Regardless that the two Manchester clubs are leading the pack by playing their own variations of 442, I am still sceptical of us following suit. Our current players do not suit a traditional 442 setup, and our previous most successful period (the invincibles) didn't exactly conform to that either despite often starting with that formation.

At the moment we are gradually finding our feet. Moreover, we're moving away from the tippy-tappy possession based football and rather playing towards our strengths, i.e. pace with two speed merchants upfront. Don't fix something that ain't broke.
Our invincible team never played a 4 man midfield either. It's often 2 central midfielders (Paddy as box-to-box with Gilberto shielding), Dennis in the hole, Titi free roaming while supporting by Bobby and Freddie on the flanks. The speed and mobility of the front three with Dennis's vision were crucial in the counter attacking blitzkrieg style deployed back then.

The change to 433 was necessary due to 3 reasons - the lack of commanding central midfielders (Song was only starting to grow, the loss of the energetic Flamini, the loss of Hleb and Rosicky due to respective reasons), the need to unleash Fabregas's potential as an attacking player, and the change of Robin from a right-sided player to a false-9. The initial 3 man midfield was somewhat balanced with Song playing as the shield, Fabregas furthest upfront, and Denilson keeping things simple. It worked beautifully - we thrashed Everton in our curtain raiser.

Denilson's back injury meant this midfield combination didn't last long, while Robin's lengthy absence forced us to depend on Fabregas for goals hence pushing him further upfront. Diaby's on-and-off injuries prevented him from establishing himself as an important member too. Nasri's later arrival meant we had more creativity, more fluidity, and more goals in midfield; but while he flourished (only for 1/2 a season to be honest) on the wings, he disappointed in the Fabregas role and the even bizarre but thankfully short stint as deep central midfielder.

The loss of Fabregas is no doubt huge, imagine what he could do if he was still here with Robin scoring like fun and both Gervy and Theo getting in behind defences. Regardless, our current midfield setup is back to its most balanced state since we first adapted the 3 man midfield. Song is still the deepest, but he has improved himself and is now much more mobile and dare I say creative. Arteta is playing Denilson's role albeit with 10 times more composure and efficiency, while Rambo is developing into a Gerrard-type marauder with exceptional vision after being out for a year. No one has replaced Fabregas, no one truly can, but our midfield has now evolved into a more complete unit. This is not even including Jack Wilshere, who combines Flamini's energy and Rosicky's dynamism, with a Fabregaseque vision and attacking flair.

We're far from finished in terms of rebuilding this team, but we're on the right track. January, and the coming summer will be exceptionally important. We'll need to keep Robin at all costs, we'll need to further strengthen the team (we'll still need a proper striker/attacking player as well as cover for the fullbacks), and we'll need to keep getting rid of deadwood to make space for new players/upcoming youngsters. Denilson's stinking stint in Brazil will only push him further away from returning to the first team, Almunia's good as gone, I can't see Vela in any long term plans, Bendtner's pretty much burnt his bridges, and Diaby's legs don't seem to ever recover. This summer's a good lesson for everyone, and now that we've got our pretty decent goods from Target, it's time to shop at Harrod's.

I promise to stay at Arsenal forever! Wilshere makes vow as he targets December return
By SAMI MOKBEL
Last updated at 11:34 PM on 7th November 2011
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Jack Wilshere has made an astonishing promise to stay with Arsenal for the rest of his career.
And the injured midfielder has revealed he hopes to return to training before Christmas as he continues his recovery from ankle surgery.
Wilshere, 19, said: 'Can I promise I will be at Arsenal for ever? I can promise that, yes.

Top Gunner: Jack Wilshere has promised to see out his career at Arsenal
'I’ve been at the club since I was nine and I’ve learned to love it.
'From the (Patrick) Vieira days, to (Dennis) Bergkamp, (Cesc) Fabregas, I’ve watched them come through and move on. 
'But now there’s a crop of new players, (Aaron) Ramsey, myself, Kieran Gibbs, hopefully we can really create something special. 
'I love the club and I want to be part of its future.'
Wilshere hasn’t played yet this season due to a serious ankle injury which needed surgery. An X-ray has confirmed he is on schedule to be back in training next month.

On the up: Arsenal have escaped their early-season slump and are chasing down the top four
'It's going really slow at the minute and obviously I'm really frustrated,' he told iFilmLondon.com. 'I should be back in training by mid-December, then I can crack on and it’s up to the boss when he picks me.
'It’s massively frustrating, especially after last year when we were so close to winning a trophy. We beat Barcelona at home and everything seemed to be going well and it ended sadly.
'I was looking forward to this season, I really thought we could push on and do something. To get a setback is massively frustrating but I’ll be back in December and hopefully we can push on from then.'
Wilshere has had to sit by and watch his club struggle following the departures of Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri. But after the comfortable win over West Brom, the England international hailed the performance as one of the Arsenal of old.

Frustrations: Wilshere hopes to return from injury in December
'We seem to get better and better every week,' he added. 'We had a bad start to the season and everyone knows that. I’m not going to lie and say we did well, we didn’t.
'The boys had to play together, they're new players some of them. We seem to be getting better and better every week.
'[Against West Brom] was probably one of our best performances. We passed it around like the old Arsenal and we seem to be back to winning ways.'