Arsenal's season not so bad after all?

jank

Good article from Arsenal Mania
Not entirely about arsenal but more about the styles and tactics employed by chelsea and arsenal

LONDON (ARSENAL-MANIA) - I realised that I had to take pride in our season when it became clear that we could not overturn Chelsea about 3 weeks ago. Pride after the injuries this season (Sol Campbell only playing 14 games in the Premiership and Gilberto 9 so far) with a 20 and a 23 year old in central defence and a teenager in midfield. When we lost a player we could only replace him with a debutant not some seasoned professional like Geremi, Kezman or Kleberson. Having comparative points now to last season when we were on fire. I can only be proud of the team this season. And that is not in conflict with the disappointment of not doing better at home and in Europe.

I am very satisfied that we would be a better team than Chelsea when our team is together and playing with confidence again next season. We are less compact than Chelsea but we make up for that with a fiery attack and ingenuity when we are playing confidently. The problem is that our reliance in this kind of football, which I love and respect because it is philosophy-based, can be fragile when confidence is not high. It means we don't know how to play if things are going wrong and passes are going astray. We spend 90 minutes just trying to fix it rather than varying it. We lose European games to inferior teams while Chelsea and Milan don't. I looked closely at Chelsea and Milan this season to see what was so different between them and Arsenal.

Arsenal play an extremely dynamic 4-4-2. More dynamic than I've seen even in Real Madrid. Players will move around. Sometimes Lauren is more advanced than Llungberg and sometimes Gilberto is covering on the right while Lauren is trying to feed passes in the centre of midfield with Bergkamp drifting to the right because Freddie is in the box.

Chelsea on the other hand play a static 4-4-2 or 4-4-1-1. Static because the midfield 4 stay in midfield and the defenders stay where they are when the ball is first played forward and only change when there is either a definite attacking situation or a clear defensive situation. The full backs rarely run forward as often as Ashley and Lauren do. Chelsea hit the ball forward early from the keeper or the back. Drogba jumps for it and usually gets something then the midfield fights for the rebound. If they get the ball the midfield, apart from Makelele, moves in and attacks in good numbers, generally without full backs. The defenders generally stay put at the back because there are 5 players forward and because the ball is usually quite close to the opponent's goal. Makelele forms the first line of defence if Chelsea loose the ball in attack and then they still have 4 in a strong defensive cover, pretty much stopping any counter attacks. If Drogba misses the header the opponents cannot counter attack because the midfield is still there and you have to go through them to start an attack.

Arsenal on the other hand pass the ball forward from the keeper or defender usually using the full backs as an outlet. Vieira moves forward and Ashley and Lauren also move forward to take the ball or to put themselves in positions to receive passes. So at that point the midfield is spread out and the full backs are advanced. If Arsenal attack then, they have numbers and that's what worked beautifully last season. But when that attack fails, Arsenal only have two centre backs in a defensive position so if they don't win the ball back immediately up front, they are extremely vulnerable. That's why Gilberto is crucial because he rarely goes forward and he's much better than anyone at blocking passing channels rather than blocking people. Lauren and Cole are rarely beaten one-on-one, they are more likely to be caught out of position.

Arsenal, Real and Barcelona don't have bad defenders, they just usually have only 2 defenders left when they attack. If you don't have a Gilberto or Makelele to support them then you concede. Luxemburgo has already shown which direction he might want. He's bought his own Gilberto in Graversen and has started varying the play since crashing out of the champions league - playing more long balls than usual which delivered success against Barcelona.

Next season is going to be about which of Europe's top teams keep or go for the Chelsea format. Italian teams have been doing this well for a long time but AC Milan does so extraodinarily well with more variation than most Italian teams. Chelsea is good at this but they have less variation than Milan and more than most. Which teams will refuse to change and decides to continue passing the ball as the most accurate, realisable and predictable way of playing. Real under Luxemburgo are already changing to the variation format. For Chelsea, the inefficiency of long ball is hugely mitigated by the fact that their midfield remains static during long balls to mop up or fight for any rebounds and thus are more likely to win what would have been wasted long balls. So the old argument in modern football that long balls are uncontrollable and unpredictable so therefore, undesirable is not the case with Chelsea and Milan. Above all Eidur Gudjohnsen is very good at dropping into midfield and supplying Lampard, Cole and Duff while Drogba is fantastic in the air. Milan have Kaka and Shevchenko who also influence their own variations of long ball and passing while Arsenal have just one way.

What will happen next season will be interesting. When I hear Wenger speaking, I get the feeling he's learned something this season. Something very important. We'll see. Alongside that will be a decision on how to use van Persie and what to do with Reyes. I am looking forward to all of that.

Just a few notes:

Eidur Gudjohnsen should have been selected for Player of the Year. He is the most under-rated player in the Premiership!

