Only an idiot would sit there and deny that Tottenham have been on an upward trajectory in recent years while Arsenal have been either sliding in the opposite direction or, if I'm being particularly generous, have stagnated. They have an impressive squad of players, a manager who for all his faults seems to actually know what he's doing and at times, play the kind of football we all enjoy watching but sadly can't simply because it's THEM who are playing it. In this bizarro Premier
The Spuds came into the Emirates high on more confidence than cocaine can give, and were hoping to give birthday boy Emmanuel Adebayor the head of AW on a silver platter with another of those blinding performances they have been displaying every week. What's funnier, is that the game came at a time when the balance of power is supposedly shifting, with Spurs playing the kind of football that previous Arsenal teams have been known to have copyrighted. With barely four minutes on the clock, Louis Saha set about writing that
All eyes turn to our central defenders as other alternatives. Johan Djourou has been given the nod at right back this season when our current first choice duo have been out but that was before Thomas Vermaelen was fit and ready for action. With the extra experience given by Mertesacker in central defence, Wenger could move Koscielny as the more positionally defensive full back, giving Santos a licence to get forward and support the attack a little more from the left. I suppose this all depends
I think we all saw the difference in technique during the recent under 21s tournament where Stuart Pearce's team failed miserably. It is little wonder that the country is still short in the technique department when people like Tony Pulis and his ilk are being lauded for their direct style of football
The calls to change to 4-4-2 are definitely becoming more numerous but why is that? One reasons is that, in the Premier League at least, the 4-4-2/4-4-1-1 is in vogue. The Manchester clubs have raced out of the traps using this formation (albeit different variations of the same shape). The red half have done what Sir Alex Ferguson’s teams have so often done in the past and used their pacy wingers to
It is clear that over the last year or so Wenger has been looking to add more fleet-footed players to the squad in the hope of producing a team more proficient at the counter-attack. This can be seen in the signings of Ryo Miyaichi, Wellington Silva, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Gervinho who are more suited to being played out wide on the flanks. It is commonly stated that there is no replacement for raw pace. Yes, defenders can compensate by anticipating play well or using expert positioning. Managers
No he’s not perfect. No he’s not the best player in the world (Bale, obviously). No he’s not our saviour. But he is effective and he is improving and we can’t really ask for more than that. Perhaps