Further reflections on Arsenal’s victory at Chelsea.
Watching Match of the Day highlights just reinforced what we saw live on Sky.
I thought : Only eight goals were scored. How was it only eight when both teams defended like Arsenal?
All four full backs were rubbish!
Santos and Djourou at left and right back is never a recipe for a clean sheet. Bosingwa and Ashley Cole were positionally clueless as well.
The full backs, I think, were the main reason eight goals were scored. Four goals could have been scored before Lampard headed in for 1-0 in 14 minutes.
Szczesny admitted he was lucky to stay on the pitch at 2-2. He raced out for a 50-50 ball with Ashley Cole. If he uses his hand outside the penalty area, he\’s off. Ashley Cole gets to the ball first, the keeper clips him with his foot, Cole goes arse over tip……and ref André Marriner pulls out a yellow card.
Wojciech Szczesny has never been so glad to see a yellow card in his life.
Chelsea used to be a big blue juggernaut that rolled forward with force and momentum but the vehicle now has flat tires. They’re third in the table but this was far more dramatic than a blip, far worse than a bad day at the office.
It’s a very tricky challenge a new manager. How can he rebuild Chelsea while Terry, Cole, Lampard and Cech are still there? If he props them up, picks a team that supports what they can\’t do, he\’s going backwards. If he drops more than two of them for any game, he has to win it. Even if he’s a genius, he can’t rebuild the squad in six months.Drogba and Anelka did not get new contracts. As soon as they know they\’re not getting new contracts, he lost them.
If AVB isn\’t bold enough, he’ll lose his job. But if he\’s too bold, he’ll be sacked sooner rather than later.
One thing is clear, however. He wasn\’t hired to manage the slow decline of fading stars such as JT, Lamps, Ashley and Peter the Czech.
Right now, Arsenal look in better shape than Chelsea, even though they have gaps in their squad that make them vulnerable. For a start, they have no left back.
But Koscielny is playing very well, Ramsey is improving with every game, RVP is scoring in every game, and Vermaelen is fit again.
Saturday at Stamford Bridge was weird though.
The Arsenal team that conceded that early Lampard header somehow managed to win 5-3 ? They allowed John Terry to volley in a corner from four yards for 2-1 but still won 5-3?
How did it happen? No mystery.
Because Gervinho was far more incisive than Sturridge, who was unreliable and wasteful. Because Robin Bang! Persie was far more dynamic than Fernando Torres.
Last week I was beginning to think Torres was back to 85% of what he can be. On Friday, Wenger said Torres is back to what he was. But Torres went back into his shell. He\’s such quiet lad, too introverted.
It seemed as Petr Cech never made a save in that match: Arsenal had six shots on target and scored five goals.
Andre Villas-Boas, hired as attacking coach who can rebuild Chelsea and make the team more exciting for the oligarch to watch, apparently licenses both full backs to go forward at the same time.
When AVB was winning games, he didn’t seem too young or too inexperienced. I hope he’s allowed to build his own team.
My brother told me he heard George Graham on the Garry Richardson show on Sunday morning. George apparently said, “Trust me, Mikel is not an holding midfield player.â€
Quite right, George.
AVB should be bolder and more radical. He should play David Luiz in the Busquets position, where he can intercept, break forward, win headers, play one-twos with people. If Luiz loses the ball in the front third, so what? If he clatters somebody on the halfway line, he can help to defend the free-kick into the box.
Right now, Robin rules.
The King of the Cage is now the King of the Goalscorers.
This is the table of most prolific EPL scorers in the calendar year of 2011 :
Van Persie 28
Rooney 19
Lampard 14
Hernandez 13
Bent 13
Sturridge 12
Summing up Saturday\’s 8-goal thriller, Sky pundit Gary Neville said, “It\’s 1-0s and clean sheets that win you championships.â€
Gary is old school, so he would say that.
I\’m old school, so I agree with him.
Everton 0 Man United 1.
Hernandez, 19 min.
But Manchester City have the best defence. Unbeaten in 10 games.
Roberto Mancini makes them learn positional discipline. they do shadow work, sessions without the ball : If he\’s here, and he\’s here, you\’ve got to be there !
If you’re trying to pass or dribble towards their D, there are a bunch of sky blue bodies there, ready to nick the ball off you. Mancini is Italian and Italian coaches don\’t like conceding goals. There are exceptions, there are attacking teams, but it’s a cultural thing: if you don\’t concede, you don’t lose. If you can defend well, every goal you score will be meaningful.
On Saturday night I watched Inter play Juventus at the San Siro. I love the appetite of Juve.
They don\’t have any great players these days but tenacity is in their DNA, I think, like Man United.
Inter’s Wesley Sneijder had the worst game of his career and Del Piero, a 10-minute striker these days, came on in 84 and scuffed a good chance wide in 88.
Inter 1 Juventus 2
They are coached by Antonio Conte, 42, once a hard-working winger who played with Del Piero.
Juventus, playing in their new stadium, top Serie A for the first time in five years.