Arsenal v Blackpool, 21/08/10, ATVO, 3PM GMT

[Godsend_Gooner]

i feel we'v switched permanently to playing 2 cms (or dms whichever you prefer) and one am.

I think Diaby should not be classified as a DM. The only DM we have is Song. Today while we played with 3 CM's out of whom none were particularly assigned to defend and protect the back four, we played with a good tempo in the midfield because all of them had a bit of pace about them. Wilshere, Diaby were also going forward quite often.

OK, I might be kneejerking. ops:

 

[outlaw_member]

i feel we'v switched permanently to playing 2 cms (or dms whichever you prefer) and one am.

Noticed the same thing. Despite, being in the ascendency, we maintained two deeper midfielders with one floating in front. Maybe, Wenger took a liking to the German setup at the WC, and wants Cesc to play in that deeper playmaking role?

 

[ricky1985]

i feel we'v switched permanently to playing 2 cms (or dms whichever you prefer) and one am.

Noticed the same thing. Despite, being in the ascendency, we maintained two deeper midfielders with one floating in front. Maybe, Wenger took a liking to the German setup at the WC, and wants Cesc to play in that deeper playmaking role?

To be honest, as much as I've complained about it recently, once we hit full intensity and push teams back into their final third - which we should be doing for the majority of most the games we play in - the actual structure of the midfield 3 doesn't matter all that much. What it seems to be giving us though is more protection when we're not dominating the game, we seem a little more structured and a little more compact.

I think you were right about Jack too, Patrick. As much as I still see him as a forward, he reads the game so well in central midfield that I think him being there is one of the reasons we seem so solid through the middle in the two games so far. He presses prodigiously and rarely gets caught ahead of the ball or out of position.

It will be very interesting to see what Wenger does when Song, Cesc and Robin are all back in full contention.

If we can get away with 3 excellent "footballers" in midfield, without the need for a sitter, just because of the intelligent way they go about their defending, then I'm all for that.

 

[Lord Dula]

Just back from the match.

Rosicky was excellent as was wilshere. Those two play neat simple yet probing passes.

Was the best I've seen us play in a long time

chamakh I'd just what we need n all

very pleased and impressed

 

[James]

You mean, we saw a football game today? I wondered what was going on around me.

 

[patrick42uk]

would be ideal, except i dont trust cesc to put the work in defensively. didn't like his body language today.

i see song as a cm, personally, who was asked to play as a dm. so if you look at our central options, they are basically all cms. none of them are specialist defensive players imo so playing the "double pivot" therefore makes a lot of sense from a defence protection point of view. it suits also a team that wants to play in the opposition area too, with a high line. what i like about all our cms is how balanced they are physically and technically (apart from cesc who is more technical than physical but improvingv all the time in the latter area). thats important because in the phases in the opposition half, they are the spare men and need to be good on the ball but when we lose it, they need to be able to recover it. if cesc is there, it gives us a superb creativity source.

if cesc is there it frees rozza or nasri up to play am and allows us to play an extra forward in the front 3. with the two pivots we can accomodate this, because both full backs are protected if necessary as we saw today

 

[Yousif Arsenal]

we play our football vs weak team hope we keep playing like that with strong sides in EPL or champions league

 

[Lord Dula]

You mean, we saw a football game today? I wondered what was going on around me.

It interupted me hangover!

 

[ricky1985]

nasri doesnt see passes early enough. rosicky plays it quick and forces movement. rozza's form really is encouraging.

will be interesting to see how we look back on this fixture- blackpool could be the new derby. even if they arent they played very open football. are we that good offensively? remember it was only last week we looked poor in the final third v liverpool.

We actually put together some very, very good moves against Liverpool, the end product just wasn't quite there. The Rosicky shot that Reina tipped over the bar was about 15 passes from one side of the pitch to the other - it wouldn't have been a goal to remember had it gone in.

 

[outlaw_member]

i feel we'v switched permanently to playing 2 cms (or dms whichever you prefer) and one am.

Noticed the same thing. Despite, being in the ascendency, we maintained two deeper midfielders with one floating in front. Maybe, Wenger took a liking to the German setup at the WC, and wants Cesc to play in that deeper playmaking role?

To be honest, as much as I've complained about it recently, once we hit full intensity and push teams back into their final third - which we should be doing for the majority of most the games we play in - the actual structure of the midfield 3 doesn't matter all that much. What it seems to be giving us though is more protection when we're not dominating the game, we seem a little more structured and a little more compact.

I think you were right about Jack too, Patrick. As much as I still see him as a forward, he reads the game so well in central midfield that I think him being there is one of the reasons we seem so solid through the middle in the two games so far. He presses prodigiously and rarely gets caught ahead of the ball or out of position.

