Long time since I wrote something, but Wenger forced me to by not using his players the right way and it is costing us a lot. I know, who am I to question the manager? But I will anyway.
There is a simple logic in having your players shoot with their strong leg during the match, it gives the players a lot of options to shoot or dribble, it makes sense.
When Rosicky got injured and Ljungberg was out, fans thought it would be Walcott’s chance to play on the left, where he can accelerate down the left or cut in and shoot from his right foot. He did it with England U21 team, so why not?
Why is Van Persie being prevented from his biggest asset - his shooting? Why does Wenger play him on the left wing? For what? To cross some balls to no one?
Van Persie on the right is a different player as he can shoot to score like he did last season and before, dribble, or play in Eboue when he overlaps. He does it with his national team so why not try him there?
Hleb is the same thing even thought he is doing well on the right with Eboue. However, if people want him to shoot and score he should play on the left.
Flamini will never be able to play in Vieira’s or Gilberto’s position, so he is useless defensively. That said, why was Song on the bench watching Flamini playing in his preferred position?
All this talk about negative tactics is only running away from the truth that there is something wrong. If you have a powerful attack then you wouldn’t have to blame the defense and the opposition’s tactics every time you lose or draw.
What Wenger must do is wake up and give some claws to our attack. If he really intends to win then he must focus mainly on getting the ball in the net, I heard him say that the team should be patient more, but it seemed to me that the team didn’t even hit the second gear in this match. No penetration at all.
The left side was useless and Flamini was the worst player on the pitch. Wrong passes and breaking the fluency of the moves, he should just do like Gilberto does and give short passes to anyone near him.
The right side did OKin the first half but got tired from the play being focused in their direction.
I wish Kanu was still with us, he would have scored a lot of goals. Definitely more than Adebayor, who’s here only for scrappy goals, which Arsenal doesn’t live on them.
Any team of those two would be very good against any oppostion:
—————–Lehmann——————
Eboue——–Toure—-Galls——–Clichy
—————–Gilberto—————-
Van Persie–Fabregas–Rosicky——Walcott
——————Henry——————
or
—————–Lehmann——————
Eboue——–Toure—-Galls——–Clichy
—————–Gilberto—————-
Van Persie——-Fabregas———Rosicky
———————Walcott————–
——————Henry——————
Hleb can play instead of anyone from Van Persie, Fabregas, Rosicky and Walcott.
What you see in theses two formations is the intention of winning and scoring, every player is in his favourite position on his favourite foot, and is surrounded by intelligent players that can do some magic together.
Arsenal need to reinstall pace in the team, we dearly miss Reyes even thought he didn’t do that well for us (for some reasons) or for his comments about wanting to play for Madrid. But, he gave us something else; direct play and many long accurate passes (assists).
Either bring him back, or Ribery, or Vicente, but someone with pace and brain.
Bring Muamba to play in Flamini’s position for backup.
I think I am fine now, I am just disappointed that the same mistakes are being repeated again by the coach and the players, so excuse me for being a little depressed
32 Responses to “Its not the Players fault”
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November 19th, 2006 at 11:40 am
great post, i totally agree with everything. in your formations, i’d replace fabregas with hleb.
November 19th, 2006 at 11:53 am
Walcott will not start every game… he cannot start every game .. he will fade after 60 till he gets used to the pace of the EPL…. even in the first 60 he will have bad games or games where ppl kick him to stop him like Gary Neville did to JAR… all that can be pscychologically damaging at 17 .. not everyone is afreak like Cesc…
RVP is playing on the left for two reasons…1 to replace JAR/Pires … 2 to develop his right side more because everyone knows he has a deadly left foot and they keep blocking that side…if RVP does switch to right … you’re breaking up the Hleb - EBoue partnership which has arguably been our best form of attack… not starting Hleb is stupid… he’s been our best player this season in my eyes.. n Cesc has been off the pace a bit… he needs a break….
Lets give Flamini a break okay… it is hard to just come in all of a sudden and do a job…. though you may be expected to do it.. Baptista or Denilson will eventually replace Gilberto in the long run … and Flam wont start.. he’s our Ray Parlour kinda player…the utility man…and he’ll improve..
