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Saturday, October 04, 2008

Wenger gets the tactics wrong, again

By 1970’s Gooner

I know that a lot of you will not like this nor necessarily agree with it but I have to call it as I see it.

I was, during the Dinamo Kiev game, very frustrated and bewildered with the amount of respect shown for an average in terms of quality opposition and the deployment of Fabregas away from where he is best suited (in the middle of the field dictating play).

The result was the same as against Sunderland today. More importantly the way the game panned out was very similar, with Fabregas wasted in no man’s land between Adebayor and the packed midfield and Arsenal getting a last gasp equaliser to salvage a draw.

For God’s sake Mr Wenger don’t you see that Arsenal’s heart is Fabregas? He is the one that that makes the team tick. He is the one that creates all the positive moves and clever passes that unlock packed defences.

Yet this creative part of Arsenal’s play is left to Denilson and Song to produce. Not that this was the intention, but hell, what do you expect when it is they that will invariably have most of the ball in a game that Arsenal, as everyone knows, will dominate in terms of possession.

The formation of 4 3 3 come 4 5 1 was wrong and the positioning of Fabregas was wrong. What was also wrong was van Persie on the wing as he had to play there because this formation demanded.

But again he is not suited to playing there nor does he hit it off with Clichy. So another Arsenal weapon, Clichy’s forays on the left hand side were not so numerous nor were they as effective.

So in the end after all three of Arsenal’s most effective players were almost rendered non existent we end up scrapping for a draw.

Arsenal are too good a team to play such a formation and show so much respect to such an opposition.

28 comments:

Anonymous said...

We didn't show respect to Sunderland. May have looked like we played rubbish but the fact that all Sunderland did was put 9 somtimes 10 men behind the ball and pack the midfield was the reason we found it difficult today. Once again decisions by officials have cost us 3 points. Van Persies goal should hav clearly stood as Walcott kept the ball in play. On top of that Sunderland score a great strike. It seems the only way to get a result of Arsenal is get lucky with a wonder goal or a set piece.

Anonymous said...

I agree. It's almost like Wenger didn't want to drop Denilson but wanted to play Song and decided to play them both. He should of played Song instead of Denilson and had Nasri or Vela on the left in my opinion. It's still early days and we're not out of the title race but we can't afford to take chances on team selection especially away from home.

Anonymous said...

hahahah and what exact credentials do you have? Oh dear, not another amateur blogger who knows just the right tactics.

Toby said...

In the ideal world Arsenal would always play with their 11 best players in their best positions! They would never have to rotate or rest any players. They wouldn't even consider to "semi-rest" a player such as Fabregas by putting him on a ving.
And no expert would never need to shout out loud.....

Anonymous said...

Fairly spot on. The fact of the matter is, however, that we ought to be flogging teams like this.

Wenger doesn't entertain tactics because he knows nothing about same.

It took our braveheart, Fabregas, to salvage a draw. He is wasted and not supported properly by the likes of Eboue and Denilson.

Why can't Wenger buy proper players - the despicable tightwad! Wait until we meet the big three. They will smack us to smitherines.

Anonymous said...

I am a Liverpool fan boys and maybe Wenger was trying to get Cesc to play the same way Gerrard sometimes does behind Torres? Who knows but its a bit early in the season to be slaughtering the guy.

Keep the faith as you have a class team and a class manager. You will be unbeatable in a couple of years ( I know thats too long but its true). Get behind Wenger

Anonymous said...

Fabregas can't play behind the striker. He doesn't have pace or dribbling skills and when he's that far forward he can't pick out passes as well as he can when playing from a deeper position in centre midfield.

I'm honestly shocked that we played a 4-5-1 against Sunderand (no way was that a 4-3-3). Again Walcott was taken off when he looked like our biggest threat. There weren't enough players running into the box to get onto the end of crosses and we only had Ade, sometimes RVP waiting in the box. What makes it even worse is that everyone knew Sunderland would come out to defend and then we go and play a defensive formation.

I hate refs.

Anonymous said...

Bill Oddies is a spud !

Anonymous said...

Great ! We get a perfectly good goal ruled out that never went out of play. Manu's Vidic holds the Blackburn keeper down and Wes Brown heads in and it stands. It's bad enough the gulf in money but the poor (preferancial) officiating is getting ridiculous

Anonymous said...

i agree, these are riduclous tatics against teams such as sunderland and it does show them far too much repsect. the sub of theo was also wrong, we needed extra width and should of subbed denislon or song to get nasri on

Anonymous said...

Why don't the FA just give Manu the title now - the officials gave them a door back in last week and a free goal this week. They clearly want the title to go to Fergy again !

Anonymous said...

These officials are simply cunts - I don't like using the "C" word but it's the only one I can think of to describe these incompetants !

Anonymous said...

We should go for the jugular against these piss poor teams.

leon said...

i must say i was very simprised by the formation and i feel it does not suit arsenals style of play to so many midfielders,i feel song is very mush a defensive player and nasri is more creative player,from what i have heard the strikers were a little under par, but sunderland camped them selves in there own half, but dont think sunderland deserved to win.

it does not suprise me that wenger played delinson wide because wenger tends to experiment and put players in different positions,he did the same with eboue putting him in dm,wenger does not go specailist players he likes players who play in numbrer of different positions,that is part of the reason why arsenal defenders are not very good at dealing with aerial attacks, because he has gon for smaller more mobile quick players hence gallas and toure, so far must say i feel arsenal seam a bit one-dimensional, most teams know that cant match arsenal for passing and movement so they put alot men behind the ball and arsenal ahve yet to show they can win when not playing that well.

