Category Archives: Columnists

Columnists
Columnists
May 16, 2013 posted by Tim Stillman

Strap on, strap in

Strap on, strap in

This is the end, beautiful friends, this is the end, my only friend, the end. Of our elaborate plans, the end of everything that stands, the end. Hmmm, Jim Morrison wasn’t really the eloquent poet he’s been made out to be was he? After 9 months of fretting, sweating and swearing, it all comes down to Sunday. The hazy Jaeger fuelled train journeys, last orders at the Euston Tap, the scramble for flights and hotels, the cheering, the jeering, the singing, the clinging, the clenching and the quenching. One final hurdle to complete ‘operation bare minimum.’

Tuesday’s victory over Wigan leaves our destiny in our own hands. Without wishing to be some kind of evangelist for anxiety, there are some reasons I won’t be resting easily before Sunday evening. For a start, I don’t like the loss of Mikel Arteta to injury, not one bit. I think he has been the foreman of our recent defensive solidity. He’s grown into the captaincy in Vermaelen’s hiatus and I think his communication and awareness, alongside Ramsey’s unrelenting energy, has been integral to our shape.

I don’t think he quite gets the credit he deserves, I suspect because the Spaniard doesn’t fit the clichéd mould of defensive midfielder that has become a bit of a fetishism for many. He’s not big, he’s certainly not ugly and he doesn’t rampage around the pitch shouting, “GRRRR! WHACK! SMASH! MEAT!”  His style is much more akin to Gilberto Silva. (Indeed, he does a similar job to a corresponding level of muted appreciation). In a team that has begun to, finally, finally see defending as a collective responsibility, his intelligence, alongside Ramsey’s lactic-tolerant limbs has assumed even more importance.

Essentially, the Arteta and Ramsey partnership perfectly genuflects the Mertesacker Koscielny axis that sits behind it. It’s a pleasing symmetry but one that bears more uncomfortable comparisons. When the BFG is missing, we don’t have a defender to replicate his calm, organisational skills and we have much the same issue with Arteta. Nobody else in the squad offers what he does and one way or another, we’re going to have to compensate with a square peg.

Much of Newcastle’s attacking strength lies behind Papiss Cisse, with the likes of Gouffran, Ben Arfa and Cabaye offering threat from midfield. Without Arteta I worry that we don’t have a shop steward figure to marshal that threat. This article points out that Newcastle’s recent tumble in form has emanated from Pardew’s increasingly negative approach. With the spectre of relegation now removed, it remains to be seen whether that caution will still inhibit them. It might free them. If it does, they have the quality in the final third to worry us.

Many Gooners may have found solace in Pardew’s ill advised “I don’t care if we lose 4-0” quip following Newcastle’s win at QPR. Despite subsequent retractions, such sound bites attract negative attention and there’s a chance he’ll have something to prove now. Pardew will want to atone with a committed performance when chief amongst Arsenal’s desires for the weekend, is that the Barcodes are mentally on the beach.

That said, there are reasons be positive, aside from the obvious that we’re better than Newcastle and really ought to beat them with a good, committed performance. I think Arsenal playing away from home in this scenario is favourable, especially against a team with little to play for. I fear the atmosphere would be very anxious and tetchy if we were playing at home. Whilst the 3,000 of us up in the gods at SJP will get through our share of fingernail sandwiches, the general environment should be a relatively dispassionate one that should allow us to relax and play our game.

The return of Giroud is a tick in the positive column too, particularly for an away match. Walcott has scored 3 and Podolski 2 in the time that Giroud has been suspended, so it feels a tad harsh to say the forward line hasn’t worked in his absence. But we have missed The Frenchman’s ability to knit the frontline together with his hold up play. Walcott and Podolski have demonstrated what we already knew. Put them in front of goal and there’s a good chance they’ll score (which you can’t necessarily say of Giroud himself).

Without Giroud however, there have been very large spells of inertia in the final third. Walcott has shown with his final product that the “winger / striker” hybrid role he has been playing hasn’t simply been a by product of ego. We need Walcott and Podolski closer to the goal because they compensate for the shortfall in Giroud’s finishing. But neither provides any sort of outlet when Arsenal come under pressure. The Frenchman is as much a defensive aid as an attacking one, in that he offers relief for his teammates.

