By Myles Palmer
____________________________________
ARSENAL suddenly have a galactico problem.
Like Man United and Real Madrid, they have signed more flair players than defenders and anchormen.
As you watched the champions struggle to a 1-1 draw at Selhurst Park, you wished they had Gilberto, Grimandi or Parlour.
At Man United, the crowd demand flair, so Fergie signed Saha, sold Butt, bought Ronaldo and Rooney.
At Real Madrid, president Perez demands superstars with flair.
He paid peanuts to ace anchorman Makelele and then let him go.
Result? Beckham and the galacticos finished third in the league.
At Arsenal, the manager demands flair, so he signed Henry, Pires, Reyes, Fabregas and Van Persie
ON SATURDAY, IAIN DOWIE’S tactics were exemplary and one of his dogs of war, the ebullient Finn, Riihilahti, raced forward to equalise two minutes after Henry scored in 63 minutes.
All three goals came from crosses : Ljungberg’s for Henry, Riihilahti from a Lakis cross, and then Andy Johnson created a sitter which Lakis somehow shinned over from two yards.
That was the “goal” that got away.
LAST WEEK Freddie bleated that he crosses the ball, but there’s nobody there.
The subtext to that is: Reyes will go for my cross, but Henry and Pires won’t.
The background to that is : Arsenal don’t play that way. They pass the ball into the box. They don’t cross it.
BUT THE BEST THREE CHANCES of the Palace game all came from low crosses from the right wing.
Fabregas played Freddie into his assist-position and the Swede supplied the killer cross for Henry to score from two yards.
PALACE had looked an ideal moment to start van Persie, since Pires is so feeble at the moment.
In the event, van Persie and Bergkamp got 20 minutes each when they came on for Pires and Ljungberg.
Van Persie is willing to take the ball with his back to goal.
Henry isn’t. If any defender is within two yards of Henry, when he has his back to goal, he rushes the pass and loses the ball.
He has always done that and always will.
JOSE REYES is a fantastic footballer who can play better than this.
Can he play with Henry?
Well, being the junior partner, he sacrifices himself by putting himself in positions where he would prefer not to be.
Even so, Reyes hit two fabulous crosses.
Reyes is the best crosser at the club, by far.
And he picked out Bergkamp with a superb diagonal pass late in the game.
If Arsene is going to play Reyes on the left, he should give him somebody to aim at : van Persie.
ARSENE KNOWS BETTER than anybody that his side have only one win in six.
Koeman nullified his speedy attack by having Ajax sit deep and letting Arsenal have the ball in wide positions.
Capello copied that with Roma.
Sam Allardyce copied it.
Dowie copied it.
Every coach in the Northern hemisphere now knows that is the best way to stop Henry and Arsenal.
Defend deep, pack midfield, scuffle with Vieira, and pass it quickly when you win the ball.
Palace did that and almost got three points.
How should the Professor respond to being rumbled ?
By being more productive from wide areas. By mixing it up.
ARSENAL SHOULD be able to score from quick passes down the middle AND from crosses into the goalmouth.
OK, we know that midfields are hard to balance.
As soon as you do get the right blend, one of your four midfielders will probably get injured. Your midfield is a house of cards which can fall down at any moment.
And as Arsene has always said, success is quite fragile.
This manager is a very stubborn character whose ideas have propelled the club to another level.
But will he adapt his ideas if his team stop winning?
It’s a question I’ve asked many times.
Indeed, I asked it in the 2004 Preface to The Professor, in a slightly different form, when I discussed a style of play which has devastated the Premiership but often flops against foreign teams:
“The $64,000 question is : can that style ever win the Champions League? Can quick-passing, narrow football open up teams as sophisticated as Deportivo la Coruna, Valencia and Ajax? Putting it another way, do Arsenal have enough ways of scoring a goal in Europe?”
The two draws against Panathinaikos were predictable, even though I did not call those games correctly.
The two draws against Southampton and Palace were surprising.
Right now, I think Arsene’s team is too attack-oriented. It is unbalanced and too open and gives Vieira too much to do and too few short-passing options.
Recently, I’ve predicted wins in every game.
I’ve had bets on Arsenal to win.
What I’ve lost, I’ve won back on Chelsea, Juventus and Barcelona.
SPURS at the Lane?
Thought they would beat Charlton, but they went 3-0 down before losing 3-2.
I was told on Sunday night that Spurs were pitiful in the first half, as clueless as they have ever been.
Saturday will be intense.And interesting.
TO READ more from the preface of The Professor, click on Home page below.
November 8th 2004.