By Myles Palmer
Arsenal have faced some quality teams in the so-called Champions League – teams who could boast electrifying talents like Shevchenko, Batistuta, Rivaldo and Figo.
Schalke are a decent team but they have nobody in that class.
They have a multi-natoinal midfield but their best two players are Jorge Bohme and Andy Moller.
Bohme’s low shot was very well saved by David Seaman in Munich when England won 5-1.
Andy Moller is 35 now but can still do it in spurts. A fantastic technician and a very cute strategic player. He is still capable of world class shots and passes.
We saw that against Borussia Dortmund when he scored the only goal last Saturday. A huge long ball down the middle, a knockdown, and Andy zoomed past that old crock Jurgen Koller and buried a screamer from the edge of the hox. A very fine goal in any league.
I have always rated Moller’s shooting ability.He was in my USA 94 Fantasy team – but he did not score in that World Cup.
Many Bundesliga games are quite dull and vicious, stop-start contests with a lot of negative play and fouling.
That is why Dortmund v Liverpool could be a game with red cards. I would not like to see that, but it seems a high-risk game, discipline-wise.I would much rather play Schalke than Borussia Dortmund, even though Dortmund are not playing well at the moment.
In midfield Schalke have Juri Nemec, the canny old Czech, and may deploy two Belgians, Sven Vermant and Marc Wilmots, alongside Moller.
Up front they have Emile Mpenza, an average striker who should not trouble Arsenal too much. He is not as good as Vassell, let alone as good as Hasselbaink.
Nigerian striker Victor Agali is a big strong boy, an awkward, powerful player, but no world-beater.
So this game is all about Arsenal playing well and taking their chances.
I expect Arsene to take the same approach as he did against Bayern Munich, when their high-tempo pressing game allowed them to dominate and go 2-0 up.
Arsenal should have won that game.They learned some bitter lessons in that 2-2 draw. At least one hopes they learned the lessons.
I like a high-tempo start to games like this. I sometimes think of Arsenal being a bit like Mike Tyson when he was good.
Iron MIke would punch the walls for a couple of rounds in the dressing room, get himself going, come out without a robe, and knock out his opponent in the first or second round, before the other guy even knew the fight had started.
That strategy has often worked for Arsenal against poor opponents and also against moderate opponents.
But skilful, experenced, tenacious opponents can sometimes battle their way back into a game, as Bayern and Valencia demonstrated last year.
So it’s really down to what Arsenal do and how they finish.
This is a pressure second game because they lost the first game.
They failed in Mallorca because they were down to ten men after ten minutes and because nine players played badly – only Lauren and Seaman played as they can do and should do.
But Arsenal can handle the pressure because they’ve played better teams than Schalke many times.
Recent games suggest that Bergkamp can become the new Sheringham. He can come on and score late goals.
Bergkamp is now psychologically prepared to do that, which he was not last season. Because he could not get his head round being on the bench after being a first team starter since he was 17 years old.
DB10 is a brainy player who can play various attacking roles, see openings early, and finish with power and accuracy. If he feels fit and strong and happy, he can score a goal against any team.
There are some worrying aspects, of course. Van Bronckhorst was abysmal at left back in Mallorca.
And Sol Campbell needs another ten games to get back to his best. But remember that Rio Ferdinand was shaky when he first went to Leeds, but after seven or eight games he was excellent and they made him captain.
Sol has the temperament to come through this indifferent start to his Highbury career. We saw that when he let Boa Morte go on Saturday. His attitude was : OK, you’re past me, but you still have to beat my defence and you still have to beat my keeper.
Some other defenders would have clattered Boa Morte in that position.They would have panicked and taken him out.
But Sol didn’t do that because he is more use to Arsenal on the field than off it.His job is to stay on the field. And he knows that he has joined a team where some players have difficulty in staying on the field.
Wenger has said he has more faith in his squad than ever before.
After the 3-1 at Fulham he said,“What I have now is 16 or 18 players who can perform, no matter who starts. We haven’t had that before.
“They have the right spirit as they showed at Fulham. It
shows they can make the difference, no matter who is in the
team. Everybody has to accept this kind of rotation. It is
what is needed.
“Yes, I feel under pressure to keep the club at the level where it is. Good management is first to keep stability in the results. Bad management is one season up, the next season down. But you are never happy with what you have done.We have to do much more.”
Schalke will know what to expect.But they may find that Arsenal’s style of play is even more forceful, elusive and peneatrating than they realised.
Arsenal can win the ball earlier than most teams, pass it forward quicker than most teams, get in behind you sooner than most teams, and strike earlier than most teams.
If the Gunners find their rhythm they should slice through Schalke often enough to win this game.
18th September 2001.