how we'll play

moving away from the Arteta hype, its time to assess how the new signings will affect the way the team plays next season. And while our hunt for another CB and a CM were important, i think the biggest clue to Arsene's plans is the aquisition of Andre Santos.

Santos is a classic Brazilian Full back, which means that he will spend most of his time in the opponents half of the field. And while Sagna is a much more reliable defender, i think Arsene will tell him to push forward too, and here's why:

with our 4-3-3 formation that Arsene so desperately loves, we need the full backs to provide the width for the front three so that they do not have to spread out so much. This wide threat combined with creative midfielders such as Wilshere and (hopefully) Arteta shoud sort out our attack.

Of course, with the full backs advanced, Wenger will need to counter this with something Brazil have been doing for years, play with two Defensive midfielders who will refrain from too many forays forward. I remember watching a Brazil game in which the commentator described Gilberto and Elano as 'holding up the piano so that Ronaldinho and co can play their lovely tune on it'. Song, Frimpong, Diaby, and maybe even Ramsey will have to hang back a lot more than they usually do, but if they master it, this could be very effective.

To compliment this, the CB's, who i imagine would be Mertesacker and Vermaelen will have to stay back too, which is useful as Mertesacker would be slaughtered if we played with our normal suicidally-high back line.

So, if anything, our formation would look something like 4-2-1-3, e.g.:

---------szczesny------
--Sagna-----Mertesacker-----Vermaelen-----Santos--
----------------Song---------Dench/Diaby---------------
------------------Wilshere/Ramsey/Arteta-------------
---Walcott------------RVP/Park---------Gervinho/Arshavin--



or of course, i could be completely wrong and you have just wasted your time reading this.