Early on in the season, Wenger said that in order to win trophies a team has to have Talent, Attitude, and Opportunity. It’s what I’ve cheekily called the “TAO of Wenger” and now that we’ve been knocked out of the penultimate trophy left in this season it’s a good time to take a look at last night’s game using Arsene Wenger’s own measuring stick.
First and most obviously, talent was sorely missing. It’s not taking anything away from the guys who left their hearts on the field to point out that Cesc Fabregas is Arsenal’s most talented midfielder. In fact, Cesc is so good that he makes others around him better. This doesn’t mean that Diaby’s not good, but rather that with Cesc on the field Diaby is better. Similarly at the back, Vermaelen’s job is easier when Gallas is around to help clean up. This was demonstrated amply by Messi’s third goal: Vermaelen attacked a long ball at the mid-field line (which is his job) and though he won the ball it fell to a Barca player who played in the streaking Lionel Messi and Silvestre was unable to recover in time to put in a challenge. With Gallas back there, I have no doubt that Messi would have been at least a little put off. Meanwhile, Bendtner showed what a huge talent he could become but there is no question whether Bendtner is better playing with Robin van Persie than with Theo and Rosicky. You just need to look at Arsenal’s severe dip in goals scored since November to see van Persie’s impact on all of Arsenal’s front line. I could go on, but rather than do that let’s look at the lineups last night and from the 2-1 loss in 2006:
Last night: Almunia, Sagna, Vermaelen, Silvestre, Clichy, Diaby, Denilson, Nasri, Rosicky, Bendtner, Walcott.
2006: Lehmann, Eboue, Toure, Campbell, Cole, Pires (Almunia 20), Silva, Fabregas (Flamini 74), Hleb (Reyes 85), Ljungberg, Henry.
For me, that’s why it was so much more heartbreaking to lose 2-1 in 2006. We had the best defensive record in the Champions League, we had the most talented back line, we had the world’s best striker, we had one of Arsenal’s best ever goal keepers, and we had the perfect combination of youth and experience. In short, it’s the team that many of you keep begging Arsene to buy. They even had the lead and all they had to do was hold on for a few more minutes to take the game into overtime, or Henry could have put away his golden opportunity and we’d have probably won, but as it was, we lost. I was upset all Summer and slowly got more agitated as the team that got so far slowly dissolved.
But even if you’re missing a ton of talent, sometimes the right overall attitude can win the day. So, what of their attitude? Did they at least try hard? With the exception of the last 20 minutes or so I would say yes.
Overall, I’m proud of the way that Arsenal played despite the stinging defeat. Watch some of those videos again, you can’t say we weren’t hustling back, closing spaces, and playing our hearts out yesterday. Even Silvestre who is clearly not a Champions League semi-final quality center back gave everything to the cause when he was on the pitch. So, you can’t fault the side for not trying.
But while I think they gave their all, there was a combination of mistakes and stunning brilliance which undid their hard work. Many people bemoaned Silvestre for the give back on Messi’s first goal and while I’ll agree that he was clumsy, he and Vermaelen closed the space. A normal person would have been blocked, but somehow Messi got the shot through the space of Vermaelen and Silvestre’s outstretched legs and curled the ball away from Almunia. It was a play that only one player in the world could have made.
And while I’m on the topic of stunningly brilliant play; yes, Messi is amazing but his whole team was perfectly drilled and played a huge role in making him amazing. Messi alone couldn’t have beaten Arsenal, he needed everyone on his team closing spaces, harassing Arsenal’s players off the pitch, and keeping possession through patient passing, while also exploiting the opportunities presented.
Much is made of Xavi and his 123 passes yesterday (with an astonishing 95% completion rate) or his 121 passes last week, but the Barcelona team was more than even just Xavi and Messi. Milito and Marquez were much maligned in the buildup with some people pointing out how Barcelona’s attack often starts through the center backs and how their passing is crucial to getting the game settled, keeping possession, and ultimately starting attacks. They combined for a total of 159 passes both with 86% completion rate. Arsenal’s entire back line, plus Diaby completed just 161 passes. Milito, Marquez, Xavi, hell the whole team made it possible for Messi to shine.
While I’m on the subject of Xavi I want to point one thing out here that many folks might have lost in the game. It’s something that I’ve talked about before and that I’ve been widely criticized for; Denilson plays the Xavi role for Arsenal. It’s not a glamorous job, Xavi had 0 goal, 0 shots, 0 assists, and 0 balls won. In fact, I don’t remember him making a single tackle. All he did was make short passes, mostly sideways or backward, and keep the team ticking over. Denilson does this exact thing week in and week out for Arsenal. More than that he’s a bit of a tougher player than Xavi and has the ability to shoot from distance which he couldn’t do yesterday because he was stuck in the holding role. So, while the press are rightly pointing out Xavi’s value to Barcelona I’d like to point out that Denilson is a similarly valuable player, maybe even more so. What would Barcelona have done if they were missing Messi, the way Arsenal were missing Cesc? I suspect Barca fans would have criticized Xavi for his lack of passing forward, much the same way Arsenal fans criticize Denilson.
