@lorddulaarsenal wrote:
———-——Leno
Bellerin-Saliba-Holding-Tierney
—————Torreira
——Guendouzi—Xhaka
Aubameyang————-Zaha
———-—-Lacazette
By no means where we’d hope to be in a few years but for this season I’d take it
With those signings, i would like Emery to experiment with a double-base midfield as it offers more protection to the back 4. The midfielders should be instructed to drop into the FB position when the wingbacks are out of position (similar to Klopp's Liverpool tactic) allowing the CBs to stay narrow especially as we know Holding has no pace and would struggle against a winger.
——Torreira—Guendouzi/Bielik
—————Xhaka/Willock
We would also be affording Willock and Bielik the game time they need to develop with Guendouzi/Xhaka under pressure to perform or lose their place in the first team.
Guendouzi/Bielik should be told to stop dilly-dallying on the ball and release the ball quicker (like Torreira) instead of diving/losing the ball when pressured.
I know Xhaka has limitations when played higher up but i think there are positives as well. We would have extra cover when he loses the ball cheaply and he would get more Lampard-style "shoot on sight" opportunities. This should force the opposition to always have to break their lines to close him down which, in turn, opens up lanes for strikers to exploit.
I accept that these are all paper tactics that may not work but we still have the personnel to revert to last year's tactics in case this turns out to be a disaster on the pitch.
