Arsenal-Mania

Arsenal start healing for next season

By Joël Che on Wednesday, April 30, 2008

The game at Pride Park was a very good way to start work for next season. It exposed all our problems and started to show us some of the solutions that must be worked on over the summer.

Emmanuel Adebayor and William Gallas beaming at each other and Adebayor laughing around Derby players in their penalty box. It's okay for Adebayor to be happy but one should always be respectful of the opposition especially when they are losing heavily. We have been on the receiving end at Old Trafford and White Hart Lane and we need to show some respect.

Francesc Fabregas is a wonderful player and there seems little that he would not be able to do with a football if he wants to. But Cesc is like Dennis Bergkamp and Kaka. They keep their football simple and even in a match like the one at Derby where everyone was trying to shine, Cesc kept it simple. Such class for such a young player is amazing.

Pride Park was about healing and friendships. Emmanuel Eboue and Adebayor danced – maybe they should spend more time practising shots then dance moves – but I must admit to liking the first dance. Then Adebayor gave the thumps-up to Nicklas Bendtner and Bendtner was hugged by his team mates when he scored. Bendtner tried to find Adebayor more times than he should as a sign of comradeship, I guess. The team was trying to set-up non-scorers like Gallas, Alex Song, Eboue, Kolo Touré, etc. for an end of season goal.

It was typical end of season stuff but for this team it is also about healing, given the torment of the past few weeks.

There were also some very telling moments. van Persie set-up Bendtner for the first goal. The old van Persie would have taken a shot and in most other games this season, when our luck has been so bad, the pass would probably have been cut out and we would all be wondering why he didn't shoot himself. But that moment told me that van Persie is so much more a team player these days. It was a confirmation of the little moments of good passing that I have seen this season when he has been around.

Another moment was when Walcott set-up Adebayor (after Touré missed) for the first goal. At Anfield, Theo had beaten a mass of Liverpool players and got to the by line. Then he looked up, waited, decided, waited and passed. The kind of calmness you don't expect of a teenager who had just beaten a trop of experienced players in the quarter finals of the Champions League in a massive stadium like Anfield. At Pride Park, we saw that it was no fluke. Theo can be very calm at crucial moments. That was good to see.

Then I turned around to pick up my cup of tea and then looked up, to see an Arsenal player take a touch from the left, got past a defender with that touch and followed up in one move with a volley-shot that beat the goalkeeper and shook the net ever so lightly to suggest it was put there rather than hit there.

I immediately looked at my DVD player to see if I had hit the play button by mistake and was now watching a recording of Henry's goals. It was off. It was Theo Walcott. Well, what a player! Wenger has openly said he expected Theo to be further improved than he was this season.

Wenger rarely says negative things about players in the press. He rarely uses the press to put pressure on players so I guess it must either be that Wenger rates him so highly or that Wenger believes it will help him to know that he can be in the first team as soon as he can prove it and to tell him that the boss is ready to put him in there anytime now.

The last moment was not really a moment. It is about Alex Song. Song had a very good game at Old Trafford. He made two mistakes there and two mistakes at Pride Park. Most good defenders average that per match but I cannot comment yet on his capability at centre-back. What I can comment on is that he affects Arsenal's entire game in a positive way. I first noticed this at Old Trafford and then again last night.

Arsenal's biggest problem this season has been movement especially in the final third. Arsenal tend to crowd narrow outside the box and pass around. When Song plays, he tends to bring the ball forward and usually very directly into the central midfield.

Arsenal tend to use Sagna and Clichy as outlets but Song brings the ball to midfield himself. When this happens, midfielders move higher up as he approaches so they are not too close. Then as the midfielders move higher up in the central area, they get close to the forwards who then move away to the sides to give each other space. This happens while Song is still on the ball.

It basically forces Arsenal to move a little bit more interestingly than they are used to and helps our fluidity. He creates good starting positions for everyone just by moving forward centrally rather than having Clichy come out every time and then have everyone gathering centrally waiting for the ball that we never cross anyway so we just end up ping-ponging around the box.