Anonymous said...

Again i wait for us to play nasri on the left and Vela on the right. If and when we play these playes you will see the correct balance For this arsenal side. Although walcott has been playing well,all he can do is get the ball and run fast, he's link up play is not that good. I feel that with Nasri and Vela they have the patients and skill to hold the ball up and play goal scoring passes.

Also if you look at the squad we have we so badly lack a good defensive midfield player. If the problem is not solved very soon(Diaby) then this season is already gone.

Anonymous said...

Arsenal won't be in a title race, if we can't even beat shit like Fulham, Hull and Sunderland, what chance any top 10 club?

Anonymous said...

i knew something was wrong when i saw the line ups. denilson song and fabregas ? i see no nasri! denilson cant play wing. theo was subbed ? and song is just not ready yet. ahhh!

Anonymous said...

I TOTALLY AGREE 100% WITH YOUR OPINION.

Anonymous said...

u'r damn right. wenger really lost it this time...i just cant comprehend d need to put song and denilson together and play csec n van persie out of position just to accomodate denilson who should have not played in d first place. nasri shud be on d left and let ade partner van persie...song was ok in d middle. wenger tried to to be too clever to counter sunderland's expected line-up n formation but he's goy it wrong yet again. had we play normal formation (442) with nasri on d left and song in d middle in place of denilson, we would hv won d game

Anonymous said...

Arsene prove again he is suck in tactics and subs.

Anonymous said...

football is corrupt. No-one can say it does not exist as Italy was exposed a few years ago. There is just too much money involved. Dont think it is just italy that have been doing it. They are the only ones to get caught. It is global, and is happening in our league too, the premier league. The referees and officials are getting paid to fix games. The FA reject to use video technology as that will confirm whether goals stand or not, whether penalties should be awarded or not. They are no reasons to reject video technology yet there are many reasons to employ it. With the popularity and amount of money in football these days they have to introduce it. If they can waive red cards after games(john terry)then they should be able to take away or give goals to teams also. Man united got gifted a goal last week and then another yesterday,whilst arsenal had a goal disallowed which shouldnt of been. Mistakes like this change a teams season and DOES affect who wins the league. Its a joke, all other sports have video technology, but the biggest sport in England dosent. It makes me sick how people can get away with it. Notice how they have banned video replays from the dugout... why do that unless you know that their will be unfair goals given and confirmation of those unfair goals will only be made after the game when the officials are long gone. Football is too much of a big game to have inconsitences and mistakes each week. Any 1 agree or is it just me cuz i lost out on £200 for the disallowed RVP goal. :(

Anonymous said...

there was nothing weong with the strategy, I know what he was thinking, he wanted to keep the 5 man midfield to keep the possetion, but nobody was making the runs that is needed to get the game to the tempo that we wanted. The only players that wanted something was cesc and sanga. Cesc cant preform properly if there is nobody making runns.

Anonymous said...

u said what was wrong no runners no counter attack no width same as last year with Diaby out of position who isn,t good enough in position anyway as 4 the fool that mentioned Gerrard behind Torres its not his best position its managers desperation Gerard could never make the England side as the second striker

Anonymous said...

iv'e said it a million times that there is an agenda to make sure no matter what, "manure" win the title-just add up the decisions that go there way over a season,it's phenomenal-i mean it!!

Anonymous said...

The answer to every question is Samir Nasri....period.

Anonymous said...

The problem was Sunderland were to negative and we weren't clever enough to break them down. Midfielder need to do more. I will do a article on te changing strategy used by a lot of big clubs tomorrow and what arsenal need to change.
What so u think of my take on the match. Please go to:
http://arsenalcolumn.wordpress.com/

Anonymous said...

Fed up with that cunt Wenger - yes he is a cunt and i dont have any trust in him - his ego is too big to make any changes for the good of the club - because he thinks he is bigger than the club. He has a large pocket of supporters who have been sucked in to his beliefs - not i, nor have i ever. He has mugged this club and supporters off long enough - WE ARE THE ARSENAL, not some second rate poor club - he wont spend money on players to improve the team, but players like Denilson, Eboue, Song, Gallas, Bendtner, Almunia - DO NOT IMPROVE the team - they are all weak links across the team - Wanger has a chance to get Appiah on a free, he would be a great addition to the team, he has a chance to drop Gallas and play Djourou, he has a change to give Nasri the left wing spot - he has to be seen now to be ruthless and do the right thing, before the season is over - and to lose to Fulham, Hull AT HOME, and to draw with shit like Sunderland, doesnt bode well, given that we havent even played the top 4 yet.

Wenger should make the right changes or fuck off11

Anonymous said...

The fact of the matter is arsenal are missing men in key areas. Throughout the entire 90 minutes we lacked width, creativity but above all motivation to win. It looked like we did'nt have the desire or hunger to score. our passing was too slow and the intensity of which we should have started the match in was only evident in the final 3 minutes. We are badly missin Rosicky an Eduardo to bring a bit more experience to the side. Its when were not playing well that these players are most vital to the team to help lift the youngsters and provide some much needed guidance.