Arsenal-Mania

Wilshere is Argentinean and Ramsey will be better than Gerrard

By Joël Che on Thursday, November 13, 2008

Past results
Date	Time	C	Opponent	F	A	R
Nov, 11	7:45 PM	LC	Wigan Athletic (H)	3	0	Win

"Maybe we should play these kids at weekends too," said the text message from my friend in Moscow at full-time.

It was meant as joke but then a second later we realised that we half meant it. This was Wigan's first team so they are by no means an easy proposition even for the first team.

Watching the Carling Cup over the years has been the brandy that you have to top off a great dinner on a Winter evening or to help get rid of the taste of a bad dinner. A good brandy works no matter what kind of meal you had. When the first team has been depressing, the Carling Cup team lifts you up. When the first team is doing well, the Carling Cup team is the cherry on top. For the past 5 years, Arsenal's dream football has been played in the Carling Cup, not in the Premiership or the Champions league.

These kids are young, some very small and not very experienced. They arrive at games knowing that the other team can beat them and that the opponent is more seasoned and more powerful. So they work like mad. They press in pairs and chase everything. Three tiny lanky Arsenal kids can crowd Palacios to get the ball. It doesn't matter if they fail to get it and are out of position because they are so quick that they can recover before the opponent exploits it.

What the kids lack in strength and experience they more than compensate for in speed, skill, heavy multiple pressing and recovery. They can run for 75 minutes and sprint 60 times in those 75 minutes with near Olympic speed. Therein lies the key difference between the first team and the Carling Cup team. The Carling Cup team arrive at games expecting the opponent to be stronger and more experienced so they work hard in pressing and doubling up on players. The first team, however, under-estimates opponents that are not big teams. That's why we can beat Manchester United and get beaten by Stoke and Fulham.

Against Manchester United, the first team pressed hard and ran a lot. Ronaldo was chaperoned by Gaël Clichy, Samir Nasri and Abou Diaby joining up. Berbatov was surrounded by Denilson, Fabregas and sometimes Diaby. The first team respected United and won. They did not respect Stoke City, Fulham and Hull City enough and lost. What's the point of being young if you cannot use your fitness, pace and skill to counter-balance the experience and physical strength that every team in the premiership has more of than Arsenal? Lack of respect costs points. The kids are showing that collective effort, pressing and recovery speed can be effective weapons against experience and physical strength.

There were so many great things in the performance yesterday. I was in heaven watching the game.

I know we are desperate for a good English player and we have one in Jack Wilshere but he plays like an Argentinean. Not to be confused with their Brazilian cousins. Brazil has Samba – their players play with that Samba energy, exuberance and an exaggerated expression of style. Argentina on the other hand is the land of the Tango. Wilshere is a Tango dancer. Like Hleb he can do a lot in a very small space without moving much. His lower body can move independently of his upper body. Like the other Argentinean, Messi, he explode suddenly or slice things to precisely out of nothing. He is nothing like any other player we have seen at Arsenal before. Thank God for England that he is at the right club to grow.

Ramsey is a steady, productive, simple and sometimes dangerous player. Ramsey will be better than Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard. I love Gerrard and respect him a lot so that's saying a lot about Ramsey.

I could watch Carlos Vela all night. Vela is relentlessly creative and forever daring. Carlos Vela and Nasri are the only two players in the club right now whose feet can do whatever their brains tell them to do under pressure. Most players at this level can do everything with the ball under calm conditions but when in front of goal, pressure interferes. Nasri and Vela seem to have that coolness that Henry had and they are try to do new things all the time.

Johan Djourou is a really good player. What I like about Djourou is that he is a bit nasty. He will push, bite, foul, elbow to win. He is the only player at Arsenal that will get nasty to win a challenge using fair and foul means. He will jump to win a header but makes sure he pushes his opponent in case he misses – Italian style defending. Djourou and Song make a very good pair. Song looks far more relaxed at centre back and has great games with Djourou. I love Song. I know he has his own frailties but I just love his lazy coolness. They are both surprisingly good in the air. At one point last night, I wondered if I was seeing the future of Arsenal's central defence.

The Carling Cup teams always have players that are copies of part copies of current or past Wenger Arsenal first team players. There are copies of Patrick Vieira, Dennis Bergkamp, Marc Overmars, Robért Píres, Francesc Fabregas, Lauren, Freddie Ljungberg everywhere, just the way Clichy looked like a copy of Ashley Cole, Diaby like Vieira, Song like Gilberto and Theo Walcott like Overmars. That's because they are Wenger's players built in his vision.

In one way it is a good thing because it allows continuity but in another way it can make the future a bit one-dimension and lacking in new ideas. It can also make needed change very difficult to execute over less than 3 years. Every so often there are players who don't look like anyone Wenger has ever had. Simpson looks like a very straightforward striker – we rarely have those so I hope he makes it. Although Wilshere is like nobody I can remember in the last 12 years, he really does look like an Arsenal player and I hope he can add something very new to the team in the future.

The lesson from yesterday was Respect! The first team needs to respect all their opponents and turn up for all games knowing they could lose and work hard for a win. They can do more to deny possession to the opponent, close them down quicker and purposefully, and join up on them. I cannot see many teams in the premiership and Europe that could handle the full attention of Arsenal and get away with it if Arsenal paid attention to them the way the kids did yesterday. Maybe Rooney and Ronaldo missed their chances not because they were off form but because they knew in that game that an Arsenal player would be on top of them in a second and hurried things. The first team need to respect their opponents and have a go at them.

