Defying The Odds
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Defying The Odds
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| ...by Rob Bateman |
White Hart Lane and Wembley 1987; Anfield 1989; Anfield 1991; 4 times at Wembley 1993; Turin, Paris and Copenhagen 1994; Auxerre and Genoa 1995. The common link? Arsenal won when it mattered.
1995 League cup semi-final, Highbury against Man Utd., Liverpool and Newcastle 1997 and Chelsea League Cup semi-final 1998. The common link? Arsenal failed when it mattered.
That's the difference between the team that George Graham built and the teams following in their footsteps. Yes, there were exceptions (Luton 1988, Wembley 1991 and Paris against Zaragoza in 1995) and Arsene Wenger's team have the chance this season to prove they have what it takes to be winners, but would you put your money on them?
When Arsenal play well, they can be an awesome prospect for any team, but the difference is that when they play badly in the big games, they haven't dug out the results that make Champions or Cup winners. Of the list of successes above, you'd find it difficult to name more than one game that Arsenal played brilliantly in, and in many, the Gunners were outplayed, but won through due to superb teamwork and downright stubborn refusal to admit defeat.
This season, I thought they'd finally found that inner resolve, when they defeated Man Utd. in November despite suspensions and injuries to key players (Bergkamp, Vieira, Petit, Keown and Bould). My hopes were dashed within the next three weeks as they lost to Sheffield Wednesday, Liverpool and Blackburn in quick succession. Thanks to the floodlight failure at Selhurst Park, we were spared yet another poor result and embarked on a 12 match unbeaten run that has seen us rise as the only realistic challenge to United's dominance and reach the latter stages of two cup competitions.
The "black and white" brigade who felt the club were in crisis before Christmas, are suddenly championing Arsenal's trophy chances, but as usual the truth lies somewhere in the grey area that Arsenal truly inhabit. A 12-match unbeaten run sounds good, but what does that include:
A scrappy win over Leicester; a draw against Spurs who had just come off the back of 4-1, 4-0 and 6-1 defeats; two draws against Port Vale in the FA Cup; a narrow victory over Middlesbrough who rested most of their first team; defeat over two legs against Chelsea who should have been High-buried; and an abysmal 0-0 home draw with Palace in the FA Cup. Victories against West Ham, Chelsea, Leeds and Southampton were partly due to the oppositions' frailties and a 2-2 draw with Coventry literally snatched from the jaws of victory by Patrick Vieira's flailing arms.
The team aren't playing particularly well and this has not been helped by the usual crop of injuries and suspensions, but the most important thing is the team are digging in and getting good results from poor performances. If they're going to have a chance of silverware then they're going to have to defy the odds at places like Old Trafford, Ewood Park and Anfield and they might finally lay the ghost of George.
New blood
To really sustain a challenge, Arsenal still need new blood throughout the team.
Up front, Nicolas Anelka is still a couple of years worth of Premiership experience away from being able to cope with the rigours of the English game and Ian Wright is finally showing signs of decline. Sometimes a good performance hides the fact that they are fewer and further between. I'm not writing our record scoring goalscorer off, but I think it's time he had some decent competition.
Arsenal need a truly top class striker and proven goalscorer. If we are to keep up with the Jones's, Kevin Davies, Carl Cort and the like are not the answer. I'm not sure that Yorke or Sutton are either, though the former's desire to win trophies will surely mean he is available this summer. Links with Weah, Kluivert, Suker and Kanu have come and gone, but surely the player to buy has to be Batistuta. Watching him and Bergkamp play next season would certainly ease the pain of the usual 15% rise in ticket prices.
In the midfield, we are quite well blessed defensively and Platt and Overmars do offer a goal threat. What I feel is missing is a creative midfield player. Wenger does not agree, and feels that Bergkamp fulfils that role. However, the reason we don't score as many goals as we should is because we only ever get one striker in the box with Bergkamp supplying from deep. These kind of players are even rarer than top class strikers, but Fiorentina's Manuel Rui Costa would be the perfect foil for Vieira and his vision and dribbling would fill the void left by Merson's departure. Another potential signing is Robert Pires, who could play wide on either flank.