Whats the point in bringing JAR back if he doesnt want to stay??.. yes we have no pace now…. not as much as before anyway… Muamba is too raw… hence he’s gone to Birmingham…
We dont need any buys… we just need Freddie n Diaby fit asap… Freddie especially … for some balance down the left wing… and play with 2 up front 1ce in a while… n get our shooting confidence back… just hope we beat Hamburg well and then beat the Trotters… last timew e beat Hamburg we beat ManU and went on a run… maybe we’ll get lucky
November 19th, 2006 at 12:39 pm
Yep I think it is as simple as swapping Hleb and Van Persie.
We would get so much more out Van Persie if he was on the right (GOALS!), this is evidenced by his success in the Dutch team…
And Hleb can play on either wing, his game is very adaptable and he is the closest player to Pires than any other. He is certainly not a winger in the true sense.
Breaking up the very promising Helb-Eboue partnership is the only drawback, but who is to say it wont be replicated with Van Persie-Eboue and Clichy-Hleb?
Your first team and formation looks really good, but I would have Hleb starting on the left instead of Walcott. The second formation doesn’t make much sense to me…
Walcott is a good impact player at the moment, but I don’t think quite quite ready to start…
And the idea of having Van Persie on the left to teach him team play? This is madness. We’re trying to win the league not teach players how to become multi-functional!
Flamini while a bit limited technically, gives us some aggro and attitude in the middle of the park which is sometimes lacking with Gilberto. A handy squad player.
I think Arsenal need another gun striker and someone to challenge Gilberto for his role. He gives away the ball way too much for my liking, altho his defensive positions are excellent…
November 19th, 2006 at 1:31 pm
The reason we didn’t win yesterday is because Eboue wasn’t defending, he was off down the pitch attacking. Other than that we would have easily won the game. Eboue is a young guy and still learning, well he blew it yesterday.
Agreed Flamini is not a starter in our mid-field when everyone else is fit, but we’re not Chelski and cannot afford to have front line players two or three deep at every position. Flamini is a good utility man who can play back-up in several positions.
Also, re: the Newcastle game, don’t forget that Gilberto was out, which dramatically changes everything in our mid-field. I believe Gilberto, right now, is probably our most important player.
November 19th, 2006 at 2:44 pm
Lungberg is no longer the answer, he is just a question.
November 19th, 2006 at 3:13 pm
Thank you for elaborating on the idiocy of playing players out of position to their detriment (RVP especially). I don’t care if the opposition tries to ‘take away’ his left foot. Defenses in the NBA always try to take away star players favorite spots or favorite shooting hand with no success.
I’ve been screaming about the lack of pace in our attack until I’m blue in the face. I do not think that a Fabregas directed attack is capable of a pacy attack. Some may find this to be heresy but there it is. Wenger has mortgaged our attack to this kid. Wenger’s call for Arsenal to be patient in attack misses the fact that the opposition are patient in defense while we play ‘patty-cake’ with the ball.
El Rey is dead and buried in Real Madrid’s graveyard and not coming back. I watched him give away the ball for winning goal against RM recently. Good riddance.
Pace and a brain and can play left wing. Ribery is done until January with a groin injury. Despite the WC performances, I don’t rate him that highly. Why would Vicente trade sun and fun for the EPL. I don’t think so.
What we need to do is this-hijack the rumored Malouda to Chelsea deal (15 mil). Plan B would be to offer a disgruntled Robben an out provided he promises not fall over in the box after a strong breeze.
November 19th, 2006 at 4:35 pm
Aw man, not Robben. Tricky and talented and wonderful player, but it's hard enough to put up with his cry-baby expressions on a team I don't like. I just won't be able to watch if he plays for us. Can't we buy him and trade him to a team in another country? Like Khazakstan?