And what of that last bit, that opportunity that Wenger says is the third component to silverware. Here I am the next day, after writing a piece which the day before called it an opportunity and I’m still not sure if I’d call it opportunity wasted or opportunity not granted. I guess if I am completely fair, it was a bit of both. With all the missing players, it was certainly a chance for some of the team players to show what they can do and in that sense there’s a bit of a feeling that we wasted that opportunity. Diaby, in particular, had a brilliant chance to play Theo Walcott in at one point and instead chose to pass to Bendtner which killed the counter. Clichy also had a golden opportunity after a bit of brilliant play and chose instead to take a highly speculative shot. But those were just individual opportunities, in a sense the best opportunity is when you are surrounded by the best players possible. What could Diaby and Nasri have done if they had Cesc and Arshavin in the team? We won’t know, injury robbed them of the opportunity to shine in that way.
The TAO of Wenger is a good measurement I think. It shows that Arsene needs to consider where the squad is next year. Do we have enough defenders to compete for 5 trophies? What happens when Song does down, plays for Cameroon, is suspended for specious yellow cards, etc? Robin van Persie gets hurt every year on international duty do we really have enough cover up front?
As you know I’m not a “buy buy buy” guy, I think this is an extremely talented team and it’s not up to me to decide if we’re just a few players short and need to buy or if there’s a youngster in the ranks who could do it for us next year (e.g. Djourou, Gibbs, Eastmond, Ramsey, Wilshere, etc). Nor do I question the attitude of this team, they are a massively resilient side and I expect a huge game from them next Wednesday against Spuds. What I would like to see is for Arsene to give them the opportunity to really show that they are the best. They were so close last night I could taste it, so close yet, just missing a few bits. Whether he does it through buying, bringing players up, fixing the insane injury record, or by horse placenta I don’t care. It’s his job to create opportunity both by giving youth a chance and by putting together a great team, and I trust that he will do it.
Because no one feels the loss of this game more acutely than Arsene Wenger. He was beat at his own game now twice in the one tournament he most covets. He will certainly be looking to improve and outflank Barcelona next time.
And yes, there will be a next time.
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Well said Tim.
Now is ‘not’ the time to go on a witch hunt and blame certain players and manager.
Its been an improving season, with the team providing its fans with much to cheer about.
Next week Spurs and a chance for Arsenal to move forward.
Very well put Tim.
It was a humbling loss but you just hope we can learn from it. Arsene has seen a first hand display of what he wants this team to be; now he needs to figure out the pieces he needs to achieve this goal.
Let’s beat the hell out of spuds and keep up the title challenge.
also http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=767352&sec=england&cc=5901
it seems if you piss off Fergie you get demoted; granted Dean has been sucking all year long but it didn’t directly impact fergie til now.
I agree that it’s Barca’s teamwork that should get the credit rather than the individual work by Messi although at the end of the day it was Messi’s quality in the final third that ultimately undid us. Yes his team mates did all the hard work but more often than not that’s how championship teams are built – i.e. around 1 or 2 key players. Nothing wrong with that, but perhaps we should really start thinking about bringing in a player that gives us that level of quality in the final third. It’s been a real problem for us since RVP got injured and while I love the guy, at some point you have to realize that as talented as he is you can not depend on him to stay fit so you need to bring in someone with the same level of talent in order to stay competitive.
As for Denilson, I have a hard time digesting the fact that you just compared him to Xavi. I must disgree with your statement that they play similar roles. Denilson’s job is more defensive. He was filling in for Song which means his role is more similar to that of Busquets or Toure. Xavi plays a little further forward – although not as far forward as Cesc has played at times, and his vision and passing are eons ahead of Denilson’s. Yes he keeps Barca ticking, but he can also pick a pass and spilt open a defense like no other in the business.
Im not a “buy buy buy” fan either – but the fact of the matter is if we want to play with the real quality teams, we will need to buy. We need a striker, a central defender who can double up in defensive midfield and above all – a GK. All too often in the past we have failed to learn from our lessons. I really hope this time we address our deficiencies for a change. You can be sure that Chelsea, ManU and ManC will strengthen over the summer. The league is not going to get any easier.
