Back-to-back Premier League defeats to Swansea City and Manchester United in November had members of Arsene Wenger’s own Arsenal staff questioning his tactics and approach to games.
For far too long, Wenger has seemed both unwilling and incapable of setting his team up to negate the strengths of the opposition and make the most of their weaknesses.
Swansea were allowed to target makeshift right-back Calum Chambers at the Liberty Stadium, while United repeated former manager Sir Alex Ferguson’s old trick of allowing Arsenal to dominate possession before hitting them on the break.
Which is why Arsenal’s superb victory over Manchester City offered real encouragement that Wenger may finally have had his light-bulb moment.
Arsenal did not go to Eastlands to play their attractive brand of football and simply hope for the best. Instead, they travelled to Manchester with a plan and it worked.
The fact Arsenal had just 35 per cent of possession would not normally be viewed as a positive by Wenger and his players. But the figure demonstrated that, finally, the Frenchman got his big-game tactics spot on.
Arsenal allowed City to have the ball in areas that could not hurt them, resisted the temptation to bomb forward in numbers when they did have the chance to attack and allowed Francis Coquelin to concentrate almost solely on screening his back four.
Gary Neville has previously joked that when Chelsea defenders John Terry and Gary Cahill go to bed at night, midfielder Nemanja Matic stands guard outside the bedroom door.
Terry and Cahill can sometimes go entire games without having to make more than a couple of tackles because of the protection Matic offers them.
On Sunday, Per Mertesacker only had to make one tackle and that can be put down to the fact that Coquelin offered the German and Laurent Koscielny a protective shield.
Of course, as willing as he is, Coquelin is not as good as Matic, but maybe Wenger has once again realised the value in detailing a midfielder to simply help his defence.
Santi Cazorla stole the show against City with one of the performances of the Premier League season so far. It is no coincidence that Arsenal have been at their best when the Spaniard has played in the middle this season.
Santi Cazorla opens Arsenal's account with a penalty
Having improved his fitness, Cazorla can dictate games from the middle of the park and can both create and take chances. Thierry Henry rates his influence as greater than Alexis Sanchez and that was certainly true at the weekend.
Another significant decision Wenger got right was to play Nacho Monreal ahead of Kieran Gibbs at left-back.
Gibbs is arguably a more talented player than Monreal and fits Wenger’s natural preference of using converted wingers in the full-back positions. But Arsenal have suffered on their left side in too many big games and the England international is too often found guilty of being caught halfway up the pitch.
Monreal won Arsenal’s penalty with a run into the opposition area, but the Spaniard is better at knowing when to go forwards and when to hold his position. He also has a greater physical presence than Gibbs.
It is too early to conclusively claim that Wenger has finally changed his spots and has become a tactical genius overnight, but the success over City did look like the start of a new approach to big games.
Wenger may believe that victory at Eastlands was a big mental boost for his players, but, in truth, it was a bigger boost for him as he answered important questions from inside and outside the club.
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