Arsenal Football Formation

Lineup (4-5-1)

Van Persie · Mario Gotze · Podolski · Christian Eriksen · Jack Wilshere · Alex Song · Sagna · Andre Santos · Vermaelen · Thiago Sliva · Szczesny

Important notes
I have already set up the set pieces and some of the positions have specific roles to certain players like Mertesacker. Be sure to check what they are doing in corners and free-kicks before switching things around. Like with any attacking tactic you need to be careful during team talks, never allow your side to get complacent as this will result in plenty of nice play but no goals. The key positions for this tactic to work are the same as real life. The ‘advanced playmaker’, ‘striker’ and ‘inside forwards’ must be fast and have the ability to cause havoc. Manage that and you’ll be playing Football the Arsenal way but winning at the same time.

If you are mid-game and the team don’t look up for it, do some the following touchline shouts. ‘Get ball forward’, ‘get stuck in’ and ‘run at defenders’. This should hopefully give your players the kick they need, but if not give them a dressing down at half-time.

My results and performances with this tactic
It’s all well and good creating a tactic that replicates Arsenal’s style of play, but is it successful? Well I have played around ten games already this season and drawn just once. Rather than show you all the results I’ll select two matches to demonstrate our performance and domination. The first was against Swansea, not the toughest opponent but look at our match stats. Not only did we dominate possession with 66% but we fired 25 shots off on goal. I think the ‘pass completion’ of 83% also demonstrates that this tactic is well balanced.