April 7th, 2010 at 8:00 am
One more thing about Denislon – I am not saying that he can not develop into a world class players. I think he has talent but his role is not going to the same as Xavi’s – ever. He just needs to improve his positional awareness and learn how to protect the ball better. That’s all we can ask of him
Obviously not having Fabregas hurt in the effort to get the ball even past midfield, but seriously though, what is it going to take for this squad to do a much better job of getting the ball past midfield. First, it didn’t help that Almunia seemed to kick the ball out of bounds several times. Second, it just seemed that our guys couldn’t handle the pressure we faced between our own box and midfield in trying to advance the ball. They pressed a ton and we flailed. When we pressed them (in both legs of the tie), they continued to pass it around much much more easily. To me, the difference in talent between Barcelona and Arsenal manifested itself in how slow or fast the game seemed to each respective side. To the Barca players, the game seems to unfold in slow motion to them, even though in reality it’s beyond swift. To our side, especially with the other side pressing, the game seemed to be too fast to calmly and consistently connect on passes in our attempts to progress beyond midfield. Was there anything tactically we could’ve done better to beat their pressing or was it just a matter of the players out there yesterday for Arsenal?
Even with all those troubles, we still had chances yesterday, particularly in the second half, but failed to execute. That was frustrating, but only before considering, as we’ve pointed out clearly, the talent this side was without yesterday. And on the subject of talent, I saw on ESPN this morning Wenger acknowledging the need to buy this offseason. This offseason could be unprecedented in the number of new faces coming in.
Glad we have a week off to recharge. What a taxing few weeks.
April 7th, 2010 at 9:00 am
I hope this time he actually backs up his words with actions. I clearly remember him saying before the jan transfer window that he was going to bring somebody in but as we all know that never happened. I can guarantee you that Madrid, Chelsea and ManC are going to inflate the transfer market once again and if that happens Arsene is not going to get any good “deals” out there. I guess we will have to wait and see what happens but just because Arsene says that we need new players does not necessarily mean that he will buy.
April 7th, 2010 at 9:09 am
I think Barcelona will buy a striker, Real Madrid will land Ribery, and City will make some outrageously high bid for Fernando Torres or Dzeko to open things up. I do hope that if RM does decide to sell Benzema that we beat United to the punch on him. I think we need another #1 striker to pair up with RvP, or more likely, to spell RvP when he’s injured. Let’s hope that more clubs, whether it’s mandated or not, start employing more fiscal prudence.
The worst thing is the level of domination we suffered. We were not even close to having a chance over 2 entire games. I am pissed at the huge gap between us and Barca, not the result…
April 7th, 2010 at 8:09 am
@Marty McFly,
the team has showed unbeievable mental strength recently but i would suggest this team is not strong mentally when we come up against a team as good or superior and confidence is easily shattered
last 4 results v man united and chelsea and now barca?
April 7th, 2010 at 8:15 am
I’d be surprised if Guardiola didn’t pop in the tapes from the Chelsea matches and the second United match. They seemed to figure out that pressing our midfield successfully before it can push the ball past midfield really flusters our personnel and causes us to make mistakes. Not every team is talented and/or fit enough to apply that amount of pressure to make a continued impact over 90 minutes, but Barca was successful at doing so yesterday.
April 7th, 2010 at 8:41 am
Well, unfortunately I didn’t see it that way. Barca did not do a ManU or Chelsea on us (where we dominated possession but lost the games). Barca actually out-Arsenaled Arsenal. The dominated every stat including possession. (80% possession in the first 30 minutes of the second game). That is harder to take than the loss.
April 7th, 2010 at 8:46 am
Point taken. But possession statistics aside, I’m just suggesting that Barca’s best opportunities were set up by the troubles their pressure caused our midfield. Similarly, I think if you look back at those United and Chelsea matches to which I referred, you’d see that their pressure on our players in our own half during our attempts to get the ball from Almunia to midfield led to the scoring.
April 7th, 2010 at 10:27 am
All teams’ best opportunities come from pressing their opponent’s midfield or defenders. Isn’t Bendtner’s first goal come from Diaby robbing the ball off a Barca’s player?
This is modern football–that is why Song is so important. Diaby plays better than his last game at the Emirates. But Theo is hopeless…Rosicky not good either. Remember our second goal against the Spuds–RvP pressed a Spud player who lost the ball in the center circle, Cesc got it and got a Messi-type of goal.
The point is, why are our players not good at pressing the Barca’s midfield?
April 7th, 2010 at 10:34 am
Some teams get caught on the counter attack. And Diaby took the ball away in our half of the pitch amidst Barcelona’s passing spree, whereas we were having trouble advancing the ball to the midfield line. I’m just saying for me what embodied the difference between the two teams was how easy it was for them to spray the ball upfield, while we struggled to hang onto the ball before getting even to midfield.
Excellent write-up, Tim. Top marks.
Insightful, constructive, and, as usual, optimistic and supportive.
Exactly why I read 7amkickoff.com.