Obviously, it has some drawbacks, yesterday Song got caught high and it was a simple pass by Derby then to isolate Gallas and Earnshaw scored. But maybe we can live with that if Arsenal are just that little bit more fluent because of better movement when Song plays and especially when Bendtner and Walcott are also on.

Bendtner can move very well in the box so he is a problem for defences and Derby lost other Arsenal players so often including Ade because Bendtner was moving very well. Then you also have Theo who is not a static player. He would make a run at the slightest hint of an attack.

He can exploit small spaces because his first touch is very decent. Ronaldo can get out of tight spots to explode because he has a good first touch. Theo will be the same. He can also exploit large spaces because he has the speed to get to balls that defenders just won't expect anyone to get. You could even just imagine that the corner flag is your player and keep hitting balls to it and Theo would get there first.

I think the biggest tragedy this season besides not winning anything is that van Persie, Rosicky and Eduardo have been injured for so long that it must be pretty difficult to decide how much these players can really contribute. Many of us can now make up our minds about Hleb, Flamini, Clichy, Sagna, Adebayor, Eboue and Gallas because we have seen them a whole season. We couldn't really do that last season.

With van Persie, Rosicky and Eduardo, one is still not sure if Arsenal can believe that with them we can win everything or if we still need to buy a fantastic goal machines and other replacements. We simply don't have the real facts to help us with decision making surrounding the current attacking options. I have no idea how Wenger can properly assess this.

User Comments

15

Edward Okeleke

Posted on 2 May, 2008 at 03:15 PM - Reply

Arsenal have a very good team to win medals but I advice that the key in each roll should have a key substitute.

14

gt

Posted on 2 May, 2008 at 05:29 AM - Reply

You made a very good point about Adebayor's dismal attitude towards the opponents. I would like to see a player on an Arsenal shirt behave much better than that.
And I agree with #9 that we lost the title because we tied the game that should have won, and lost that game that should have at least tied.
Can't wait until next season. Hopefully all our players will come back from the European Cup unscratched.

13

Yusuf

Posted on 1 May, 2008 at 01:41 PM - Reply

A fantastic piece, Joel, thank you, that was rather...'heartwarming' is the word when one writes like that. You would be a great coach under Wenger and Rice.

12

Shane

Posted on 1 May, 2008 at 12:57 PM - Reply

I agree with much of this and feel extremely frustrated that Arsene's genius clouds the fact that he could have done so much better this season. Adebayor etc are not good enough and underachieving in relation to the goal scoring opportunities the team creates. The Defenders & keepers are under achieving in relation to the goals they prevent as opposed to scoring opportunities given to teams. Cesc's brilliant wee legs have been run into the ground and he needs a worthy cover. Underlining all this, we have no leader on the pitch. I love Wenger and all the players who did their best this season but they need help. Wenger misses Dein obviously because its clear to me that Arsenal must buy a proper striker to exploit the chances, a proper world class centre back or two to marshal that area, a goalkeeper of unarguable quality & consistency, a world class midfielder or two topped off with a captain who gives the impression on field that he would die for the club, and demands and enforces this mentality in the other players. With all of this the team can build the confidence and determination to be the world beating team that Arsenal FC deserves to be. Without all of this we will we what we are, the greatest club in the world, that play the prettiest football in the world, but who never win anything, but often come close. Thats the scenario of hell for most fans.

11

David

Posted on 1 May, 2008 at 10:18 AM - Reply

The fact is clear. Adebayor is not reliable in crucial games, and his first touch is very poor compared to other strikers. Like I always said he would be a better player when we are leading and he may come on as a sub in the final 20 minutes. Song might not be as strong as Toure at centre back position, but he is much smarter than Toure, who tends to play without thinking too much. So our major problem which should be addressed this summer is a world class center back and a super class finisher up front. Imagine if we had Tevez-like replacing Adebayor, he would probably score 50 goals this season. Adebayor is a disgrace and has no class at all!

10

dyg

Posted on 1 May, 2008 at 04:23 AM - Reply

I couldn't agree more...
This is right on the spot!!!

