Through a combination of Liverpool's result against Stoke (which effectively canceled out their win against Man Utd to some degree) and Chelsea's result against United, Arsenal are actually top of the Premier League table coming into this weekends set of fixtures. This little fact was nothing less than news to a certain football-loving cousin of mine just yesterday, and I imagine it has escaped the attention of a few others in the realm of Premier League fandom too.
The question is, will Arsenal be there in 8 months time? I would have my doubts.
Lets look at the positives first. Arsenal arguably the play the finest attacking football seen on English shores (that they do so with one or maybe no English players in some games is no small coincidence either). When the team is in full flight, they are simply irresistible, both to admire and to defend against. There are a few key factors to this:
First, their goalkeeper makes very few long passes. Almunia (who will of course be mentioned when I look at the negatives, with reference to both his ability and his hair) is always looking to feed the ball to one of the defensive players, or even Cesc Fabregas or one of the other midfielders. This willingness on Almunia's part is crucial to Arsenal's style of play, because it sets the tone for the rest of the team.
Essential for this to be effective is a backline that is comfortable with stroking the ball around. Arsenal have got just that in Gallas, Toure, Sagna and Clichy, which really is a crucial (and often overlooked) element of Arsenal's passing game. Could you imagine what would happen to Arsenal if they had players with the ball skills of Ugo Ehiogu playing at the back? The whole system would collapse, because the defense would inevitably resort to pumping long balls up to the strikers, or more accurately, just pumping long balls up to nowhere in particular (I'm sorry Ugo. You know I love you. You were just a really crap passer of a ball, that's all. Aw come on, don't be like that).
Also, in Sagna and Clichy, Arsenal possess what I consider to be the best full back pairing in the league, and possibly the world! Their pace, speed, and quickness are just three of several attributes I could list. Seriously though, they are certainly fast, but are also good defenders, they are both good crossers of the ball, and they generally use it very intelligently when in forward positions. Unlike, say, Ashley Cole, who really isn't very good in attacking situations, despite what people will tell you.
When it comes to midfield (and by 'midfield' I mean all four positions), I would not be speaking in hyperbole if I were to say that Arsenal enjoy the finest array of attacking threats of any team in England, and are second only to Barcelona if you include all the teams in Europe.
A fully fit Arsenal squad could boast a midfield consisting of the likes of Fabregas, Nasri, Walcott, Eboue, Rosicky, Denilson, Song, Vela, Eduardo, Ramsey, and even van Persie if you're so inclined. Though some may not be household names, these are all very threatening players in their own way. You could argue that two of the lesser stars on that list are Eboue and Denilson, but so far this season they've notched up 3 goals and 4 assists between them. A midfield consisting of Pirlo, Gattuso, Seedorf and Ambrosini might read better, but as evidenced by last seasons Champions League tie, it certainly doesn't play better.
The standout player in Arsenal's midfield (and squad) is obviously Cesc Fabregas, who really does make everything tick. He hasn't even been playing that well since he came back from injury, but his presence alone appears to lift his team to the next level (I'm beginning to sound like Robbie Earle on John Terry here, but in Robbie Earle's case, I'm pretty sure the statistics don't back up his claims). And despite his passing not being at it's usual high level so far this season, he still has other things to offer in terms of work ethic and defensive duties. This was clearly witnessed against Bolton last week, when he gave away the ball cheaply, but immediately won it back, which actually started the attack that lead to the second goal.
His value cannot be overstated to this Arsenal team, and if they are to mount a credible title challenge this season, Fabregas needs to play as much as possible (without wearing him down like last season of course). And if Arsenal are to win the league, then I'd be very surprised if the Spaniard wasn't the player of the season.
The capture of Samir Nasri was one that very much interested me during the summer, and so far it looks like Wenger has a real gem on his hands with this dynamic French prodigy. He has shown all the potential of being able to fill the hole left by Hleb, and has even equaled Hleb's scoring tally for the whole of last season, despite only having played three and a half games. Mind you, Hleb had scored both his goals by this time last year too, so maybe I shouldn't read into that too much.
Still though, Nasri is an exciting player to watch, and his style of football acts as a suitable compliment to the stylings of Eboue and Walcott, who are ferocious runners with the ball, if not very economical with possession as of yet (though admittedly improving where I thought improvement impossible i.e. I didn't think they were good enough to improve).
Up front Arsenal have a very potent strikeforce (doesn't that sound like the name of a geeky computer game played in online gaming cafes?) in van Persie and Adebayor. While they don't exactly engage in the best link up play with each other (I can't recall either one assisting the other so far this season) they both link up very well with the midfield, and between them they can score pretty much every type of goal possible, except maybe those sneaky 'fox in the box' type goals, which were added by Eduardo before 'Tiny' Taylor decided to inflict a not-so-tiny wound on his leg.
Reserve options include Bendtner and Vela, who probably won't cause the meaner defenses too many problems, but as witnessed on Tuesday evening, they're a handful if you're not on your guard.
The fact that Arsenal have quite a few attacking options this season is something that sets this one apart from the last, where they were forced to heavily rely on the goals of Adebayor, the assists of Cesc Fabregas, and the guile of Alex Hleb.
This season, Arsenal have had 8 different scorers so far, and out of the 13 goals they have scored with Cesc Fabregas on the pitch, he has yet to assist even one. That may sound worrying if you've got Cesc Fabregas as your captain in Fantasy Football (though those inevitable bonus points usually make up for any lack of end product), but it should serve as good news for Arsenal fans. Fabregas is still vital of course (as I mentioned earlier), but not quite in the same way as before, which is necessary if Arsenal are serious about winning anything.