April 7th, 2010 at 11:34 am
@Patrick, this.
i think wenger has to buy 3 big name players. these are the guys that instill confidence in the rest of the team when you come up against world class opposition.
there’s an excellent group of young players here signed to long term contracts. look at the positive effect an experienced head like sol has had on this group. a world class keeper, centre back and striker with big names and experience could push this team to the next level. and we could rule europe for years. i am extremely positive about our future. for the first time in 2 years i think that wenger is certain we need new quality proven players to top off the youth and i think he will get them
April 7th, 2010 at 10:38 am
It is not that easy to get the right players. Arshavin was our saviour last season; but this season he is not better than a Ljungborg. Where can we get another Henry 14? Will a world class player be willing to sit on the bench to wait for RvP to injure himself? Besides transfer fees which will be inflated by the RM, Mancity…etc, there is the wage structure to consider. Can we get someone world class who is willing to take in lesser pay than Cesc? I am not confident that Wenger can get the necessary players that Arsenal need.
remember how Arshavin used to grumble about his pay last season?
I’m waiting for those cunt nuggets who claim to be Arsenal supporters (but are Wolves fans) who have been posting in the other threads to come in here and talk shite.
One thing, just one, and I will put the ban-hammer down.
I already banned one for saying that Rosicky’s challenge was the same as Henry’s.
I think with the partial exception of last year, this team has been on an upward trajectory for a few years, while still performing at a high level. I’m not sure what the team needs (calls for another central defender and a goalkeeper sound about right, and assuming we’ve already got chamakh), but I have no doubt wenger sees everything we do and will act appropriately. I could see one or two moving on (maybe eduardo, maybe arshavin, maybe rosicky, or even vela), but we have players coming through (most notably wilshere).
I’ve grown to like this team a lot so I’m generally happy. Disappointed we couldn’t do more against a fantastic barcelona.
Anyway, a good post
To change gears a bit, I think we need to realize that Wenger has positioned Arsenal to dominate world football for years to come through the PURCHASING of world class players. I have a feeling that Wenger has been waiting for Arsenal’s debt to shrink significantly, which it has, and for other clubs to go into financial crisis, which they have. I’ve been diligently following the finance side of European football, and Arsenal are in the best shape of all the top 10 teams in the game. In the Premiership, Man U and Liverpool are 1 billion dollars in debt; in La Liga many of the teams cannot afford to pay their players and are in danger of pulling a Portsmouth. Even Real Madrid, who have 220 million plus euros of debt, and Barca, who made an 8 million euro profit despite winning everything; are vulnerable. At some point the transfer market will come under control, teams in financial trouble will have to sell their players, and their only a handful of clubs that will be able to afford buying top class players. These clubs include Arsenal, Man City, Chelsea, though if new regulations come into play that force clubs to show that they are at least breaking even without the help of financiers, this leaves Arsenal. At this point we will be self sustaining and have tons ‘o funds to buy whomever we want. Whether this situation comes to fruition this summer or the next, I am pretty excited about our financial situation. To me, this has been one of Wenger’s most masterful (and unrecognized) moves, and really does make him the most talented football manager in the world.
April 7th, 2010 at 10:42 am
But Barca’s success these two seasons do not come from buying players–Xavi, Iniesta, Messi are all brought into the academy and grows together. We have Cesc but we do not grow another Iniesta (diaby is not another Iniesta), RvP not yet another Messi…Look at Pedro and Bojan–they are like our Theo and Nasri…a few years later, they will perhaps come good. The point about Arsenal is, where is our next crop of talents?
April 7th, 2010 at 11:12 am
Are you being serious?
Wilshere, Ramsey, Theo, Djourou, Gibbs, Traore, Eastomond, Merida, Simpson, Watt, Jay Emmanuel-Thomas, Bartley, Cruise, Coquelin have all made first-team appearances this season to pretty good acclaim.
Oh and Vela. I always forget bout Vela.
April 7th, 2010 at 11:38 am
@Tim, so does mr. wenger forget about vela
“…buy three big name players.”
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=767284&sec=uefachampionsleague&cc=5901
Wenger hints that he may have to spend. That’s an old refrain that some how changes in the heat of summer.
I don’t need or want some other teams’ big names. You grow into a ‘big’ name in a good team. Wenger needs to figure out how Arsenal were beat and how to implement changes to to prevent that from happening again. If the personnel we have on hand can’t do that then they have to go. Is Bendtner going to get a better touch? For all Walcott’s vaunted speed, what let him down yesterday was his poor passing. Rosicky used to be a big name player but his name was not what was performing poorly yesterday. Big names don’t guarantee big time performances in new set ups.
I will vomit if I hear one more word about ‘young’ players. No one knows when the f**k you go from being good to great irrespective of your age. Being young is not a complement, an excuse, a reason, a bad thing or a good thing. It is only desirable when you are no longer but it does not compensate or mitigate and should not denigrate or castigate our team. Being old should not help us just like being young should not hurt us. It is the experience that matters and how we apply what we’ve learn that matters. It’s the development that matters and the pace of that development and its application. I’m trusting Wenger to get it right before our ‘young’ players become ‘old’ players.
