the league you can analyse it in that way. You take team after team, how many players are in front of the ball when you attack?
“We are one of the teams in the league who has the most players in front of the ball when we attack, that means that for us to get back quickly and defend quickly and transition is absolutely vital.”
So we need to score more goals, and we need to get back to defend. Which one would you choose?
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