But with four at the back, you'd have a LM in front of the LB, so it would be harder to get the ball behind the LB, wouldn't it?
No. It's not the numbers. It's the space. A fullback pushed up still leaves space behind him. In a back four, that means that the covering central defender has to decide whether to go across to cover the fullback, or hold position and not lose numbers in the central area. It's the position of the fullback that creates the space to play in behind. So if we played a back four, with the aggressive fullbacks we played last season, that ball in behind still exists as an option. So it's not a fault of the formation, it's a fault of the player for not closing down better as the cross was being made. He actually tracked Sagna quite well, but once the ball was played, he simply watched Sagna play it. I also think he didn't have to watch the ball so much before it was played out - he could have turned and focused more on Sagna. But the goal was caused by the lack of tracking of Cazorla. He had a free run at it.
What do you make of the build-up to the first goal? I thought it looked like they had so much space to advance in, before the ball was played behind Cissokho. And then they had space again. So the overall impression I have is we were spread out the whole time. Would you say the same? If so, why was that, because it can't be the way we want to be.
Yep - You could have turned an 18-wheeler in the gaps between our players. Our midfield was largely non-existent. Regardless of where any other Arsenal player was, failure to put pressure on the ball carrier is a fundamental error that leads to goals. Arteta picked out his pass with ease. Cazorla got both the first header and the rebound with ease. All because of a lack of pressure. Consolidation and compression helps to prevent this by making the space between levels of pressure smaller - something Southampton are excellent at, and Spurs too. We were far too open, but that situation exists whether we play a 4-2-3-1 or a 3-4-1-2. It's a condition of our midfield set-up and our overall attacking posture more than it is a formation issue.
If we look at the goal in stages -
Stage 1:
Ball is played into Arteta. Cissokho begins tracking Sagna's run. This is the correct thing to do:
Arteta is in acres of space, Gerrard is in a forward's position, nowhere near the middle.
Stage 2:
Arteta then drives forward, and Sakho steps out to press, while Cissokho continues to track Sagna. We're 2v1 at the back on Giroud, but Cazorla has started his run from the centre circle, 10 yards from Gerrard, who is still in Arsenal's half:
Stage 3:
Sagna gets his cross in, but Gerrard is still trailing him by about 8 yards. Lucas has stopped tracking back. Technically, we're 3v2 in the box in our favour at this point:
Stage 4:
Once the rebound occurs, Skrtel does his best to get across, but the whole defence looks like it expected the ball to go dead - either through a save, goal, or miss. They collectively switch off for a second, but that's all Cazorla needs as he correctly follows up his header to net the goal:
Gerrard, meanwhile, stops running at the edge of the box.
The whole goal was well worked by Arsenal, but apart from the massive spaces we presented to them, we also made it easy for them by once again failing to track the runner from midfield. Cissokho actually does well in the entire sequence, and the only thing he is guilty of is not being as fast as Sagna. Sakho had to step out to Arteta because nobody else did, and there wasn't much Skrtel or Toure could do against Cazorla given that he had as free a run on the cross as he'll get all season.
Once again, our goals - as it is with most goals - could have been prevented with better midfield play. And for me, it would be a hugely disappointing thing if Rodgers becomes a "nearly-man" because he didn't solve what is a simple midfield issue.