April 7th, 2010 at 9:16 am
@ctpa, I agree with you that we don’t want some other teams Big Names but if you are able to bring in about 2 or 3 “experienced” players then i think it will help the whole team. What experienced players bring not only to the game itself is that the younger members will learn from these players. Who has the younger strikers been able to learn from rvp this year? nothing because he was hurt. They aren’t learning anything from Eduardo and vela and bendtner is too young to teach anyone anything.
I think as much as we need some experienced players, we need an overhaul of the defensive coaching staff. And i know i have heard of rumblings of Pat Rice retiring each year but maybe Wenger needs a younger assistant coach with different ideas. I follow the team team religiously but don’t know too much of the ins and outs with the coaching staff but it just seems that Rice is a bit of a Yes man. Let me know your thoughts.
April 7th, 2010 at 9:37 am
@ctpa, Another thing i wanted to reiterate about my last post was that with the players we had out on the field I was extremely proud of the boys! Our season this year was decimated with injury and to be still in the title race is a testament to the young players that are playing with heart and confidence. I just think we need to offload silvestre and buy a proper CB like we did last year. And i think we need an experienced striker to cover for what we have lost from Eduardo. I do not want to dis-guard Eduardo because i feel terrible for his injury but realistically we need coverage for him because he is playing at about 20% he was pre-accident. Once again i don’t want to be heartless but i am just being realistic. Maybe he would be better in some of the slower leagues who dont have such a physical side. Just my thoughts.
April 7th, 2010 at 11:13 am
@TxGun, Your point on Eduardo is well taken. No one wants to heartless but for the good of the club, I think Eduardo’s ship has sailed.
Experienced players elevating those around them is good in theory but the reality can be like a box of “Cracker Jacks”. You don’t know if the prize will be worth it.
April 7th, 2010 at 12:58 pm
@ctpa, Agreed, look at Arshvin. Has he ever really got the team elevated this season?
April 7th, 2010 at 1:08 pm
@TxGun, He was magnificent against Porto at the Emirates.
April 7th, 2010 at 4:35 pm
@Tim, For a “great” player, that’s one game out of 35 that he has really showed up for. I would say of all the players from the team that i was disappointed with this season, it was him. I had such high hopes going into this season and sure Russia getting bounced out of the World Cup was a huge blow to him and being played out of position for alot of the season isn’t ideal. But real exceptional footballer rises above that and does the best he can. And how many games did you see him not track back and play defense. You can look past it if he is banging in goals after goals. But 9 goals in 24 games isn’t the amount you can look past. I mean RVP(in 11)and TV5 both have scored 7 this season and Fabregas only played 2 more games than Arshavin and has banged in 15.
Tim, you’re dead on. The “Fix everything with money” crowd are mental, but cover is the key word. DeRossi would have kept Song out of the team for no good reason. Although a 4-2-3-1 might be sort’ve awesome, we haven’t really got the players for it right now. The choice between two wingers and two central midfielders is hard to make with our current squad, and it always seems to come off a bit wrong. Well, especially with RvP out. I miss that spiky Dutch bastard. I’m sure we all do. Wenger knows way better than I ever will about talent and formation. Also, he actually knows the budget situation.
Sure seemed like diagonal balls to Walcott on the wing might have been a good idea last night, though, seeing as how Abidal wasn’t even bothering to mark Theo.
They were faster, better, and more willing to go down. That yellow card on Denilson didn’t help anything. He certainly didn’t earn it. Cesc would have threaded Theo through on that second break, but who’s to say that Theo would have scored? That Messi wouldn’t have scored five? Either way we missed Song so badly.
We were soundly beaten by the best team in the world, fine.
Let’s get Jack in the team next year, see where Eastmond, Djorou, and Rambo stand, and maybe buy some cover. We are CLOSE people. Let’s mash on the spurs and all feel better about ourselves. Keep the faith, everybody.
New Up for Grabs coming tonight! Hurray!
Tim, as much as I value your opinion, for the life of me I wouldn’t compare Denilson’s role with Xavi’s. Maybe last night Xavi had 0 assists and 0 shots, but for christ’s sake, the guy is the most important player in the best team in the world at the moment. He definitely scores goals, has a huge amount of assists every year, navigates Barcelona against every team, and is definitely not so defensive minded, because that is why they have Yaya, Busquets and Keita (on a side note, those are 3 DMs we are talking about, all of them playing regularly). Denilson in not even a standard first team player, way behind Song in defensive duties, waaaaay behind Cesc in everything else, so for me, comparing him with Xavi is like comparing Seiko to a Patek Philippe. They both tick, but how?
