For years I have supported Arsenal. We go down, I get angry, we play well I am thrilled. That’s my life regarding the Arsenal. Tears when we lost to United in the Champions League, and the slight smile when I look at the scoreboard to read Arsenal FC 3 – 0 Scum FC.
Lets face it, before the United game, we were never confident, in fact nobody was…everywhere I see stuff like, “we will get hammered, we have no chance” and all that crap.
I have never doubted Arsenal when they come against a small team or a comparatively weak team, namely every club in the Premiership except United, City, Chelsea, Scum (after the defeat this season ), and Liverpool. In Europe every team except Madrid, Barcelona, AC Milan, Bayern Munich.
But how can we improve the team. Its simple, we have his policy to attack, and attack. Even a spanish club has that policy, and they won 6 trophies in a year. But since they have the world best players, and how do I know this, well, the three finalists of the ballon’D’or award are all from the same team it’s quite a different story to us.
But to change tactics and policies is the only way we shall see silverware this season. We don’t have a Messi, but we have a Theo, so automatically we have to formulate a position suited to Theo and not Messi. We don’t have a Xavi, but we have a Cesc, so since they are both similar types of players, give Cesc the exact role which Xavi has. We don’t have an Iniesta, but we have a Nasri. Both players can play in the wing or in the centre so transform Nasri into the central role as quite frankly he shines over there.
Change the formation change the tactics. Sagna and Dani Alves are completely similar players this season, so I don’t see a change required there or even at the LB position. Yeah, the topic of keepers shall come up, but ill be quiet on that front for now, although Szczesny should start for us after his performance yesterday. The crucial pairing in the defense, which is the center-back pairing, should be analysed and fixed by the board. Yeah, we have a Vermaelen, but he has to be paired properly with a decent pairing so that the entire defense communicates properly. And if you think either of our centrebacks are good enough (except Djourou), think again my friend.
Barcelona have a Pedro, and a David Villa, but we have an Arshavin and RVP. Now considering both, obviously Arshavin should play on the wing whereas RVP in the centre. In fact last season when RVP was playing in the centre he scored most of his goals. Adaptability, and change is what is required at Arsenal. When Mourinho went to Inter, he played Eto on the flank i.e the left flank. Lets face it Eto did not want to play there, in fact sometimes Mourinho even made him play as a defender. These are the strikers comments after Inter thumped Werder Bremen.
“I’m happy to win as a striker after winning as a defender last season,”
But Inter won the treble, and that includes champions league victories over FC Barcelona, Chelsea, and Bayern Munich. When Benitez arrived he started to play Eto in the middle and look at their plight now! This is the problem with Arsenal’s tactics. Everybody is allowed to do what he wants and how they want it. Its not professional style of play, its the fun style of play for the Gunners.
Chamakh is allowed to wander the entire pitch when as a striker he should play only upfront. He should be encouraged to shoot rather than pass more. Song should be tied up to a pole, and that pole should be fixed in front of the defense. The guy should not wander up the pitch. Yeah, let him have his freedom in small matches but he should be told to defend mostly. Thats how you get a world-class CDM like Claude Makalele. Cesc and Nasri should both take up the Xavi and Iniesta roles, and play through-out the pitch.
The team as a whole should press together, otherwise there shall remain large gaps in midfield. Pressing should done on a more consistent basis, just like Barcelona. I don’t care if you have to smuggle into their academy to know how to do it, but learn and do it ! If you being paid in 5 figures every week then might as well do something more than run round and win occasionally. Honestly the boss does not have to spend a lot to fix this Arsenal side. All he has to do is be more stern and straight-forward with the players ! Its common sense, that if a player goes on doing the same thing over and over again, he acquires expertise in it. Even Max Weber proposed this in his theory of bureaucratic Management, but that’s a different story all together – If each arsenal player is assigned a duty and told to keep to it we will win, and Gooners will not be hesitant or doubtful when we face teams like United, or the list which I gave above.
You know its something like this:
Lets assume you have good handwriting ( I know it’s a lame example but this should make the point clear ! ), everybody tells you you have good handwriting. Then one day you see and know for sure that your Dad’s handwriting is better than yours. What do you do ? You adapt not ‘adopt’ his style of writing, you change yours to make it like his. You do different things, to make yours better than his. That’s development, that’s hard work which pays off. Put your ego aside and improve yourself. Compete with yourself, and constantly improve.
You don’t sit on your ***, and moan and neither do you try and improve your handwriting as quite frankly, its not going to be better than your Dads! People will say that Arsenal are copying Barcelona, so whats wrong. Its not murder, and its not cheating! We should do it to improve ourselves, and not bother about the rest.
These basic things in life can help Arsenal. The answers are right there in front of you Boss, you just have to look carefully. Everything is not God sent, and should not be left they way they are. To bring about the best qualities in a person you have got to change him accordingly (but that does not include stupid decisions like giving Fabianski a strikers role !). If Song thinks he is an attacker, as I have never seen him taken even 1 shot on target (and headers don’t count) then mould him into a CDM. Tell the guy to stay back, tell him to get the ball back if the opponents get possession and most importantly tell him not to go up!! The guy is good at tackling and can defend well too, the CDM is the best position for him. In one of my previous article of Rolling stones gather no moss, I had written about the “Rolling midfielder tactic.” Now I say screw that tactic, and give every player a specific role. Then only can we be consistent, and build an unbeaten streak.
Its just a few things which the manager has to do to set this ship moving. Just like the Barca management hired Guardiola to set their ship on sail, all we have to do is refine the entire system. Yeah, AW has done it, but the level at which he does it is to small to make any change. He turned Djourou into a defender, when Djourou was actually a midfielder, but this change has not really affected us has it.
Bit, by bit, small changes is all that is required to awake the “Actual Arsenal FC, ” and all the boss has to do is “TO REFINE THE ENTIRE TACTICAL SYSTEM OF THE CLUB” and “CHANGE HIMSELF.” You don’t need a degree to see this, and I’m sure all readers feel the same. United beat us yesterday tactically, not because they played outstanding.
Lastly, to make it clear I don’t write this with a view ‘of replacing AW’ but just with with the view which is clear to me, hopefully, its to you too…
Cheer-i-o,
NOTE: I am taking Barcelona as an example as they are currently the best team in the world!
