If it's broke...fix it!

After today's result, I'm sure we are all feeling the need to knee-jerk and rant.

However, our performances have been so lacklustre lately I feel a fresh set of ideas is necessary.

The 4-2-3-1 is proving a disaster as teams just defend deep and hit us on the counter. We are too slow in our build up play and I just don't think we have the players suited to it. The Premier League, it seems, is also suited to a 4-4-2 system.

''But 4-4-2 is dead'' they cry. Well, if the current champions used it all last season and United (Runners up last season), with a very average side, are using it to good effect, then maybe 4-4-2 is the way to go. I will say however, that the Champion's League is a different matter and that the current system does suit the competition.

Sure, we do not possess the firepower up front of City and United, but we have not even attempted to change anything.

Wenger is a genius, but he is a bit stubborn and he does seem to have his favourites. How else can you explain Ramsey continually getting starts?

My big worry is that Wenger will be so determined to prove everyone wrong that he'll continue with a flawed system with some average players.

Perhaps I'm just upset after today's game, but as soon as I saw the starting line up I knew we were in trouble. I also said elswhere on this forum that he would start with Santos and Ramsey.

A manager's job is to pick players, from a squad based on fitness, ability and FORM. Wenger seems to dismiss the last factor in my opinion. I'm not talking about a player having an off day, but 4 or 5 on the spin. No other manager in the EPL would do this in my opinion.

So, my answer would be to try a new system and let players know that NOBODY is assured of a start if their form dips.

My team for the Fulham game would be:

Mannone
Sagna
Koscielny
Mertersacker
Vermaelen (Left back)
Arteta
Coquelin (Wilshere suspended)
Oxlade (if fit)
Cazorla (on the left)
Podolski (striker)
Walcott (striker)

That team can seriously NOT do any worse than the last few games, so why not try it?

I want to stay loyal to Wenger but it is becoming difficult. Every sane fan knew before the game that playing Santos was a mistake, that playing Ramsey was a mistake and that not picking Theo was a mistake, yet Wenger did it anyway. Frustrating times.

A simply first way to fix is................using Arshavin starting i/o Ramsey.
Very simple.
The result you can see is what Arshavin did in Reading match, and the last 20 mins of vs MU game.

Changing formation, improve our attacking tactics, buying new players in........these all changes are too much for Wenger....

I still maintain it's not the formation that's the issue. It's not going to matter what formation you play if your players aren't performing and aren't putting in the required effort when they're playing, you'll just get the same results every time.

I am fully behind the idea of changing things up, but we could still play awful even if we play 4-4-2, 4-3-1-2 or 3-5-2.

The way I see it, the issues are that the players aren't playing with confidence for some reason and that we're lacking pace and penetration. The latter issue can be resolved by playing Walcott instead of Ramsey - I've nothing against Ramsey, but he simply doesn't have a place in this side at the moment - and possibly removing Podolski from the left hand side; he works hard, he links up well with other players, but he doesn't offer creativity or scoring ability.

Unfortunately, Walcott, Gervinho, Chamberlain... they're all inconsistent, so we might not even play better by playing them instead of Ramsey and Podolski.

There's no easy fix, but something does have to be changed. It's basically fundamental: if it's not working, change it to something that does.

The merits of changing the system would be that teams wouldn't expect it, Podolski's skill-set could be properly utilized, Giroud wouldn't be as isolated, Theo would be able to play as a striker more frequently and he may be willing to sign a new contract, and we would have more width overall. I don't think it would automatically guarantee good performances week-in week-out at all, but the notion that you can't play as good of possession football in a 4-4-2 or 4-4-1-1 isn't necessarily true (the 2007/2008 squad can attest to that), so I don't think it would hurt our style of play, and I believe it is worth trying, at least domestically.

On the width note though, with Gervinho, Ramsey, and Podolski failing there in recent times, who do people think would play best out wide? I think that's one area we seriously lacked today. Personally, I'm thinking Theo on the right, Santi on the left, and either a Wilshere-Arteta-Diaby or a Wilshere/Diaby-Rosicky-Arteta midfield (assuming a 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1)

I'm thinking Theo on the right, Santi on the left,

I'm not a big fan of Santos today after looking like an autograph hunter at Old Toilet.

However, I can see a place for him on the left side of midfield if required. If Walcott and Poldi were to play up front we still have Ox, Arshavin and Santos who can play wide. If Giroud plays then Walcott or Poldi could play there, although I think Poldi out wide is a waste.

To be honest, I would be really excited to see a 4-4-2 with Walcott (right footed) and Poldi (left footed) together. Poldi is over 6ft tall so you also have the traditional 'big man/small man' partnership. Both are quick and both can finish well.

The only problem would be the understanding between them, but I think that would soon come. If one of them is struggling then its time for Giroud to play with either one. I think he would prefer some help up there too.

Either way, Arsene needs to sort it out. The current situation is a concern (not creating chances).
We created more chances in an hour against Reading using 4-4-2 than we have all season.

furiouswindbottom wrote:

I'm thinking Theo on the right, Santi on the left,

I'm not a big fan of Santos today after looking like an autograph hunter at Old Toilet.

However, I can see a place for him on the left side of midfield if required. If Walcott and Poldi were to play up front we still have Ox, Arshavin and Santos who can play wide. If Giroud plays then Walcott or Poldi could play there, although I think Poldi out wide is a waste.

By 'Santi' I meant Cazorla, not Santos

By 'Santi' I meant Cazorla, not Santos

Apologies. Mis-read it.

In saying that, I still think Santos could do a job on the left side of midfield if required. He must never play at left back again for us.

In 10 league games we have played both manchester clubs away, liverpool away, stoke away, and chelsea at home. Not saying we have been playing brilliantly but we are only 9 points away from utd despite that fixture list, its not all bad you know, although it could be better. All the talk about how this is our worst start to a season, please how many times have we had a start that difficult? the top of the table is tight, we are only 2 points off 4th and 9 away from 1st, if this is our worst team under wenger everyone else must have declined as well. Some of our performances like yesterdays have been very, very dissapointing, slightly embarrassing as well, it doesnt mean we are rubbish though. We have a new midfield that needs games to form an understanding with each other (one of them needs games just to get match fit again), that goes for our right back as well. And we have more players that are injured who could come back and improve us further. I mean think about it, due to injuries to diaby and wilshere + lack of match fitness we have hardly seen our best midfield this season, due to injures to szczesney, gibbs, and sanga we have hardly seen our best defence either, but we have still done relatively well getting through an awful fixture list

well said

Poldi needs to rest so I would start Walcott-Giroud upfront with Cazorla behind them with a midfield of Coquelin-Arteta-Wilshere further back.
We saw that while Arteta is a guy with great defensive awareness and does usually the dirty work, he needs to share this burden with another player or even two. He's no spring chicken.

Coquelin has been crying for minutes so why not give him a run of games and see how he does till Diaby comes back. (Yea, like that'll happen ).

Hope Rosicky comes back as soon as possible so Wilshere doesn't start 90% of our games again.

Since most of our players' best positions are in central areas, why not utilise it and catch the opponent off guard for once.