April 7th, 2010 at 9:04 am
@Teampossible, 100% agreed
April 7th, 2010 at 10:23 am
@Teampossible, I understand your trepidations about the comparison. Last year Xavi had a career season and put up huge numbers (20 assists is more Cesc-like than anything) but in his previous years he’s been more Denilson than Cesc and remember, he’s 30, Denilson is 22.
In 2007 he played 35 had 7 goals and 6 assists
Last year, Denilson played 37 and had 3 goals and 7 assists.
But the real point isn’t the individual talent, it’s what he role is in the club. Last night, Xavi played the role that Denilson plays when Song is available: neat passes, tidy play, keep the team ticking over.
It makes me wonder what Arsenal fans would say if Xavi was on our team.
April 7th, 2010 at 10:27 am
@Tim, We would probably argue whether he is Arsenal quality or not, and how much we miss Gilberto and Vieira:)
April 7th, 2010 at 10:26 am
@Teampossible, I completely disagree that he’s not a starter. He played 37 games last season and apart from his injury this fall is a regular in the midfield alongside Song.
April 7th, 2010 at 10:33 am
@Tim, Yes, but I believe that he was regular for the same reason Arshavin was our regular striker for a couple of months. Cesc was injured and spent four months out of play, and although I don’t remember, I bet my injury-prone ass we had someone else from the midfield watching games from the stands, so that pretty much made him an automatic inclusion. But for this season, would you seriously consider him to be a starter ahead of Cesc, Song, Diaby, Arshavin, Nasri or Rosicky?
April 7th, 2010 at 10:57 am
Nasri, Arshavin and Rosicky all play up front so the only question is Diaby and yes, I see him starting over Diaby depending on the game.
He’s good that way because he can cover for Song and Diaby and Cesc. Which is why he got 37 League (alone) starts last year. Injuries are always going to be there, Denilson will fill in even if his best position is probably more like Xavi.
Brilliant article. Loved how you summed it up. I can just see Wenger plotting for next year
I for one couldn’t figure out what tactics we could have used to counter barcelona’s pressing game (with the exception of doing a Chelsea on them).
Watching Barca vs Inter will be interesting for that reason too. Seeing how they try and counter Barcelona.
As far as the tie and the result were concerned I think it was fair. They simply were better than us. But I don’t think that gap is insurmountable. It’s just that they are a few years ahead of us in both developing their academy and on the financial side of things.
We do need to address our weaknesses and part of that will be through buying players. But we really need to acknowledge that what Wenger is doing is laying a platform for the future, the benefits of which may only be had beyond his reign. It’s not stubborness. It really is a selfless act. He can go anywhere and win trophies. But he really cares for the club and he’s set us on our way to being a superpower in the football world. I hope he can finish the job himself though.
We’ve still got the league this season, however improbable it may seem. Let’s go for it.
I think we had the 3 of AW’s TAO. Even a denied opportunity when B52 faced a 1 on 1 with Valdez, and a nonexistant off side was called. Rosicky had 1, Clichy another. I think if Ibra played we would’ve had an even better chance, messi wouldnt have played the striker role (take note AA23), and wouldn’t be near our defensive mistakes. Great writing Tim. Proud to be a Gunner and a 7am’er.
OK most stuff has been said by now, but I would like a new goalkeeper and at least one new defender. I would also like us to start to close teams down when we don’t have the ball. I was saddened to watch pass after pass go astray and the errant player just stand there with his hands on his hips. If we had adopted this, then the ‘pressing game’, as mentioned earlier, would have been an ebb and flow, rather than an ebb!
I have great faith in this squad and we are nearly there.
I think this is a great time to be a Gooner!
i am at a loss trying to understand the fans who are slagging off people saying we need 3 world class players with a big name and experience.
here’s a dose of reality. campbell, silvestre and gallas could be off in the summer. more than likely! that leaves us with djourou and vermaelen our only recognised 1st team centre backs. what happens if either of them gets injured? i think we have to sign a world class centre back and back up for him. we need a world class keeper and i don’t know how anyone can argue with that.
we were on course to break all goalscoring records this year before rvp got injured, we had to play arshavin up front and eduardo is a shadow of himself so we definitley need a striker. is chamakh world-class,time will tell.
as for the guys saying we dont need to sign, we have to follow the barca youth system model. well fuck me didnt they just pay 60 odd million for big fat ibrahimovic. they spent over 25 million on Chygrynskiy. they paid 16mill for thierry.
they’ve proved a youth system with some big signing elite players is a recipe for success. and thats why we need to sign and sign big time.
April 7th, 2010 at 10:10 am
@TonyM, As you will see, the post above yours, I agree. But as a club we are never going to spend ridiculous sums of money on players (and I think Ibrahimovic was a part swap with E’to). We will end up with a solid defender in the mould of Vermaelan – and who could complain about that. It is just not AW’s way of spending big bucks, regardless of what others say.