Defensively, Arsenal are still very strong with Adams and Keown certainly looking good for several more years at least. Bouldy refuses to lie down and the back-up of Grimandi and if necessary Petit makes me feel this is the strongest area of the team. The full-back positions are surely a priority for Wenger. Despite Winterburn's excellent season, the proposed signing of Torricelli would give Arsenal more options going forward without relinquishing any defensive solidity and again Petit would provide excellent cover. The right back position is less-clear cut. Grimandi could establish himself as first choice, but Wenger surely must look for a specialist to replace Lee Dixon.
Every Arsenal fan would like to see a couple of big names arriving to boost this year's trophy hopes, but this looks unlikely whilst other teams need their players to win things, qualify for Europe or escape relegation.
The noises coming out of Highbury suggest another summer full of speculation and a fair bit of activity, especially with the World Cup putting hundreds of players in the shop window. The key to success next year has to be buying established stars, not gambling on young players or buying squad members as we did last summer. The future already looks bright with Manninger, Wicks, Upson and Anelka, but if Arsene is to be part of that future, he will have to deliver now.
Key players
Whilst Dennis was untouchable and the only goals Wright had were on the pitch, they carried the team in the first part of the season. This didn't stop the doubts about certain players - new signings and old stalwarts alike. With the advent of corporate supporters and extortionate ticket prices, the fan base has changed to supporters demanding immediate success and entertainment. This has led to impatience with players who aren't performing.
Over recent weeks, several players have begun proving their critics wrong.
There is an old saying that "form is temporary, class is permanent". The epitome of this has been Marc Overmars, who has been subject to criticism this season as have many of Wenger's signings. But he is now showing what a priceless asset he will be to Arsenal. Early in the season, he was often marked by two players and Wrighty and Dennis were the main beneficiaries in exploiting the space this left. Recently, teams have focused once more on stopping Bergkamp and this combined with the freer role Overmars has been given, has allowed Overmars to punish teams with his astounding pace and cool finishing.
Next up, Gilles Grimandi. A terrific volleyed goal against Palace, has capped his recent form. His performances at the beginning of the season were solid enough, but unfortunately a couple of costly errors got the crowd on his back and his confidence started to wane. Well my fair-weather friends, can I just remind you of Andy Linighan - boo-ed and barracked until 1993 when he proved his mettle and wrote his name in history with the winning goal at Wembley. When a player gets the odd appearance, he's bound to be nervous and make mistakes simply because he doesn't know the system or the other players etc. and he ends up trying too hard. (John Hartson is a prime example of a player whose confidence has come from playing regularly.) How much worse must this situation be if you hardly speak a word of English. Grimandi's recent performances have been superb and he must surely get the nod ahead of the increasingly erratic Dixon.
Nigel Winterburn and Ray Parlour have been outstanding and Ray's England B cap was thoroughly deserved. Both must surely have felt their Arsenal days were numbered, but both have accepted the challenge and reacted positively by producing their best form.
Judging by crowd reaction, this will probably be a shocker for most of you, but I'd like to praise the contribution of Nicolas Anelka. This is a young boy who can't win really, yet he is sticking to his task and will hopefully become a top player one day. The reason he can't win is down to two people, Ian Wright and Michael Owen. Wrighty, is a Highbury legend. How do you follow someone like that? The answer is - with great difficulty and many top players have failed in similar circumstances. The problem is that fans are only comparing him with Wright because he is currently taking his place in the team, whereas anyone can see that he is a different kind of player and will never be as prolific. The same applies to Owen. The only thing these two 18 year olds have in common is their age. Owen is a direct, pacy striker and goal scorer. Anelka is a creative, dribbling and skilful forward player in the mould of Dennis Bergkamp. For God's sake, how many players are there in the league with his ability, at his age. Even Beckham, Scholes and Giggs weren't playing regularly at his age and Wrighty wasn't even playing league football.
We've already had the example of what the boo-boys can do to a player. Kevin Campbell could have been what Shearer is today, but for his lack of confidence exacerbated by the stick the fans gave him. Most people never appreciate that most of the time he was playing out of position wide on the right, or asked to sacrifice his own instincts to supply Ian Wright. After beating Europe's top clubs for his signature, let's give Nicolas the chance to show us what he can do and not groan every time he doesn't charge down the keeper or occasionally loses control of the ball.