It will be very interesting to see what Wenger does when Song, Cesc and Robin are all back in full contention.

If we can get away with 3 excellent "footballers" in midfield, without the need for a sitter, just because of the intelligent way they go about their defending, then I'm all for that.

I think the flaws of that setup would become more prevalent when we're facing a tougher opponent who is able to stifle our AM. Such a scenario would increase the pressure on the deeper two to help out, and if they decide to do so, the lack of a DM will be found out. However, if one of the deeper two is the main playmaker, i.e. Cesc, as opposed to the AM being the primary, I think the setup would work far far better.

 

[patrick42uk]

yes ricky, jack knows when to hold and when to press. he's gifted tactically it seems; as you say, always in the right positions. showed diaby up a little, felt he was using jack as a marker on where to be. was pretty embarrasing seeing Arsène and pat coaching diaby from the sideline. with jack, i feel he's more than just a "creative player that can take care of himself" as the misguided martin tyler always says. the boy has good, natural defensive instincts to go with his physical and technical gifts

 

[MDGoonah41]

I havent read any of this thread. Has it been mentioned that this could possibly signal the dawn of a new golden era?

I'm excited.

 

[MAK 14]

Just watching Football First now and I've noticed that van Persie was a lot better than I initially thought he was. He made some intelligent runs and had a few neat touches here and there. He's still too unselfish at times though - he needs to have more cracks at goal rather than trying to set others up. I'd definitely start him against Blackburn, even though it's clear he's not 100% fit.

 

[outlaw_member]

van Persie needs reminding that he's a bloody striker. Failing to shoot from that goalscoring position was sad, because there isn't a striker in Europe who wouldn't have in that instance.

 

[ricky1985]

Just back from the match.

Rosicky was excellent as was wilshere. Those two play neat simple yet probing passes.

Was the best I've seen us play in a long time

chamakh I'd just what we need n all

very pleased and impressed

I was thinking of you lot whilst I was watching the match. It must have been bloody good to have been there today. Bet Theo looked like he was ****ing super-charged?

 

[ricky1985]

I havent read any of this thread. Has it been mentioned that this could possibly signal the dawn of a new golden era?

I'm excited.

Like a ****ing millstone round my neck!

 

[patrick42uk]

cant wait to see alan hansen's reaction to theo's performance

 

[dyeruz]

Just back from the match.

Rosicky was excellent as was wilshere. Those two play neat simple yet probing passes.

Was the best I've seen us play in a long time

chamakh I'd just what we need n all

very pleased and impressed

I was thinking of you lot whilst I was watching the match. It must have been bloody good to have been there today. Bet Theo looked like he was ******* super-charged?

Turbo f**king Boosted Jet Heeled MOFO Chamone!

 

[ricky1985]

yes ricky, jack knows when to hold and when to press. he's gifted tactically it seems; as you say, always in the right positions. showed diaby up a little, felt he was using jack as a marker on where to be. was pretty embarrasing seeing Arsène and pat coaching diaby from the sideline. with jack, i feel he's more than just a "creative player that can take care of himself" as the misguided martin tyler always says. the boy has good, natural defensive instincts to go with his physical and technical gifts

I think Jack's juts a very, very smart footballer. As much as some of you criticise Cesc's defensive contributions, I feel exactly the same about him, too. They instinctively know the best positions to take up, the right man to press, or when to stand off and cover a passing option.

 

[ricky1985]

To be honest, as much as I've complained about it recently, once we hit full intensity and push teams back into their final third - which we should be doing for the majority of most the games we play in - the actual structure of the midfield 3 doesn't matter all that much. What it seems to be giving us though is more protection when we're not dominating the game, we seem a little more structured and a little more compact.

I think you were right about Jack too, Patrick. As much as I still see him as a forward, he reads the game so well in central midfield that I think him being there is one of the reasons we seem so solid through the middle in the two games so far. He presses prodigiously and rarely gets caught ahead of the ball or out of position.

It will be very interesting to see what Wenger does when Song, Cesc and Robin are all back in full contention.

If we can get away with 3 excellent "footballers" in midfield, without the need for a sitter, just because of the intelligent way they go about their defending, then I'm all for that.

I think the flaws of that setup would become more prevalent when we're facing a tougher opponent who is able to stifle our AM. Such a scenario would increase the pressure on the deeper two to help out, and if they decide to do so, the lack of a DM will be found out. However, if one of the deeper two is the main playmaker, i.e. Cesc, as opposed to the AM being the primary, I think the setup would work far far better.

How do you stop a midfield if it has 3 "playmakers" in it though?

If you get really tight to Cesc, Jack or Rosicky/Nasri will make you suffer. One things for sure, our forwards, whichever 3 we choose, would see much more of the ball in much more threatening positions - and that service, or lack of, has too often been the problem, especially in the big games.