His return also means Arsenal will have something approaching a goalscoring threat on the bench if required. One would assume that Podolski will be restored to the sub’s bench. Gervinho played just 18 minutes of Giroud’s suspension, so we can probably guess where that leaves him in the pecking order. Given Podolski’s current level of fitness, he’s probably better deployed as a weapon in reserve in the short term.

I do really hope that Sunday isn’t the last time we see Bacary Sagna in an Arsenal shirt, though I suspect it might be. I’ve written many times this season that I think the criticism of his performances have been harsh and, in many cases, lacks understanding of what’s been put on his plate. In an attacking sense, having Walcott as close to goal as possible makes sense, but Sagna has taken on an additional burden as a result.

It’s not so much a lack of protection. Since Ramsey has come in to reinforce the defensive midfield, I think we’ve amended that quite well. It’s usually a lack of a passing option in possession that has made Sagna’s job much harder. Leaving that aside, Sagna is very experienced and is one of the bigger personalities in the squad. Even if he is phased out next season with a gradual handover to Jenkinson, I think that would be infinitely preferable to losing him.

A lot will come down to the player’s will of course, but in the past we’ve been a tad hasty to let experience leave and if Bacary goes, we will absolutely definitely need to buy another experienced right back. Jenkinson has developed well this year, but I’m not convinced he has the consistency to shoulder 50+ games yet. At left back, we’ve tended to play Gibbs at home and Monreal in the away matches. I would be comfortable with a similar approach to the right back slot next season.

I was talking about Sagna on twitter this week and a few of us concurred that his display at centre half versus Sunderland was probably the best individual performance from an Arsenal player this season. It would be one of the mini tragedies of the Emirates era if Bacary Sagna left Arsenal without winning a trophy. For now though, sentiment is cast aside and the top 4 “trophy” all comes down to one game. Strap yourselves in, I don’t envisage that Sunday will be much fun . LD.

Follow me on Twitter @LittleDutchVA

Columnists
May 15, 2013 posted by Anam Hassan

Tactics column: Arsenal intelligence

Tactics column: Arsenal intelligence

Have Arsenal acquired a certain game intelligence over the last few months? That’s the impression that they gave last night having, for a large period of the game, been forced on the back foot by Wigan Athletic, but responded magnificently in a devastating eight-minute spell to score three goals and eventually prevail 4-1.

Actually, Arsenal were probably at their best for the first 20 minutes of the match as they sent wave after wave of attacks at the Wigan goal but only had a Lukas Podolski header to tell for it. It’s tempting to say that the handbrake was well and truly up for the next forty minutes yet this is part of Arsenal’s game which has developed over these last months, for they remained resilient despite coming under immense pressure and they chose the right moments to pick Wigan off.

It’s an important distinction to make because when Arsenal were playing poorly, they actually did the opposite, as Thomas Vermaelen explains: “We’re looking at how the opposition has set up and reacting to it, rather than playing our own game,” he said in December.

Now, as Theo Walcott reveals below, the tempo is set at the beginning of the match so that Arsenal are better placed to react and that then Arsenal to use his pace to hit teams on the counter-attack. “Every game is tight and everyone is fighting for their lives,” says Walcott. “We know teams will have to come at us, but we have great strength on the counter-attack and hopefully we can utilise that.”

Of course, it was nervy watching Arsenal hang on and you might argue it was partly their own doing. Because their strategy of pressing in their own half, unless the opponent is forced all the way back, invited Wigan on to them as much as it gave them extra space on the counter-attack. It’s the correct idea, although the use of it can become self-perpetuating at times as it gives Arsenal an excuse to drop deep. Had Arsenal not scored when they did, it might have led to an even nervier finish so perhaps it was apt that it was Santi Cazorla – a class above everyone on the pitch – who made the difference, delivering all four assists.

On the note on Santi Cazorla, the way Wigan defended, with only the wing-backs defending the flanks (as they left their two wide forwards up the pitch), it gave Arsenal freedom of the flanks and as such, the two wingers were the key players.

