IN THE ARSENAL TEAM WINGERS SCORING GOALS
— Maurice Pefferkorn | 06/11/1931 —

We have already explained that the Arsenal team, which we will see on November 11 against Racing, in Colombes, in a match organized, with the help of the Journal, for the benefit of three major war works, had adopted a training a somewhat special team. Pushing the character of the W attack a little further (two wingers and a centre-forward, two inside forwards behind), they removed their centre-half and made a third back. It is said that Mr. Chapman, the famous manager of the great London club, is highly praised for this initiative.

We will probably see Arsenal adopt a similar formula on Wednesday against Racing, because they now play all their matches this way. This is, to tell the truth, more unofficial than official. Indeed, when Arsenal announces the composition of their team, I don't know that they indicate three full-backs, two half-backs, two second-line forwards, three first-line forwards.

In any case, the W formation which is the basis of this way of composing the team hardly allows the inside players to score goals anymore. They are more game distributors than executors. Also, we see that an insider of the class of Alec James, one of the best British forwards, if not the best, has only scored one goal this season in the league, while the wingers Hulme and Bastin, centre-forward Lambert each managed 6 or 7.

That wingers score more goals than inside forwards is something we hardly understand in France where we often believe, a little too simplistically, that a winger must run along the sidelines and cross. The Arsenal wingers have just replaced the players at the end of the offensive. In other words, their tactic is to fall back towards the centre.

All this will be very interesting to observe next Wednesday. It is not enough, in fact, to observe the individual playing of these virtuosos, but also the structure of the team and the method they use.