Need opinions on Arsenal 01-04

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donkarlito

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View attachment 108336

How would you recreate this using the pic and artical for zonalmarking
Amongst the universal praise for Arsenal’s incredible unbeaten 2003/04 season, their achievements of two seasons before are often overlooked. In that season they became the first team in modern times to go the whole season unbeaten away from home (equalled, obviously, by themselves two years later), and they also became the only side in history to score in every league game that season. In addition, they won the FA Cup to achieve the double.

They probably should have won the league in 2002/03 – they were the best team that season, but showed the first signs of the lack of resolve that has troubled the side ever since. They made up for it in 2003/04, with an incredible P38 W28 D10 L0 record that seems all the more astonishing six years later, with the big Premiership clubs losing games all over the place.

It was a fairly similar side both seasons. The front four remained intact, and in its own way, this was perhaps an early example of a strikerless formation. Dennis Bergkamp dropped into space whilst Thierry Henry drifted to the left when Arsenal didn’t have possession, making Arsenal incredibly dangerous on the counter-attack. Additionally, the wingers made outside-to-inside runs, with Robert Pires and Freddie Ljungberg almost reinventing the wide midfield role with their incredible goalscoring records. Patrick Vieira was a more dynamic player than he is remembered as – with a more defensive partner in Gilberto, he often looked to join the front players and possessed too many offensive qualities to be regarded as a purely ‘defensive’ midfielder.

The most interesting thing about Arsenal’s defence is that none were defenders when Arsene Wenger first set eyes on them. Ashley Cole was a promising forward in the Arsenal youth system, Lauren was a central midfielder for Mallorca, whilst Kolo Toure was a versatile player who played most often in an advanced midfield position. But Wenger converted all of them to defenders, assuring Arsenal’s ball-playing ability was evident throughout the side.

And equally, Arsenal’s defensive work started from the front. Henry prevented the right-back advancing and always pressed high up the pitch, Bergkamp dropped into a space so deep it took one central midfielder out of the equation going forward, and both Pires and Ljungberg were genuinely excellent at covering their full-back.

Although Wenger described it as a 4-4-2, it was perhaps a lopsided 4-2-3-1 in possession, and extremely difficult to defend against because of the movement from attacking players and full-backs in advanced positions. The left side of Cole-Pires-Henry was probably the strongest ‘flank’ any side possessed all decade, and because opponents were so concerned with that, it was amazing how often Ljungberg found space by cutting in from the right, and how often the underrated Lauren had time to get crosses in.
View attachment 108337
this is what i think but something doesnt look right?

"http://www.zonalmarking.net/2010/02/12/teams-of-the-decade-9-arsenal-2001-04/"
 
I'd start with a formation looking roughly like the one you've got there, perhaps with the left-sided defensive midfielder moved up to central mid. With that in mind:

GK: Goalkeeper, Defend
LB: Wingback, Support
RB: Fullback, Support
CB: Ball-playing defender, Defend
CB: Limited defender, Defend
DMR: Defensive Midfielder, Support
MCL: Box-to-Box midfielder, Support
LM: Winger, Attack (Change to cut inside, and get to swap with RM)
RM: Winger, Attack (Change to cut inside, and get to swap with LM)
AM: Advanced Playmaker, Attack
ST: Complete Forward, Attack (Make sure is on "Moves into channels)

Team Instructions: Very Fluid, Control, Shorter Passing, More Expressive, Press More, Default Tackling + Marking, Drill Crosses, More Roaming.
 
Last edited:
I'd start with a formation looking roughly like the one you've got there, perhaps with the left-sided defensive midfielder moved up to central mid. With that in mind:

GK: Goalkeeper, Defend
LB: Wingback, Support
RB: Fullback, Support
CB: Ball-playing defender, Defend
CB: Limited defender, Defend
DMR: Defensive Midfielder, Support
MCL: Box-to-Box midfielder, Support
LM: Winger, Attack (Change to cut inside, and get to swap with RM)
RM: Winger, Attack (Change to cut inside, and get to swap with LM)
AM: Advanced Playmaker, Attack
ST: Complete Forward, Attack (Make sure is on "Moves into channels)

Team Instructions: Very Fluid, Control, Shorter Passing, More Expressive, Press More, Default Tackling + Marking, Drill Crosses, More Roaming.

Could be a very good tactic (formation and duties wise) for Liverpool, might give it a go.
 
