Yesterday, the 13th of January, Arsenal won, for me, their most satisfying victory. A man sent off after 13 minutes, and yet we still score twice and keep a clean sheet. Not many teams would do that with 11 at Ewood Park with the form Blackburn are in. If I were to liken this game to any, it would be Liverpool vs Arsenal in January 2002, a man down agaisnt a good Liverpool side but we still go on to win.
Anyway, onto the game, and the performance. Arsène Wenger has mastered, finally, his away game tactics. This is not to say we'll win or draw every away game, but it is to say that we are now a better away side then we've been since the 2003/04 season. Absorb and counter is what he asks for and that is what the players give, and yesterday we saw the perfect counter attack. A stupid freekick is given away in a dangerous area, the ball comes in and is blocked by our one man wall. Rosicky picks the ball up and plays it to Henry. Now infornt of Henry is one Arsenal player Francesc Fabregas and 6 Blackburn defenders excluding the goalkeeper. Now to most teams, a 2 vs 7 counter attack will come to nothing, because you can just shuffle the players out of play or out of posession, but not with Arsenal. Fabregas' run was supurb, it dragged 2 defenders away from Henry, leaving him with ounly 3 (only) near to him. He toys with them, a drop of the should and he jogs on, never sprinting, just jogs on. Fabregas finds space, just a yard or so, but hat's all he needs for a wonderfully weighted return pass, and Henry runs onto it for a first time finish you won't see for a while again. Power, curve, accuracy, an unstoppable shot.
So there, two men take on a team and 100 yards of pitch and score the perfect counter attack. This team is built for counter attacks. counter attacks require three things. Pace, passing and most important of all, movement, and there isn't a team with better movement then us, probably on Earth. The front 6 attacking players at anytime are constantly moving. It's fluid attacking, you'll have Rosicky run to the right wing, Hleb move inside, Eboué overlap, Henry drift to the left, Clichy support him and van Persie drift right of centre, and if the balls with Fabregas, he has a lot of choice. And that movement is impossible to defend against when done in time, you drag one defender one way, and another the other way, and that creates space. That's why Fabregas' run away from the ball was the most important part of the counter attack against Blackburn.
Anyway, onto the game, and the performance. Arsène Wenger has mastered, finally, his away game tactics. This is not to say we'll win or draw every away game, but it is to say that we are now a better away side then we've been since the 2003/04 season. Absorb and counter is what he asks for and that is what the players give, and yesterday we saw the perfect counter attack. A stupid freekick is given away in a dangerous area, the ball comes in and is blocked by our one man wall. Rosicky picks the ball up and plays it to Henry. Now infornt of Henry is one Arsenal player Francesc Fabregas and 6 Blackburn defenders excluding the goalkeeper. Now to most teams, a 2 vs 7 counter attack will come to nothing, because you can just shuffle the players out of play or out of posession, but not with Arsenal. Fabregas' run was supurb, it dragged 2 defenders away from Henry, leaving him with ounly 3 (only) near to him. He toys with them, a drop of the should and he jogs on, never sprinting, just jogs on. Fabregas finds space, just a yard or so, but hat's all he needs for a wonderfully weighted return pass, and Henry runs onto it for a first time finish you won't see for a while again. Power, curve, accuracy, an unstoppable shot.
So there, two men take on a team and 100 yards of pitch and score the perfect counter attack. This team is built for counter attacks. counter attacks require three things. Pace, passing and most important of all, movement, and there isn't a team with better movement then us, probably on Earth. The front 6 attacking players at anytime are constantly moving. It's fluid attacking, you'll have Rosicky run to the right wing, Hleb move inside, Eboué overlap, Henry drift to the left, Clichy support him and van Persie drift right of centre, and if the balls with Fabregas, he has a lot of choice. And that movement is impossible to defend against when done in time, you drag one defender one way, and another the other way, and that creates space. That's why Fabregas' run away from the ball was the most important part of the counter attack against Blackburn.