9

Big Scoop

Posted on 30 Apr, 2008 at 06:15 PM - Reply

How Arsenal Lost The League

Blackburn 1-1 should have won

Liverpool 1-1 Should have won

Newcastle 1-1 Couldn’t hold on 2 the lead

Birmingham 1-1 should have won

Birmingham 2-2 should have won

Aston Villa 1-1 Clumsy Senderos

Wigan 0-0 should have won

Middlesbrough 1-1 Poor Defending As Usual

Chelsea 2-1 Couldn’t hold on 2 the lead

Liverpool 1-1 should have won

Man U 2-1 did not take R chances gave away cheap set-pieces lost concentration and fucked up.

Arsenal R overrated why because they cant defend they cant kill off teams they have a average Keeper a winger who’s scared 2 shoot and another who rarely scores the first goal and injury prone on top of that. But what makes it worst is that because AW has done so much for the club he is now exempt from criticism simply because ‘’Arsene Knows’’ as they say just because he has done so much that does not mean U shouldn’t question his decisions if he know’s so much explain why he would persist with Senderos or Eboue why he did not sign Wodgate & Anelka (in January) and sent Bendtner on loan why he did not rest key player’s who were clearly getting tired why he did not let Diarra go on loan instead of letting him go completely and than excusing it by claming he had enough players in that position why did he allow such a key player in Flamini 2 run out his contract like that why does he continue 2 tell the world his players r young and still learning lets see shall we Almuina 30 Sagna 25 Gallas 30 Toure 27 Hleb 26 Rosicky 27
The rest R 24 apart from Clichy & Fabregas who R the only ones who U could call kids!!! why has he got inexperienced player’s who he clearly does not trust why does he builds teams that have almost no competition for places since the players on the bench R 2 young and still learning there trade.

8

Nikhil

Posted on 30 Apr, 2008 at 05:54 PM - Reply

Adebayor is becoming an asshole. He is showing attitude and ego just because he is scoring goals. I don't him to become like any Man. Utd. player coz he is becoming like Ronaldo and he does not have any respect for the opponents and likes humiliating them. He and Eboue can celebrate but by not insulting the opponents. You guyz can have fun but have a control over it. Man United are bastards.

7

delboy

Posted on 30 Apr, 2008 at 05:03 PM - Reply

talk about over analysing, as you said way earlier it was an end of season match, lets leave it at that. You need to get out more!

6

Chibuzor venatius

Posted on 30 Apr, 2008 at 04:30 PM - Reply

Arsenal should go ahead and buy strikers like devide vella and good replacements against any injury next sesson.

5

tiff

Posted on 30 Apr, 2008 at 03:30 PM - Reply

Great article, could not agree more!

4

Kalule in Uganda

Posted on 30 Apr, 2008 at 02:20 PM - Reply

One of the best and closer to the truth analysis I've read. I noticed though Ebue did some first time crossing in ht eDerby game.Problem was failure by team mates to anticipate them or Himself blindly crossing. Although with another team you could have got a goal from one of them.

3

BOY BETTER KNOW......

Posted on 30 Apr, 2008 at 02:18 PM - Reply

For me gallas and toure have not got a good understanding yet. Togther they need time on the pitch and an injury free season for them to gel properly. I always feel they will concede a goal where as u look at the other top 3 sides they seem to keep clean sheets.In my opinion if arsenal had the centre backs of chelski, man u and liverpool we would of won the league that is just my view. For me arsenal need to have defenders that want to defend rather than all out attack. Also they are not the tallest pair either are they?in the prem its all about 6ft plus players that u need and not these midgets that we seem to have.Please wenger if you are going to sign anyone this summer please make sure there over six foot not six inches. The prems all about pace and power if arsenal want to win the league they will have to sign a few more powerful players and not these weaklings.

2

Alex Payne

Posted on 30 Apr, 2008 at 01:59 PM - Reply

I really hope Adebayor and his ego leave our wonderful club this summer. He can take the other Emmanuel with him as well. Good luck to Flamini wherever he goes - he always tries - and the same to Hleb. We don't need them - we need midfielders who can score.

1

Nikhil

Posted on 30 Apr, 2008 at 12:48 PM - Reply

Another classic and beautiful article by Joel. He is a superb writer and I'm amazed to see what he writes coz he writes all the acts necessary and makes me feel very proud of Arsenal.