Originally Posted by
Blink 1nce Quince 2wice
Here's a good piece on the winger / wideman debate. I think it's quite concise in making a case for us having one more traditional winger and one unorthodox wide midfielder.
From the tactics column
Wide players
The unfortunate injury to Theo Walcott – arguably the one player that gives “depth” to Arsenal’s team – means Arsenal might revert back to a “wingerless” system, although the returns of Lukas Podolski and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain can soften the blow of the loss. It’s an interesting system Arsenal used without Walcott earlier this season. Normally, you think of selecting players by their positions on the pitch – one striker, two wingers, an attacking midfield etc. With Arsenal, it’s about how they can manipulate space better. Usually that means playing a creative midfield on one flank, to allow Arsenal to keep the ball better, and one winger on the other side who stretches play.
Arsenal know as well, that they’ll often face teams that defend with two holding midfielders so what they’ll do is ask one of the wide players, or both as it has been at various points this season, to come off the flanks and create an overload in the middle. That creates space, of course, for the full-backs to push forward, but it also gives space to that wide player – who initially might have been suffocated on the flanks – in the hole in between the opposing full-back and just to the side of one of the two holders in a 4-2-3-1. That’s what Arsenal frequently try to do; get into that space (sometimes called the half-space or the quarter-space) because they know it is hard to cover. Why? Because the opposing winger will never track that far, while the full-back knows that if he tucks in too narrow, it distorts the shape of the team. The onus then, is on one of the holders to squeeze the space but of course, by trying to engage one of those creative wingers of Arsenal’s, say Santi Cazorla, he runs the risk of leaving the middle open.
It’s hard to explain but it’s an opportunity area for Arsenal to exploit, a gap where good players often take advantage of (think about it as the hole in the Death Star; imperceptible at first but a weakness nevertheless). One team who frequently expose this space is Pep Guardiola’s Bayern Munich who instead of asking the creative wingers to narrow, they move wider and open that space for the full-backs or another midfield to run into and occupy. With Arsenal’s attacking game all about dragging opponents about, watch closely and see how many goals they create this way. Lukas Podolski is particularly adept at this, drifting inside and playing one-twos before bursting behind the marker to play a cut-back or get onto one himself.
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