By Myles Palmer
Last week’s France-Football quotes were more extensive than the stuff I put on ANR.
PV4 said something interesting which I thought would be picked up. But I never saw it anywhere.
So I wondered if the line I liked would be in The Observer version of the piece last Sunday.
But it wasn’t.
It was the line where Patrick said that the whole Arsenal team,more or less, plays for Thierry Henry.
Patrick was asked : How do you explain that you and Thierry are not as efficient for France as you are with Arsenal?
And he said, “We have more freedom at Arsenal. Thierry, for example, can score at any time when he’s wearing the Arsenal jersey, but that’s not the case with the French team. It should be stressed that Titi is somebody who is very important at Arsenal, whose importance is obvious. He can make the difference at any given moment, and to stretch the point, you could say that we all play for him, in a way.”
What a great line!
“We all play for him, in a way.”
I thought that was a fantastic line. It stuck out a mile, as soon as I saw it.
BUT WHAT DID PATRICK MEAN BY THAT?
Being someone who naturally is more of a critic than a reviewer,I have always looked at Arsenal’s style of play very closely.
I’ve done that on ANR and in The Professor. I’ve always looked at what the team does – and also at what the team does not do.
They do NOT use a target man and they rarely score from crosses. Very few of their goals are headers, volleys or rebounds.
For the last four years I’ve wondered whether Arsenal could win the Champions League by playing narrow football, creating one-on-ones with the keeper through fast, slick, accurate passing to feet.
They play Thierry in, they play Freddie in, and nowadays they play Gilberto in.
The way they pass and move is absolutely brilliant and highly original.
What Patrick probably means is that Arsenal are a left-sided team, with most of their goals and thrusting moves coming from that side.
Thierry, a provider as well as spearhead, is crucial to that flank.
So it might be intesresting to watch France v Slovenia on Saturday from that point of view.
It’s on Eurosport at 7.45 pm.
Zidane is the main man, a genius who is on fire at the moment.He should take Slovenia apart. Zidane should score.
But as PV4 points out elsewhere in that interview, the French team has a different structure. Having four of the same players, or three plus Petit, does not mean that France can play like Arsenal 1998 or Arsenal 2002.
Football is more complicated than that.
But the differences are quite hard to describe. Especially when you’re writing a piece off the top of your head, like this.
Basically, Arsenal pass the ball forward quickly, looking to slice through defences with two or three passes.Passing sideways is kept to a minimum until they are 2-0 up.
Most other teams pass the ball sideways quite a bit.
And an international team, which does not train together every day, cannot refine its style of play as well as a club side. It has to pass the ball sidweays a lot
IN SIMPLE TERMS, FRANCE ARE MORE DEFENSIVE THAN ARSENAL.
France have been very strong in defence since Euro 96, Arsenal have been very strong it attack since 1998.
Possession is vital in interbational football. If you lose the ball its often very difficult to get it back, even if you have Vieira, Thuram,Silvestre and other athletic competitors in your team
But in the Premiership, possession is less important. The ball is up for grabs a lot more, and defenders are not as sharp mentally, reading what you are trying to do.
Improvisation can be very important in a national team. A guy who can get the ball and beat two opponents can open a game up.
Zidane can beat two men, hold off a third and hit a scoring shot or a killer pass.
As they used to say when Zizou was at Bordeaux, he has the body of a bear and the mind of a fox.
Jacques Santini should have axed Desailly but he didn’t have the bottle. I gather Lizarazu and Desailly don’t get on,that’s why the left back is no longer there.
This time I think Santini will try Gallas and Desailly at the back.
France will win comfortably.I will be watching to see how the goals are scored.
SLOVAKIA v ENGLAND?
Sven’s boys play friendly games, qualifying games and tournament games.So far Sven has only been good at qualifying games.
New boy David Thompson is a player I liked at Liverpool.
They sold him to Coventry because he got too many cards,then Souness took him to Blackburn, where he is playing well.
Thompson is fiery, two-footed, creative, a resourceful footballer who can work openings in various ways. I like him a lot.
But is he a trendy selection? Is he better than Lee Bowyer right now?Was Bowyer that bad against Portugal?
Alan Smith will be good for Paul Scholes.
The way I see it working is that Owen will score from passes by Gerrard or Beckham, but Scholes is more likely to score from passes by Smith or Heskey.
I’m not psyched up for this game, so I won’t preview it on Friday.
But here is a wild stab in the dark : Smith to Scholes, bang,1-0.
Wednesday 9th October 2002.