When I say inflexible I don’t mean that we need Patrick Rice to sign him up for Spursday night Yoga sessions (Europa what?). No. What I mean is that he is inflexible tactically; seemingly reluctant to make significant changes when the system appears ineffective and openly adverse to adapting to suit varying

G’day Gooners. Hope you are all well.

Before we start I’m going to do the register to make sure you’re all here: Arsenal fans? Check. Right, that’s done.

This is the first opportunity I’ve had to write something about my beloved team for a long, long time. Longer, almost, than a ‘days not weeks’ Rosicky injury or a Squillaci 180 degree turn and I have to say I’ve missed it. Loads. 

But while I’ve missed it (loads) I’m also extremely aware that I’ve been almost completely uninspired to write a single word about Arsenal, which is for me a very strange and scary position to be in. I’m usually so full of words that when I sneeze a jumble of letters sprays out over my freshly cleaned shirt, only to rearrange into an openly mocking sentence as my attempts to rub them out push them deeper and more permanently into the cheap fabric.

To be honest I’m not particularly inspired right now, so if this piece ends up looking like a sneeze then you’ll understand why. But in any case I had to write to maintain my sanity and also to provide myself with some enjoyment so this is as much for me as it for you. We’ll call it ‘sharing’ because that sounds nice and no-one can criticise it.

After some Twitter research (which has also witnessed a relative lack of wordage from me) it seems fair to say that most fans agree with what I concluded prior to the research. The conclusion is a sad one I feel but as it is based on a fair amount of truth it is hard to argue with. The conclusion is thus: Wenger is highly inflexible.

When I say inflexible I don’t mean that we need Patrick Rice to sign him up for Spursday night Yoga sessions (Europa what?). No. What I mean is that he is inflexible tactically; seemingly reluctant to make significant changes when the system appears ineffective and openly adverse to adapting to suit varying opposition.

There are of course exceptions to this rule – in terms of formation we changed from 4-4-2 to 4-3-3 in part to suit a certain Barcelona bench warmer (ahem) and we changed back again to 4-4-2 for one Carling Cup encounter this season but, by and large, Wenger likes to stick with a formula through thick and thin. I am definitely not anti-Arsene, and his methods have brought great success, but this is an element of his personality that I think could be improved. In a time when our squad has seen some of the most radical changes in years some similarly high-level changes in our system are certainly worth considering.

It is shame that the squad as it is now did not experience a pre-season together as, while playing together at all would have very been beneficial, it would have been good to experiment a little more with players in different positions. Unfortunately we no longer have that luxury and since every match counts at the moment it would be a mistake to go overboard with changes but there are a few that I think should at the very least be considered.

Arshavin in the centre

This is something that I have been asking to see for a long time and it just seems to make sense on so many levels. 

Arshavin may be off form or inconsistent but he is a far better player than his output suggests and I’m not convinced that we are getting the most out of him in his current position. He can pass, shoot and dribble better than almost anyone in our team (when in the mood) and he displays flashes of inspiration and vision than only Robin can match.

A criticism of Ramsey in that position is that despite some decent passes he does not really get up to support RvP as much as he should. This often leaves our captain isolated and forces him to come deeper to collect the ball, leaving us with no-one up front when we attack. Arshavin loves to drive toward the box and would no doubt support our forward a lot more, and while he may not provide as many through balls from deeper positions he is much more likely to conjour up that extra something to unlock a tightly parked defence.

Wenger himself seems opposed to the idea (calling it ‘tactical suicide’) in part I’m guessing because of Arshavin’s defensive work rate. Conversely, I believe that makes the role even more suited to him. 

Rather than worrying about his defensive side I would give Arshavin a completely free role behind RvP. He again has something that our team lacks in general and that is unpredictability. The effect of utilising this properly would be twofold: it would make our attack more varied and it would stretch the opposition. 

It’s much harder to keep track of someone when you’re not sure what they are going to do, and even if that player doesn’t actually produce themselves they may leave extra gaps and spaces for others to exploit. The opposition defenders/midfielders would also be reluctant to leave those spaces and so would be less committed in attack, making it easier for our own defence to deal with potential onslaughts.

With this in mind I would play a kind of 4-2-3-1 formation with Arteta and Song sitting deeper to provide cover. Arteta is excellent at long passes, his defensive work is solid and he would be great for linking play with someone more dynamic in front of him and him and Alex did their job well they would offer an excellent platform for a player of Arshavin’s quality to excel.

Drop RvP Back

Another widely discussed idea that again makes sense for so many reasons. Even DB10 chipped in to suggest that our captain would be better deployed further back and DB10 created the world in seven minutes of stoppage time so he’s worth listening to.

RvP has become a goal machine in recent times, granted, but if you don’t get the service you won’t score as many goals – pretty basic. With Nasri, Theo and Fabregas in the team our balance was such that RvP could usually expect to be presented with at least one or two very decent chances per game. But with Ramsey not providing enough support, Theo/Arshavin off form and Gervinho yet to settle he has become increasingly isolated and unable to get into games.

A point well worth remembering is this: Robin van Persie is by far our best and most consistent attacking threat and to leave a player of that quality isolated from the game for large periods of time makes very little sense indeed. If reducing his personal ability to score goals increases the teams’ effectiveness as a whole then that is a deal very much worth making. His creative work is also outstanding and with Robin masterminding (as opposed to feeding off) our attacks we would likely become a lot more potent a threat. 

But how do you bring Robin deeper whilst maintaining the current system? That is another conundrum in itself. Could he play the Cesc role? Maybe, but that could be too far back for him. So what then? Well that brings me nicely onto my final suggestion:

Bring back 4-4-2

A slightly more controversial, if no less obvious, suggestion is to revert to a formation which brought us so much success in the past. In a 4-4-2 we could bring RvP more into play and utilise one of the other forwards at the club – both of whom Wenger basically admitted work better in a 4-4-2 by playing them that way in the Carling Cup – and having two strikers on the pitch would virtually guarantee more bodies in the box to tuck away those all-too-precious chances.

Unfortunately, as nice as that sounds it becomes a hell of a lot more hazy once
you start to consider almost every other position past the defence. 

We don’t really have out and out wingers, we have wide forwards, and would they provide enough width for it to work? Who would partner Song in the centre? Ramsey? Arteta? Wilshere? Would Song be disciplined enough with only one other midfielder alongside him?

All very pertinent and difficult to answer questions, and no doubt there are plenty more I’ve missed.

But when the present system isn’t working as it should then there comes a time when options like this need to at least be considered. Wenger may well have done exactly that but since we rarely see anything that radical make it onto the pitch (except in the desperate last minutes of epic, Super Sunday-style clashes versus…er…Blackburn) it’s difficult to know for sure.

Luckily it’s not my job to find solutions and for all I know the above may just be the ridiculous ramblings of a fanatical amateur. But it is most definitely Wenger’s and the solution needs to be found, be it one of those above or something entirely new.

It may be the case that our present system bears fruit but simply crossing our fingers and hoping it does is not the way forward. So while Wenger is likely to stick to what he knows on Sunday, in the event that our poor run of the form continues we have to hope that he discovers a flexibility that has been so painfully missing from his repertoire until now.

WB

Twitter: @WengerBoy1