Arsenal’s defeat against Brentford and Chelsea raised a new issue among Arsenal fans that Mikel Arteta the manager needed to be replaced with new coach. One name that is quite popular is Antonio Conte. For the past 2 years, Conte has been in charge of one of the big Italian clubs, Inter Milan, which he managed to deliver to the Italian Serie A league champion in the 2020/2021 Italian League season.
The English League is not foreign to him because he has also coached Chelsea where he gave 1 English League trophy and 1 FA cup. Currently, Conte has not coached any team so he is one of the world class coaches available. This is what is seen if in the end Arteta does have to step down from his position, Arsenal’s chances of being able to hook Conte are greater.
Conte is known to like attacking football by using 3 defenders. While at Chelsea, understat.com noted that in the 2016/2017 season he more often used the 3-4-3 formation with 1,919 minutes of play that formation was used or the equivalent of 21 matches. In the 2017/2018 season, he often used the 3-4-2-1 formation with 1,836 minutes of playing that formation or 20 matches. Meanwhile at Inter Milan, his favorite formation for 2 seasons was 3-5-2. This is in contrast to Arteta who prefers 4 defenders with a 4-2-3-1 formation.
The same thing actually happened at Chelsea. During the 2015/2016 season, where Chelsea was commanded by Jose Mourinho, who was then continued by Guus Hiddink, Chelsea always used 4-2-3-1. After Conte was appointed by Chelsea to replace Hiddink, he changed the formation to suit his taste. Arsenal’s condition for the 2020/2021 season is almost similar to Chelsea’s condition in the 2015/2016 season in terms of low goal performance against the opponent and always conceding in every game or low clean sheets. Chelsea is even worse in terms of conceding goals which reached 53 goals compared to Arsenal who conceded only 39 goals.
When Conte came to Chelsea, a change in formation with a preference for 3-4-3 changed the total way of playing Chelsea which resulted in 85 goals and only 33 goals conceded. This is what caused Chelsea to win the Premier League at that time. However, Conte can make this change quickly because Chelsea already has the basic capital to change its formation. One of the most important requirements for a 3-4-3 formation is a back line that is able to win duels with opposing players, has speed to cover the entire area, and the ability to hold the ball.
These three factors are important because usually the opponent will use the defense of a 3-4-3 formation by exploiting the left and right sides of the defense that have space through an attacking system with 2-3 attackers and diagonal balls. While the Chelsea team in the 2015/2016 season can be seen in the table above that despite conceding up to 53 goals.
When compared to head to head between Arsenal and Chelsea players at the back, Chelsea’s back line is more solid in tackles, interceptions, and aerial battles. Even though it was like this, Chelsea continued to improve their defense, one of which was by re-signing David Luiz from Paris St Germain (PSG). David Luiz’s strength is also in his ability to win duels with attackers and read the opponent’s game.
As for the Arsenal team, the closest players to Chelsea’s abilities are Gabriel Magalhaes who is strong in duels, tackles, and aerial battles. Ben White, who is a new Arsenal player, his appearance at Brighton in the 2020/2021 season still needs improvement. Arsenal’s strength in this case is the young age of the players, which means there is still room to develop.
But if Conte is to be demanded to excel in the short term, Arsenal must buy players, at least 1 central defender who is experienced and proven to have strong abilities in duels, tackles and aerial battles. Another requirement for a 3-4-3 formation to work is in the midfield, which must have midfield players who have a high work rate, able to control the match in defense, attack, and ball possession oriented.
Meanwhile, midfielders who operate on the left and right must have the ability to defend in closing the space on the right and left at the moment and attack well to provide services to the attacker in the form of various passes such as crosses and through balls. The Chelsea team of 2015/2016, in particular Cesc Fabregas, are visibly superior in defense and attack to all Chelsea midfielders, even Arsenal’s 2020/2021 midfield team.
Unfortunately Chelsea at that time, Fabregas did not have a tandem. As a result, Chelsea often oversized. No wonder Chelsea bought N’Golo Kante for the next season. Moreover, Kante has a high work rate which is strong in duels, tackles, and aerial battles and can help with attacks. This was Conte’s capital at that time to be able to play his favorite 3-4-3 formation. Arsenal itself does not have complete players in defense and attack. Granite Xhaka, which has the highest work rate, tends to be defensive.
In attack, the best player is Emile Smith Rowe. However, its performance needs to be improved. If Conte eventually becomes Arsenal coach and wants to be demanded to excel in the short term, Arsenal will likely have to buy a player with at least 1 experienced midfielder and proven to have complete defensive and attacking abilities like Cesc Fabregas. For a midfield that operates on the left and right, the abilities of Arsenal and Chelsea players tend to be balanced.
Chelsea in 2015/2016 needs even more improvement, especially the left side which is filled by Victor Moses. No wonder Chelsea bought Marcos Alonso from Fiorentina in the following season. Arsenal players on the outside right and left in this case a homework for Conte if he manages Arsenal. Conte must be able to improve his attacking abilities by more daring to provide accurate through balls, crosses and long passes.
If Conte is required to excel in the short term, Arsenal must buy players, at least 1 right-sided player and 1 left-sided player who is experienced and proven to have complete abilities in defense and attack. The change in formation by Conte at Chelsea with 3-4-3 has indeed been proven to change the number of goals produced. The total combined goals of Diego Costa, Pedro and Eden Hazard increased from 23 goals to 45 goals or almost doubled.
Support the midfielders by opening up space to provide opportunities for Hazard and Pedro who control the wing forwards for a 1 on 1 duel with the defense. The ability of the midfield to dominate the game through Kante and Fabregas also opens up greater opportunities for the midfield to provide deadly passes to the attack line.
Actually Arsenal’s attack line is better than Chelsea’s number of goals, even with the ability of the current midfield. The combined goals of Aubameyang, Lacazette and Pepe reached 33 goals or more than the combination of Diego Costa, Pedro and Eden Hazard in 2015/2016 which only reached 23 goals.
Therefore, the possible attack line that Conte may not change at Arsenal is at least 1 season of competition, unless considering the age of Lacazette and Aubameyang who are more than 30 years old and the player’s contract maturity. For Conte to be able to apply his favorite formation at Arsenal, Conte will most likely not hesitate to ask the club management for players who already have big names and are expensive. This is an open secret about Conte. During 2 years at Chelsea, Chelsea had to spend € 390 million in the transfer market for the purchase of players such as Alvaro Morata, Danny Drinkwater, N’Golo Kante, David Luiz in order to support Conte’s strategy.
While for 2 years at Inter Milan, Conte spent € 295 million in the transfer market for players like Lukaku, Acraf Hakimi, Nicolo Barella and Eriksen. Arsenal’s financial situation in this case can actually support Conte. In these two seasons alone to support the implementation of Arteta’s strategy, Arsenal have spent € 232 million.
ASL