It's true we've traded lethal pace in the midfield for something else. And in and of itself, that's ok. Our pacy midfield was a disaster in the last 20 minutes of games, all panic stricken and completely without composure. Our current midfield holds it's nerve much better at the end of games, we look like we can still score, even if we haven't in the first 80 minutes. That's worth something. If we could get back that opening 20-minute blitz we used to have, that would be nice. And I don't think we need new personnel to do it, it was mostly attitude.
November 19th, 2006 at 7:01 pm
Why 4-5-1?
We are better when we play with two upfront. So instead of buying a left winger, I would go for Fernando Torres. We are not deadly in front of the opposition goal, so I think we need a striker, not a midfielder. We are creating chances that should win us a game, but we are wasting them. If not buying a new striker, try ‘The Beast’ upfront. He was useless in midfield againsg Newcastle, and as I said before, he is more of a striker than a midfielder.
So my team would be like this:
————Lehmann————–
Eboue—Toure—Gallas—Clichy—
———–Gilberto—————
—-Hleb—Fabregas—Rosicky—
—Torres/Baptista–Henry———
And still without a left winger we should be a force on the left with Clichy, Rosicky, and Henry(we all know that he likes to start his moves from there). So all we need is a striker who is capable of puting the ball in the back of the net, something we don’t get from Adebayor and van Persie constantly.
Just get FERNANDO TORRES!!!
November 19th, 2006 at 9:19 pm
dude, so your trying to tell me that for us to win, we have to get a clean sheet every game? come on dude. you see man utd or chelsea draw a game after they go 1-0 down? no. they always get 2 goals back and win it. bottom line is, our team play needs to change. read myles palmers article at http://www.anr.uk.com. He is spot on on what needs to be done.
November 20th, 2006 at 12:15 am
Its not the players fault.
Seems to me THEY are on the pitch. They are the ones not putting the biscuit in the basket.
If you truly believe you know better about the formations HIS team should be set up in… you’re daft.
I’d think we took Newcastle too lightly, started with our ONLY scorer on the bench, and paid the price for it. RVP and Adebayor are not going to get it done on any kind of consistent basis. Sorry, its not going to happen. We’d be better off seeing if Aliadiare can do something at the top level, or bringing back our strikers on loan, who are scoring with great regularity.
I don’t want to hear any excuses for RVP. He’s had his chances on the pitch. He’s not consistent… and he’s a selfish player in comparison to the rest of the team. Perhaps thats not a bad thing coming off the bench… where he is at his best.
No excuse for Adebayor either… he can’t even score 1-1 with the keeper. He gets the odd goal… but not with any consistency either.
Not good enough at this level.
BLAMING THE DEFENSE???? What a joke.
So are we supposed to post a shutout every single match???
We’ve only given up 7 goals in 12 matches… only United have a better defensive record. So please, don’t blame the defense. Its the scoring thats an issue. We can’t break down the other teams when the decide to put their players behind the ball. We’ve had more than our share of matches that we couldn’t finish great opportunities, and it cost us.
We are not FAR away from being a really good team. We have our moments, like against United on the road… but we are lacking consistent and timely scoring.
That’s about it.
November 20th, 2006 at 12:18 am
and by the way…
someone said we miss Reyes? or should get him back?
F**K NO.
What do we miss more?? Him falling onto the ground every time there is a strong wind?? or him NOT SCORING from good chances regularly???
We don’t need players who don’t want to be in England, cry for their Momma, and can’t stand up against physical play…
sorry…
Reyes is not missed at all.
November 20th, 2006 at 2:53 am
I agree with Stag on this one.
Cut in short - does anyone really think there is any DIFFERENCE if we play 4-5-1, 4-3-3, 4-2-2, Diamond, X’Tree or 1-1-8 and we could break down a Newcastle, a Everton, a Villa at Emirates?
As far as i m concerned, when the opponent packed their penalty box, it really doesn’t matter what formation we play, or van Persie play at right, left, or middle.
Afterall, if Wenger’s formation doesnt work, then how to explain we went on to beat the stronger sides like Man U and Liverpool? We not only beat them, we totally dominated the game and beat them in style.
