From Steve from Chelmsford : More of the same
Morning Myles,
I pray that throughout today, and the weeks to come, you will not receive e-mails accusing you of being a harmingder of doom. Yet again last night you called it right. Big night, big test for the manager and the players and surprise, surprise : test failed, as per normal.
This ‘team’, is totally misunderstood by our silly media who still bang the drum that we are a joy to watch. This team ultimately frustrates and annoys, in rather large measures. This bunch of disparate individuals fail to entertain long term fans such as myself. I would far rather watch Man Utd going for team’s throats, or even, dare I say it, the football of intent currently being played by the team up the road. When will the penny finally drop for Ivan? Time for change is long overdue and cannot come a moment to soon as Arsene’s legacy is crumbling week by week.
Keep up the good work, Myles, and keep calling it as it is.
From Ken Hayden : Man U v Arsenal
Well done, Myles .
An article where you did not slag Arsenal off totally . A refreshing change . What’s seldom is wonderful !!
From Colin : Have a good night’s sleep, my old friend….
Hopefully in the morning, after you have awoken, had a stretch, swum a few laps and said the obligatory cheerio to a gambling greengrocer you will perhaps be in the mood to give your faithful readers a brief tutorial on the most misunderstood and unrecognized quality and trait that a footballer and a championship winning football side must possess:
POWER
We can chat all we want about all the passes gone astray, the dodgy pitch, the bad luck, United’s resolute defending, their constant pressurizing, their snappy and combative midfielders clogging up the center of the park, the once again curious decisions of the obviously biased Webb, our lack of bottle or belief, the list could go on and on.
But the fundamental reason United won, and will WIN the title, mind you, is the superior power that they possess over us in almost every position on the park.
The result was inevitable, only the most zealous, the most biased and those clearly half drunk on the Wenger Koolaid, knew in their heart of hearts that United had the power in reserve to do just enough to win the game, however it played out.
Over the years, you have written of “stylish, power football”.
But few really understand what the “power” aspect means. Sure they can tell you about pace, desire, positional sense, technical ability, the ability to pass accurately under pressure, the ability to anticipate and read the game, etc etc., when discussing a player.
The list of qualities is long, but the most important is power.
Throughout his career, until about 4 or 5 years ago, Wenger understood and championed this.
It was the most desirable trait he looked for in a footballer. He combed the earth, and in particular the west coast of Africa, in search of “power players”.That’s why Monaco won Ligue 1, that’s why he won the Double’s and the Cups and the “Invincibles” came to pass.
Those sides were loaded with “power players”.
I still can’t get my head around why he turned his back on this proven and winning recipe in recent years and fashioned a new side so clearly lacking in this type of player.
Almost every winning side, with very few exceptions, in every league or competition throughout the history of the sport has been won by teams that had the best “power” players, especially in the spinal positions.
As you know, power does not just equate to height or size. Tevez, Freddie, Messi, Maradona, and Giggs are a few of the many examples that come to mind.
I know what it means, Wenger obviously “used” to know what it means and we most certainly know you know what it means.If you would be so kind, please expound on this trait.
It is not a brilliant revelation for me to say this Arsenal side are flat track bullies. Their record against the big sides is there for all to see.It is fact. It is history. It is written.
But the simple reason that they lack the impetus, the bottle and the balls in a match like this is they know deep down that United have more power to spare all over the park and can and will use it to do what it takes to win, whether by one goal or three or four.
It is the fundamental reason United are better than us. Period.So….. Go on you rip roaring Reds and win the Milk Cup with these players.WOW! How the mighty have fallen!Gooners are actually excited about us winning the Milk Cup! I repeat, WOW!
But the Truth is: The LEAGUE will NEVER be ours again until a side based on POWER is built up again.
Glad to hear that you are feeling better, you old beatnik…..
From Adi D : Carling Cup it is
When will Wenger realise that his project has failed? Even after last night he thinks his team were unlucky not to win. Not one clear chance and he thinks we were unlucky. We are so predictable that it has become very easy for strong teams to close us down.
Wenger has really lost it…let’s just concentrate on Carling Cup and loosen those hinges in our trophy cabinet.
From Chris Cotton : Utd v Arsenal
Szczesny was good, wasn’t he? Apart from that, it was like Groundhog Day. And, actually, quite dull.
