Wenger trigered with the formation and paid for it

By 1970's Gooner

Yes you can say we were winning 3 0 and should have kept it. And I would agree. All Arsene had to do was reign in some of the attacking players instincts, flood the midfield and play possession football.

But three things did not happen:

Firstly Arteta had to go off injured. He would have had the nous to organise the players.

Secondly Wenger's substitutions were offensively minded. Both Podolski and Rosicky are not necessarily defensively minded.

What he should have done was to keep Podolski on the bench and The Ox on the pitch. The Ox could have droped back into midfield alongside Rosicky and Flamini. Sanchez also could have been asked to drop back just a little bit. Finally he should have taken Welbeck off and stuck Walcott on to scare them with his pace.

Wenger did none of the above. Worse of all he failed to instruct his players to adopt a more cautious approach and play possession football. Instead his substitutions gave the exact opposite message to his players!

Yes the defensive performance was awful as he indicated in his post match interviews.

But he again I am afraid is to blame. He is the one who overbalanced the team with too many forward minded players and stubbornly refused to buy DEFENDERS.....

And he is the one that triggered with the formation breaking the Arteta and Flamini partnership in order to bring in the very disappointing Ramsey!

The Arteta and Flamini partnership is vital for Arsenal at the moment because, as I wrote so many times before, they provide a disciplined shield in front of a fragile defence which at the moment contains a left back playing as a centre back a rookie 19 year old as a right back.

Arsene's new formation is more cautious but more exciting than the usual 4 3 3

By 1970's Gooner

I have long been advocating that Arteta and Flamini should be starting games for Arsenal. They provide a more efficient shield of the back four (especially when Konscienly and Debucee are absent) than when one of them along with a more forward thinking midfielder are fielded.

This is because the 'other' midfielder is more attacking minded and /or not disciplined enough to stick to his position. The result is an unbalanced formation which lends itself vulnerable to counter attacks.

Wenger says that we played a 4 4 2 formation against Burnley. Well it was more of a 4 4 1 1 formation.

This formation, apart from playing two solid defensive midfielders, allows Wenger to bring Sanchez away from the flank and alongside or around Welbeck.

Sanchez does not stick to a particular position for too long and his desire to track back and fight for the ball enables him to be an extra player in midfield. This is especially important when we don't have the ball and the opponents are due to start an attack or worse start a counter attack.

Overall this is a more balanced formation than before which allows for a more solid defensive cover but at the same time does not curtail the offensive nature of the team.

Arsenal Vs Burnley. Score prediction, who will score and line up

By 1970's Gooner

Prediction

I don't see Arsenal conceding. The important factors to consider are the following:

- Gibbs starts
- more importantly Monreal is now gelling well with the BFG and
- Burnley's poor goal scoring record

I can see Arsenal scoring more than once. And with the team clicking into gear I expect that a 3-0 score line or more is quite possible.

Who will score?

Considering that Burnley will most probably adopt a more cautious and defensive approach then a penalty may have a bigger probability of being awarded. Who takes Arsenal's penalties? Arteta to get on the score sheet then.

I also expect Welbeck to get a goal and Ramsey.

Line up

The big and very interesting question is whether Wenger persists with both Arteta and Flamini. They played very well together at Sunderland and shielded a makeshift defence well.

I think he may continue with this at least until Koscienly returns and then make a decision according to how we are doing by then.

I also think that Cazorla has not been at his best. Rosicky should be given a start. But Wenger tends to prefer Cazorla. Lets hope he picks up his game.

Szczesny

Chambers  BFG  Monreal  Gibbs

Arteta  Flamini

Ramsey

Cazorla  Welbeck Sanchez