At the end of the day, no matter what the prematch formation or strategy the manager prepared, the players are the one who need to go down there and do the business.
November 20th, 2006 at 4:50 am
If we are creating scores of chances but not scoring goals, isn’t it because, apart from Henry, we don’t have any goal scorers. Here is a quick comparison of the top strikers.
Club Player Games Goals GPG
Feyenoord Kuyt 101 71 0.702970297
Arsenal Henry 248 170 0.685483871
Milan Shevchenko 208 127 0.610576923
Seville Baptista 63 38 0.603174603
Liverpool Kuyt 9 5 0.555555556
Palace Johnson 140 74 0.528571429
Marseille Drogba 35 18 0.514285714
Charlton Bent 47 24 0.510638298
Everton Johnson 12 6 0.5
Blackburn Bellamy 27 13 0.481481481
Fulham Saha 116 53 0.456896552
Chelsea Drogba 66 30 0.454545455
ManU Rooney 75 34 0.453333333
Ipswich Bent 122 47 0.385245902
ManU Saha 52 18 0.346153846
Arsenal RvP 54 18 0.333333333
Newcastle Bellamy 93 28 0.301075269
Arsenal Ade 20 6 0.3
Chelsea Shevchenko 11 3 0.272727273
Madrid Baptista 32 8 0.25
Liverpool Crouch 42 10 0.238095238
Monaco Ade 78 18 0.230769231
Feyenoord RvP 61 14 0.229508197
Liverpool Bellamy 7 1 0.142857143
It is true that Arsenal have relied on midfielders like Pires and Ljunberg to score. That was before. Things have changed now. If you are a striker, you must score goals, unless you are Bergkamp or Ronaldinho (and even he scores a lot).
Look at RvP and Ade at their previous clubs. They are bottom of the list. They have improved after coming to Arsenal, but it’s not enough. Baptista’s record is enviable, but will AW use him as a striker?
November 20th, 2006 at 5:18 am
Not sure you can blame Wenger for putting out a team that creates 23 chances to the oppositions 2 - I would say that probably means the formation is working, what is missing is the finishing touch. The defending was a bit comical for their goal, but you’ll get a few those over the season, it’s more important that we can come back in games.
RVP may be good for the Dutch on the right, but they do have Arjen Robben on the left to provide width and balance. I completely agree with Stag on this one, RVP’s decision making leaves a bit to be desired. I’m sure the plan is that he should be coming in from left to centre and against Liverpool he did it quite well, but it’s too little too often at the moment.
November 20th, 2006 at 6:15 am
I feel that the current team is severely lacking in mental strength. I know the OT result suggests otherwise, but that could be a blip. Only Henry and Gallas are winners. Lehmann, Toure, Gilberto and Ljunberg have tasted some success. Others who had been there and done that have left - Kanu, Wiltord, Vieira, Edu, Pires, Bergkamp, Campbell and Cole. The rest of the team is too young or inexperienced at winning.
November 20th, 2006 at 7:27 am
mental strength?? really??? no arsenal team (at least so far under wenger has had mental strength!). previous teams showed CONSISTENCY (at least in the league) - but mental strenght - nope they never had it. that is why they always had FEAR written all over their FACES during champions league games and during all the matches that EVER COUNTED.
1999 FA semis against Man U
2000 UEFA cup final
2001 6-1 capitulation to Man U
2001 FA cup loss to Liverpool
2003 Premiership capitulation
2004 FA Cup and Champions League capitulation from the Invicibles.
these in a nutshell where probably the most important matches in the last few years and yet we SHOWED no mental strength in them. (i wont count the CL loss last season as the team was vastly inferior and we werent even supposed to pass the second round anyway). but before, we NEVER used to win big games - hardly ever.
BUT NOW! the KIDS HAVE MENTAL STRENGTH sometime their predecessors NEVER HAD.
they now just need to find the CONSISTENCY. nothing else. the QUALITY is there - no dispute about this, the mental and innate strenght is there.
