It's pretty clear that Arsene has decided to go with a 4-3-2-1 formation for the coming season.

This is a very good thing. 

Arsenal play with a very fluid attacking system which tends to bring a lot of goals from midfield however it can leave you exposed at the back, especially to a good counter attacking side.

Playing 3 central midfielders gives a lot more security. 

Generally one player is in a permanent holding role, e.g. Song or Diaby. 

One player is given a support role with both attacking and defensive duties, e.g. Denilson and

One player is given an attacking role and is responsible for linking midfield to the forward line.

This last role is perfect for Cesc and being freed from defensive duties will allow him to play to his full potential.

With Ashavin, Rosicky, Walcott, Nasri and Traore available to play on the wings essentially as inside forwards this effectively gives us a 3 man forward line when we have the ball and a 5 man midfield when we don't.

This should lead to greater possession and domination of games.

I think Wenger might have been heading towards using this formation for some time now if you consider the relatively high number of central midfielders at the club and selling a striker then it would imply you need more midfielders and less strikers in the future! :)

So whats the downside?  Well if it isn't done well the central striker can end up isolated from the midfield and play will break down in the final 3rd.

In the match last night against Hannover we saw a game of 2 halfs.  The first half we played like Brazil, spraying the ball around and creating lots of chances.  In the second half we struggled and created little.

The difference?  The first half we had Cesc linking midfield to attack.  The second half we had Ramsey who sat too deep and was too static, leaving the attack isolated from the midfield.

To prevent this the attacking midfield must play with an attacking mentality and be free of defensive duties and the central striker usually needs to be a very strong player, essentially a target man who can hold the ball up until the attacking midfield players can join up.

This striker role will suit Bendtner but will also suit Eduardo.  Bendtner because he is a strong player and Eduardo because he is strong but especially because his first touch is always so good that it is difficult to win the ball from him.

So in general I believe this new formation will work very well for us.

One question mark I have is where Van Persie fits into the system. I'm not convinced he would make a good target man which means his role might be on the wing but I can't see him ahead of Arshavin or Rosicky there.

One last thing.  There has been a lot of negativity following Wengers comment about having 7 defenders is enough cover i.e. that he won't buy more.

I think it is important to consider that he said this with the sale of Kolo and Eboue in mind.  Wenger knows if he said he was going out to buy another defender that this would have devalued the sale of these players.

So I prefer to take his comment like this:

7 defenders is enough cover (but once I sell 2 of them then there isn't enough cover and i'll buy one!)

So don't be too surprised if Wenger gets all the selling out of the way before looking at buying anyone else.  Once Eboue goes then I expect to see a shiny new 6'5 centre back come in (probably one who can provide cover at right back too if needed).

2009 and in the middle of a credit crunch.  Selling club? 

Pimply nose Fergie says we've no money so it must be true!

Sounds all a bit gloomy so i've decided to write a blog post to remind gooners why they should actually be quite upbeat about the new season coming up.

1. Arshavin will be over his premiership rustiness now lol!

2. Arshavin can play in champions league now

3. Arshavin

4. No Ronaldo

5. No injuries (fingers crossed)

6. All the kids are one year older and wiser. In fact some aren't really kids anymore.

7. I believe Diaby IS the midfield player we want to play next to Fab. By all accounts he has been working during the summer, training to become that player.  I really believe he can win the arsenal fans over this year.  

8. Failing that, Nasri can play MC (with Rosicky back this may be his position now).  Otherwise Song looked really good last year (especially towards the end) and Denilson too.  Last year will have really helped their development and don't be surprised if they take another step up this year and play at the quality fans would expect from senior arsenal player.

9. No Adebayor offside all the time or strolling about looking bored.

10.  With Rosicky and Walcott there should be absolutely NO reason for Eboue to play midfield.

11. 25m from Adebayor should give us the funds to buy the TALL centre back that we need.   Gallas and Vermaelen is a decent defense but for me Kolo is likely to leave and a new centre back will be bought.

12. Eboue will either be sold or be limited to right back which at least provides cover and some competition for Sagna who didn't have a good season last year.

13. Gibbs looks excellent and should provide genuine competition for Clichy, hopefully pushing his performances on.

14. Jay Emmanuel-Thomas and Jack Wilshere are one year older, ok not ready for this year but can't wait until they come through and should be good for carling cup.

15. Man City are doing a great job of unsettling players at the other clubs while giving us good money for a player we didn't want anymore.  Good stuff.

So in general we will definitely be a stronger team than last year and i'm not sure you can say that about the rest of the top 4 clubs.

So what's the lineup for next season?

I'm hoping we get both Nasri and Arshavin.

So here's the options that I think are realistic for the different positions.

I've listed the players in the order I would select them and I don't include players that I don't think are good enough to play there for Arsenal at this present time (e.g. Eboue as a right midfielder).

