Back four can steady Arsenal’s sinking ship
By James Dudko
Arsenal must return to a back four to steady their season after Sunday’s 4-0 defeat at Liverpool.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has gotten too used to solving a crisis in recent seasons. The Frenchman once again finds himself in dire straits, just thee games into this year’s campaign, following Sunday’s 4-0 capitulation against Liverpool at Anfield.
Going back to basics is the only option Wenger has to steady a sinking ship. In this context, basics means ditching the three-at-the-back defense for a more familiar back four.
Wenger went to a back three late last season, as a way to solve, you guessed it, yet another crisis. Arsenal were coming off a 10-2 aggregate humbling by Bayern Munich in the Champions League. The Gunners had also been hammered 3-0 by Crystal Palace in the Premier League.
Arsenal responded by winning nine of their last 10 games in all competitions. The run couldn’t help the Gunners maintain their annual stay in the top four, as they missed the final qualification place for the Champions League by a point.
The switch to a back three did help Arsenal win a third FA Cup in four seasons, though. Arsenal beat Manchester City then Chelsea to claim the trophy, proof they can beat top sides in big games.
However, Wenger made one fatal miscalculation when judging the success of his 3-4-2-1 formation. Said success wasn’t down to an extra central defender making Arsenal stouter at the back.
Instead, moving to a back three rejuvenated the Gunners because it gave Wenger’s players something new at a club sadly gone stale. The excitement of trying something different awoke key players from their slumbers.
Unfortunately, Arsenal’s start to the new season has proved the 3-4-2-1 has done nothing to improve the defense. It’s also showed the novelty factor has well and truly worn off for Wenger’s players.
The Gunners have conceded eight times through three weeks and lost consecutive matches. They are routinely being picked apart and played through because of a system their manager is not comfortable with. A system forcing too many players out of their best positions.
Think of how many square pegs have been forced into round holes just so Arsenal can play three at the back. Full-backs Nacho Monreal and Sead Kolasinac have been made into makeshift and shaky central defenders.
Sure, some full-backs can make the switch work. But for every Cesar Azpilicueta, Lilian Thruam and Paolo Maldini, there’s, well, Monreal and Kolasinac.
At wing-back, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s fondness for playing on the right has forced Hector Bellerin onto the left. Neither has been convincing.
The problems are worse in central midfield. Aaron Ramsey and Granit Xhaka are being asked to play holding roles stifling their forward-thinking instincts.
Lacking the discipline for these stay-at-home jobs, Ramsey and Xhaka’s wanderlust has left an already weak defense to be overrun. It was a problem common during the nightmare at Anfield.
Wide forwards Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah consistently exploited inside pockets, while runners from deep such as Emre Can helped Liverpool win the numbers game in Arsenal’s box.
The absence of cover at the base of midfield is a problem pinpointed by Jonathan Wilson of the Guardian before the Liverpool game:
"Ottmar Hitzfeld, who won Champions League titles with both Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich, often spoke of the “red zone”, the central area just outside the penalty area. A team’s first priority must always be to protect that, to try to avoid, as far as possible, opponents generating shooting, passing or dribbling opportunities from that area. That can be done by pressing, squeezing the space between the lines, or it can be done by having one or more holding midfielders sitting there, but what cannot happen is for central defenders to be isolated against an opponent with space in front of him."
Arsenal can’t solve this problem without the right type of midfielders. The type of midfielders Wenger’s squad lacks.
Next: Liverpool 4-0 Arsenal: Highlights and recap
So rather than playing a system designed to let players he doesn’t have thrive, Wenger should go back to what he knows best.
What the 67-year-old knows best is playing a back four and packing his midfield with four or five central players. It’s the same dynamic Wenger introduced when he ditched the back three shortly after taking over in 1996.
He’s also changed to a back four in the second half of each of Arsenal’s league games this season. Opting for a permanent reversion can help steady what looks like an increasingly sinking ship.
The reasons why moving back to a 4-2-3-1, 4-1-4-1 or some version of a 4-4-2 even, will work, are simple.
It would put players back in their natural positions. Kolasinanc or Monreal can play left full-back, while Bellerin returns to the right.
More important, Arsenal will be able to add more players to a midfield wafer-thin so far. Wenger doesn’t have a destructive ball-winner to break up play. So he should rely on numbers and instead simply flood central areas with four or five players comfortable enough on the ball to boss and more effectively use possession.
It’s how Wenger ran things with Patrick Vieira, Gilberto Silva, Robert Pires, Freddie Ljungberg and Dennis Bergkamp back in the days of the Invincibles. It’s how things worked for Wenger’s two best teams since: 2007-08’s squad underpinned by Cesc Fabregas, Alex Hleb and Tomas Rosicky, as well as the 2013-14 vintage defined by Ramsey, Mesut Ozil, Santi Cazorla, Jack Wilshere and Mikel Arteta.
There’s no doubt the current squad is missing several key pieces. But what Wenger does still have is a plethora of central schemers in Ramsey, Xhaka, Ozil, Mohamed Elneny, Wilshere and Alex Iwobi.
The respective tactical value of a back four or a back three shouldn’t be the most important factor in helping Wenger choose between the two. He must decide based on what he’s most comfortable coaching.
For most of his career he’s been at home with a four-man defence and four or five players in central midfield.
Returning to a back four and filling midfield with playmakers won’t solve all of Arsenal’s woes. But it will at least get Wenger back in his comfort zone.
Doing so might be enough to salvage a season already in danger of being lost.