We beat Real Madrid playing 4-5-1, is that the system to use against Juve or should we revert to 4-4-2? I and most people are expecting us to start with 4-5-1, but should we surprise the old lady and go with 4-4-2?
We beat Real with pace and movement, a brand of football they gave us the time and space to play. Juventus will offer no such invitation, they will be compact and press hard, they are not as susceptible to pace. In contrast to Real, Juventus are very strong down the middle - Buffon, Thuram - Cannavaro, Emerson -Vieira, Trezeguet-Ibrahimovic. It follows that this will make it difficult to play in the central area, especially in the space between the defence and midfield, where Freddie/Hleb were able to operate with such effect against Madrid. 4-5-1 also forces Henry to be more of a focus through the middle and I can’t see us being too successful slipping balls into his feet with Thuram (and the safety net of Cannavaro) behind him, Vieira and Emerson in front of him.
In my view we have to attack the wide areas early and try to split their centre mids to create a little space in the middle. With Nedved suspended and Zambrotta possibly injured, Hleb and Eboue have a good chance of dominating the right flank. While on our left I think Flamiini vs Camaronesi is a decent match up, which means we can target Zebina at right back. Zebina is physically top drawer - fast, tall ,strong - and I thnk he has the tools to deal with the pace of Henry or Reyes, but maybe not the trickery of a decent dribbler - it hurts, but I thnk there could be a case for Pires starting. In my view attacking wide with 4-5-1 would make Ljungberg redundant as an attacker. It could also mean that when Henry drifts left, there is nobody in the middle to get on the end of any crosses!
If, on the other hand, we start 4-4-2 it gives us Van Persie and his shooting power up top and allows Henry more freedom to roam. However, it leaves us 2 v 2 in the middle of the park Vieira and Emerson against Gilberto and Fabregas. Which also means our centre halfs won’t get much help from Gilberto against Ibrahimovic and Trezeguet.
So should we go for it with 4-4-2 or be a bit more italian about the whole thing and adopt 4-5-1?
“I’d rather live one day as a tiger than a thousand days as a sheep”
5 Responses to “Arsenal vs Juventus: 4-4-2 or 4-5-1?”
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March 27th, 2006 at 8:23 am
Nice last comment.
OK, Freddie will be out injured and Reyes might not start anyway, so that leaves Pires and Hleb on the wings.
It looks as if injury concerns may lead us to a 4 4 2.
I think Van Persie can fill holes in midfield so we are pretty strong as a 4 4 2.
I hope Van Persie is match fit for 90 mins and AW does not get tempted to play DB10.
It will be a game of few chances and plenty of fouls so lets hope we take our chances.
March 27th, 2006 at 8:25 am
I would stick with what has gotten us this far in the competition which is 4-5-1. I believe this will also be a very physical encounter…
Capello is a tactical genius when it comes to studying his oponents - rest assured he will be ready to attack arsenal at their weak points and rest assured that Vieira will have pointed this out to the team also….
People will still see Flamini as a weak point which means Camoranesi is a real threat which means that Pires would not be an ideal option - we need Reyes/Hleb to start as he also tracks back much more so….
Hleb will have to be on his best to get past Zambrotta who is another very skilled performer…this is where Eboue will be useful with his lung bursting runs which remind me of Thuram at a younger age….very similar in stature…
Competition only gets harder and we should expect no less…
3-2 to Arsenal over 2 legs is my prediction….
March 27th, 2006 at 11:25 am
As you say, injuries dictate… though I can’t see Van Persie lasting more than 70 minutes (as hopefully we can set a decent tempo)
March 27th, 2006 at 11:27 am
As long as we can keep it tight…I’d be happy enough with 0-0 from this game.
March 27th, 2006 at 1:19 pm
I’m not sure the formation at kickoff matters. After that the game will be fluid and the shape of the team will be a result of how the game plays out. If Juventus look to defend away from home, and we look to attack we should have three, four or even five players frequently pushing forward.
I think this game is going to be similar to our matches against Bolton and Blackburn with Juve taking a tactical approach. They will defend tightly, focus on closing down Henry, and look for Ibrahimovic to muscle or Trezeguet to poach a goal. We will, of course, play our typical attacking style. The most difficult thing for us will be finding ways to break them down. My hope is that we don’t get frustrated and lose our discipline. We must always remain patient and play our game keeping possession of the ball and moving off of it. Henry is going to have to come wide to get the ball, and our midfielders and defenders are going to need to make deep overlapping runs behind their defenders, to the touchline, and cutting the ball back into the penalty area (the worst position for a defender to be in is facing his own goal). Henry?s best chance to score will be to make that second run into the box to receive the cut-back pass. Maybe RvP will get a few minutes to try and score a blast from outside.
Of course I hope we win outright, but the result at Highbury could very well be 0-0. The good news is I think that such a result wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing for us. It would mean that Juve has to come out and play against us in the second leg, and I believe that an open game would favor us. It also gives us the advantage in terms of the away goal rule.