Mancini's Manchester City, as they showed in the recent game at the Emirates, are too negative to go and win a big game, as they had to lastnight. They need urgency, but from the opposition, so that spaces are opened up for fast breaks, and their quick forwards can exploit that. With Stephen Ireland injured- and even before that, neither in form nor favour- City are bereft of creativity in the centre of the park. Spurs comfortbaly repelled their predictable attacks. Andy Gray remarked fairly early that Tevez was dropping very deep just to get involved- the result of Nigel De Jong and the pointless Gareth Barry lacking the ability to make any kind of telling pass. Maybe I'm being harsh on Barry, because it was with his enforced withdrawal, making way for Patrick the Passenger Vieira, that Spurs decided to make their superiority tell. They battered City for the remainder, and should have scored on a couple of occasions before Crouch finally bundled in the winner.
Harry Redknapp was rewarded for the kind of positivity even managers like Wenger rarely exhibit: in a big game, he put out a 4-4-2, without a recognised "holding" player (Palacios was benched), entrusting the leisurely Huddlestone and the diminutive but wonderful Luka Modric to win the midfield battle. It should not be forgotten that Modric was long linked with Arsenal before he moved to Spurs, and Wenger ratherly sourly stated since that the Croat was too lightweight to play in the Premiership. You'd hope he doesn't really believe that. I'm not sure where Modric would fit into Arsenal's team right now, but he's certainly a better player than Nasri, or it seems Arshavin, or any number of equally lightweight players on our books.
Note also that Spurs are clearly capable of performing with a discipline that has long since deserted their North London neighbours. Entertaining football is well and good, and in fact Spurs have arguably played the best football in England this season, but games like lastnight's are tight and tense, and Arsenal consistently fail in those battles, where in bygone days, they would produce a performance to fit the occasion.
Third place and, vitally, automatic Champions League qualification should still be ours, provided the team wakes from its collective stupor long enough to at least draw against a distracted Fulham side on Sunday. In light of my recent rantings, it's worth pointing out the Sky Sports statistics shown lastnight, with the net spending figures of the big clubs. Arsenal are the only one who have made a profit from transfers in recent years. City have spent a grotesque amount on largely average players who are only good enough for fifth. Spurs are a distant second, having spent heavily to get where they are today. But they have got there.
Perhaps some day the critics will all be made look foolish as Wenger is replaced by another great manager who gets the benefit of his predecessor's frugal nature. We will all marvel at how Arsene Knew all along. Still, I can't help feeling that there have been missed opportunities, because Wenger failed to find a middle ground between stability and maintaining a squad worthy of the name Arsenal. Those figures are a victory for idealism but that victory is hollow without a good team on the pitch. So let's hope that those figures are not an end in themselves, but a means to put us where we are this summer, in a position to spend some fucking money on some fucking proper players.
Showing posts with label top four. Show all posts
Showing posts with label top four. Show all posts
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Monday, September 14, 2009
Identity Crisis: Man City 4-2 Arsenal
Something's been bothering me about my team lately, and the other day, it hit me: we've become Spurs.
Seriously, think about it for a second. All those things we liked to think separated us from them- trophies, professionalism, efficiency- all those distinctions have more or less disappeared. Now they're just two "attractive sides", both flakey as can be. I guess some would say champions league football is the remaining difference, but anyone who's gonna say that is not now under threat after the last two games needs to take off those rose-tinted glasses and get themselves down to Specsavers.
Alan Hansen is not a man I often find myself agreeing with, but I nodded my head watching MOTD when he stated that he'd never seen a team so susceptible to conceding while dominating a game. Similar points have been made elsewhere. United and chelsea, these are teams who win while playing badly. Arsenal often lose while playing well.
I stated my reservations after the Everton win and it gives me no satisfaction to say I think I've been proven right: this team lacks character. It's perhaps the single most difficult problem to remedy in a team. We've seen outlined already some decent tactical changes made to the side, that had appeared to lead to improvement. But every time the stakes are raised, these guys seem to shrink in stature. Perhaps it is as Myles Palmer often suggests, that these players have been overly-pampered by Wenger. Perhaps it is that they simply need to win something, anything, to start to build that character. I'm not optimistic. This is a team that Wenger has been building for some time- albeit having lost some crucial players at times- and a side that Mark Fucking Hughes has had together for all of a few weeks gave them the runaround.
