Arsene Wenger will continue with his tactical overhaul of Arsenal’s playing formation and begin next season as it ended with three centre-backs and three main creative forwards.
Arsenal’s results were transformed at the end of last season when Wenger joined Antonio Conte at Chelsea and Tottenham’s Mauricio Pochettino in switching formation, with his team winning nine out of their 10 final games in their new 3-4-2-1 structure.
It had followed a desperate run of seven defeats in 12 matches in the 4-2-3-1 formation that has been Arsenal’s identity for the most of the past decade. Before that and Wenger had largely stuck with 4-4-2.
Wenger, though, is already preparing his players in pre-season to begin with a three-man defence next season which has the added knock-on of reducing the opportunities for his creative players but adding an extra defensive player that can then help release Aaron Ramsey from central midfield.
The manager’s message to the players is that he wants the team to be more flexible next season and they will also go back to 4-2-3-1 during spells in training and matches, which is a formation that effectively means trading a defender for an attacker.
New £52 million club record signing Alexandre Lacazette will play his first match in his new No 9 Arsenal shirt in Sydney on Thursday night.
Yet with Wenger also adamant upon his arrival in Australia on Tuesday morning that Alexis Sanchez will not be sold to another Premier League club, and that he wants Olivier Giroud to stay, the competition for places is intense. Add in Theo Walcott, Danny Welbeck, Mesut Ozil and Alex Iwobi and that already leaves seven players competing for three starting places.
Lucas Perez is almost certain to leave but Wenger did confirm that he still wants Thomas Lemar from Monaco, with that situation now certain to shape the strategy for Sanchez and Giroud. At least one of Sanchez and Giroud remains likely to leave but nothing is imminent or decided.
Wenger is still publicly adamant that he is prepared to let all of his main contract rebels – Sanchez, Mesut Ozil and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain – go into the final year of their current deals even if they did not agree new contracts.
When asked about whether he still opposes selling Sanchez to a Premier League rival, he said: “That’s the continuity of what I said at the end of the season; that is what we will do.”
Manchester City and Chelsea are currently most interested and will be aware that Arsenal did eventually sell Robin van Persie to Manchester United when faced with a comparable situation in 2012.
“The players have contracts and we expect them to respect them,” he said. “It’s in his interest to do as well as he can. Nobody knows today if Sanchez will be on his final year of his contract next season, because he can extend his contract with us at the start of the season or during the season.” Wenger also denied that Sanchez had informed him of a desire to leave.
Of Giroud, who is wanted by Everton, West Ham and Marseille, Wenger said: “We extended his contract last season. Our resolution is clear because we extended his contract. He’s a great value to the squad.”
Wenger already sees his wing-backs as between Saed Kolasinac and Nacho Monreal on the left and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Hector Bellerin on the right, although Monreal is also regarded as a good centre-back option and Oxlade-Chamberlain will additionally be considered in central midfield. Rob Holding, Laurent Koscielny, Shkodran Mustafi, Per Mertesacker and Gabriel will compete for the three centre-back places.
“I’m open to get some more signings, but it’s not easy to find the players to strengthen our squad because we have top quality players,” he said.
Wenger himself signed a new two-year contract after last season ended with winning a seventh FA Cup in May but Arsenal finished outside the Champions League qualifying places in fifth.
“I’m completely committed to do well for Arsenal Football Club,” he said. “To do well of course means to win the Premier League. I stayed for so long because for me, first, a club is about values. We built values that are important to me. One of the values is as well to win trophies but more important to know who we are, what is important in the game and, with that basis, to win football games. On top of that we want to bring trophies in.”
source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2017/07/11/arsenal-will-start-next-season-three-man-defence-confirms-arsene/