November 20th, 2006 at 7:28 am
@nipuna: mental strength?? really??? no arsenal team (at least so far under wenger has had mental strength!). previous teams showed CONSISTENCY (at least in the league) - but mental strenght - nope they never had it. that is why they always had FEAR written all over their FACES during champions league games and during all the matches that EVER COUNTED.
1999 FA semis against Man U
2000 UEFA cup final
2001 6-1 capitulation to Man U
2001 FA cup loss to Liverpool
2003 Premiership capitulation
2004 FA Cup and Champions League capitulation from the Invicibles.
these in a nutshell where probably the most important matches in the last few years and yet we SHOWED no mental strength in them. (i wont count the CL loss last season as the team was vastly inferior and we werent even supposed to pass the second round anyway). but before, we NEVER used to win big games - hardly ever.
BUT NOW! the KIDS HAVE MENTAL STRENGTH sometime their predecessors NEVER HAD.
they now just need to find the CONSISTENCY. nothing else. the QUALITY is there - no dispute about this, the mental and innate strenght is there.
November 20th, 2006 at 7:31 am
interesting stats there!
RvP (at Arsenal) has roughly the same stats as Saha (at Man U)!!
And Adebayor is better than Crouch! and even Shevschenko (at chelsea) so far. LOL!
November 20th, 2006 at 7:43 am
thinking about it, its very easy for us to jump on the strikers back. RvP and Ade…but lets look at it analytically. RvP plays mostly in midfield with his wrong foot facing (right foot) facing goal. Ade, well, … he has no excuse for missing one on ones.
but think about this. ALL major teams have consistent goal scorers from MIDFIELD.
there is NO major team that has TWO 15-20 goals a season striker. NOT ONE!
bergy was average 10 per season, rooney is average 10 per season, drogba and crespo are average 10 per season.
now think: at all the other major clubs - the one thing they have in common is that the midfielders are scoring CONSISTENTLY!!!!
Man U: scholes, giggs, ronaldo all put in a few
chelsea: lampard, ballack (eventually), robben, essien puts in a few too.
i remember that johann cruyff once said for any title winning side: the midfield has to score a lot - at least half of the goals.
and that is SO TRUE!
so our REAL problem is failing to replace the goals of Pires and Ljunberg.
Cesc, Rosicky and Hleb are mainly PROVIDERS - and that is a bit of a problem. They need to STEP UP on the goal count.
GOALS FROM MIDFIELD is the real key.
November 20th, 2006 at 7:46 am
stop moaning like a BROKEN RECORD about him leaving henry on the bench.
if YOU were the coach and took a look at the schedule on the horizon, wont you rest henry for THIS match?
OR you will prefer for him to rest henry against bolton or against tottenham ???
November 20th, 2006 at 9:09 am
Disagree.
They are lacking in experience not mental strength. They also have a hunger which will biode very well in the future.
Fabregas epitomises this. He is hungry and a winner, and can do it on the big stage. Rosicky, Van Persie, Flamini, Toure and Clichy are all the same…
Young, hungry, confident, and with something to prove…
Going to the emirates every week, i reckon eventually we will start turning the 1-1s into 2-1, 2-0, 3-0….
November 20th, 2006 at 9:58 am
I’d take Saha over RVP… EVERY DAY.
I’d take Schevy over Adebayor every day for the rest of my life.
No contest.
November 20th, 2006 at 10:16 am
i?ll take schevy or even crouch over adebayor.
but i?ll take RvP over Saha without question.
November 20th, 2006 at 10:21 am
…out for weeks!!!
why OH WHY? do our defenders get injured soooo easily?? i mean, they are not being tackled, they are the ones doing the tackling, yet they get injured and for longer more than anybody else.
do our defenders do some special training that makes them more susceptible to injury??!
ah well, at least we have senderos and djorou.
November 20th, 2006 at 12:11 pm
You want Kanu back? He is basically the same player as Adebayor. I remember him at Arsenal comically missing sitter after sitter. He’s having a good start to the season, but so was Peter Crouch, and I wouldn’t want him in the team either. I do know one thing though - I am getting rather tired of seeing the opposing keeper in Soccernet’s team of the week.
