How Am I Supposed to Beat Arsenal?

[Rupertj]

I'm playing Arsenal away from home but they are always dominating possession and their short passing and high tempo is too much for my side.

When I last played against them I noticed that although I had won the match, they had played much better than me (Liverpool), so I decided that the next time, I would use the match as a tester of my tactics (i.e. I would keep playing the same fixture and try out different styles of tactic).

The problem is that I drew with them in the 1st leg 1-1 at home, so I need to get some away goals, but at the same time I have to defend very well to prevent their ridiculously good offensive strategy from putting 3, 4 or 5 goals past me.

This is the 2009/2010 season, so Arsenal's lineup is the same as it would be now, except that they have Ribery playing as ML. Their side is more or less full strength.

I would post the tactics I've tried but I just deleted them all out of frustration, which was obviously a mistake. Thanks in advance.

NB My tactics have worked fine so far. I am comfortably top of the table in the league after 27 games out of 38. I also won the league cup (beating Arsenal 3-0). Maybe it's an off-the-pitch matter that's making me lose? (I've even resorted to trying out TT&F'09 tactics but nothing has worked.)

[megafan2005]

try raising tempo and the D-Line and CD as this should not allow them much space and also play narrow (Y)

[uknownick]

Mentality: (18)

Creative Freedom: (19)

Passing: (1)

Tempo: (18)

Width: (16)

Closing Down: (18)

Time-wasting: (6)

Defensive Line: (13)

This is how the Gunners play. You just need to find an idea to deal with this...

[moj]

try raising tempo and the D-Line and CD as this should not allow them much space and also play narrow (Y)

could work, but could also leave you completely outclassed, higher d-line = fabregas making through balls into adebayor to score, higher closing down = players out of position quicker. higher tempo = playing arsenal at their own game

my advice: get the midfield out of the game, thats where the battle is won with arsenal, make sure you completely destroy those 2 central midfielders

[swisso]

If you think about the teams in the Prem who Arsenal have struggled against, it's often the more aggressive, determined sides like Hull, Stoke, Bolton etc. You might remember Arsene moaning about being kicked off the park

That's a tad unfair on those sides though as they played some good football, but overall you need to stifle Arsenal, mark key players, play aggressively with your strongest and tallest 11!

[AcidBurn]

http://www.mediafire.com/file/jzmtemazwym/4-4-2

I used that tactic and although I am in 2018 they are unlikely to play the same tactic but I beat them 2-0 in the league, kncocked them out of champions league 4-3 on agg also beat them 5-1 in the community shield and 5-1 in the FA Cup final. Could be worth a try.

[tigerhgrrrrrr]

Mentality: (18)

Creative Freedom: (19)

Passing: (1)

Tempo: (18)

Width: (16)

Closing Down: (18)

Time-wasting: (6)

Defensive Line: (13)

This is how the Gunners play. You just need to find an idea to deal with this...

Is that just under Wenger?, or always?

As Man City I hammered them 4-0 so they are not invincible (I am no tactical genius!)

Does this touch on the whole "bogey team" debate? In CM0102 Grimbsy would regularly slaughter me in LLM scenarios, even when in the same div.

[Rupertj]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I just went for a crazy 4-2-4 attacking formation and scraped victory. Nevertheless, your comments have been useful as I'm obviously going to play Arsenal again.