jefree
Active Member
The need of genuine wingers in Arsenal team
Whenever Arsenal lost to any team in England or in Europe, people will always point up to the lack of width in current team. People start to blame Rosicky and Hleb who provide little on the wings and then the name such as Ribery will pop up in the end. The need of out and out winger that will run to the byline and provide crosses into the box will always be brought up into discussion.
However, we need to make it clear to ourselves. Since when do Arsenal start playing with such strategy? We never have a proper winger in our team. Even Robert Pires, Freddie Ljungberg, Sylvain Wiltord, and Marc Overmars never were. They seldom run down the wing and provide crosses. Seldom as I say is not like the such of Jermain Pennant, Ryan Giggs, or Theo Walcott. They are true wingers. But Arsenal do never have one.
The winger in Arsenal's term is so called ''wide attacking midfielders''. It means, having an attacking midfielder who going to play wide. Robert Pires was a central attacking midfielder at Marseille before he joined Arsenal. Freddie Ljungberg was the same at Halmstad. Sylvain Wiltord was a top scorer as a striker back in France a year before he joined us. These kind of wide attacking midfielders are brought into our team not to play crosses, but mainly to provide goals and yet, able to play good passing football. That is why we always see them cutting inside from wide and score goals. That is why we are the only team in the world who have free scoring wingers who scores at least 10 goals per season. Name me any other team who have that record.
So, where do our width play come from? Before Arsène Wenger signed for Arsenal, Nigel Winterburn and Lee Dixon were the flat and static fullbacks who never going forward. But after Arsène Wenger took charge of this team, he encourages both of the fullbacks to go forward and support the attack. These two players were converted from a static fullback to a dynamic wingback. They were crucial in Wenger's new philosophy in order to provide width and crosses from wide.
Then comes into mind, why did Arsène Wenger make Patrick Vieira and Remi Garde, both are defensive midfielders as his first signings as Arsenal manager? This defensive midfield position is another vital factor of providing a balance when these two wingbacks bombarding forward to provide width and crosses. They are crucial to cover that wingbacks position when we are in attack.
Thus, it is now proven why Arsène Wenger likes to have an attacking minded and pacey wingbacks. Look at Clichy, Eboue, Traore or Gilbert. They all love to attack than defend. That defensive side can only be improved by experiences and playing time but the attacking instinct will never be developed. The pace is also important in order to track back whenever our attacks is broken up.
In the nutshell, I would like to justify that we don't really need to have genuine winger in our team. We just need to improve our style and make it fluent. Once that has been sorted out, we will be unstoppable and there will be no team in the world who can beat us.
That is why Arsène Wenger now in current team is putting Rosicky and Hleb wide. They have a very good link up play and also can play great one-two with wingbacks that will end up with an unstoppable crosses into the box. It is much easier to do this than having to dribble the fullback then launching a cross that will be easily shut down by a good and pacey fullback. Just look at the difference between Ronaldo vs Clichy and Eboue+Rosicky vs Evra during last triumph win against Manchester United.
Whenever Arsenal lost to any team in England or in Europe, people will always point up to the lack of width in current team. People start to blame Rosicky and Hleb who provide little on the wings and then the name such as Ribery will pop up in the end. The need of out and out winger that will run to the byline and provide crosses into the box will always be brought up into discussion.
However, we need to make it clear to ourselves. Since when do Arsenal start playing with such strategy? We never have a proper winger in our team. Even Robert Pires, Freddie Ljungberg, Sylvain Wiltord, and Marc Overmars never were. They seldom run down the wing and provide crosses. Seldom as I say is not like the such of Jermain Pennant, Ryan Giggs, or Theo Walcott. They are true wingers. But Arsenal do never have one.
The winger in Arsenal's term is so called ''wide attacking midfielders''. It means, having an attacking midfielder who going to play wide. Robert Pires was a central attacking midfielder at Marseille before he joined Arsenal. Freddie Ljungberg was the same at Halmstad. Sylvain Wiltord was a top scorer as a striker back in France a year before he joined us. These kind of wide attacking midfielders are brought into our team not to play crosses, but mainly to provide goals and yet, able to play good passing football. That is why we always see them cutting inside from wide and score goals. That is why we are the only team in the world who have free scoring wingers who scores at least 10 goals per season. Name me any other team who have that record.
So, where do our width play come from? Before Arsène Wenger signed for Arsenal, Nigel Winterburn and Lee Dixon were the flat and static fullbacks who never going forward. But after Arsène Wenger took charge of this team, he encourages both of the fullbacks to go forward and support the attack. These two players were converted from a static fullback to a dynamic wingback. They were crucial in Wenger's new philosophy in order to provide width and crosses from wide.
Then comes into mind, why did Arsène Wenger make Patrick Vieira and Remi Garde, both are defensive midfielders as his first signings as Arsenal manager? This defensive midfield position is another vital factor of providing a balance when these two wingbacks bombarding forward to provide width and crosses. They are crucial to cover that wingbacks position when we are in attack.
Thus, it is now proven why Arsène Wenger likes to have an attacking minded and pacey wingbacks. Look at Clichy, Eboue, Traore or Gilbert. They all love to attack than defend. That defensive side can only be improved by experiences and playing time but the attacking instinct will never be developed. The pace is also important in order to track back whenever our attacks is broken up.
In the nutshell, I would like to justify that we don't really need to have genuine winger in our team. We just need to improve our style and make it fluent. Once that has been sorted out, we will be unstoppable and there will be no team in the world who can beat us.
That is why Arsène Wenger now in current team is putting Rosicky and Hleb wide. They have a very good link up play and also can play great one-two with wingbacks that will end up with an unstoppable crosses into the box. It is much easier to do this than having to dribble the fullback then launching a cross that will be easily shut down by a good and pacey fullback. Just look at the difference between Ronaldo vs Clichy and Eboue+Rosicky vs Evra during last triumph win against Manchester United.
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