Two other players deserve special mention, but they are crowd favourites. Stephen Hughes has stepped up once again into the first team and demonstrated a superb temperament and no little skill. Surely he has done enough in his brief appearances to justify first team selection ahead of Petit. He has outscored Petit and Vieira 3-1 this season, having started less than 10 games compared to their combined total of nearly 60. Wenger commented that his stamina is such that he can only play 70 minutes, but we are always told that you only get first-team fitness from playing first-team games. He has the creativity, perceptive passing and goal threat to complement Vieira's athleticism and destructive power, so give him his chance.
And finally to possibly the most underrated player in the country, let alone Arsenal, Steve Bould. You only have to talk to any of the players to realise his importance. You just have to read the programme notes (yes sometimes they are interesting) to see what he means to Arsenal. Reading the programme for the Crystal Palace league game, both Tony Adams and Gilles Grimandi took time to praise Uncle Bouldy's contribution and rue his current absence; and remember they are both competing for places against him. Then, if you look at the stats pages, you'll notice that Steve Bould has missed 5 domestic games in total - league games at home against Liverpool and Blackburn and away games at Sheffield Wednesday and Newcastle, plus the League Cup Semi-Final away at Chelsea. You'll see we've lost 4 out of 5 games whilst Steve Bould was absent and that's 4 out of our only 5 domestic defeats this season. No wonder Wenger was desperate for him to stay.
Let's just hope that Bouldy makes it back in time for March 14th and that those famous stretching exercises manage to prolong his career at the top for a while longer.
5-3-2, 4-4-2 and 4-3-3
Thankfully we seem to have dispensed with the trendy wing-back formation (only 10 years after everyone else in Europe), and reverted to our more natural 4-4-2. This has evolved into 4-3-3 at home with Overmars and Bergkamp given more freedom to support the main striker, with the intent of breaking down the usual packed defence of teams who come looking for a draw.
However, during our victory in November over Man Utd., Arsenal changed at half time to 5-3-2 and it changed the game. Although it was 2-2, we had been outplayed and it looked as though the dreaded Mancs would go on to complete another victory on our sacred turf. Instead, the change allowed Arsenal to contain their previously rampant attacks and as we grew in confidence to launch counter attacks of our own. In the last 20 minutes, we could have added 2 or 3 to our total.
In 1989, George Graham changed the formation 10 games from the end of the season, in preparation for the away game with Liverpool at Anfield. By changing to 3 centre backs, the intention was to push the full backs on to two talented wide players - Barnes and Houghton - to stem the supply to the forwards. History often repeats itself, and surely Man Utd. are the equivalent of the Liverpool of 1989. For Barnes and Houghton, read Giggs and Beckham. There are few better than Dixon and Winterburn for sticking to this task. Adams, Keown and hopefully Bould should be able to contain the threat from Cole and Sheringham and stop the latter from dropping deep to cause trouble. Vieira and Petit should be a match for Butt and Scholes and I can't think of two players I'd rather have up front on the break than Bergkamp and Overmars. United will be looking to land the knockout blow on March 14th, but Arsenal need to find the sucker punch if they are to have any chance of overhauling their northern rivals to become Champions.
Our future leader
Lastly, a lot of attention has been paid to bringing in the best coaches to develop Arsenal's youth teams and groom future Arsenal players, but it often strikes me that the club miss a trick when they let vast experience walk out of the door and into other clubs. A prime example of this is David O'Leary, 20 years an Arsenal player, one of the best defenders of his generatio That's why he is still part of Glenn Hoddle's England, that's why he is so crucial to Arsenal's defence. That's why he has a chance to make it as a top coach.
There is an argument to retain Bould, Winterburn and Dixon as well to help Adams groom the Arsenal back four for the new millennium. Are there any other defenders, other than our famous back four, better qualified to not only coach the peculiarities of their own position, but who also possess the added bonus of knowing how to function as a unit.
In addition, if I were Wenger, I would already be considering how to convince Ian Wright to take time out of his future career as a TV host, to teach our young forwards how to make runs, create space and in particular find the back of the net. And in a few years time, who better than Dennis Bergkamp to work on players' technique. Arsenal's future would surely be in safe hands.