Klaus wrote:
It might be sustainable for the rest of the season but I'm deeply sceptical of three-man defences. Like goon pointed out in the match thread it collapsed into a 5-3-2 within two minutes today, and it's almost always the case when we play. It makes us narrow in the attack and weak on the flanks in the defence.
I would argue collapse is a symptom of our poor quality and not the shape of the team. I submit the collapses witnessed in parts of every one of our previous 348 games as evidence.
I would say, as much as it bothers me to see an Arsenal team so deep and with 5 players strung across in a line, we did limit Sheffield United to very few chances from open play.
Any system where we can't play two accurate passes in a row is going to see us retreat, especially with the defenders we have. If we could get more quality into the midfield, I think a 3-4-3 could actually see us play with more width. Nelson and Saka wide would be a very different proposition to AMN/Bellerin and Kolasinac/Tierney.
I also think having the right players either side of the centre back makes a big difference to how high you can push up and how attacking you'll able to go in your selection of the wide midfielders. Tierney, for example, would be very comfortable being left one-v-one as the left sided centreback, and that would allow Saka to play higher and with more freedom ahead of him.
Where I think the system can really be moulded into something special is if you can create a framework that enables Tierney to go on frequent overlaps from left centre back because the holding midfielder, a certain Thomas Partey perhaps, sits in with the other two centre backs to form a three to stave off the threat of a counter attack.
Now imagine that on being executed on both sides throughout a match as part of a well oiled machine, maybe a bulkier Bellerin could serve a similar role as right sided centre back, or Chambers perhaps, who would do very well as a hybrid fullback-cum-centre back too?
It seems a way of getting the best of both worlds from the fullback position: less of the downside where they see far too much of the ball and do very little with the width that they offer, whilst their having to be up high to provide the width in the first place leaves a team constantly vulnerable to a counter attack. Why not have real threats providing that width instead in players that can dribble and cross like, for example, Nelson and Saka?
It also gives so much flexibility to the shape of the midfield and attack, as long as that anchor role of the holding midfielder is in there and knows what he's doing. A diamond one week (as we did today) with 3 attackers ahead, a flat 2 in midfield (as we did in the previous 3 games), 3 midfielders and 2 strikers or a '10' in behind a striker.
It's all a bit theoretical and might not work so well in practice, but I think it's worth exploring. Especially as it would fit with many of the young players we have coming through.
Chambers Saliba Tierney
Nelson Willock Xhaka Saka
Pépé Nketiah Aubameyang