Centre Forward / Striker:

Adebayor, Van Persie, Eduardo, Arshavin, Walcott, Vela, Bendtner

Right Midfielder:

Rosicky, Walcott, Van Persie, Arshavin, Ramsey

Central Midfielders:

Cesc, Gilberto, Diaby, Song, Ramsey

Left Midfielder:

Nasri, Vela, Arshavin, Rosicky, Ramsey, Traore

Left Back:

Clichy, Sagna, Traore

Right Back:

Sagna, Eboue

Centre Back:

Toure, Gallas, Song, Senderos, Djourou (maybe)

Goalkeeper:

Almunia, Fabianski (maybe)

I'm sure everyone will have their own view on the selections above but it should be generally right.

I believe with the addition of Arshavin, Nasri and Vela plus the recovery of Rosicky and Van Persie we will have plenty of attacking talent both up front and on the wings.

So in my opinion we MUST buy a goalkeeper, since Fabianski is definitely not ready. Shay Given is probably past his best but he will do as cover if he is on the cheap anyway.

After that if Wenger insists on not playing Eboue at right back then I would strongly recommend getting another right back to cover since putting Toure over there is not an option for me.

After that then I think I could live with the rest of the squad as it is but if I was to further strengthen the team then i'd look at getting a defensive midfielder and good centre back.

For centre midfield is Diaby or Song good enough to replace Gilberto?

For centre back is Senderos or Song really good enough? Personally I'd like to see Wenger buy Cuellar from Rangers.

Well it is that transfer time of the season where every blog and article has one rumour or another about potential transfers.

So rather than adding to the general noise I wanted to make a post which just dealt with pure fact.

A while back a friend of mine sent me a very detailed excel spreadsheet with all the transfer in's and out's for Arsenal, Chelsea, Man U, Liverpool, Newcastle and Spurs since the premiership started in 1992.

It's far too much information to cram into a single blog post but it did summarise a couple of things in particular which I think is worth mentioning just to put the transfer spending of Arsenal into perspective with those other clubs but also to point out the relative impact the new stadium has had on our overall transfer spending.

So here goes, i'll let you make your own mind up as to what these stats mean:

Let me take you back to the end of last season (2006-2007):

Struggled in the league, never mounting any sort of serious title challenge, finishing fourth and with TH on his way out of the club. The general opinion at the time was that we were soft centred, physically weak, too young.

At that time, like many other Arsenal fans, I thought that there were two players in particular that weren't good enough for Arsenal - Flamini and Hleb. Flamini was ok filling in at full back but otherwise was pretty poor. Hleb at times looked great but had no end product and tended to lose the ball more often than not, very frustrating to watch.

Forward on a year and also like most of those same Arsenal fans I came to change my opinion of those two players. Flamini really stepped up and put in some great performances. He worked hard all season and deserved the accolades he was getting in the press. Hleb for the first half of the season was a revelation. Suddenly it was all clicking for him, no more wasteful passes or deadend runs. Instead we were seeing a new Hleb who was making the difference and even occasionally finding the net!

So now the season is over and with Flamini already out the door and with Hleb due to follow am I crying in my sleep over lost talent?

The answer is a resounding no and here's why:

I'd like to talk about 'worldclass' players. Here, I don't mean you need to be the finished article. I only mean that you could see the player one day being one of the top players in the world at what he does. For example, I would call Theo worldclass since he has that level of talent but I could never see Flamini being at that level.

I think it is important that Arsenal continue to build a truely 'worldclass' team full of players that could compare with the likes of Pires/Bergkamp/Overmars/TH/Adams etc. and not fall into the Liverpool trap of being happy with 'really quite good' or 'does a job' players.

Although I really like Flamini and he has undoubtedly had a great season, for me he is still not a 'worldclass' player. I believe that he lacks a little technique and physical presence to be at that level. I only have to think of the likes of Vieira or Gilberto at their peak to find Flamini lacks that last extra bit to be called 'worldclass'. If Arsenal are to be one of the top club teams in the world then in my opinion they need to have worldclass central midfielders. Fabregas is truely worldclass but unfortunately in my opinion Flamini is merely very good. So i'm sad to see Flamini go and wish him luck but ultimately I believe we will be stronger for it as hopefully we can try to find a truely worldclass player to replace him.

Up until the Milan game I was happy with Hleb. Here I thought we might have finally found a player that might in time be compared favourably with the likes of Pires or Overmars. Ok, so he wasn't scoring that level of goals but I was hopeful he might bring that more into his game and in any case he was contributing so much to the team. Everything from after the 'ice-cream' incident proved just how wrong I could be. Every part of his game dropped and his 'true' colours came through. Here was a player that was obviously looking out of the club and couldn't be bothered to put in top performances anymore. Suddenly almost overnight it was back to the Hleb of last season with misguided runs and misplaced passes. Also given that he spent so much of the season as a second striker his goal tally was proving to be pretty embarrassing. Given that sort of attitude i'm personally glad to see Hleb leave and perhaps Nasri can come in and show us a true Pires replacement!

So looking back I find that i'm actually kind of optimistic since the two players I most wanted out at the start of the season are now leaving the club.

I guess since I now really want Eboue to leave the club that he will go on to have a great season next year before leaving in the summer!