I do believe he will find one GK and one CD and maybe pick someone else up cheap.
I don’t think the disagreement is with needing new players, it is how much we spend on them.
April 7th, 2010 at 10:22 am
@DC,
everything you are saying is right but i wish we would change that mentality. imagine if we had signed torres. a player like that earns you back that transfer money in no time at all with merchandising and a hatful of goals.
i’m of the opinion that torres would score 40 league goals a season playing for arsenal with the amount of chances this team usually creates. we’d be walking the league.
so go buy david villa, buy a superstar. we CAN afford it. its an investment with a guaranteed return and profit. imagine how much other players like bendtner would improve watching and training with this guy every day.
but as you say that will almost certainly not happen. i just think a 10million keeper and a 15million centre back with chamakh on a free is the very least of what we need
April 7th, 2010 at 10:32 am
@TonyM, I actually don’t disagree with the mentality as I fear for English football and the mess it is in (I am 57 and have watched this creep up on clubs for many, many years). At some point the bubble will burst and we will still be in a good financial position. We will then see more sensible transfer fees, we will have a fantastic youth system rolling out excellent players and be the Kings of Football that we undoubtedly are. I hope others will watch AFC for the next 100 years knowing the AW took the correct, prudent approach. I agree about Torres by the way (not sure about Villa) and you may get your wish with the £25 million purchases!
April 7th, 2010 at 10:41 am
@DC,
fair points.
i just think arsenal are big enough to be able to make 25 million pound signings today. the last 6 month financial results the club released were phenomenal.
at the end of the day the fans want trophies. i did the legends tour at emirates a couple of months ago and perry groves was of the same opinion. its time to admit the youth project is falling a little short, lets flex our financial muscle and get the players we need.
anyway, i have to say i have never been so optimistic about arsenal after a bad defeat like that. we dont need an overhaul, just minor surgery,, a little bit of class. the future is very very bright and i am excited about it
April 7th, 2010 at 11:19 am
The issue of large signings is only partially about transfer fees. Just as significant are the wages that need to be paid to superstars. Superstar wages would break our current wage structure which is based on a lot of players making “good” money and no-one making “superstar” money. The problem is that as soon as you start paying superstar money to one player, you create a slippery slope in which you have to pay that kind of money to your other high performers who are earning a lot less. The stability of the wage structure implodes. Arsenal is not currently built financially for that or at least is unwilling to go into big debt to do it. I am 100% on board with our conservative financial approach. Arshavin had to take a pay cut to play for us. AW is a big believer in money not being the only form of compensation and so part of his challenge in the transfer market is to find players who agree with him. It is quite genius that he has managed to build such a talented team given his circumstances. As long as they stay together, they will improve every year.
Couple of things –
*Barca is largely a product of its youth academy, which has been going on much longer than Arsenal’s. One thing we saw last night was a team with at least a decade’s more investment in this approach. An approach that requires patience.
*And that is helped if there is only one really rich competitor in the domestic league, with whom you share half the TV revenue. And the team in third is as successful on the pitch as Birmingham, meaning no teams in Spain the quality of Liverpool, Spurs, City or Villa, and only Real as an equal where we face ManU and Chelsea.
*Clearly, where Wenger has the largest work is with center backs. Interestingly, this is the oldest part of the team. (And age has not helped United back there, either.) Campbell is great, but a once a week guy; Sylvestre plays from memory; Gallas, like many players past their healthiest prime, is injured a lot. Other late 20s players who have struggled are Arshavin and Rosicky.
*Would any team in Spain expect three of its players to break their legs in one year? (Cesc, Ramsey, Nasri.) Would it expect to have three others on the squad whose careers were seriously impeded, or stopped, by major leg injuries (Diaby, Eduardo, Rosicky.) Have I missed anyone?
Will Capello “moan like a drain” at Ferguson for starting Rooney today? This could be the end of England’s WC dream if he ‘re-injures’ his ankle. A measure of desperation me thinks.
I do not like Bayern Munich nor Manchester United because both represent an odious aristocracy within their respective countries. Like the NY Yankees.
We already knew, before the game yesterday, that Arsene is looking at purchasing at least one centre half in the summer, if not two, with perhaps one of them also capable of playing in central midfield too, if necessary.
However, Arsene did not say yesterday that he was going to buy players as a result of losing the quarter final tie to Barca.
He merely said that we – Arsenal – needed to add something to increase the chances of winning silverware. That “added something” doesn’t necessarily equate to new players.
He might have been referring to new tactics, a greater work ethic, or an improvement in the quality of the team’s individual & collective defending.
But he wasn’t necessarily talking about buying new players as being the instant answer to any perceived shortcomings that the team has.
We’ll have to wait and see exactly what Arsene has in mind during the summer, and once next season starts.