There are players in the Arsenal team who have stalled worryingly in their development. That is a potentially fatal factor in the progress or otherwise of this football club. If Wenger can not, for another few years at least, spend money, then we are relying completely on his semi-mythic talent for nurturing players. If that has deserted him, we really are in trouble.
Gael clichy is certainly Exhibit A. I distinctly remember a game in his breakthrough season, 03/04, when celta Vigo's right winger at the time gave him an almighty roasting. It was one of those things where you just thought, that's fine, he'll iron out those defensive deficiencies in time. But you know what? It still looks like, and on a fairly regular basis, that same clichy is making the same elementary errors. Allied to this, there's his inability to provide any kind of service when he gets forward- much like Sagna. I don't know is it that they haven't got a target, because in 07/08, when Adebayor was on fire, I seem to remember them both providing some good crosses. Whatever, the bottom line is, those two look to have stoppede dead in their progress.
Then again, there's worse further up the pitch. I always thought Denilson was a nice, tidy footballer, but that seems to be where it ends. Fabregas was stifled by De Jong on Saturday, so the Brazilian simply HAD TO shoulder some creative responsibility- he failed again to do this. And if he hasn't got that in his locker, it's hard to see where his real strengths lie. Rosicky appeared for ther first time in a year and a half and straight way looked what he is- ten times the player Denilson is, Bendtner is, Diaby is... The latter two are out of place as the flanking strikers in a 4-3-3, so maybe it's a bit harsh to be judging them, but in Diaby's case, a man that lazy can't really have any position. He looks unwilling to ever accept any defensive responsibility, and that next to his pisspoor passing makes an absolute mockery of those Vieira comparisons that we often hear, and are encouraged by Wenger. What Wenger needs to do is give this guy a swift kick up the ass but I guess that's just not his style. But look at it this way- Arshavin is embarrassingly superior in ability to Diaby and when he plays the same position, he puts in a fucking shift. If one is the best players in the world has the humility and professionalism to chase back, you've got to question the attitude of a joker like Diaby. In summation, he can fuck right off. I mean that. I'd be happy to never see him play for Arsenal again. Give Wilshere a chance, for fuck's sake.
Also consigned to the bad books, probably forever, is a goalkeeper we have been saddled with by yet more lack of foresight from Wenger. A goalkeeper who just doesn't make saves, and throws in the odd clanger to boot. He has never, not once, had a sustained run of form in an Arsenal shirt, and it's an insult to the fans that we have to settle for this while Shay Given makes stop after stop for our direct rivals for 4th, and a fair few teams have TWO better keepers in their squad.
I'm finding it hard to be optimistic at the moment. It's been pointed out that we have a handy looking run of fixtures now. I don't think we can view any fixture as particularly handy now that our weaknesses have again been ruthlessly exposed- and by a city side who were missing Robinho and Tevez. Our squad is continually ravaged which means our reliance on shitbags like Diaby will continue. If we had the full squad available, it'd almost look formidable. If my aunt had bollocks she'd be my uncle. Expect more struggles.
I consciously ignore the Adebayor fuss because it would detract from the more worrying problems with the team. But just one footnote- he might not look so clever at the end of the season if his impending suspension derails city's charge. That I am forced to clutch already at such petty straws points to the continued decline in the power of Arsenal.
Seriously, think about it for a second. All those things we liked to think separated us from them- trophies, professionalism, efficiency- all those distinctions have more or less disappeared. Now they're just two "attractive sides", both flakey as can be. I guess some would say champions league football is the remaining difference, but anyone who's gonna say that is not now under threat after the last two games needs to take off those rose-tinted glasses and get themselves down to Specsavers.
Alan Hansen is not a man I often find myself agreeing with, but I nodded my head watching MOTD when he stated that he'd never seen a team so susceptible to conceding while dominating a game. Similar points have been made elsewhere. United and chelsea, these are teams who win while playing badly. Arsenal often lose while playing well.
