Claudius wrote:
I think it's actually our lack of natural width having compounding effects all over the squad.
Emery counters it by having flying fullbacks. But he knows that opens gaps at the back because usually our rear-most midfielder is playmaking Xhaka, who has the mobility of the Titanic. So Emery bolsters the defense by adding a third man.
He adjusts how defensive we are by pushing the defensive line up and down, including the fullbacks. But he is so dependent on the fullbacks to give us width. When he makes the fullbacks conservative and fields a front 3 of the 2 strikers + one AM (like Ozil), we really suffer in creating chances because we take Aubamayeng wide and otherwise try to go vertical with a team that has zero off-the ball movement.
I think the single biggest benefit this squad can have is to get at least one elite winger. It relieves so many painpoints
BINGO - we have a winner.
To the point that whilst it may be preferable to shift the dross, IMO it is imperative that we sign genuine capability in the wide attacking role to enable us to play 4231. IMO having 2 men wide on each flank is crucial to the way Emery wants to create overloads and then switch play, whereas with the 5212 / 3412 we weaken the centre options when we try to do so & we fail to control zone 14 / half spaces.
In terms of our play wee are still far too slow in transitioning the ball forward so as to keep our momentum on the front foot throughout transition, then when we do so we lack the wide options able to take on their defender with ball at feet to be able to create space, and we rely heavily upon overlaps which over commits our numbers forward with no real cover in behind down the flanks.
