Teams know how to stop Arsenal but not how to beat them

Results

Date	Time	C	Opponent	F	A	R	S
28 Oct	3:00 PM	P	Everton (H)	1	1	Draw

For three years, I have not watched any football on British TV. I either go to the game or I watch it on Canal+ with foreign commentary. Most times, I can't understand it. It suits me well since I see the game the way I see the game – not through some commentator's eyes. I make up my own mind about what I see. I recommend turning off the sound on your TV and tune your radio to a foreign station broadcasting the match.

This morning, a friend sent me a clip from MOTD in absolute rage. Instead of feeling angry when I saw it, I was relieved that I don't have to watch these guys anymore. I have only watched BBC World as well so for three years and when I catch Sky News these days, it seems so much more like opinion of superstar TV faces than news.

Many ex-footballers in England who do TV only understand football as they used to play in their own teams or as it was played in England at that time. Back in the days when tactics only extended to whom you were going to be marking for the afternoon. Some ex-players are extremely ignorant about football tactics and even basic football history outside England. The few who played abroad are notably more rounded. Arsenal don't play English football so they are a mystery to most of these guys. These commentators are either over-praising Arsenal or ignorantly criticising them.

I remember being so enraged with Jimmy Hill after an Arsenal game because he spent the afternoon referring to these "foreign" players at Arsenal instead of talking about football. He simply did not understand what Vieira and Píres were doing tactically so he just called it foreign. Mr Hill could not see football so he saw nationalities.

I was not surprised that Alan Hansen spouted rubbish yesterday. He knows nothing about football. He repeats things that he hears from pub chats with his old mates or from real journalists who follow football and understand its history. Journalists who travel around and interview coaches outside England too, journalists who don't work for Sky or tabloids.

David Moyes came to Highbury to get a point. You might call that a realistic approach or you might call it an unambitious approach. It depends on what kind of person you are. What Everton achieved at the Emirates was not "clever" as everyone, even Wenger himself put it. Everybody knows how to contain Arsenal – don't concede early, and pack the middle third with defensive midfielders who support the full backs so that no one-on-one situations occur and also that there is no space for Arsenal to run into. Then put high balls and try to win set pieces. Try and score from set-pieces and then shut down even more. Everybody has known that for 3 years. There is no genius in that and only idiots like Alan Hansen will celebrate that as a triumph.

David Moyes is playing for points so one cannot completely dismiss this style but one expects commentators of the game to support the game and actually make a stand against time wasting and unambitious football. I am English and it breaks my heart that we don't see the link between these kinds of practises and the fact that the national team is crap and also that we can't export footballers because nobody wants our kind of footballers.

The game in England is active, fast, furious and exciting but lacking in technique. And we get idiotic commentators who can't see the big picture and celebrate the stifling of British talent in wasteful unambitious tactics lacking in technique while criticising the teams that are trying to play.

I watched West Ham and Blackburn this afternoon in a typical furious English game with end to end action. I could not help thinking that Mascherano and Tevez who shone on the world stage could not make the team yet but they can get a first team spot for Argentina. And I regret that our English kids at West Ham are not getting the chance to play football with world talent.

Hansen will say, "These foreign players are simply not good enough for the ROUGH AND TUMBLE of the English game". That's because that's what everyone says and commentators don't think anymore. They criticise the England team and praise Everton at the same time without seeing the irony.

A few good things did happen in the Everton game. The first is that van Persie shouted at Henry and also called Walcott up and played a nice one-two with Walcott. That's a bit of growth from van Persie. The second is that Rosicky, Hleb and Fabregas are playing very well and that the midfield looks very good even with a few uncharacteristic stray passes.

I'm not sure if this is a good thing or not but Arsenal seems to have resigned to the fact that they will not get that first goal unless they vary things a bit. There were a lot of crosses and attempts from outside the box. We need that first goal and the more options we have for getting it, the better. We are crap at crosses still but practice makes perfect!

Lastly Wenger made a substitution very early in the second half, much, much earlier than usual. I like that. Wenger usually doesn't do this until around the 75th minute but I prefer this early approach as it can revitalise the team.

We will get another manager coming to Emirates and trying this approach again. But I relish when we do get an early goal like we did against Reading and then we go on to make them feel really silly with a 3-0 thrashing. We won't have to wait long for that.

User Comments

Mbaki mutahaba

Posted on 31 Oct, 2006 at 07:14 PM - Reply

Very good article. Fans urging us to find solution against this type of negative football..don't know they are more or less advocating we play the typical english football(hoof it up) which has shown it will fail anytime on the world stage. Dont know what you have till you lose it.

kill32

Posted on 31 Oct, 2006 at 03:58 PM - Reply

amazing article! and the england team is way too overhyped by these commentators... no wonder the FA appraoched wenger first as a replacement...