I stated my reservations after the Everton win and it gives me no satisfaction to say I think I've been proven right: this team lacks character. It's perhaps the single most difficult problem to remedy in a team. We've seen outlined already some decent tactical changes made to the side, that had appeared to lead to improvement. But every time the stakes are raised, these guys seem to shrink in stature. Perhaps it is as Myles Palmer often suggests, that these players have been overly-pampered by Wenger. Perhaps it is that they simply need to win something, anything, to start to build that character. I'm not optimistic. This is a team that Wenger has been building for some time- albeit having lost some crucial players at times- and a side that Mark Fucking Hughes has had together for all of a few weeks gave them the runaround.
There are players in the Arsenal team who have stalled worryingly in their development. That is a potentially fatal factor in the progress or otherwise of this football club. If Wenger can not, for another few years at least, spend money, then we are relying completely on his semi-mythic talent for nurturing players. If that has deserted him, we really are in trouble.
Gael clichy is certainly Exhibit A. I distinctly remember a game in his breakthrough season, 03/04, when celta Vigo's right winger at the time gave him an almighty roasting. It was one of those things where you just thought, that's fine, he'll iron out those defensive deficiencies in time. But you know what? It still looks like, and on a fairly regular basis, that same clichy is making the same elementary errors. Allied to this, there's his inability to provide any kind of service when he gets forward- much like Sagna. I don't know is it that they haven't got a target, because in 07/08, when Adebayor was on fire, I seem to remember them both providing some good crosses. Whatever, the bottom line is, those two look to have stoppede dead in their progress.
Then again, there's worse further up the pitch. I always thought Denilson was a nice, tidy footballer, but that seems to be where it ends. Fabregas was stifled by De Jong on Saturday, so the Brazilian simply HAD TO shoulder some creative responsibility- he failed again to do this. And if he hasn't got that in his locker, it's hard to see where his real strengths lie. Rosicky appeared for ther first time in a year and a half and straight way looked what he is- ten times the player Denilson is, Bendtner is, Diaby is... The latter two are out of place as the flanking strikers in a 4-3-3, so maybe it's a bit harsh to be judging them, but in Diaby's case, a man that lazy can't really have any position. He looks unwilling to ever accept any defensive responsibility, and that next to his pisspoor passing makes an absolute mockery of those Vieira comparisons that we often hear, and are encouraged by Wenger. What Wenger needs to do is give this guy a swift kick up the ass but I guess that's just not his style. But look at it this way- Arshavin is embarrassingly superior in ability to Diaby and when he plays the same position, he puts in a fucking shift. If one is the best players in the world has the humility and professionalism to chase back, you've got to question the attitude of a joker like Diaby. In summation, he can fuck right off. I mean that. I'd be happy to never see him play for Arsenal again. Give Wilshere a chance, for fuck's sake.
Also consigned to the bad books, probably forever, is a goalkeeper we have been saddled with by yet more lack of foresight from Wenger. A goalkeeper who just doesn't make saves, and throws in the odd clanger to boot. He has never, not once, had a sustained run of form in an Arsenal shirt, and it's an insult to the fans that we have to settle for this while Shay Given makes stop after stop for our direct rivals for 4th, and a fair few teams have TWO better keepers in their squad.
I'm finding it hard to be optimistic at the moment. It's been pointed out that we have a handy looking run of fixtures now. I don't think we can view any fixture as particularly handy now that our weaknesses have again been ruthlessly exposed- and by a city side who were missing Robinho and Tevez. Our squad is continually ravaged which means our reliance on shitbags like Diaby will continue. If we had the full squad available, it'd almost look formidable. If my aunt had bollocks she'd be my uncle. Expect more struggles.
I consciously ignore the Adebayor fuss because it would detract from the more worrying problems with the team. But just one footnote- he might not look so clever at the end of the season if his impending suspension derails city's charge. That I am forced to clutch already at such petty straws points to the continued decline in the power of Arsenal.
Thursday, August 20, 2009
premiership update
chelsea are certainly most people's favourites now, after an authoratitive performance at Sunderland yielded a 3-1 win. Those among us who have the capacity to remember anything further back than last week will recall that they were off to a flyer under the doomed Scolari last season aswell, so let's not jump the gun or anything. In fact I'm gonna put down a flag and say chelsea won't win the league this season. Number one, as Ferguson said before the last campaign, their squad is old and that hasn't really been addressed. They have for a long time been hugely reliant on Lampard- he was the only key player of theirs who didn't go missing, literally or figuratively, for a sustained period last season- and this will, as has been noted elsewhere, be a particularly gruelling season with fixtures piled upon fixtures in order to finish early before the World cup. While there are areas which suggest overt improvement on last season- a motivated Drogba, and a fit again Essien (arguably the best midfielder in the league)- the extent to which Ancelotti is going to maximise chelsea's potential with his preferred formation remains a bone of contention, in much the same way Scolari's disregard for width in his midfield selection proved fatal last time around.
