New Style, New Formation
One of the biggest questions since Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang joined Arsenal back in January is how is he going to fit into the side considering we had just bought Alexandre Lacazette from Lyon six months ago and he was supposed to be our central striker. Well for the first few games, it was an easy decision for then manager Arsene Wenger since Lacazette was injured, Aubameyang naturally became our main striker and he scored a few goals in those games, but it became quite a conundrum for Wenger when Lacazette returned from injury.
Not being known for changing formations frequently, it wasn't a surprise when the manager just deployed Aubameyang on the left wing and Lacazette as the central striker. Despite not looking all that comfortable playing out wide, Aubameyang still managed to get involved and scored some goals and assisted a further few rounding up to an impressive tally of 10 goals and 3 assists in his first 14 games for the club, 13 of which were premier league games.
Then came the new season with a new manager, with some new players and a new style of play. For the first three league matches, the new manager Unai Emery saw Aubameyang fit to be our central striker with Lacazette coming off the bench and Aubameyang then moving to the left. It didn't seem to quite work out well as Aubameyang didn't look as sharp on the left as he was playing as the striker. Even though he didn't score and didn't particularly have a good time in all those games, notably even missing a sitter in the Chelsea game, he was at least getting on the end of things which wasn't the case when he moved to the left. He barely got involved in the game when he switched positions, he gave away the ball too cheaply, his crosses weren't great as he was doing so with his weaker left foot and he didn't quite seem to understand whether to shoot or to pass a ball at times which boards the question, "Can Unai Emery get the best out of Aubameyang?" and "Can our record signing really score a flurry of goals as we all expect him to playing on the left?"
Well as we all saw in the Cardiff and Newcastle game, Emery really seems to be easing into the idea of starting Lacazette and Aubameyang together, and this seems to be a good thing as those two have a really good chemistry off the pitch and the fans love them and wanna see their most expensive signings play together, and on the pitch they seem to have some sort of a link up play as they both continually find and feed good balls to each other and score a few goals, not just this season but we saw some of that in the last few games of the last season as well. But is this really the best way moving forward for Aubameyang and the team as a whole? We saw how lethal he can be when played central even Thursday evening in the Europa league where he looked sharp and was lightning quick to get on the end of things and scored two bangers against Vorskla.
So the answer to the question really depends on how Unai Emery sees this and is he happy with how the players are performing in a 4-2-3-1 formation mainly with Aubameyang on the left and Lacazette as the central striker both starting together. Well despite those two having their moments together on the pitch, I don't think Aubameyang offers a lot on the left as he does centrally, and no I don't mean benching Lacazette or Aubameyang and not playing those two together especially considering the pace and finishing that Auba offers and how Lacazette links all our players together and gives that technical element to the team. I just think that Unai Emery should look for a system which fits both our strikers together and it gets the best out of them.
They say that a 4-4-2 system is not widely used these days and is something that managers resort to only if they have the best players in their squads in every position. Well I just don't think that's the case. While its true that some of the best teams in Europe like Barcelona with Messi and Suarez up top and Man City with Aguero and Jesus playing central together having adapted themselves to the 4-4-2 system have been champions last season in their respective countries, even the smallers clubs like a Leicester are comfortable playing in a 4-4-2 with Vardy and Okazaki/Gray up top or even a club like Brighton who play with Murray and Gross together look comfortable with it and even beat Manchester United a few weeks ago.
Now while a traditional 4-4-2 might resolve the Laca-Auba conundrum with Aubameyang playing closer to Lacazette and in his natural striking position with a Iwobi/Welbeck and Mkhitaryan providing width, it might not get the best out of our highest paid player Mesut Ozil.
The solution to this is a modernized version of the 4-4-2, where the back four remain the way they are but the midfield four are shaped in the form a diamond with two strikers up top.
Here's how Arsenal could line up in the aforementioned system :
Aubameyang Lacazette
Ozil
Ramsey/Xhaka Mkhitaryan
Torreira
Monreal Bellerin
Sokratis Mustafi
Cech/Leno
Now I know Emery likes width in the team that supports his high press high line football which I believe our full backs can provide with new defensive midfielder Torreira dropping behind to help our two center backs. We know that even Ramsey or a Mkhitaryan can give us width, they don't have the pace of a Bellerin but they have been effective playing wide as well so we won't always have to rely on our fullbacks giving us width. Even Iwobi or a Welbeck I believe are poised enough to play in place of Ramsey and Mkhi in that left and right CM role. This setup also gives our number 10 a licence to kill as he can play his natural attacking midfielder role and get close to our two strikers and feed good balls to them with our two CMs making runs inside the box as well.
The only player I believe this system asks a lot out of is our new right back Stephan Lichtsteiner because at his age, even though he is quite fit, I'm not sure if he is polished enough to do a lot of covering that this system demands, especially from the fullbacks and he is more of a defensive player than Bellerin who looks a lot more comfortable going forward rather than sit behind and defend.
