The beautiful game has been Arsene Wengers dream way of playing for many years, slick quick passing, team mates moving like a well oiled gearbox, synchronised meshing, often making lesser teams seem as if they are running around like headless chickens. Media, Pundits, Managers and players all agree that when Arsenal play like this its beautiful to watch. Playing this way takes tremendous amounts of training and practice but if you have a sticky gear it can upset the smooth running.
This way of playing has its for's and against, I will start with the for's:
When we are in possession, the quick passes that we play seldom gives the opposing team a chance, they run from player to player and just as they are about to tackle the ball is gone. Large amounts of possession is accumulated, making the game look one-sided, our players gain confidence and try trick passes which often work and can split any defence but if they don't, we hand the ball to the opposition.
The against:
We play the beautiful game but we play it slow. Most of the time we bring the ball out from our keeper, sometimes we have five or six passes before we cross the halfway line, the same on the other half. But what we have achieved with all these passes is to allow the opposition time to form their defensive lines, we spread the passing from one side of the ground to the other but there are so many played back, we appear to be knocking on the door but are not allowed in.
This was apparent in our game with City, a team who visited with no demands but with the belief that they could earn a result and with their dogged defending did it very well, albeit only a point but an away point against one of their rivals in the top four of the league. They set their stall up not to lose and that's exactly what happened.
They had a tactical plan and apart from one, maybe two shots on target from us it was a resilient defending night from City, I know some would say we hit the post three times and stranded their impressive goalkeeper Joe Hart but I count that as a shot not on target but a miss, Hart at no stage looked under pressure.
How can we work this out so that we retain possession and score goals and turn these frustrating draws into happy wins. Wenger appears to struggle with this scenario, we appear to play the same whoever we play and the rest of the league know it too. Most of the other teams are using the same ploy against us and all who use it often get results. We ought to learn a lesson from games like these and watch how other teams perform given the same circumstances.
Look no further than Manchester United, I understand a lot of readers will find this distasteful but if it helps us to pull our head out of the sand it has to be done.
Now Manchester Utd play a similar game to us but faster, they are more direct and push forward extremely quickly defences hate this pressure. Forwards race into the box awaiting a quick cross which often produces the wanted goal, they catch the defenders before they have formed their back line everybody is running at sixes and sevens.
Tottenham have also adopted this ploy this season to good effect, with Gareth Bale a spurting run direct with forwards running for all their worth to get in the box has attributed to their goal tally as was shown against us, Chelsea, although not at their best this season, are also past masters of this ploy and with eager forwards have reaped the rewards in passed seasons.
Perhaps its time to swallow our pride and attempt a new approach as of our rivals as we have become a team who are becoming predictable and easy to play against. We need to mix our play up so that opposing teams do not know what is coming.
If we carry on as we are the beautiful game we play could also end up being our downfall.
Time to look and learn from others?
It's no weakness, it's the way forward......
Written by Steve Palmer
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