November 20th, 2006 at 12:25 pm
You can’t look at it analytically like that. Theoretically, if you have a strong right foot you play on the right and a strong left foot on the left, and most players with those attributes will prefer those positions. However, not all. Pires was right footed, but he liked cutting in from the left and shooting with his right, the same with Van Persie but on the other side. Reyes for example, preferred playing on the left and shooting from the left, he probably would have excelled in Henry’s position but never got the chance, he is not as effective playing on the right side, because he doesn’t like cutting in and hitting with his left foot, he is prefers to stick to the byline.
So it’s really down to individual preference, Wenger obviously believes that Van Persie can learn to play left side and when he gets in a good goalscoring position on that side, being left footed his shooting should be more accurate, when he plays on the right he always needs to cut inside before taking a shot, and that movement gives the opposition the opportunity to delay him.
So being left footed doesn’t mean you have to be on the left or vice versa, it’s very much down to the individual player and what he prefers to do. Van Persie simply prefers to play on the right and is therefore more effective, Wenger obviously thinks he can learn to adapt on the left, but so far, no results.
November 20th, 2006 at 12:28 pm
It’s just down to luck. During the 49 unbeaten run Arsenal did not have too many injuries - it plays a big part. It is only a thigh strain and the Chelsea game is 3 weeks away, so Wenger is not being very optimistic - I bet Gallas is fit in time. Otherwise we will have to watch Drogba making a fool of Senderos again.
November 20th, 2006 at 12:33 pm
I don’t remember Kanu missing many chances at Arsenal to be honest, I always thought he did well when he got a chance. He left because his just wasn’t getting into games anymore, he didn’t seem to get on the end of anything let alone miss a chance.
Maybe Arsenal’s playing style no longer suited him, after all, nearly all his goals at Portsmouth have been headers, and seeing as Arsenal never get players in the box for crosses you can see why he didn’t get many goals that way. His technique level seems to have dropped, he just doesn’t seem to show the skills that I once loved him for, Redknapp has stifled him, but he seems to be doing well regardless.
November 21st, 2006 at 12:57 am
Yes, in Europe we lacked it. But in the league, I can give you enough instances where we showed mental strength.
2001 3-2 win over Aston Villa after being down 0-2
2001 10-man win at Liverpool
2002 1-0 win at ManU
2003 0-0 draw at ManU after being whacked 3-0 at home by Inter Milan
2003 2-1 come from behind win at Liverpool
2004 2-1 come from behind win at Chelsea
2004 4-2 come from behind win against Liverpool just days after losing to ManU in the FA Cup
Mental strength is not just about winning at OT. It’s also winning over the likes of Everton, Villa, Boro, etc. It’s also the ability to overcome a goal deficit to win the game. Cue ManU win over Sheffield Utd on Sat.
Our youngsters will get there in due course of time. But right now, we seem to lack it.
November 21st, 2006 at 1:07 am
It doesn’t matter where the goals come from as long as they do. In recent times, they may have come from midfield. But the ManU team of 99-01 had two 20+ strikers in Yorke and Cole and two 10+ strikers in Sheringham and Solskjaer.
The basic issue is that a team needs ideally three goal scorers. For Arsenal, it has been Henry, Pires and Ljunberg. Who is it now? Clearly Hleb is not one. Rosicky, for all his great goals, doesn’t have a goal scoring record. Cesc is young. So I expect RvP and Ade (and now Baptista) to contribute. RvP is getting there. But I doubt Ade will make it. He might score the odd one at OT, but (IMHO) he is not a 10+ striker. I hope Baptista can do it.
November 21st, 2006 at 1:10 am
Is hunger = mental strength? I think not.
I am not blaming the youngsters. I have no doubt that they will prove mentally strong in due course of time. But it is NOW that we are lacking it.
November 21st, 2006 at 5:20 am
I don’t remember Kanu missing many chances either, what I do remeber is him holding up play whenever we were on the counter. He’d slow it right down and play it at Kanu’s pace. His workrate wasn’t exactly high either.