Fabregas should be the Young Player of the Year this season, not Rooney. Fabregas played the biggest team in the Premiership yesterday at the age of 18 and stood up to Gallas, Terry, Lampard and Makelele many times during the game. By the end of the night, he was competing on equal terms. It's easy to be a striker at 18, all you need is skill. A midfielder needs tonnes of intelligence. It generally doesn't come without the experience of age. Fabregas is a great promising talent and my Young Player of the Year.

I think this year has been a great learning experience not only for the young players such as Cesc and Senderous but also Wenger, hopefully next season will Arsenal will get the due rewards.
And an FA cup final too, not bad for a team that only bought one player last summer for 4 million (van persie) compared to Chelsea/Utd, hell Arsenal has spent as much as Spurs reciently. Just goes to show u that money aint everything in football (but it does help)

PHB

Chelsea on the other hand play a static 4-4-2 or 4-4-1-1. Static because the midfield 4 stay in midfield and the defenders stay where they are when the ball is first played forward and only change when there is either a definite attacking situation or a clear defensive situation. The full backs rarely run forward as often as Ashley and Lauren do. Chelsea hit the ball forward early from the keeper or the back. Drogba jumps for it and usually gets something then the midfield fights for the rebound. If they get the ball the midfield, apart from Makelele, moves in and attacks in good numbers, generally without full backs. The defenders generally stay put at the back because there are 5 players forward and because the ball is usually quite close to the opponent's goal. Makelele forms the first line of defence if Chelsea loose the ball in attack and then they still have 4 in a strong defensive cover, pretty much stopping any counter attacks. If Drogba misses the header the opponents cannot counter attack because the midfield is still there and you have to go through them to start an attack.

Doesn't bode well for the observations in general, that said, he is right about quite a few thigns.

smemon

like utd, arsenal cant just paper over cracks and put this season down to chelsea being too good.

arsenal like utd must be wanting to match chelsea and beat them in every department. when chelsea go head-to-head with arsenal and utd, we see the gap isnt that big and indeed chelsea can be outplayed at times. but it's the banana skins that utd and arse slip on.

compared to last season, arsenal have gone backwards in europe and the league. probably because they failed to buy in anyone. they have failed to live up to expectations and fallen flat on their faces under the pressure that comes with being invincible and defending champions. how anyone can look at that positively i dunno. once again theyve failed to defend the league. as sir alex once said, a good team can win trophies, only a great one can retain them.

in order to make arsenal and utd's seasons "not so bad after all", they both need to win the fa cup to gain some pride and confidence. thats what will make the fa cup final so interesting.

utd can be accused of not winning the title for 2 seasons (for the 1st time ever in the premiership) and by their standards questions must be asked whether their going backwards but imo arsenal have been bigger flops this season. UNLESS they win the fa cup. they must win it. going unbeaten for so long and winning the title comes with pressure. theyve never recovered after they lost to utd at OT. we havnt seen arsenal play the way they had been playing last season after that.

uberwolf

there are positives to be drawn no doubt. But why did the team have no one to fall back on when key injuries occured? why were they relying on kids?

As for Fabregas - far better than Rooney this season IMO.

Jivin Turkey

Arsenals season hasnt been that bad. They started incredibly. But their poor run from when United beat them at OT has cost them. Because since they came out of that they have been playing excellently without making anyone notice.

But to blame the reason for the distance between them and Chelsea and their premature exit from the CL on the absence of two players is incorrect IMO.

Too many times this year Arsenal have lacked fight. Take both the United games as an example. While the games might have turned on refereeing decisions, you could see in both games that United wanted it more.

They have also (again) been poor at basic defending. Too many goals conceeded from set-pieces. And while the article states that you wont see Cole or Lauren beaten one-on-one, you see them caught out of position too often. Playing "sexy football" is not an excuse for this.

And that has also been a reason for where they are. I love watching them when they are in the mood. They are unreal. But sometimes (when its not working for them) they seem toothless. Which is strange when you look at the amount of goals they have scored. Their goals are generally works of art, how many time have they scored from set pieces?

If you go back to the beginning of the season would Arsenal fans have taken a 2nd place finish with the league over with 4 games to go? An FA cup final appearance? A last 16 CL place? After last year Id say their sights were set higher.

But having said that the emergence of Fabregas and Senderos definately bodes well for the future.

mr_angry

The season hasn't been a complete disaster. Its still possible (neigh likely) that we'll finish second and win the FA cup. True, expectations were probably higher at the start of the season, but you can only do so much with no money against the spending power of Chelsea. Hell, we could still finish with 86 points, and still only come second!

In my opinion, the quality of the league has fallen badly this year, with only the top 6 capable of really challenging each other. Everyone else has tried, and failed, to play 4-5-1 which has produced neither exciting football nor good results.

