By Myles Palmer
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ONE of the Premiership’s players of the season has been Kolo Toure, who has been awesome in his new role at centreback.
Since Lauren has been suspended, Kolo has been doing well at right back, and Cygan has been efficient at centreback.
Kolo has added composure to his obvious skills and running power, and become a key player.
So now, with Lauren almost fit, will Arsene restore Kolo to centreback?
We saw last season that Kolo is a powerhouse athlete with huge enthusiasm and a fair bit of flair.
I’m wondering whether his abundant energy would be of more use to the team at right back.
Im wondering whether Arsene is wondering.
I’M WONDERING whether Arsene is ready to make a conceptual leap.
For the last seven years, Arsenal have been a left-sided team.
Most of their attacks, and most of their goals, come from Cole,Pires and Henry on that side.
Those goals are scored on the left side, or from passes from the left side.
That is fine.It’s worked very well and they’ve won two titles and three FA Cups by attacking mostly down the left side.
But could the right side ever be as productive?
Well, as I discuss in The Professor, the eternal conundrum facing football coaches is this : How do I make one part of my team stronger without making another part weaker?
Myself, I have moments when I think Kolo Toure could become the new Roberto Carlos.
Like Carlos, he is very dynamic. He is elemental, volcanic.
He is a bionic gladiator, a sporting warrior who is always up for the battle.
He gives huge momentum to his team.
Of course, Kolo can’t do it as well as Carlos yet, because the team does not play to him as much.
Carlos knows how to play with Ronaldo because they are close friends and have played together for about eight years.
And he knows how to play with Zidane because Zidane is a master who can play with anybody and make anybody look good.
A LOT OF football, in Arsene Wenger’s mind, is about initiative.
It’s about not being scared.
It’s about creating a slick, fast rhythm on your training pitch and taking that high-tempo passing into stadiums and attacking early, scoring first, and then counter-attacking at high speed to kill the game off.
That is Arsene-football.
That is what he calls “our game”. That is what he works on, that’s what Arsenal practice, that is what he is always seeking to improve in training.
By studying videos, by tweaking their teamwork, by refining their shapes, their patterns, the timing of their off-the-ball runs.
SO COULD Arsenal become an two-sided team?
If Kolo Toure stays at right back, could they create as many goals from attacks on the right?
At Roma, Cafu seemed a bit past it at 33.
But AC Milan signed him and he is still providing goals from the right side, especially for Kaka and Shevchenko.
KOLO TOURE has already shown amazing power,boundless enthusiasm, a commendable sporting attitude, maturity beyond his 22 years – and an ability to score goals.
He COULD do what Cafu does, but he would do it in a more ebullient style.
In the way he plays, Kolo is more like Carlos than like Cafu.
But, of course, neither of them can play centreback. And neither of them wants to play centreback, as Kolo does.
If Toure plays as well from January to May as he has done from August to December, he would get my vote as Footballer of the Year.
And I don’t mean :Arsenal Footballer of the Year.
I mean : the best player in English football this season.
At the moment, only Damien Duff is in his class.
BOLTON at the Reebok tomorrow?
A very tight game which Arsenal will win by one goal.
19th December 2003.