From John Ward : Szczesny performance
I thought Szczesny dominated the box and made a couple outstanding saves, but his distribution was appalling. It kept us pinned back in our defensive third the first 15 minutes. And caused confidence issues the rest of the 1st half. A solid performance, but definitely room for improvement.
The less said about Howard Webb the better. The defining incident in that match was that after Fletcher was fouled by Song, Fletcher ran 30 yards towards Webb and pushed him. Webb let it go. If Fletcher is an Arsenal player, he’s sent off.
From Simon Lambert : Arsenal easily contained by Man U
Greetings Myles,
Not a very good game, except for the last half hour when it become quite open as Arsenal got desperate.
Arshavin was rubbish, as was Fabregas when he came on. Nasri was anonymous, and Theo was, well, Theo. None of Arsenal’s stars shone, as they usually fail to do against Man U and Chelsea. Best moment for gooners was laughing at Shrek’s hilarious penalty miss. He’s gone something like 38,500 minutes without scoring from open play.
Reports are that Arsenal only managed one shot on goal. They were, yet again, easily contained and nullified by Man U. So much for this team maturing and being a world show-case for attacking football!
Still, they are in second place in the table. We shouldn’t be too harsh. But as a perceptive reader recently said, Arsenal are only high up in the table because the teams around them are worse this season. It’s hard to deny. Many gooners will have noticed that Arsenal has ALREADY LOST 5 GAMES and its not even half-way through the season. That’s the stuff of teams that finish 5th not 1st. Man U has not lost a game yet.
So it’s Chelsea after Stoke next, then two tough successive away games against Wigan and Birminham within 3 days of each other, then Man City is coming to the Emirates in the New Year seeking revenge.It’s hard not to see a couple more losses from that tough stretch of fixtures. Come the 5th of January, it’s odds-on that Arsenal will have lost 7 or 8 games with nearly half the season remaining.
By the way, did you see Yaya Toure against West Ham? Wow. He was immense, like a power-house Vieira in his prime, only better. Yaya is exactly the kind of player Arsenal has so badly missed for so long now. Arsenal would win the premiership with Yaya Toure.
From goonergerry : Man United game
Myles,
You have written on more than one occason, that Arsenal will never win the EPL under Wenger.
An opinion I totally agree with.
Watching Arsenal perform in such a constrained and ineffective way tonight, I am sure that they will never beat Manchester United again under Wenger.
Arsenal lack the confidence, the defensive organisation and the ability in midfield and attack. When playing United or Chelsea, Arsenal lose their fluency, do not do enough with the possession they have. The truth is this game was not even close. United know they do not even need to play well to win. Are United’s midfield and defence all better than their Arsenal counterparts? Or is Ferguson simply a far better manager and tactician than Wenger? The fact is both are true.
The truth is Arsenal are not a top level club- their team has lacked investment for 5 years or more.
Arsenal fans need to stop fantasising and face reality.
Myles replies :
Thanks, Steve, thanks Ken.
I feel refreshed myself, actually.
I’m not gonna slag off Arsenal again till after Xmas. It’s the season of goodwill. I’m hoping the new year will bring some new joys and I’m certainly planning to do some things in 2011 that I’ve never done before.
Everyone saw what happened last night, so I’m not going to write 2,000 words of detail on a scrappy league match that was won by the better team.
Szczesny should play against Stoke. He should play the next 10 games. He shouted at his defence and came for crosses. He has size and presence. He looks the real deal.
Rio Ferdinand’s karate kick on Sagna was pure Kevin Moran /Bryan Robson/Norman Whiteside – Big Ron would have loved it. I’ve watched Rio for 12 years and never seen him do that. Although he did once take out Freddie Ljungberg with a barge when he was clear on goal. That was a clear red card but Mike Rileydid nothing.
Jack Wilshere got a nasty tackle and limped off. When Jack went off, Arsenal lost a lot.
Ji-sung Park has four lungs and deserved his goal. Rooney’s penalty run started on the North Circular and ended at the top of the M6 -quite ridiculous. Silly boy. His body is in good condition but his head is not.
As for Yaya Toure, he looked like Frank Rijkaard when he played for Olympiakos. He was elemental, a motoring man-mountain with skill, able to thunder through midfield like a runaway train and make things happen. Wenger had Yaya on trial but didn’t take him because of his attitude. Yaya wasn’t as polite or subservient as Kolo.
Wenger wants a complete squad of nice guys who don’t talk back to him. As I have said for the last six years.
His team of nice guys didn’t turn up at Old Trafford.
Did not turn up.