[Thread] Why Arsenal need to transition from the 3-4-3 to a PROPER 4-3-3 as soon as they can.

Arsenal have got reasonable success with the 3-4-3 formation and as for now Mikel Arteta seems to trust the formation even though Arsenal's future is resigned to lie away from the 3-4-3 formation, but then why is he so persistent with it?

Simple answer, it makes us more effective, we have won matches against the likes of Liverpool, City and Chelsea and have the second-best defensive record after Aston Villa in this year's Premier League. Then why would I want us to go away from such a successful formation?

The simple answer yet again, it wasn't effective against Manchester City and it won't be against sides with a tactical adept manager and a decent defence, basically every side other than the bottom half teams and Manchester United.

With a 3-4-3 we have a very solid foundation and a structure which makes it difficult for even the best teams to break us down, however, it takes a major hit on our offensive output. Arteta tried to fix it by overloading the left wing to support our top marksman in Aubameyang.

The emphasis of our attacking setup was to provide the Gabonese international with as many opportunities to score a goal as we can. He was given an extra man behind him in Bukayo Saka or Ainsley Maitland-Niles with Lacazette dropping in to create more space for him.

Even the right-wing was kind of sabotaged for him when we used Willian, a player who could come in centrally and provide Aubameyang with those passes that the otherwise deep-seated midfield couldn't. However, teams have started realising it and City showed it.

Kyle Walker sat on Auba's head for 90 minutes and didn't allow him to make those runs behind the defense as he was able to in the FA Cup semifinal. And Pep wouldn't be the only manager to realise this.

Teams will look to block Aubameyang's path and it won't help our cause if we're gonna play Pepe without any support available to him and Willian and Lacazette in the CF role who are playing more as false 9s than the ultimate false 9, Roberto Firmino, himself.

We're telling the teams this is where we're gonna attack them. I'm not saying that we won't be winning matches, we will be, because even if the teams realise, they would still be coming up against a player of Auba's quality doubled up with Saka's elegant yet trick play.

It's a duo which will break down most defenses but not all, we'll pick points and might be competing for the Top 4 finish but we won't be able to go on a sustainable and successful run until we have different offensive options available on the pitch as we did against Sheffield.

Why 4-3-3?

Before Arteta reverted to the 3-4-3, he was playing a 4-2-3-1 with Mesut Özil as the No.10, now while 4-3-3 is a different formation on paper however the fundamentals would remain the same for Arsenal.

We could build with a back three consisting of two centre-backs and Granit Xhaka, with a midfield of two, a Box-to-Box, in Thomas Partey, and a playmaker, in Dani Cabellos. The full-backs would have the freedom to bomb forward and support the wingers.

We'll basically be attacking with a front five compromising of the two full-backs who would be stretching the play for the opposition, Auba and Pepe taking up the left and right half-space respectively, a position they're most dangerous at, and Laca or Nketiah through the middle.

Yes we would leak more goals then we're right now but it won't be as bad as it was with the 4-2-3-1 earlier for two primary reasons, we now have better individuals and also the right ones. In the 4-2-3-1, it was AMN who would tuck in to form the two-man midfield along with…

Dani Ceballos/Lucas Torreira with Özil and Nicolas Pepe operating on the right-wing and right half-space interchangeably. A system which worked fine but, however, now we have two competent full-backs to track back and a world-class Box-to-Box midfielder who has the ability to…

stop opposition moves in transition itself. And a backline which has more stability and pace with the able addition of Gabriel and Saliba (hopefully soon). While this squad is still not where Arsenal would ideally want it to be, however, it's much better equipped for 4-3-3 than…

....it has ever been in the last few years. So we're basically replacing Maitland-Niles with Partey in the midfield and Ozil with Bellerin, who might not be as creative as the German, however, is the ideal choice for the job as an overlapping full-back.

There are more benefits to the 4-3-3 than those mentioned in the thread, however, I'll be making a separate thread on that considering this one's already long enough. Nonetheless, Arteta's biggest challenge, for now, would be settling in the likes of Partey and Saliba.....

as soon as be can and then revert back to a proper 4-3-3. In January, if we could somehow replace Ceballos with a proper No.8 then that might just unleash Arsenal. Regardless of whatever happens in January, Arsenal's immediate future lies with 4-3-3.

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