Dancing to the Wenger Beat
When, in fifteen, twenty years time, when it’s all a distant memory, we all come back to look at Wenger’s Arsenal, there are certain flashes, certain images we’ll all remember.
Robert Pires moving from the left wing into the centre, shuffling past opponents before breaking out in an unlikely sprint.
Bergkamp dropping so deep into midfield it looks like he couldn’t possibly do any damage, only to come up with a pass that defies geometry.
Vieira near the edge of our box, receiving possession, surrounded by two opposition players with not a hope in hell of getting the ball off him.
Ljungberg breaking late into the box to dink the ball over the keeper.
Campbell simply out-muscling an opponent, a man mountain who can’t be physically dominated.
And Thierry Henry turning a half-chance into magic around the edges of the 18 yard box.
Sound familiar? It should, because last night, with the defeat of Lokomotiv Moskow contained all those elements of what this Arsenal team are about. It was, quite frankly, the most professional display we’ve ever given in European competition – not inspired or uncanny, like the demolitions of Inter, Juventus, Leverkusen, PSV or Roma in recent season; not tense, like Dynamo Kiev, or Real Mallorca a few years back now. And not heartbreaking, like all those false dawns we’ve seen before.
Professional, composed – played exactly to the distinctive beat Wenger has established as the best way for his team to prosper. Against Inter Milan in September we simply played too fast, twenty minutes of frantic surging leaving us horribly exposed to the counter-attack when over-ambitious through-balls went astray. The same could so nearly be said of the eventual victory over Kiev, where it took 89 minutes of constant pressure to come good.
But the last two games have been different. Calmer somehow. Maybe it’s the calmness of having nothing to lose, of being at the edge. Maybe however it was a calmness that came from the players understanding the larger significance of Arsenal’s need to qualify for the last 16. The effects it could have on their own careers, on their manager’s reputation, on the funding for Ashburton Grove. On seeing the brilliant potential of Wenger’s kids, and knowing their places would be at stake if they didn’t front up when it really mattered. On knowing that qualification would release a transfer fund that could bring in the couple of extra players we really need.
That’s a lot of pressure, and teams better than our own would have cracked under so many needs. Most satisfyingly for us, not for one second did the eleven out there last night look like buckling. They looked, from first to last like they would win, and I’ve said that very rarely with us in Europe.
If any one player is symptomatic of that it is Freddie Ljungberg. He’s had a tough year and a half. His reputation was so enhanced by his incredible scoring run to bring us the double that the burden of his hip injury - which as Roy Keane and Robbie Fowler’s own difficult rehabilitations have proved, is about as bad as it gets for crocked footballers – has made his mixed form only the more disappointing. He’s looked immobile, uninspired – a pale shadow of the player he was for that glorious seven game run.
Now he’s back. No questions about it. Four goals in six games is everything Freddie is about, popping up to finish off another trademark Henry, Bergkamp and Pires inspired move. Those three are so silky, so wondrously skilled. Freddie’s not like that. He runs at players or away from them, rarely going round or through them. But at his best he brings the three geniuses into the attack, bombing on into the box to dink something simple in over the keeper. I think his place has been under pressure by the improvements Pennant is making at Leeds, particularly by that wonder goal against Chelsea on Saturday. But Freddie’s stepped up, and when he plays like this he’s absolutely indispensable. The grit to the others silk. The one player I would stake my life on from ten yards to get a vital goal. No frills, no messing, just goals.
It’s great to see him back, unhampered and focussed. Just as it’s great to see Bobby also looking himself again. He ran the show last night. Wenger’s comparison’s of him to Zidane are specific. Like Zidane he plays best when not tied to a specific position. Let him run free and he’ll hurt you, tie him to the wing and he won’t. To do that he’s needed to be fully fit. Finally, I think he is.
Vieira was not fully fit last night, but he asserted himself magnificently. Edu, Parlour and Silva have done extremely well without him. We haven’t lost since he last performed, and Toure’s progress at the back has been a large part of the reason for that. When he’s fully fit, we’ll have a spine to our team that is matchless in Europe, strong, creative, purposeful and capable of miracles. Toure, Campbell, Vieira, Henry. That will take some beating.
So can we finally push on from here, make a real impact in Europe? If we take last night as our example, there is no question that we can. Performances, results like that against Inter Milan don’t come often. Games like last night should be our aim. Solid displays played at the constant rhythm which sees us generate chances whilst giving very few away. Purposeful and not dependant on the spectacular to prosper. Wenger wouldn’t want anything more.
As an endnote, I think I should say that last night was the final nail in Sylvain Wiltord’s coffin in the red and white. Left firmly on the bench in a high-pressure situation, he’s gone come January. We should wish him well, but not rue his passing too much.
Wenger will replace him, and the rumour mill will go wild for the next few weeks over who that player will be. Finding non-cup tied players is hard. Jose Antonio Reyes is the highest class available – and the most expensive, but he would be the logical longterm replacement for Bergkamp. Alan Smith remains an option, although I think his confidence will depend more on what traumas are happening to Leeds, the club he loves, more even than how he settled in at Highbury. I’m not sure he’d forgive himself if he left and they then got relegated. Jermaine Defoe might be too inexperienced, and too solely a striker for the way Wenger likes Arsenal to play. It will probably be one of those three, I’d think – I just don’t see who else fits the bill.
Whoever it is, we can look forward happily. Finally, we’ve started to dance to the right version of Wenger beat and all of Europe will fear us now.