Teimur Aziz

Posted on 31 Oct, 2006 at 11:01 AM - Reply

Great article. I agree with you, I am sick and tired of these so called 'experts' always giving comments that are rubbish. It is pathetic.

Frank

Posted on 31 Oct, 2006 at 09:42 AM - Reply

Actually if you watch the footage of the Everton game, the crosses were absolutley superb. We are an accomplished side playing superb football on the ground (or on the volley if you are Robin Van Persie), but we are only just learning how to score from crosses and headers. Most of the crosses in the game landed on an Arsenal head often in a scoring position but the heading technique was not good. By the way I disagree with the pundits, Everton did not play well and were very , very lucky to get away with a draw.

Iain Stephenson

Posted on 31 Oct, 2006 at 09:28 AM - Reply

I totally agree. Sure Everton have the right to play for a point, but football must be about entertainment. Would people really pay to watch Everton play like that every week? And spot on about England. I try not to watch them anymore as they are so bad - would rather watch Arsenal every time.

aFan

Posted on 31 Oct, 2006 at 09:19 AM - Reply

Arsenal team needs at least 20 hours of practice per week just on set pieces!!!! Unfortunately we are horrible in taking corners... ManUre or Chel$ki could have scored at least two goals from the number of corners we had in the match!!!

Vanilla

Posted on 31 Oct, 2006 at 05:55 AM - Reply

I don't think Ade can help if crossing is sill as poor as it was in the last game -- 16 corners with nothing

Jean Louis (Panamá)

Posted on 31 Oct, 2006 at 03:31 AM - Reply

I think we are missing Ade...I really like his style and his pace... I hate when people criticise him (who gave us the winning goal at Old trafford? is that something little?) and we all know strikers miss chances, but he really creates spaces and confuses defenders and has a good close control... Ade rules! hope he's ok and can return as fast as possible.

karheng

Posted on 31 Oct, 2006 at 01:29 AM - Reply

Simple. When we did go to Reading and get a first goal, the Onus was on the opposition to come out and get a goal. When this happens, they become exposed at the back as they want to attack to get that point. What happens is that Arsenal are so damned good at the second part, that is finishing things off. It's so hard to score against Arsenal, but even harder to defend. Teams cherish that one goal they scored so they sit back and build walls out of it.

I can't wait for CSKA.

Simon

Posted on 30 Oct, 2006 at 11:05 PM - Reply

Excellent Article - I 100% agree. The really sad thing is, as an Englishman, that our National Team plays like Everton!!
And hardly anyone can see it!!

Celebrate Arsenal, Denigrate Everton...and I hate the way some Arsenal fans seem to prefer the Everton approach - per-lease, like bring back George Graham and re-sign John Hartson...I'll stop going!

Simon

dublingunner

Posted on 30 Oct, 2006 at 10:54 PM - Reply

Best article I've read here for a long while. I want to know who wrote it.

Footballfan

Posted on 30 Oct, 2006 at 10:35 PM - Reply

Brilliant article. I couldnt agree with you more, i would even go further and say that managers who play that kind of football should be sacked ( a tad extreme i know). Football is entertainment we pay to be entertained, we dont want to see defending for 80 odd minutes, whats the point? It an absolute disgrace i have never in my whole life seen such tactics deployed where one team doesnt even attempt create chances, i mean does Moyes have such low esteem of his players?? Its not the foreigners that are damaging the english game, any one with more than two brain cells can see that, its the lack of creativity and technical ability and certainly it doesnt help with tactics deployed like that. That wasnt football, it was nothing. When England dont win anything for the next 10 years then maybe people will realise why that is, all they have too look at is the number of english players playing abroad, Umm Hargreaves ( he was brought through the german academy system) and umm Beckham (And hes just for shirt sales). I personally blame the half witted journalists who know nothing about the game and present not facts or tactics but useless jargon they make up to pass off as journalism.

Noel

Posted on 30 Oct, 2006 at 10:15 PM - Reply

Yes, we were missing Adebayor....not saying he would have definitely scored but probably would have made a bit of a difference...

NYgoogner

Posted on 30 Oct, 2006 at 09:26 PM - Reply

right to the point mate!

Timleaf

Posted on 30 Oct, 2006 at 06:49 PM - Reply

One of the better football articles. I agree with most of the things you've said here.

