Pending Updates

For those of you who have been following my updates and opinions fear not, I am actually going to continue with my analysis of a few more teams. I am however waiting for them to conclude their transfer dealings before I begin.

I plan to do Chelsea next because if they do get Ramires it will change the way their midfield could line up, and if they bring Neymar in it will also change how the youth will be played. The other issue is in central defence. With Carvalho leaving there is much speculation as to if David Luiz will be brought in, or if another goalkeeper will come in for cover for Cech (something I have been talking about for a while). According to rumours the Ramires deal is already done, but they're waiting for the work permit so hopefully that one will be coming soon.

The other three teams I plan to discuss are Liverpool, Tottenham and Man City. Of these, Liverpool and City are expected to continue buying for a few weeks while it looks as if Tottenham will only go for another two or three players.

All of these signings will without a doubt change the way the club plays. Depending on who they bring in, they could well change to a single striker system which would be better suited to European competitions while no one has any clue how City will line up. As for Liverpool there are questions as to where players will fit in, considering Joe Cole and Gerrard prefer to play behind the striker, but neither would be able to play there without two central midfielders working behind them. The question is then where does Aquilani fit in etc.

I did have some more thoughts on Arsenal after watching some Emirates Cup games. During the games the team seemed to play a 4-4-2 with Arshavin and Chamakh playing up front and Rosicky and Nasri on the wings. Both were getting forward and both were playing in a fairly narrow sort of fashion. Playing deeper were Wiltshere and Frimpong while the backline was as you would expect.

My thinking is that there are two options. The first is to change things to something similar to what the club played during the Henry years, where a 4-4-1-1 was used, Henry playing behind a striker and roaming as he saw fit. The wings got up and often cut inside so things looked like a 4-3-3 at times. I don't think that this would work if Fabregas was in the picture because you need a striker not a central midfielder behind the striker, and Fabregas deeper in central midfield would mean that the center would be rather exposed.


The other, and possibly more likely option would be to play a 'Brazilian' 4-2-2-2 where the idea would be to play with more zonal pressure, allowing two strikers to play up front, with two more creative and attacking midfielders behind but roaming around as required. Two defensive midfielders / holding midfielders would be played infront of the back four so that both fullbacks can get forward for width during attacks.

To be honest, I suspect the 4-3-3 is the most likely but these are just other options I thought of.