Wenger Deserves Credit for New Tactical Flexibility

What a huge result last Saturday was. It’s surely put Arsenal out of reach of the chasing pack in the top four race and has continued Arsenal’s immense second half of the season where they’ve only failed to win one domestic game since New Years Day. It goes someway towards softening the blow which was the 5-1 defeat at Anfield last season and is another encouraging step in Arsenal’s battle to prove they can succeed in the much talked about “big matches”.

But perhaps the best part wasn’t any of the four brilliant goals scored. The way Hector Bellerin, Francis Coquelin, Nacho Monreal and Olivier Giroud furthered their somewhat unexpected rises. The way Mesut Özil continues to perform. Or even that Alexis Sanchez put in his best performance in a while and looked as integrated into the side as he ever has. Arguably the most impressive part was seeing Arsene Wenger’s tactical plan come to life in the opening 10 minutes where Arsenal pressed Liverpool into countless mistakes in a way not too dissimilar to how Liverpool themselves did it in the 5-1.

Seeing Aaron Ramsey, central midfield box-to-box extraordinaire, positioned high up on the right flank instead of deep alongside Coquelin was a unwanted surprise to most, but his energy in an advanced positions payed off superbly. Many of Arsenal’s big game losses in recent years have been put down to Wenger not thinking outside of the box, or doing specific tactics for specific games, instead just setting his team out like he usually does and hoping it works. So it was particularly pleasing to see such a decision not only made but also come off as effectively as it did.

And to be fair, such accusations weren’t without merit. Even looking aside from some of Arsenal’s more embarrassing defeats last season where they were blown away by Liverpool and Chelsea and outsmarted by Everton, there was major concern in how Arsenal succumbed to the press in Dortmund and struggled against the 3-4-2-1 at Anfield in the earlier parts of this season. In both instances it looked as if the team was insufficiently prepared for the specific challenges each opposition presented (high intensity pressing and continued use of a working formation respectively), neither of which were surprising.

But their have been signs of progress. The high pressure 4-2-3-1 on Saturday was a stark contrast to the low block 4-1-4-1 played at the Etihad in January where they looked to control the game without the ball and hit City on the break. Arsenal have shown recently they can have success both while dominating the ball and conceding it. Similarly they’ve shown a good recent adaptability to different team shapes, most notably the traditional 4-2-3-1 used, but also 4-1-4-1 and 4-4-2.

Individual players are being used in multiple roles. Mesut Özil can play wide to help give Arsenal superiority in midfield and stronger ball retention, or used central with a more natural winger wide, to play a more direct system. Santi Cazorla can play as a traditional 10 or drop deeper, and Aaron Ramsey showed on Saturday he can do a job on the right as well as in central midfield.

Wenger received a lot of criticism in the early stages of the season when the 4-1-4-1 was having teething problems and the 4-4-2 wasn’t getting the best out of many players. However, persisting with it has now left Arsenal in a position where they have a lot more tactical flexibility. They’re able to use the new system and the 4-2-3-1 which has proved a safe bet in previous seasons. Given the amount of stick he got when the 4-1-4-1 wasn’t working and the accusations of a supposed lack of tactical adapting, surely it’s only fair to be now giving him credit for persisting with systems that are now paying dividends and making the team more flexible?