RESPECT to the kids!

User Comments

16

rory

Posted on 20 Nov, 2008 at 09:01 PM - Reply

very good article although i do disagree. playing the kids is very dangerous. the senior players eg gallas would not accept being dropped. also are they mentally strong enough to cope if they lose a game or two on the trot? that could cause meltdown in arsenal and force us to be a mid table team. i think our problem is wengers inability to motivate players once we have lost and give them a rollicking! how often do you see us lose a few games in a row compared to man utd??? the biggest problem we have at the moment is gallas, bendtner and adebayor! they are all unsettling the team and we will not win anything again this season! as much as i kno wenger will not ever splash cash, i feel we really need a few players of quality and to also to promote a few of the youth players! wilshere can replace walcott for the next few months, vela makes bendtner look pony and ramsey is far more determined than diaby!

15

T.I

Posted on 20 Nov, 2008 at 11:08 AM - Reply

Excellent article,I see the young arsenal team becomming a better one than the first but in a team with a unique style like arsenal, you probably need a little set of nastiness that FLAMONEY once had.

14

Ahmed B.

Posted on 15 Nov, 2008 at 05:35 AM - Reply

excellent article. should forward these to the professor.

13

Jaba (Kolarbo)

Posted on 14 Nov, 2008 at 07:56 AM - Reply

those kids deserved morethan respect!!!they'r SUPERP....Thats what the senior team need;TEAM SPIRIT STRENGTH....without looking at the team in questioned.

12

Xerxes Engineer

Posted on 13 Nov, 2008 at 07:49 PM - Reply

Somehow, I COMPLETELY agree with this article. No matter what they say, the first team has not shown that respect. They thought they could get away with being sloppy, with being over wasteful and completely careless. They paid their price, because no matter if they are smaller teams they did take their chances and came out on top. The first team has to show this urgency in winning matches and stop thinking that with a goal or now even TWO..they can get away with it..!!

11

Goona

Posted on 13 Nov, 2008 at 07:33 PM - Reply

This team is certainly better than the one that reached the finals last time around. Never before have we demolished the opposition the way the kids have done this year in th CC. There is a lot of promise in this squad. I wish we have Tottenham in the next round and these boys defeat them handsomely.

10

gt

Posted on 13 Nov, 2008 at 05:59 PM - Reply

You're spot on in the difference in the attitude and respect towards the opponents between the kids and the first team. Maybe it is indeed a good idea to throw some of the youngsters to PL and even CL games; for one they do have the energy and they will run their heart out the whole game. I hope the performance last night will unsettle the first-team players even more, which will only be good.

9

delboy

Posted on 13 Nov, 2008 at 05:30 PM - Reply

Very good article joel, i throughly agree with you. I was just thinking to myself the other night how much wiltshire reminded me of messi. He also has the look of liam chippy brady. (No pressure jack). By the way i think young kieran Gibbs deserves a mention. Classy looking player!!

8

Holla7

Posted on 13 Nov, 2008 at 02:05 PM - Reply

Well written article with so many true points. The first team have thrown away too many games because they go into them looking like they can't be bothered being on the pitch (with a good example being the Fulham game). The kids play with so much vigor and determination and I hope that the first team can pick up on this. The entire Arsenal first team need to take a page out of Clichy's book coz rarely, if not never, have I seen the boy not give his all!!! His determination and love to play is next to none and personally, I hope he will captain the side in the future coz he'd make a magnificent captain!!!!

7

GS Malaysia

Posted on 13 Nov, 2008 at 12:33 PM - Reply

Playing our 2nd string players in the EPL is very very unlikely, not impossible. Yes, they know their opponents are tough, that is the reason they fight very hard and run around the pitch the whole 90 minutes.

Can they produce the same quality every twice a week, 80 matches a year consistently?

Another point is, our reserve team can only make surprises, winning the title? I don't think so. The reason the young gunners can play so well is because other teams' managers hardly have their playing records, they can hardly prepare anything before hand.

6

hahahahahahahaha

Posted on 13 Nov, 2008 at 10:33 AM - Reply

ramsay will be sold on in 2 years, like many of these arsenal players, they will be sold or will want to leave because arsenal have no appeal

5

Muhammad Ahsan

Posted on 13 Nov, 2008 at 10:27 AM - Reply

ASSALAMU ALEKUM

awesome article!!!!

4

fanner

Posted on 13 Nov, 2008 at 10:24 AM - Reply

Very good article. Respect your opponents and work hard whoever u face. Hope our first team read this. Cheers ~~

3

Jockdownsouth

Posted on 13 Nov, 2008 at 10:20 AM - Reply

Excellent article. I hope Arsene and the first team regulars read it and learn!

2

gunner-4-life

Posted on 13 Nov, 2008 at 09:51 AM - Reply

Well written article.
I would like whoever wearing Arsenal jersey and played to play with 100%. if they get tired or injured, the manager should trust the rest of the squad by playing them. Always give 100% should be the guiding philosophy for our team, and trophy will come sooner than later, and will keep coming, with our generation of talents.

1

sven

Posted on 13 Nov, 2008 at 09:39 AM - Reply

The youngsters are fabulous, for sure, but they would not last long playing premier league games week in and week out. Not just yet.