How to best incorporate Aubameyang in the Arsenal 1st Eleven – Part 1

Where does he fit?

With the long awaited and much anticipated news that Pierre Eric Aubameyang is on his way, barring any last minute hitches, to North London we have asked our regular Gunners Town writers and contributors to consider how he will fit in. Where does PEA’s arrival potentially leave or previous record signing. Alexandre Lacazette and how they might like to see him utilised and in which formation.

So here is Part 1 with the first group of GT Crew members playing Wenger for the day and selecting their own 1^st eleven and how they would line up…

First up is original 2013 GT Crew member, our Ex Pat Down Under, Steve Wellman (@wellmington)

They say attack is the best form of defence, so here goes. I am going with a 4-2-3-1 formation.

The back four pretty much picks itself.

Elneny over Xhaka as, in my humble opinion, he offers more defensively and can drop back to convert to a back 3 if required. Rambo hasn’t particularly done anything wrong, just think that Jack offers more creativity.

Mikhi and Aubameyang to play as old style inside forwards, with Ozil pulling the strings and Laca banging in the goals.

Next up is our newest writer, another Ex-pat Gooner, this time in America, Mike Macdonald (@mike_mmcdonald)

This formation is essentially a 3-2-3-2

I’d utilize it against all but the better teams. 4-3-3 against the better teams.
Against a low block, we need 2 targets in the box and only need 3 at the back, not 5, as they often have just 1 forward.
The big advantage to me is no full backs. I’ve wondered for many years why we play fullbacks vs a low block. They spend 75% of the game attacking and they are not specialists in attacking areas and Wenger has not worked with them on their attacking game either so you get Bellerin getting to the side of the box and passing the buck. So, I’d drop full backs for these games and have our width provided by specialists.., wide forwards.
The full backs could arguably get minutes as an outside centre back.

I would play the 2 central midfielders in a one stay and one go system have and have all three the central defenders stay at home except for set pieces.

So a bold experiment from Mike but what about our resident Yankee tactician Dougie? (@Dfresh10) Well for Dougie a more conventional 433.

I’d prefer this 4-3-3 setup for a variety of reasons:

A 3 man midfield provides a better platform for the front 3 to express themselves. Elneny not ideal but the best option we have for covering ground horizontally and allowing Wilshere and Ramsey to get forward.

Monreal helps to solidify a weaker defensive left side with Wilshere (or Xhaka) as well as Ozil playing ahead. This is especially vital as Ozil will be given license to drift centrally.

Lacazette is the odd man man out but could easily be deployed as a wing option in a 4-3-3 or second striker in a variety of formations when being subbed on. He’ll be needed in our Europa league games as well as our primary striker.

Dougie’s11

Last up in today’s offering we have one of our regular match previewer and reviewer, the one and only @Marblehalls_TV

With the imminent arrival of PEA, it’s evident (for me at least) that we need to play two up top, or a three in attack.

The various formations attempt to mix both Ozil and Mhkitaryan, as players with similar capabilities.

With the departure of Coquelin, Elneny has midfield prominence, due to his ability to hold and provide support both defensively and in the initial point of transitions.

Wilshere features partly, due to his great form, though due to the presence of many creative players, Xhaka does not feature much. It’s not due to any perceived bad play, but that as a self-described “false number ten”, he would overload and unbalance the team.

However, as both Lacazette and PEA are our record signings, and we are attempting to cover for Alexis’s departure, in my mind it’s imperative that we play both accordingly. So here is my formation lining up in a quasi-343 but with Ozil playing slightly deeper and pulling the strings

Marble Halls 11

So that concludes Part 1 of How to best incorporate Aubameyang in the Arsenal 1^st Eleven.

Interesting observations ..

Every formation has Koscielny, Mustafi and Monreal, our best 3 defenders and Nacho features whether a 3 or 4 is selected.

Elneny has seemingly brought himself to the fore in minds, with recent displays, being selected ahead of Ramsey in three of our writers selections. Granit Xhaka does not make a single 11!!

Two teams have Aubameyang our wide with Lacazette up top on his own, one has both in a three and one has both in a two. Perhaps surprisingly no one sees PEA’s arrival relegating our misfiring current record signing to the bench.

In all selections

Oh yeah and Super Jack is an ever present 🙂

More from the GT team tomorrow

Dave Seager

Passionate fifty-something Arsenal supporter who has been making the journey to N5 regularly since the early 1980s – although his first game was in 1976. Always passionate when talking about The Arsenal, Dave decided to send a guest blog to Gunnersphere in the summer of 2011 and has not stopped writing about the Gunners since.

He set up his own site – 1 Nil Down 2 One Up – in February 2012, which he moved on in 2016 to concentrate on freelance writing and building Gunners Town, which he launched with Paul in 2014.

The objective of GT was to be new and fresh and to give a platform for likeminded passionate Arsenal fans wishing to write about their team. Dave still of course, writes for the site himself and advises the ever-changing writing crew.