On the subject of Ancelotti, I read a short interview with him in Four Four Two magazine that crystallised my conviction that his team will fall short. Ancelloti explicitly stated that he had been appointed to win the European cup, and his record with the Milan pensioners suggests that this is indeed more likely than a Premiership triumph. I expect Essien, Drogba and co to bludgeon their way to that elusive European crown this May.
But back to the league. The reason most will now install chelsea as outright favourites is Man United's unexpected 1-0 reverse at Hull. Not to sound smug, but having seen United's starting line-up before the game, I did say to my brother that I expected the home side to get something. It's amazing what one absence can do. Without Ronaldo, United's midfield, long a potential weakness, is at last being shown up. Park- carrick- Giggs- Anderson is hardly fearsome stuff, and one wonders about Ferguson's decision to leave out Valencia. Even if the winger had started, the Ronaldo factor is hard to ignore. Until Rooney finally makes that small step up that he has threatened for so long, to consistent brilliance, United may suffer for his often erratic form. Now, finally, he is the main man, and with that comes a new and overbearing pressure.
So far, Michael Owen has looked out of place, but it's early for obituaries. He is bereft of confidence, but the inevitable, impending first goal will change that, and he could yet prove a vital figure. And I know it's trite, but one expects if Ferdinand and Vidic were in tandem, the scoreline may well have been reversed.
Nonetheless, there are a multitude of question marks over United at the moment- the goalkeeper situation another one- and this can only be heartening for rivals.
In such a group we must now include city, who have one of the best squads in the league, and Spurs, whose 5-1 humiliation of Hull served notice that they mean business this season. Their hopes parallell those of city in interesting ways. Both will aim for the top four, although Spurs may be more quiet about it. Both have strength in depth that Liverpool and, largely because of a constantly crippling injury list, Arsenal, seem to lack. And, a crucial but oft-overlooked fact, both have no European distractions in a season that could prove prohibitively busy for the traditional top four.
On the subject of Ancelotti, I read a short interview with him in Four Four Two magazine that crystallised my conviction that his team will fall short. Ancelloti explicitly stated that he had been appointed to win the European cup, and his record with the Milan pensioners suggests that this is indeed more likely than a Premiership triumph. I expect Essien, Drogba and co to bludgeon their way to that elusive European crown this May.
But back to the league. The reason most will now install chelsea as outright favourites is Man United's unexpected 1-0 reverse at Hull. Not to sound smug, but having seen United's starting line-up before the game, I did say to my brother that I expected the home side to get something. It's amazing what one absence can do. Without Ronaldo, United's midfield, long a potential weakness, is at last being shown up. Park- carrick- Giggs- Anderson is hardly fearsome stuff, and one wonders about Ferguson's decision to leave out Valencia. Even if the winger had started, the Ronaldo factor is hard to ignore. Until Rooney finally makes that small step up that he has threatened for so long, to consistent brilliance, United may suffer for his often erratic form. Now, finally, he is the main man, and with that comes a new and overbearing pressure.
So far, Michael Owen has looked out of place, but it's early for obituaries. He is bereft of confidence, but the inevitable, impending first goal will change that, and he could yet prove a vital figure. And I know it's trite, but one expects if Ferdinand and Vidic were in tandem, the scoreline may well have been reversed.
Nonetheless, there are a multitude of question marks over United at the moment- the goalkeeper situation another one- and this can only be heartening for rivals.
In such a group we must now include city, who have one of the best squads in the league, and Spurs, whose 5-1 humiliation of Hull served notice that they mean business this season. Their hopes parallell those of city in interesting ways. Both will aim for the top four, although Spurs may be more quiet about it. Both have strength in depth that Liverpool and, largely because of a constantly crippling injury list, Arsenal, seem to lack. And, a crucial but oft-overlooked fact, both have no European distractions in a season that could prove prohibitively busy for the traditional top four.
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