I'd start with a formation looking roughly like the one you've got there, perhaps with the left-sided defensive midfielder moved up to central mid. With that in mind:

GK: Goalkeeper, Defend
LB: Wingback, Support
RB: Fullback, Support
CB: Ball-playing defender, Defend
CB: Limited defender, Defend
DMR: Defensive Midfielder, Support
MCL: Box-to-Box midfielder, Support
LM: Winger, Attack (Change to cut inside, and get to swap with RM)
RM: Winger, Attack (Change to cut inside, and get to swap with LM)
AM: Advanced Playmaker, Attack
ST: Complete Forward, Attack (Make sure is on "Moves into channels)

Team Instructions: Very Fluid, Control, Shorter Passing, More Expressive, Press More, Default Tackling + Marking, Drill Crosses, More Roaming.

so the formation will look like this
View attachment 108339
 
I'd start with a formation looking roughly like the one you've got there, perhaps with the left-sided defensive midfielder moved up to central mid. With that in mind:

GK: Goalkeeper, Defend
LB: Wingback, Support
RB: Fullback, Support
CB: Ball-playing defender, Defend
CB: Limited defender, Defend
DMR: Defensive Midfielder, Support
MCL: Box-to-Box midfielder, Support
LM: Winger, Attack (Change to cut inside, and get to swap with RM)
RM: Winger, Attack (Change to cut inside, and get to swap with LM)
AM: Advanced Playmaker, Attack
ST: Complete Forward, Attack (Make sure is on "Moves into channels)

Team Instructions: Very Fluid, Control, Shorter Passing, More Expressive, Press More, Default Tackling + Marking, Drill Crosses, More Roaming.
looks good but i would have thought that bergkamp was a trequartista
 
1st game 2-0 win against newcastle

---------- Post added at 11:18 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:17 PM ----------

looks good but i would have thought that bergkamp was a trequartista

That the tweak i made with my version
 
looks good but i would have thought that bergkamp was a trequartista

Possibly. You could choose either, I guess. I picked AP because it has more defensive responsibility, and Bergkamp was no slacker work-rate wise.
 
Possibly. You could choose either, I guess. I picked AP because it has more defensive responsibility, and Bergkamp was no slacker work-rate wise.

Possible a trequartista because of his age best to use most of his energy in attacking phase
 
In 2001 he was, what, 31? Hardly ancient.

but it was a quck tempo arsenal played alot of pass and moving so i was understanding that Bergkamp ability to find space would be more important then him tracking back
 
but it was a quck tempo arsenal played alot of pass and moving so i was understanding that Bergkamp ability to find space would be more important then him tracking back

You're probably right, it was a toss-up between the two really. In the game, however, Treq's never really worked for me, so I picked AP. It was a trade-off between realism and effectiveness ingame.
 
nice test for me now against arsenal

---------- Post added at 12:00 AM ---------- Previous post was yesterday at 11:52 PM ----------

henry role interesting but im guessing its more PPM then player instructions
 
GK: Goalkeeper, Defend
LB: Wingback, Automatic
RB: Fullback, Support
CB: Ball-playing defender, Defend
CB: Limited defender, Defend
DMR: Anchor Man, Defend
MCL: Box-to-Box midfielder, Support
LM: Wide Midfielder, Automatic (Change to cut inside)
RM: Winger, Attack
AM: Trequarista, Attack
ST: Complete Forward, Attack (Make sure is on "Moves into channels)

Team Instructions: Very Fluid, Counter, Shorter Passing, More Expressive, Press More, Hard Tackling + Marking, Drill Crosses, More Roaming.

Basically what Godcubed said, with edits in bold that's what i think anyway, you could think about starting with control, then switching to counter to replicate the old "1-0 to the Arsenal"

I'd also make Pires, or rather the LM your playmaker, and either play with no target man, or have it for your complete forward (Henry) and run onto ball.

Though, then again, we also had Wiltord (for some reason) who would have been a Poacher - Attack, and Nwanku Kanu (Great name) who would probably have been Target Man - Support/Attack


Hope that helps!
 
I thought the philosophy would of been balanced

No, i don't think so. A lot of swapping and moving around, plus Bergkamp helping out the midfield, Vieira making runs forward from time to time, Grimandi pushing up, Pires floating around, Henry being pretty much everywhere that meant he could possibly put the ball in the back of the net etc.

Definitely very fluid for me, but it's up to you.
 
Can't remember were I read but someone wrote it that Pires position was a AML and could be an advance playmaker
 
Yeah, i suppose you could push up the wingers, hang on i have a link somewhere:
http://forums.fm-britain.co.uk/index.php?topic=10783.msg168599#msg168599

"A very key aspect of the 4-4-2 of 2000-2006 was how Wenger made the left midfield the inside playmaker and the left striker an inside forward, Pires was an advanced playmaker playing ML or AML, and Henry at times was a complete forward, at times an inside forward playing AML, thus Pires could move to AMC or FC, it's how Arsenal's counter-attack was so deadly, the scissor movement of Henry and Pires was enough for most teams."

cheers for that
 
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