Let’s Get More Physical and Aggressive: http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/could-have-sworn-it-was-a-reffing-good-idea/story-e6frexni-1226098709408
Three articles over the last 24 hours point to Arsenal’s dilemma.
Patrick Vieira talks about the lack of balance between physicality and technical skill. Arsene Wenger reveals his preference for transforming things into art and beauty, which some say is a typical French characteristic. And the clip from the George Graham era from the Australian Telegraph, just as a reminder of how physical and aggressive Arsenal were pre-Wenger.
In the Daily Express: http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/260414/Patrick-Vieira-Arsene-Wenger-needs-to-buy-in-bulk Patrick Vieira talks about Arsenal’s lack of balance between techicality and physicality.
“The passing and the movement is better and they are faster. But our team was more physical and responded better to the English game.
“Look at the goalkeeper back then, you had the personality and presence of David Seaman. In defence you had players like Adams, Bould and Keown and then myself and Emmanuel Petit in the midfield – we were a big, physical, intimidating team.
“We had physicality and we had creativity – we had everything. But I honestly believe the Arsenal team now are playing better then we were then. The difference is we put silverware on the sideboard and that is what people remember, not how you play.
“Maybe Arsenal have lost the physical aspect of the game but have gained in the technical aspect. They lack the balance between the two qualities you need.
Meanwhile during his club’s pre–season tour of Asia, Arsene Wenger appeared before 100 business leaders and offered a revealing insight into his philosophy including the difference between running a company and a football club: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/arsenal/8652696/Arsenal-manager-Arsene-Wenger-QandA-Cesc-Fabregas-and-Samir-Nasri-both-love-this-club.html. Some of answers below:
“Without an ego you do nothing in life. You just have to know how far you can go with it. What you can never forgive yourself is to turn around at the end of your career, look back on it, and say to yourself, ‘I could have done more’.
“It’s important to meet someone who will give you a chance, and when I can do this in football, I do it.”
“I like a famous line from a great philosopher who said: ‘The only way to deal with death is to transform everything that precedes it into art’. We have to make sure we try to make every day as beautiful as we can.”