By Myles Palmer
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THIS WEEK Arsene Wenger said now much he admired Rinus Michels, the legendary Dutch coach who has died at the age of 77.
If you are an armchair tactician you must read Rob Hughes on Michels in the Sunday Times tomorrow.
Rob knows Johann Cruyff very well and his piece nails the truth behind “Total Football” better than any of the Michels pieces I’ve read so far.
Rob has included a quote he got from his pal Paul Gardner of World Soccer
It’s a comment by Franz Beckenbauer, written down by Paul after the 1974 World Cup Final, which was never reported by anyone else.
Paul wrote it down because he thought it was very interesting.
He was right about that. And it’s still very interesting now.
Talking about this to Rob yesterday, I started thinking about Arsenal’s attacking football and how far it is possible to attack at the highest level and win at the highest level.
Some of us think Arsenal will need five new faces in the summer.
How many of those five players should be defenders ?
And how do you perfect the balance in a great team?
How do you achieve the mixture of steel and flair that is required ?
How do you blend improvisation with organisation ?
That is an imponderable.
That is the big, big question.
Even Rinus Michels and Johann Cruyff did not have the answer.
March 5th 2005 .