Originally posted by reyes:
hi chillz,
it does make a difference in formation whether it is 4-5-1 or 4-4-2. else there no reason to set up formation at all.
4-5-1 is to deal stiffen up the midfield esp against creative midfield team and to protect the defence better. of course it will hinder the attack abit and will rely more on counter attack. of course i dont favour arsenal use this tactics when we are at full strength. but this could be a solution in the absence of gilberto, campbell in the lineup. both are key man in the defensive midfield role and a pivot in central defence.
I dont like chelsea too, but in view of their current form and how they play in europe, i think they now stand a higher chance than arsenal in winning the premier league. i hope when arsenal play chelsea in few weeks ahead, we can at least have campbell back in the defence. and gilberto recover soon.
to be frank too, man utd need to play a little more sportmanship when we meet again in league cup QF. dont resort to diving, stamping of the legs to win games. the team wont get any better.
May the best form team of the day win always!!!
It's the physical side of English football, mayb it doesn't look pretty but it's sure effective, jus ask Sam Alladynce of Bolton n Ian Dowie of Crystal Palace. Ur comment on Man U is fair, perhaps they did went overboard, but Arsenal has shown that they wasn't able 2 cope with the hardball tactics that Man U 1st employ, at least the young players like Reyes n Fabregas. That's why a lot of teams started using blanket defence n close down the spaces to choke the creative players Arsenal have.
One thing that Man U n Arsenal lacks currently is a settled defence like that of Chelsea. That's a pre-requsite of Championship winning team. Look at the goal against column of all 3 teams n u get the picture.
The 2nd point is Man U is going through a goal drought 4 all it's strikers except Van Nisterooy n the midfield is also not contributing. At least teams don't play defensive against Man U since it's defence can b dodgy at times.

Arsenal faced a complete different set of problems as compared 2 Man U. Teams tends 2 clamp up when playing Arsenal as seen by Crystal Palace. Then try 2 hit Arsenal on the counterattacks with fast players. With the current setup, unless Arsenal score 1st, there's plenty of draws staring at Arsenal since their goals has also dried up n with their current dodgy defence, they r bound 2 concede the odd goal from setpieces.
3rd n final point, the squad depth of both Arsenal n Man U pales in comparison to Chelsea. When the going get's tough, Mourinho can look at his bench n find an assortment of players. This is a luxury that Arsenal n Man U cannot afford at present. There4 unless Chelsea suffer a complete loss of form in it's defence n upfront and also major injuries to key players, they r in the driving seat of EPL for this season n the title is their's to lose.
All Arsenal n Man U can do is win their games, especially the head-to-head against Chelsea n hope for the best.