When, in fifteen, twenty years time, when it’s all a distant memory, we all come back to look at Wenger’s Arsenal, there are certain flashes, certain images we’ll all remember.
Robert Pires moving from the left wing into the centre, shuffling past opponents before breaking out in an unlikely sprint.
Bergkamp dropping so deep into midfield it looks like he couldn’t possibly do any damage, only to come up with a pass that defies geometry.
Vieira near the edge of our box, receiving possession, surrounded by two opposition players with not a hope in hell of getting the ball off him.
Ljungberg breaking late into the box to dink the ball over the keeper.
Campbell simply out-muscling an opponent, a man mountain who can’t be physically dominated.
And Thierry Henry turning a half-chance into magic around the edges of the 18 yard box.
Sound familiar? It should, because last night, with the defeat of Lokomotiv Moskow contained all those elements of what this Arsenal team are about. It was, quite frankly, the most professional display we’ve ever given in European competition – not inspired or uncanny, like the demolitions of Inter, Juventus, Leverkusen, PSV or Roma in recent season; not tense, like Dynamo Kiev, or Real Mallorca a few years back now. And not heartbreaking, like all those false dawns we’ve seen before.
Professional, composed – played exactly to the distinctive beat Wenger has established as the best way for his team to prosper. Against Inter Milan in September we simply played too fast, twenty minutes of frantic surging leaving us horribly exposed to the counter-attack when over-ambitious through-balls went astray. The same could so nearly be said of the eventual victory over Kiev, where it took 89 minutes of constant pressure to come good.
But the last two games have been different. Calmer somehow. Maybe it’s the calmness of having nothing to lose, of being at the edge. Maybe however it was a calmness that came from the players understanding the larger significance of Arsenal’s need to qualify for the last 16. The effects it could have on their own careers, on their manager’s reputation, on the funding for Ashburton Grove. On seeing the brilliant potential of Wenger’s kids, and knowing their places would be at stake if they didn’t front up when it really mattered. On knowing that qualification would release a transfer fund that could bring in the couple of extra players we really need.
That’s a lot of pressure, and teams better than our own would have cracked under so many needs. Most satisfyingly for us, not for one second did the eleven out there last night look like buckling. They looked, from first to last like they would win, and I’ve said that very rarely with us in Europe.
If any one player is symptomatic of that it is Freddie Ljungberg. He’s had a tough year and a half. His reputation was so enhanced by his incredible scoring run to bring us the double that the burden of his hip injury - which as Roy Keane and Robbie Fowler’s own difficult rehabilitations have proved, is about as bad as it gets for crocked footballers – has made his mixed form only the more disappointing. He’s looked immobile, uninspired – a pale shadow of the player he was for that glorious seven game run.
Now he’s back. No questions about it. Four goals in six games is everything Freddie is about, popping up to finish off another trademark Henry, Bergkamp and Pires inspired move. Those three are so silky, so wondrously skilled. Freddie’s not like that. He runs at players or away from them, rarely going round or through them. But at his best he brings the three geniuses into the attack, bombing on into the box to dink something simple in over the keeper. I think his place has been under pressure by the improvements Pennant is making at Leeds, particularly by that wonder goal against Chelsea on Saturday. But Freddie’s stepped up, and when he plays like this he’s absolutely indispensable. The grit to the others silk. The one player I would stake my life on from ten yards to get a vital goal. No frills, no messing, just goals.
It’s great to see him back, unhampered and focussed. Just as it’s great to see Bobby also looking himself again. He ran the show last night. Wenger’s comparison’s of him to Zidane are specific. Like Zidane he plays best when not tied to a specific position. Let him run free and he’ll hurt you, tie him to the wing and he won’t. To do that he’s needed to be fully fit. Finally, I think he is.
Vieira was not fully fit last night, but he asserted himself magnificently. Edu, Parlour and Silva have done extremely well without him. We haven’t lost since he last performed, and Toure’s progress at the back has been a large part of the reason for that. When he’s fully fit, we’ll have a spine to our team that is matchless in Europe, strong, creative, purposeful and capable of miracles. Toure, Campbell, Vieira, Henry. That will take some beating.
So can we finally push on from here, make a real impact in Europe? If we take last night as our example, there is no question that we can. Performances, results like that against Inter Milan don’t come often. Games like last night should be our aim. Solid displays played at the constant rhythm which sees us generate chances whilst giving very few away. Purposeful and not dependant on the spectacular to prosper. Wenger wouldn’t want anything more.
As an endnote, I think I should say that last night was the final nail in Sylvain Wiltord’s coffin in the red and white. Left firmly on the bench in a high-pressure situation, he’s gone come January. We should wish him well, but not rue his passing too much.
Wenger will replace him, and the rumour mill will go wild for the next few weeks over who that player will be. Finding non-cup tied players is hard. Jose Antonio Reyes is the highest class available – and the most expensive, but he would be the logical longterm replacement for Bergkamp. Alan Smith remains an option, although I think his confidence will depend more on what traumas are happening to Leeds, the club he loves, more even than how he settled in at Highbury. I’m not sure he’d forgive himself if he left and they then got relegated. Jermaine Defoe might be too inexperienced, and too solely a striker for the way Wenger likes Arsenal to play. It will probably be one of those three, I’d think – I just don’t see who else fits the bill.
Whoever it is, we can look forward happily. Finally, we’ve started to dance to the right version of Wenger beat and all of Europe will fear us now.