Nazry

Posted on 30 Oct, 2006 at 04:12 PM - Reply

good article mates. mostly i agreed with you. many teams who are againts arsenal just put all their player in their box. here a good idea for them : why don't they just puts their coach over there too..coward!

Rombosia

Posted on 30 Oct, 2006 at 02:24 PM - Reply

G Chia, nope. Stop lookin for excuses. Had we won, as we should have, would U still think that?

Everton simply played spoiler all the way. When they scored first, it made it harder for us, but I think it is a learning curve for us. Very soon we shall get the solution for such tactics. We should be glad coz we r learning from it. When we get the solution, the premier league is in trouble!!

JL

Posted on 30 Oct, 2006 at 02:08 PM - Reply

This point has been raised before, but the reason why 'commentators' in this country rate the England national team so highly is because they don't have a very good knowledge of players in other nations/leagues. Hence, why they over-emphasise the national team's potential.

If you look at it statiscally, England do very well in competitions, though commentators and then the public expect them to win it every time.

For instance, based on population alone, England do well in comparison to Brazil, who have a population 4 times that of England, and hence more players to choose from (especially since most there are mad about football).

a islam

Posted on 30 Oct, 2006 at 01:02 PM - Reply

very good article with an understanding of football from around the world. kind of parallel with my thoughts of arsenal. even though the result was shite it was still good to see arsenal dominating and to see our young players growing with every touch namely hleb, v.persie and fabregas. rosicky isnt taking pires' place but is making a name for himself. its also quite nice to not hear everybody say...'maybe they are missing bergkamp?' because we are playing such pretty football. and no we are not missing adebayor because he does not play to arsenal's strengths he plays to english football strengths.

hahaha

Posted on 30 Oct, 2006 at 12:59 PM - Reply

suck it down and stop moaning. Your defence is a joke. If VP or TH is injured and your attacking line is weakened to the point that other teams can break, then I'd expect Arsenal to go down by 3 or 4 goals to a team of the quality of Everton.

Jude704

Posted on 30 Oct, 2006 at 12:52 PM - Reply

Thanks please post to the Myopic bunch of TV presenters that think that evertons style is revolutionary...

Unfortunatelty the FA would rather see such sort of negative football played because truly if anyone was to play Arsenal (Including Chelsea) in a open 4-4-2 attacking formation throwing heat at Arsenal we qwould be on top of the league with a game in hand, the only comment I would like TH14 to get is that he was really crap... and no amount love i have for him will negate the fact that we needed that magic but he's like I'm the king and he needs to realise thats why we pay him so much coz he is a real superstar .....

Rani

Posted on 30 Oct, 2006 at 12:40 PM - Reply

I strongly agree with your reasoning behind watching games in a foreign language i tend to do the same, its a shame to lose the stadium noise and fans chanting, but i like to concentrate and analyze the football being played on my own... some of the garble the commentators spurt has become so monotonous and repetitive that i am starting to think any old tit whos kicked a ball around a few times could do it for a decent handout!

i loved the way Arsenal play football and if it means drawing the odd game in return for a performance like the one we all witnessed against Reading then i'll settle for that anyday ... a total footballing side with centre backs who could fight for starting places up front at some lower tier premeirship clubs even says a lot for what Le Boss has given football in England ... i must admit i love the rough of of the premiership but to combine it with sublime techniqe and pure class we are blessed with the luxury of watching such beautiful football.

I just had to laugh to myself when i heard the final whistle go and witnessed the uncontrollable exitement that the Evertonians displayed (players and fans) both alike!!! how sad i thought to myself they had 3 shots on goal, are in the premiership and call themselves a team!! and David Moyes jumping like a mad man on the sidelines pointing at his watch when he knows damn right that his players squeezed every second they could ... quite pathetic all in all.

kluangman

Posted on 30 Oct, 2006 at 11:28 AM - Reply

a very nice article...I totaly agree that some commentators...like mr. alen hensen..obviously...is totaly ignorant on how football should be played...english footballers should change their style of football...making it more technical otherwise just forget about winning the world cup or any other big football tournament...negative and defensive football is a measure of survival...that's how english football is at this moment...

donaldo

Posted on 30 Oct, 2006 at 10:27 AM - Reply

We have one major problem we are useless at corners attacking them and defending them.Teams come to the emirates to put ten men behind the ball and hope they win a corner.Villa and Everton have had one shot and scored when we have dominated the game.We have tons oif corners every game but how many goals do we scoere from them,very very few.

Frank

Posted on 30 Oct, 2006 at 09:53 AM - Reply

Excellent article - well done.

G Chia

Posted on 30 Oct, 2006 at 07:56 AM - Reply

Does anyone think we're missing Ade?

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