Theo Walcott constantly terrorised his opposing full-back, Roger Espinoza, and actually, because of the way Wigan’s back three denied him space behind to make those runs he so frequently makes, it made him more effective. Because that mean instead he had alter his game and play like a classical winger. That was okay because Wigan effectively handed him the freedom of the right touchline and as Espinoza hardly got any help from his winger – who in this case was Aruna Kone – it forced a centre-back to be dragged wide to try and cover.

On the left flank, Santi Cazorla played wider than he usually does nevertheless, that still didn’t stop him ending up on the right flank to set up Arsenal’s second (and then behind the striker for Arsenal’s third). Actually, the second goal was almost a work of art, sculpted in the image of Arsene Wenger because it saw all three strikers end up in a different position to where they started. Podolski moved wide left, Cazorla drifted all the way to the right and Walcott went central and for the goal, the England striker was able to connect with Cazorla’s cross.

For the final goal, it was Aaron Ramsey who Cazorla set up and the Welshman showed great composure to give Podolski “the eyes”, especially as the German was on his hat-trick, before firing past Joel Robles’s near post. It was a welcome goal because it also finally put to bed the unenviable distinction that Ramsey had of being the worst shooter in the Premier League having attempted before the match, 41 shots without scoring.

Goalscoring is an obvious area to improve on for next season nevertheless, it’s been a campaign where Ramsey has improved massively in all areas of his game. Most recently, it’s been notable how intelligent his runs have become, often drifting wide to become the extra man, or pushing beyond the opponents first line of press so that his team-mates can find him unmarked.

It’s this energy that Ramsey brings that has made his presence in the line-up deceptively vital. There are no figures for how much he runs but I bet it’s lots (actually last season, he covered the most ground on average of all Premier League players). Indeed, there is almost a filibustering quality to his guided hustle, granting a sense of control that is essential to this team.

Mikel Arteta must be grateful for his presence because it’s liberated him as well. Yet, Ramsey remains a divided figure among fans. He’s set the tempo for the way Arsenal have played in the last months and it’d be just reward should he help Arsenal get the final Champions League place.

Columnists
May 9, 2013 posted by Tim Stillman

Nós colocamos isso em Babelfish para fazer um título

Nós colocamos isso em Babelfish para fazer um título

The Chelsea v Spurs game has been a potential glitch in the formulae of our run in for some weeks. Now that column in the balance sheet (an apt analogy given what we are actually ‘competing’ for) has been filled, the permutations are simpler. Don’t cock it up and we’re 4th at least. Yet somehow the clarity hasn’t brought me a great deal of peace. Regular readers will know that I have never viewed this charge for the Champions League money trough as straightforward and I still don’t.

I think there’s an excellent chance that none of Arsenal, Spurs or Chelsea will pick up six points from their last two fixtures. I think it could just come down to whether 2 or 3 points are surrendered in any given game. I think goal difference could yet have the final say for either 3rd or 4th position. All three teams have visible delicacies. Spurs have been able to raise their game for fixtures against Chelsea and Manchester City of late, but anxiety permeates them whenever they are expected to win.

I think Arsenal have been a tad fortunate that the majority of their recent fixtures have been against teams with little or nothing to play for. Everton and Norwich were the only sides to whom the points were particularly valuable recently and both of those games were a struggle. Wigan will be fighting tooth and nail for Premier League survival and Newcastle could be too. Last week I said that I thought Arsenal’s defence were going to have to continue to carry us and so it proved against QPR.

Giroud’s suspension lasts for one more game and I don’t see a swift panacea for our recent bluntness upfront. Chelsea looked incredibly weary in the last half an hour against Tottenham and their participation in the Europa League might yet produce another spike in the graph. This is a season that might administer the final, injurious blow to cup football, which I think would be an enormous shame. If Wigan are relegated, many managers and chairmen will, unfairly I think, make a simple correlation with their run to Wembley. Millwall’s form collapsed after their F.A. Cup semi final and they were nearly relegated having seemingly looked safe.

