Source: SKY_Sports
Wenger plots United downfall
Arsene Wenger insists Arsenal will look to exploit Manchester United's frailties when the two sides clash at Old Trafford on Wednesday. Wenger believes every team has weaknesses and says he has been studying the European champions at their very best and worst in order to plot their downfall.The Gunners head to Old Trafford for the first leg of the UEFA Champions League semi-final confident they can stifle United's potent attack and cause problems for their back four.Wenger said: "When we scout the opposition we watch tapes of them losing and winning."We watch them scoring and conceding goals, so we try to exploit the weaknesses they have, which every team has."InjuriesHowever, the Arsenal boss' plans have been hit by injuries, first to his regular backline - although goalkeeper Manuel Almunia is expected to be fit to face United - and now to leading scorer Robin van Persie who is sidelined by a niggling groin problem.Russian playmaker Andrey Arshavin is ineligible for European fixtures but captain Cesc Fabregas may be deployed in a more advanced role to support marauding wingers Theo Walcott and Samir Nasri."We do not necessarily change our formation depending on who we are playing that day," Wenger said in the May edition of the official Arsenal magazine."We simply try to find the best way to express our own qualities, while also trying to annihilate the strong points of the other team."So it is a compromise. We look for a shape where we can express our strong points, as well as stopping theirs."No formation can ever solve all the problems, but you always try to find the system which suits your players the best and that gets the best out of your qualities."QualityWenger knows possession, and making the most of it, will be key to Arsenal's chances of taking an advantage back to Emirates."The technical level is so high in the Champions League, so it is important not to lose the battle in midfield. You have to be defensively sound as well."Most of the time in recent years we have played this formation in Europe because you need to have a good engine and not be outnumbered in the park."The best players in the world play in England now, so that is why the quality is so high."