At the moment though it looks as if the manager has his mind set on a 4-2-3-1, at least for the next few games but who knows. But if he does decide to try a different approach, I believe that this is quite a good setup.
Not being known for changing formations frequently, it wasn't a surprise when the manager just deployed Aubameyang on the left wing and Lacazette as the central striker. Despite not looking all that comfortable playing out wide, Aubameyang still managed to get involved and scored some goals and assisted a further few rounding up to an impressive tally of 10 goals and 3 assists in his first 14 games for the club, 13 of which were premier league games.
Then came the new season with a new manager, with some new players and a new style of play. For the first three league matches, the new manager Unai Emery saw Aubameyang fit to be our central striker with Lacazette coming off the bench and Aubameyang then moving to the left. It didn't seem to quite work out well as Aubameyang didn't look as sharp on the left as he was playing as the striker. Even though he didn't score and didn't particularly have a good time in all those games, notably even missing a sitter in the Chelsea game, he was at least getting on the end of things which wasn't the case when he moved to the left. He barely got involved in the game when he switched positions, he gave away the ball too cheaply, his crosses weren't great as he was doing so with his weaker left foot and he didn't quite seem to understand whether to shoot or to pass a ball at times which boards the question, "Can Unai Emery get the best out of Aubameyang?" and "Can our record signing really score a flurry of goals as we all expect him to playing on the left?"
Well as we all saw in the Cardiff and Newcastle game, Emery really seems to be easing into the idea of starting Lacazette and Aubameyang together, and this seems to be a good thing as those two have a really good chemistry off the pitch and the fans love them and wanna see their most expensive signings play together, and on the pitch they seem to have some sort of a link up play as they both continually find and feed good balls to each other and score a few goals, not just this season but we saw some of that in the last few games of the last season as well. But is this really the best way moving forward for Aubameyang and the team as a whole? We saw how lethal he can be when played central even Thursday evening in the Europa league where he looked sharp and was lightning quick to get on the end of things and scored two bangers against Vorskla.
So the answer to the question really depends on how Unai Emery sees this and is he happy with how the players are performing in a 4-2-3-1 formation mainly with Aubameyang on the left and Lacazette as the central striker both starting together. Well despite those two having their moments together on the pitch, I don't think Aubameyang offers a lot on the left as he does centrally, and no I don't mean benching Lacazette or Aubameyang and not playing those two together especially considering the pace and finishing that Auba offers and how Lacazette links all our players together and gives that technical element to the team. I just think that Unai Emery should look for a system which fits both our strikers together and it gets the best out of them.
They say that a 4-4-2 system is not widely used these days and is something that managers resort to only if they have the best players in their squads in every position. Well I just don't think that's the case. While its true that some of the best teams in Europe like Barcelona with Messi and Suarez up top and Man City with Aguero and Jesus playing central together having adapted themselves to the 4-4-2 system have been champions last season in their respective countries, even the smallers clubs like a Leicester are comfortable playing in a 4-4-2 with Vardy and Okazaki/Gray up top or even a club like Brighton who play with Murray and Gross together look comfortable with it and even beat Manchester United a few weeks ago.
Now while a traditional 4-4-2 might resolve the Laca-Auba conundrum with Aubameyang playing closer to Lacazette and in his natural striking position with a Iwobi/Welbeck and Mkhitaryan providing width, it might not get the best out of our highest paid player Mesut Ozil.
The solution to this is a modernized version of the 4-4-2, where the back four remain the way they are but the midfield four are shaped in the form a diamond with two strikers up top.
Here's how Arsenal could line up in the aforementioned system :
Aubameyang Lacazette
Ozil
Ramsey/Xhaka Mkhitaryan
Torreira
Monreal Bellerin
Sokratis Mustafi
Cech/Leno
Now I know Emery likes width in the team that supports his high press high line football which I believe our full backs can provide with new defensive midfielder Torreira dropping behind to help our two center backs. We know that even Ramsey or a Mkhitaryan can give us width, they don't have the pace of a Bellerin but they have been effective playing wide as well so we won't always have to rely on our fullbacks giving us width. Even Iwobi or a Welbeck I believe are poised enough to play in place of Ramsey and Mkhi in that left and right CM role. This setup also gives our number 10 a licence to kill as he can play his natural attacking midfielder role and get close to our two strikers and feed good balls to them with our two CMs making runs inside the box as well.
The only player I believe this system asks a lot out of is our new right back Stephan Lichtsteiner because at his age, even though he is quite fit, I'm not sure if he is polished enough to do a lot of covering that this system demands, especially from the fullbacks and he is more of a defensive player than Bellerin who looks a lot more comfortable going forward rather than sit behind and defend.
At the moment though it looks as if the manager has his mind set on a 4-2-3-1, at least for the next few games but who knows. But if he does decide to try a different approach, I believe that this is quite a good setup.
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