The fortunes of the last three League Cup winners following their victories has hardly inspired either. If Chelsea finish outside of the top 4, I can’t really envisage an English side ever taking the Europa League seriously again. Gunnerblog wrote something that really chimed with me this week about “enjoying the race for fourth because it provides the illusion of genuine competition.” I’ve long compared it to Championship sides chasing a playoff place. It’s not really an achievement, it just narrows down what it considered mid-table and removes some of the banality of the Premier League.

James is right to use the word ‘illusion’. It is illusory. I allow “the race for fourth” to occupy me because, well, I want football to be a distraction and an entertaining one. And listen, I understand perfectly why qualifying for the Champions League is so important and it’s not just Arsenal that feel that way. Whilst I feel Arsenal’s big underachievement since 2005 has been almost entirely in the cups, I appreciate why the club prioritised the rewards of the top 4. Especially given the large mortgage they took on for the new stadium.

In fact, this year, it’s arguably more important to us to qualify than ever. Various commercial deals that are being struck and legislation in the wider footballing landscape suggest that, if we can just grimly hang on for one more year, the rainbow could be on the horizon. The revenues we stand to receive from the new overseas TV deal, Emirates and, reportedly, Puma, will boost our coffers more significantly than the new stadium itself.  To fall off of the cash cow at this stage would be a crushing blow when the jam we have been promised for so long is in our sights.

The reports from John Cross this week that Puma have agreed to hand over a fat stack of cheese to Arsenal generated a lot of discussion online. Understandably too. This is undoubtedly A Good Thing for Arsenal because it should have a direct impact on the team on the pitch. Yet I still felt abash about involving myself in the discussion. It made me feel uneasy. It exposes my ignorance and my hypocrisy all too readily.

The relentless commercialisation of society itself is something that I find incredibly uncomfortable. Indeed, a good deal of my professional life to date has been devoted to fighting avarice and greed. Yet I sweep those principles under the carpet for my football club. It’s easier to do with “The race for fourth” because I can bury that hypocrisy on the pitch and conceal it beneath the rug of a couple of London rivalries to boot. But speaking of megabucks deals such as these make my double standards naked. It strips away the delusion I clothe myself in.

There is also a much more practical reason for my unease. I know so little about the minutiae of such deals. I suspect many people are in the same position. Recently I have been taking Portuguese lessons and anybody that has tried to learn a new language in adulthood will tell you that nothing makes you feel more awkward or exposed than trying to speak somebody in else’s tongue. It’s because your callowness is so evident and no amount of reassurance removes that in your early wrestles with language.

To discuss this sort of deal in depth would represent a botched attempt at another language on my part. Hastily punching sentences into babelfish and regurgitating whatever it spits out. There is also so much about these deals that remain undisclosed. For instance, have you noticed that since the Emirates deal was renewed, their advertising presence inside the stadium has almost vanished? That’s surely a deliberate part of the renewed deal. To make room for other companies to advertise their wares on the advertising hoardings and to reduce the Emirates stigma on television. Presumably so that the next time the stadium naming rights go to tender, the Emirates association won’t be so marked. With that, I have slipped into the marketing lexicon, but you see what I mean. There’s so much information that is foreign to us.

I have always understood Arsenal’s need to qualify for the Champions League. It facilitates the ability to compete on a long term basis. That in itself sounds like the sort of phrase that’s tossed about in a boardroom powerpoint. Nevertheless, I’m donning the 3D specs and strapping myself in for this simulated competition and come 6pm on May 19th, I’ll be as relieved / crushed / exasperated as everybody else. After all, we are the generation that sold our souls and we will get what we deserve. LD.

Follow me on Twitter @LittleDutchVA

Columnists
May 7, 2013 posted by Anam Hassan

Tactics column: Table, Rosicky and Sagna

Tactics column: Table, Rosicky and Sagna

They say that the league table never lies, yet it’s conceivable that Arsenal will end the season having scored more goals than the last and conceded less and still fall outside the top four places. As such, measuring progress can be difficult.

If it’s not improvement that Arsenal have made this season, then it’s certainly been a season of acclimatisation as a fairly new team gets to grips with playing with each other. Indeed, a comment made by Chelsea’s César Azpilicueta in an interview with the Guardian concurs in which he says that “a team is constructed with time and automatismos, habits, mechanisms” so as such, progress will occur gradually. That is surely the case with Arsenal.