COMPLETELY OFF TOPIC but I’m convinced Ferguson has sold his soul to the devil. 10 minutes in and United are up 2-0.
April 7th, 2010 at 12:41 pm
That would indicate he had a soul to sell in the first place!
April 7th, 2010 at 1:43 pm
@Bull, true. Looks like the devil reneg’ed anyway…
ManUre are out on away goals.
CMON BAYERN!!!
April 7th, 2010 at 1:44 pm
ManU flushed down the WC where they belong! Nice!
Barca – Inter
Lyon – Bayern
Both have a certain Good vs. Evil flavour
April 7th, 2010 at 2:13 pm
@Marty McFly, Barca – Bayern final. Should be another good game of football.
April 7th, 2010 at 4:02 pm
Give Lyon some love man.
What if they beat Real Madrid and then Barca in the Final?
Would be a sweet year!
April 7th, 2010 at 5:29 pm
@Marty McFly, not slagging Lyon at all – just haven’t really seen them play too much. As a defender, that attacking line of Robben, Ribery, Schweinsteiger and any of the other 4 forwards (Olic, Muller, Pranjic or Gomez) would give me nightmares. They are big, aggressive and talented.
Lyon – Bayern should be a nice game to watch too.
Remember how we whined the whole season “what would do utd without Looney?”. Well, this is it. Also, no english teams in semis. Also, we reached a level more than chelski and the same as utd with a decimated squad, had to face the champions, the best player in the world and almost did it. Come on you GOONERS!
Oh, let me ask this: How do you throw away a 3-0 lead at home and end up out of the cup? Imagine our “fans” if -god forbid- that happened to us? SAF was applauded after the match.
April 7th, 2010 at 3:14 pm
@Yan, what’s you point?
April 7th, 2010 at 3:15 pm
*your point.
Tim, why can’t we edit our posts?
April 7th, 2010 at 5:26 pm
@Patrick, Just comparing situations. If Arsenal were eliminated after a 3-0 lead at 30min 1st Half, the world would come to an end for some fans.
April 7th, 2010 at 5:28 pm
@Yan, clearly United need to buy some players.
April 7th, 2010 at 4:53 pm
Well let me ask you this: How fans do you think would have cheered for Bendtner after his showing at Burnley? Fuck the Utd. fans, they think their manager never does anything worng. They always turn their backs on his cuntitude and that, in my book, makes them cunts too. Fuck them.
April 7th, 2010 at 4:54 pm
Meant.. How MANY fans.. i can’t type today
Fergusson’s post-game comment:
“Young boy, inexperience, but they got him sent off. They all rushed towards the referee. Typical Germans.”
Stay classy fergie you racist xenophobic cunt
April 7th, 2010 at 2:30 pm
This coming from a guy whose complaints help get Mike Dean demoted. What a dickbag and a drunk Ferguson is.
hey tim.. did you read this?
http://legendaire.wordpress.com/2010/04/07/barcelona-won-nothing-for-6-years/
its too good!
I feel immensely better today after United’s loss. I hope we finish above those arrogant cocksuckers in the league
April 7th, 2010 at 4:11 pm
This is a strange thing for me to say, but I don’t mind owning a Robben jersey after today! The problem: I’ll have to go back to get an Eindhoven jersey cuz I am NOT buying or wearing Real Madrid or Chel$ea or even Bayern in this lifetime…
April 7th, 2010 at 4:18 pm
Get the Dutch jersey. It’s cooler (unless you are German).
April 7th, 2010 at 4:24 pm
That’s a great idea, but I already have a relatively new Dutch jersey. And yes, they are very cool.
April 7th, 2010 at 5:30 pm
@nycgunner, it’s called schadenfreude. I wonder is schadenfreude typically German.
This too funny. This is a blooper squared: http://www.metro.co.uk/sport/oddballs/820476-chris-kamara-red-card-gaff-becomes-youtube-hit
@Tim,
Normally we agree on most things football Tim. However, speaking of Xavi and Denilson in the same breath is like comparing Jesus to Hitler. Xavi is the reason why Cesc is not a regular in the Spain squad and comparing Denilson to Cesc is like comparing Secretariat to the Donkey I used to ride at my cousin’s farm.
Look on Xavi’s assist and goal scoring over a season and Denilson is not even close. Look on the heat map at ESPN Soccernet and the difference in passing is totally one sidee in Xavi’s favor. Hopefully, which I sincerely doubt, one day he may may make me eat my words. Until then, he is no more than an average player.
April 7th, 2010 at 5:37 pm
@Caribkid69, woah, Hitler finally makes an appearance.
Worst analogy ever. LOL!
April 7th, 2010 at 5:40 pm
I know (lol),
But the comparison seemed to be somewhat of a desecration to me.
New goalkeeper and a new back-up defender. And a new Messi.
WTF is up with Vela apparently misplacing his passport. Rank immaturity.