By Myles Palmer
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Everton 2 Arsenal 1
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Ljungberg 8, Radzinski 22, Rooney 90
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“I like five days to prepare for a match, but I can make do with four.”
That was one of the first things Arsene said when he arrived in 1996.It stuck in my mind ever since.
He must hate back-to-back internationals.
On Sunday October 6th Arsenal outclassed Sunderland and won 3-1.
Then he lost most of his players for 10 days.
On Thursday 17th they came back, probably did a warm-down,some hydrotherapy. I doubt if they played any football that day.
On the morning of Friday 18th they would have trained. In the afternoon they got into their team bus and drove up to Merseyside.
I have many theories about the team and I put most of them in The Professor and on ANR.
But there are a few I didn’t have room for in the book. And I haven’t got round to exploring them here.
I figured one out about two years ago.
And once, watching Arsenal train before a Champions League game prior to the Liverpool FA Cup Final, I became convinced that theory was right.
Their practice match was a very fast,explosive, intense, demanding, full-on game.
But very short: seven minutes each way. Loads of very quick attacks, loads of shots, saves and near-misses.
My theory is this : Arsene’s preferred brand of football is a high-maintenance style.
The style requires lightning pace, accurate early passes,immense skill, and runs timed to the split-second.It needs a lot of practice, a lot of concentration.
The breathtaking speed makes the style a bit fragile.If the rhythm and timing are 5% off, Arsenal will stutter.
Every player is important to that style, but Pires, Bergkamp and Ljungberg are especially vital.
Pires and Bergkamp for their assists, Ljungberg for the timing of his runs off the ball. And his goals.
COMPARE THAT STYLE of 4-4-2 to Man United when they won the treble in 1999.
United’s style was based on width, momentum and crosses.
Beckham crossed and Andy Cole headed in. If Cole missed it then Dwight Yorke headed it or volleyed it.
Sometimes Giggs got on the end of those crosses. If the ball hit a defender or was cleared, Scholes would be there to volley or half-volley. So, sometimes, would Keane.
So their style was less surgical than Arsenal’s, a lot more rough and ready.
While Arsenal mostly played rapier football, United played broadsword football, a game that was dynamic, but less precise.
But United had more ways of scoring. They got goals from volleys, headers and rebounds.
Gooners moaned that when United scored four goals, three were usually deflections. True, but that’s because of the way they played at that time.
THE ARSENAL TEAM had not played for 14 days and the best players had been away for 10 of those 14 days.
Playing against Slovenia, Malta, Slovakia and Macedonia.
So when they played at Everton they lacked the fluency and sharpness that made them champions.
Arsenal’s style needs to be rehearsed, practiced, fine-tuned. It’s a fabulous style, really fun to watch, but it’s a Formula 1 style.Needs a team of mechanics working on it daily.
I think that’s what happened at Goodison on Saturday.
Arsenal suffered because they were always gonna suffer more than most teams from 10 days of not being together.
In the ITV highlights, Henry didn’t look as if he was concentrating.
You can’t tell much from 10 minutes of highlights, but we saw Kanu and Ljungberg going for the same Vieira pass. You never see that when Arsenal are playing well.
Freddie’s goal was a terrific finish. But it came from an Henry cross that Kanu miscontrolled. The ball hit Weir and Li Tie before breaking for Freddie to score.
Speedy little Canadian Radzinski was troubling Cygan, and Cole.
Lee Carsley’s shot hit the post so hard that the ball rebounded beyond the penalty area, where Radzinski gathered it and blasted a fine equaliser.
It was a better goal than Freddie’s, from a cleaner move.
Then came Wayne Rooney,a kid I have mentioned here.
Can’t remember what I said.It was something like: Watch out for Wayne Rooney, they say he is better than Michael Owen.
Rooney looks as if he is 50% Shearer and 50% Gazza. Rugged, but a touch player.
He will be 17 on Thursday. One of those freak talents.
Manager David Moyes says, wisely,that it’s OK for Wayne to still have a kickabout in the street with his mates.
He took that high ball from Gravesen and turned and curled a fantastic shot off the underside of the bar from 25 yards.
To become the Premiership’s youngest-ever goalscorer.
A record-breaking seven month unbeaten run was ended by a sixteen year old No.9 with the No.18 on his back
Shearer started his career as a 17-year old with a hat-trick for Southampton against Arsenal. Theo Foley swears he begged George Graham to buy him then.
THE SUNDAY TIMES did not go big on David Seaman,like the other papers.
Joe Lovejoy just wrote,”The FA does its best to shield the players from the media, but increasingly it is they to whom we must turn for enlightenment.From them we learn, despite public pronouncements to the contrary, that confidence has been lost in David “Safe Hands” Seaman. Time waits for no man, and he will not play for England again. Paul Robinson, of Leeds, is Eriksson’s preferred choice for the next match.”
England-wise, the whole thing has been stupidly handled.
Sven should have told Seaman, after the World Cup,”I’m not gonna pick you again, so announce your international retirement and go gracefully.”
GERARD HOULLIER had a satisfying day at Elland Road.
He played ALL his new players and Liverpool controlled the whole game and won 1-0.
Houllier played Cheyrou wide left, Traore at centreback for Henchoz,Diao in midfield for Gerrard.
My spy tells me that the energy,appetite and flair of Diouf and Barros, two 21-year olds, was fantastic.
Diouf did four backheels. The first didn’t work, so he made sure the next three did.
The Revie Stand was singing,”Oh-Leary, Oh-Leary!”
Alan Smith was clattered by Carragher just before half time. He had his leg stitched up.In the second half he ran around like a headless mongoose looking for revenge.
Tel took him off ten minutes into the second half and put Viduka on.
Tactical genius Tel played Barmby in the hole behind Kewell and Smith. But his midfield three of McPhail, Bakke and Bowyer hardly got a kick. They were traffic bollards as the game flowed round them.
AUXERRE?
With Sunday, Monday and Tuesday to prepare I would expect Arsenal to perform normally in that game.
Playing twice for your country in four days takes a lot out of you, physically and emotionally.
But the boys will have recovered, and will be re-focused.
After a bit of fine-tuning, they should be playing rapier football again on Tuesday night.
20th October 2002.