You only have to look at Arsenal’s good run of form – which stretched to 9 games unbeaten following the 1-0 win over QPR on Saturday – to see what he means. Because it’s not been fluid attacking play – the hallmark of all good Wenger sides – which the run has been perpetuated by, but through resilience instead. There’s some that say that the extra focus on clean sheets has had an (adverse) effect on Arsenal going forward, and certainly there is some basis in that.

Yet Arsenal’s defensive approach is not so inherently dogmatic that it should affect their scoring in such a way. Indeed, what this just goes to confirm is what Azpilicueta said at the beginning: that it’s harder to coach synchronicity in attack than in defence because there are far more nuances.

Key to Arsenal’s upturn of results has been the availability of Tomas Rosicky. Similarly to last season, he has found fitness and form at a crucial time – playing an important part in the Gunner’s fine Premier League form and setting a fast tempo from his advanced midfield position. Against Manchester United the previous weekend, Rosicky was instantly effective, delivering the assist for Arsenal’s only goal. He was involved again straight away last weekend when, following a bad clearance from Armand Traore, he seized on the space behind and suddenly upped the tempo by spinning away from his marker. His cross found Aaron Ramsey who cushioned a header to Mikel Arteta and he fed Theo Walcott to score.

The majority of Rosicky’s passes are in the attacking third yet the graphic below shows the other – less glamorous – part of his game which highlights why he’s so important to the side. Because it’s Rosicky’s energy at the tip of the midfield which sets the tempo for Arsenal’s pressing game, and against both Manchester United and QPR, Rosicky recovered the ball 14 times – a figure which would put many a Premier League holding midfield to shame.

rosicky_tactics1

Key: Triangle = interceptions, Cross = tackles, Circle = clearances

Rosicky’s know-how means he just about he pips Santi Cazorla to the playmaker role. It’s a sacrifice Arsene Wenger has had to make to bring balance to the side – a decision which hasn’t gone down too well with some, arguing it affects Arsenal’s potency. It’s true to a degree because Cazorla has been less effective from the left but I guess Wenger’s thinking ties in with what was said at the beginning; that having Rosicky in the side probably alleviates some of the vagaries of a new team might have. Besides, it’s not as if it has restricted Cazorla from roaming around the pitch and he often interchanges positions with Rosicky anyway. And at the very least, it in some ways lessens the reliance on Cazorla to create as there are more players in the line-up who can deliver the final pass.

Bacary Sagna’s position at the club will come under review at the end of the season. That’s unfortunate because he has been one of Arsenal’s best players for a long time. Yet, there is a belief that his powers are on the wane. Wenger seemed to indicate so after his mistake saw him haul down Robin van Persie in the 1-1 draw with Manchester United. “He has saved us so many times that unfortunately it happened (or rather, had to happen!) today,” the manager said.

One can feel a lot of sympathy for Sagna. Certainly his performances have been below-par recently and he has been culpable for a few of the goals Arsenal have conceded this season. But over the years, he’s created this image of dependability that often, Wenger entrusts him with a lot of responsibility – too much at times.

That usually means checking his runs, reining his naturally game to allow Theo Walcott to play with freedom. In that regards, Sagna hasn’t fully fulfilled his side of the bargain because he can tend to push up too hurriedly that it leaves Arsenal open at the back. But then again, he feels as if he must push up because he is very responsible for Arsenal’s passing game. Below, one can see how involved he is in Arsenal’s build-up play – considerably more so than Nacho Monreal (and the graphics are similar when Kieran Gibbs is playing).

sagna_tactics1

In that sense, Arsenal are lucky that not more teams expose their tendency to attack down the right-hand side (The Gunners average 37% of their attacks down that side). Perhaps it is because of Sagna’s ability to handle tight situations that not more teams are able to exploit them, especially because Per Mertesacker plays to the right and his first pass is usually to Sagna. Or that they’re more concerned with stopping the pass to the middle. But that only serves to highlight the importance of having a good passer on that side if teams try to stop Arsenal playing through the middle and Carl Jenkinson is not that player just yet.

It seems as if Sagna may still have a lot to offer.