Premier League tactics: Carlo Ancelotti and a Christmas Tree can save Arsenal

Carlo Ancelotti and his Christmas Tree formation can save Arsenal’s flagging season.

Arsenal need to stop making the search for a new manager so complicated. The club doesn’t have to work through a bloated 12-man shortlist.

Nor do the Gunners need to wait for long-overdue agreement earned from protracted pow-wows between head of football Raul Sanllehi, technical director Edu and Josh and Stan Kroenke.

The answer is simple, Gunners. It’s the festive season, so put up the Christmas Tree.

Just place a call to Carlo Ancelotti and let him install the same formation he used to take AC Milan to Serie A and Champions League titles.

Ancelotti has been linked with Arsenal since he was sacked by Napoli, despite guiding the club into the last 16 of the Champions League.

Quite why the Gunners are hesitating on hiring a man with three Champions League trophies and league titles in four different countries on his resume is a mystery.

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Apparently, Arsenal are looking for a different “profile” than the 60-year-old serial winner. To ignore Ancelotti’s experience, proven history and ability to manage top players is beyond arrogant and negligible from a club ninth in the Premier League after Sunday’s 3-0 home defeat to a Kevin De Bruyne-inspired Manchester City.

Mikel Arteta remains on the radar, according to Matt Law of The Daily Telegraph. The 37-year-old former Arsenal midfielder has been a key part of the City coaching brain trust since 2016, and he may have been slightly uncomfortable watching Sunday’s lopsided affair.

Arteta is an outstanding candidate, but it’s the wrong time for Arsenal to give him the top job. The time to appoint Arteta was when Arsene Wenger stepped down in 2018.

Wenger reportedly wanted Arteta to be his successor, and there’s little doubt the latter would have continued the Frenchman’s tradition of having Arsenal play attractive, expansive football.

Yet the makeup of Arsenal’s squad has changed too much since 2018. Gone are artful midfielders like Jack Wilshere, Aaron Ramsey, Alex Iwobi, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Santi Cazorla.

Now the Gunners are a group lacking enough technicians to play a free-flowing game. Instead, they are a rag-tag collection of high-priced and talented but under-performing attackers, below-par mid-tier defenders and young academy graduates struggling to shoulder the burden of a necessary rebuild.

Arsenal need a steady hand at the wheel to help avoid more humiliating days like Sunday’s loss to City. More important, the Gunners require a manager calm and wise enough to get the most out of their big-ticket items: strikers Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette, winger Nicolas Pepe and playmaker Mesut Ozil.

Fortunately, Ancelotti has the answer in the form of a Christmas Tree. First, let-be clear what’s meant by Christmas Tree formation.

Essentially, it’s a 4-3-2-1 setup. Ancelotti used it with the Rossoneri in the early 2000s.

He crafted a team with the brawn and ingenuity of Massimo Ambrosini, Gennaro Gattuso and Andrea Pirlo in midfield. They screened a veteran back four and provided a platform for maestros like Rui Costa and Kaka to create chances for lethal frontman Andriy Shevchenko.

Arsenal have enough potential match-winners in the final third to create a similar mix. Aubameyang is a prolific finisher with the pace and ruthlessness to lead the line the way this formation demands.

He needs the right support to stay supplied with chances. The Gunners are providing precious little of either on interim manager Freddie Ljungberg’s watch.

Ljungberg is trying to recreate the Wenger way. The Swede’s approach is admirable, but he doesn’t have the right players to do it.

He’s also struggling to effectively pair Aubameyang and Lacazette. Previous attempts have seen Lacazette occupy the middle, with Aubameyang shunted to the wing where he is far less effective.

Ljungberg believes playing both goalscorers centrally leaves Arsenal unbalanced:

Yet Lacazette could stay central and still allow Aubameyang to be the focal point. All it would require is moving the Frenchman into one of the supporting roles behind the striker in the Christmas Tree structure.

Lacazette is technically proficient enough to play as an attacking midfielder, a role he has experience in from his early days with Lyon. His clever touches and hold-up play would service Aubameyang better and add greater fluidity to the Gunners’ movement and passing in forward areas.

Pepe would join Lacazette as the other supporting attacker. Arsenal’s record signing spent time in central areas for Lille last season and has flashed brief moments of brilliance during an otherwise rocky beginning to his career with the Gunners.

At least Pepe is ready to take responsibility:

Playing Pepe and Lacazette off the main striker would leave Ancelotti still needing to solve the Ozil dilemma. Getting the mercurial No. 10 in the mood to conjure magic is no easy task, but dropping him a little deeper may provide the answer.

Having Lacazette and Pepe roam the areas usually reserved for a traditional No. 10 would give Ozil the freedom of the middle of the park. He would be more involved in general, build-up play, increasing not only his touches, but also more importantly his interest.

Love him or hate him, the more Ozil gets on the ball the better Arsenal are going forward. He can still thread passes between the lines as well as anybody, but he becomes isolated in the final third when Arsenal fail to get the ball to him quickly.

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Putting Ozil in the middle would eliminate the latter problem and give defenders and deep-lying midfielders an easy target when playing out from the back.

Ozil needs a secure platform behind him, and it’s something Lucas Torreira and David Luiz would provide. Torreira is the terrier-like presence Gattuso was for Ancelotti’s Milan, while Luiz would shield the back four well.

He’s a center-back by trade, but Luiz is caught out too often in one-on-one duels. Yet his passing technique and vision make him a good option to anchor the base of midfield.

Arsenal’s senior players represent the club’s biggest investment. They are also the best means of quickly snapping the team’s losing run, despite the obvious potential of youngsters Joe Willock, Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli and Emile Smith Rowe.

Ozil, Aubameyang and Co. would fit Ancelotti’s tactical formula well. He would give them confidence and make Arsenal tougher to beat in big games and more adept at handling European competition.

Trusting Ancelotti and the Christmas Tree is the easiest way to salvage a campaign that’s already become the stuff nightmares are made of.