This post has gone on long enough, so maybe tomorrow I'll look at the negative aspects of Arsenal's game, and give some of the reasons why I just don't think they'll cross the finish line in first place this season. And yes, Almunia's hair is one of them.
The question is, will Arsenal be there in 8 months time? I would have my doubts.
Lets look at the positives first. Arsenal arguably the play the finest attacking football seen on English shores (that they do so with one or maybe no English players in some games is no small coincidence either). When the team is in full flight, they are simply irresistible, both to admire and to defend against. There are a few key factors to this:
First, their goalkeeper makes very few long passes. Almunia (who will of course be mentioned when I look at the negatives, with reference to both his ability and his hair) is always looking to feed the ball to one of the defensive players, or even Cesc Fabregas or one of the other midfielders. This willingness on Almunia's part is crucial to Arsenal's style of play, because it sets the tone for the rest of the team.
Essential for this to be effective is a backline that is comfortable with stroking the ball around. Arsenal have got just that in Gallas, Toure, Sagna and Clichy, which really is a crucial (and often overlooked) element of Arsenal's passing game. Could you imagine what would happen to Arsenal if they had players with the ball skills of Ugo Ehiogu playing at the back? The whole system would collapse, because the defense would inevitably resort to pumping long balls up to the strikers, or more accurately, just pumping long balls up to nowhere in particular (I'm sorry Ugo. You know I love you. You were just a really crap passer of a ball, that's all. Aw come on, don't be like that).
Also, in Sagna and Clichy, Arsenal possess what I consider to be the best full back pairing in the league, and possibly the world! Their pace, speed, and quickness are just three of several attributes I could list. Seriously though, they are certainly fast, but are also good defenders, they are both good crossers of the ball, and they generally use it very intelligently when in forward positions. Unlike, say, Ashley Cole, who really isn't very good in attacking situations, despite what people will tell you.
When it comes to midfield (and by 'midfield' I mean all four positions), I would not be speaking in hyperbole if I were to say that Arsenal enjoy the finest array of attacking threats of any team in England, and are second only to Barcelona if you include all the teams in Europe.
A fully fit Arsenal squad could boast a midfield consisting of the likes of Fabregas, Nasri, Walcott, Eboue, Rosicky, Denilson, Song, Vela, Eduardo, Ramsey, and even van Persie if you're so inclined. Though some may not be household names, these are all very threatening players in their own way. You could argue that two of the lesser stars on that list are Eboue and Denilson, but so far this season they've notched up 3 goals and 4 assists between them. A midfield consisting of Pirlo, Gattuso, Seedorf and Ambrosini might read better, but as evidenced by last seasons Champions League tie, it certainly doesn't play better.
The standout player in Arsenal's midfield (and squad) is obviously Cesc Fabregas, who really does make everything tick. He hasn't even been playing that well since he came back from injury, but his presence alone appears to lift his team to the next level (I'm beginning to sound like Robbie Earle on John Terry here, but in Robbie Earle's case, I'm pretty sure the statistics don't back up his claims). And despite his passing not being at it's usual high level so far this season, he still has other things to offer in terms of work ethic and defensive duties. This was clearly witnessed against Bolton last week, when he gave away the ball cheaply, but immediately won it back, which actually started the attack that lead to the second goal.
His value cannot be overstated to this Arsenal team, and if they are to mount a credible title challenge this season, Fabregas needs to play as much as possible (without wearing him down like last season of course). And if Arsenal are to win the league, then I'd be very surprised if the Spaniard wasn't the player of the season.
The capture of Samir Nasri was one that very much interested me during the summer, and so far it looks like Wenger has a real gem on his hands with this dynamic French prodigy. He has shown all the potential of being able to fill the hole left by Hleb, and has even equaled Hleb's scoring tally for the whole of last season, despite only having played three and a half games. Mind you, Hleb had scored both his goals by this time last year too, so maybe I shouldn't read into that too much.
Still though, Nasri is an exciting player to watch, and his style of football acts as a suitable compliment to the stylings of Eboue and Walcott, who are ferocious runners with the ball, if not very economical with possession as of yet (though admittedly improving where I thought improvement impossible i.e. I didn't think they were good enough to improve).
Up front Arsenal have a very potent strikeforce (doesn't that sound like the name of a geeky computer game played in online gaming cafes?) in van Persie and Adebayor. While they don't exactly engage in the best link up play with each other (I can't recall either one assisting the other so far this season) they both link up very well with the midfield, and between them they can score pretty much every type of goal possible, except maybe those sneaky 'fox in the box' type goals, which were added by Eduardo before 'Tiny' Taylor decided to inflict a not-so-tiny wound on his leg.
Reserve options include Bendtner and Vela, who probably won't cause the meaner defenses too many problems, but as witnessed on Tuesday evening, they're a handful if you're not on your guard.
The fact that Arsenal have quite a few attacking options this season is something that sets this one apart from the last, where they were forced to heavily rely on the goals of Adebayor, the assists of Cesc Fabregas, and the guile of Alex Hleb.
This season, Arsenal have had 8 different scorers so far, and out of the 13 goals they have scored with Cesc Fabregas on the pitch, he has yet to assist even one. That may sound worrying if you've got Cesc Fabregas as your captain in Fantasy Football (though those inevitable bonus points usually make up for any lack of end product), but it should serve as good news for Arsenal fans. Fabregas is still vital of course (as I mentioned earlier), but not quite in the same way as before, which is necessary if Arsenal are serious about winning anything.
This post has gone on long enough, so maybe tomorrow I'll look at the negative aspects of Arsenal's game, and give some of the reasons why I just don't think they'll cross the finish line in first place this season. And yes, Almunia's hair is one of them.
1 comment:
I like Almunia's hair.
The colour of it anyway, perhaps not so much the cut.
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