In most of the videos I've seen, it looked like Bologna were playing a back 3 and Tomiyasu was playing as the right CB.
Aside from the fact that it seems Arteta wants this lopsided approach with Tierney very high and the right back slotting in to form a back 3, we'll have to see how that works in practice now that he has the players he needs for it to work. I don't see the point of a pure right back whose strength is in overlapping and on the ball as opposed to defending when they don't have the quality to actually offer much in attack.
Bellerin is a good example - he can't dribble, has poor close control and under pressure, is a poor crosser, didn't beat a man one-v-one in his entire Arsenal career, and yet because he can't defend, is quite small and kind of looks a bit technical, he's considered more of right back than Tomiyasu?
Max Aarons is a similar profile to Bellerin and looks similarly ineffective going forward because he has no outstanding attributes. Emerson Royal too from the small sample size on youtube, looked to me like he couldn't really beat a man on the outside and with crossing that didn't look particularly good.
So, what I'm getting at is I don't really see what these guys, "specialist" right backs though they may be, offer that Tomiyasu doesn't? Provided he can run fast, run often, and pass decently under pressure. Especially when he has the added bonus of appearing to be a good defender.
The modern day fullback is one of the most frustrating positions on the pitch for me. I hate the way it's set-up with players that don't offer enough to play in midfield or as forwards and at the same time are dire defenders. The ones that really can beat a man, cross like a demon, with composure in good positions etc., are rare enough, add defensive nous to that add you're talking no more than a few in football right now. And we have one of them.
It was so boring watching Arsenal for years have fullbacks that were allowed an ocean of space by the opposition, but had very low attacking quality - Sagna, Gibbs, Bellerin, Clichy, even Monreal - Tierney is so fun because he doesn't even need space and he can still hurt the opposition badly. If there was a right sided version of him out there, I'd be all for it, but there isn't (I like Dest but I think he's probably more style over substance).
If Tomiyasu playing gets the best from Tierney, and we keep good shape defensively, whilst he also has the athleticism and speed to get on the overlap, then I'm okay with that approach.
Otherwise I'm very much for dumping fullbacks entirely and going with a 3-4-3 approach. I don't want two positions wasted with average footballers just because they're so-called specialist fullbacks.