In any case, it could be worse. We could finish in 3rd place, and lose the FA Cup final.

Third_Echelon

Arsenal are a good side and have been for the past number of years (yes i know understatement of the century)

The thing i've always found with them was that they didn't have the depth in their squad if they had injuries etc, the players they used to replace players just weren't up to scratch...

I think it was Ashley Cole said in a recent article that arsenal need to buy a few big names and for once i've agreed with something ashely cole has said... They have brought through a few youngsters this season and they have looked good, but they need to bring in a few big names to run with chelsea next year.

They need a striker to partner up with Henry. Trezeguet is the obvious choice i think and they have said recently that someday they'd love to play together and he hasn't been getting an automatic starting place at juve this season...

A centre back and a couple of midfielders are also needed i think. It'll be interesting to see what wenger decides and if he will buy big names?? who knows, but i think this summer for all the top clubs will be interesting on the transfer market... somehow i dont see man utd with too many transactions during the summer though..

jank

imo arsenal have been bigger flops this season.

Well your opinion doesnt count for much really

True, I thought this was the year Arsenal could retain the title and challenge for Europe but unfortunately Chelsea are just too damm good this year. Most years Arsenal's points total would probably be enough to claim the league but not this year.

Wenger never learned from the 2002-2003 season where injureis ruined arsenal's season. Their defense was crap that year because of it and Seaman was too old then.
This season was deja vu,BUT i think wenger has finally seen that more depth is needed and He is looking for established players. With around 25 million transfer money for the summer, things look up.
linky

Goalkeeper and a right winger would do for me and maybe a central defender. Since senderous recent apperances, maybe arsenal dont need one. But he is still young.

At the moment the stadium is holding back the team but the future would be much better with it then without it.

Remember Arsenal are not Man Utd with a huge world wide fan base/money and have punched above their weight since the start of the premiership. Arsenal have spent as much as teams like spurs. What have they won recently... nuff said.

The Muppet

No doubt losing such a key player as Campbell has afffected Arsenals season, The same happened United last season and for the start of this one. I,m not moaning about that as it happens in football but you can not expect to have someone as goodon the bench to step into these key players boots when they are unavailable.

Hopefully all squads will have an injury / suspension free season next year and we'll see the true picture. I don't feel the gap between the top three is all that big and we could have a cracker of a season ahead .

MrJoeSoap

uberwolf wrote:

As for Fabregas - far better than Rooney this season IMO.

Agreed, the kid is going to be huge!

case n basket

MrJoeSoap wrote:

Agreed, the kid is going to be huge!

I dunno, I don't think he's in for another sprout

MrJoeSoap

Got a superb assist for the goal last night. I didn't mean huge in the Wayne Rooney sense of the word!

growler

The Muppet wrote:

Hopefully all squads will have an injury / suspension free season next year and we'll see the true picture. I don't feel the gap between the top three is all that big and we could have a cracker of a season ahead .

I'm inclined to agree with you after watching the spurs game last night, the passing and counter attacking was very very good indeed , Senderos was excellent, don't know how you'll avoid suspensions considering there are a number of arsenal players prone to diving (Pires) and cough ungentlemanly conduct (Lauren). But an on form Arsenal is almost :-) as good as Chelsea, except obviously for your keeper who is less than perfect.

mr_angry

I think technically Lehmann is every bit as good as Cech, its just his temperament lets him down every now and again. We saw the good and the bad side of him last night - great point-blank save from Defoe, and then the toe-stepping incident in the second half.

Thankfully, not reacting to situations like that is something he can work on. Being a rubbish keeper isn't.

Cianan2

Fabregas played class last night. He will be great in a few years time,i wonder if Arsenal will be able to keep him?

jank

Great performances again by Cesc and Senderous. At the mo he is keeping campell outof the team. If it aint broke dont fix it I suppose. 2 more wins out of 4 will more or less wrap up 2nd place.

Edu was fantastic when he came on, really unlucky with his pot shot that came of the bar. If Reyes improved on his finishing he could have 3 times the amount of goals he has now!! Hopefully it will come with condifence and another season! He is still only 21 sure.

1-0 flattered Spurs and but again Arsenal failed to kill them off but since our defense is so good now its not too bad holding a 1-0 lead.

its no surprise that since Gilberto came back vieria is back to his best. Although I never rated Gilberto he is invaluable to the tream as a hole, blocks the all the passing channels. Didnt a former brazil coach call him the invisable wall? Doesnt seem to do much on the pitch but so important to the team as a whole. He hasnt lost a league game in 2 years!!, and was missing also against the side that lost to chelsea in the 1/4 finals last year.
Ill never slate him again. Im just gald to have him back.