A good boxer doesn’t have to hit the hardest. He can defend and work openings with various combinations, mannerisms that give the opponent a false sense of security and by using his sheer class and power.
Ali got easily beat by Ken Naughton then in a second fight beat him unsensationally over a points decision, as he used a different style – a plan B. In the same era, George Forman smashed the same Ken Naughton to pieces – he obliterated him and then up next was Ali.
Ali’s game plan was to soak up the big mans power and take him out when he least expected it and on tape shown afterwards he even named the round.
Ali was the champion. Ali was unpredictable. Ali had learned to gear his fight to combat his opponents’ style.
Ali had plans A B C and D.
In comparison no one could lead an assault with a powerful strike as Frank Bruno in his pomp. Frank looked the part and had maximum power and style, but what he had in those he lacked in defence. Couple that with mental fragility and you had a top boxer that could on one hand fight for the world title, but on the other get humiliated by someone with both power and guile.
I liked Frank, but Frank was one-dimensional. He relied on his Plan A.
Like a lot of people have stated: Maybe the humiliation at Old Trafford was a blessing in disguise. If we had got something from there, it is doubtful that half of what came in this week would be here now, as Wenger would have given us the “we can compete with the best with what we have” routine.
A bit like Frank when he went in the ring with Tyson – He looked the part and showed hatred when going nose to nose prior to the bell but everyone in the world knew that was superficial and that there wasn’t enough depth to go the full twelve rounds – especially when you are competing against the best and richest opponent in the game.
Arsenal have been fighting above their weight for years and we got pummelled by the champions. I knew it would happen. We all knew it would happen. It should have happened in the first leg of the Champions League semi’s at Old Trafford, but we were saved by from a humiliation by Almunia, who redeemed himself in the second leg and let three in.
Last Sunday wasn’t because our attack was poor it was because we had no central dynamics and a flanked defence that could be easily penetrated and a spineless set of players with no guts for a fight – and I don’t mean bitch slapping or stamping on someone’s leg when the referee isn’t looking – I mean spineless and gutless full stop, a mental fragility.
A Joey Barton figure would never have let that happen, Coquelin, Traore and Jenkinson are not Arsenal 1st team players and possibly never will be, they are reserves at best, as is Djourou.
Losing Fabregas, our best player was a big blow. The team are suffering because they are weak. If you tell someone they are shit long enough and if they’re weak they’ll believe you. There was or is no belief in this team. it was the same when Fabregas was out a few years ago and we swooped for Arshavin. He saved our season and was rewarded by Wenger by having his place in the cup final team given to a useless lantern-jawed crock.
That aside, when you have a world class player such as Fabregas (who once back replaced Arshavin as the teams talisman), you tend to overuse him as your central outlet, and as such, as a team you can become both one-dimensional and predictable.
We spoke on the blog last week as regards Ian Wright in the GG days and Malcolm MacDonald under Terry Neil. Okay, they were centre forwards but the concept is still the same. You tend to play through your best players.
Viera was a great player in a great team but he was never the classy player in the type of team that Fabregas was. Whereas Fabregas was the central dynamics of a team with no plan B, Viera was an integral driving part of the sum of all the parts of a team that had numerous plans – A, B, C and D.
I don’t have to give a roll call for the Invincibles, as every Arsenal fan knows who they are, but outside the first fifteen we carried a fair bit of shite and in truth the Arsenal first fifteen pre-Fabregas and Nasri weren’t that much ‘less profile’. The only difference being that the other teams have gotten even better.
Whereas the only problem in Vieira’s team was an ageing injury prone goalkeeper and an injury prone centre-back, and a solid central midfielder to replace Petit, which were problems solved with the signings of Edu, Campbell and Lehman.
The only real problem with this recent Arsenal was a bum goalkeeper(s), the lack of defensive cover, a decent defensive midfielder and constant injuries. Since then we have lost Fabregas, Nasri and Clichy but we have brought in five.
Admittedly Arteta is no Fabregas but he’s a quality player who played the lead role in a middling football side, with two other players that could have possibly improved us. He was their humble and uncapped star.
Arteta has humility and along with Wilshere could create the multi-dimensional dynamics of a great side. Maybe Arshavin will start performing as you don’t suddenly become a bad player. In the past Arteta has played as a defensive midfielder and played both centrally and wide.
A good midfield player can play across the midfield, or should be able to. Viera could play both. Gilberto could play both, as could Edu and Ray Parlour. None as good as Fabregas with the incisive passing but all capable of undertaking any midfield role and all capable of handling whatever came their way.
Fabregas, like Henry before him and Van Persie now, wasn’t captain material. Just because you feel they are your most valuable player, you don’t make them captain. A captain leads by example. He invites discipline, he fights, he shouts and he’s the main man you want behind you. He is supposed to get the best out of every player.
A proper captain isn’t in business for himself, he’s part of the team overall dynamics.
Benayoun is a flair player – an enigma. At his best he is brilliant, but there’s no doubting he has been patchy – reminiscent of Nasri anyone? Maybe the new dynamics of this Arsenal side could facilitate him and turn him into the winner he
obviously wants to be.
Alex Song got the gig as DM, not because he’s good, it’s because his position is a position that no other midfielder bar EP26 and CE40 want, and they are both kids who want to play out with the big boys.
The other midfield positions are like leading roles in big blockbuster movies, whereas the defensive midfield holding position is the first name on the credits at Holby City. Ever noticed Song going AWOL and trying to get that odd role in the blockbuster thus leaving holes
in the credits?
In fact both he and his understudy could be out for several weeks during the ACN, which along with his stupid suspensions is a valid reason to get shut.
Maybe Arteta’s guile and humility is the signing that holds that midfield together and makes us a team and turns us into a multi-dimensional outfit that can both defend and create other outlets?
Maybe Arteta won’t combine with other players to try and be over elaborate and be over intricate in trying to constantly walk the ball in. Maybe Arteta will go for goal and encourage more from others, such as Arshavin who are definitely capable? Maybe our five-a-side game can be elaborated on and made more penetrative.
Maybe Arteta can defend. Just maybe the loss of Fabregas could work the same as it did with the loss of Henry in that we become a team rather than a one-man show. It could be a blessing in disguise.
Per4 looks a tidy addition, but again it is the sum of all the parts. I make no bones about it, I would have preferred Jagielka and Cahill, but neither of them have 75 caps for their country – a country who strive success through organised discipline. You don’t invade the world with the likes of Squillaci and Djourou at your elm. When the going gets tough you don’t want your troops hiding in an attic or going neutral – You need leaders.
Per4 and TV5 have been captains of their previous clubs and rotating with Kos sounds okay – A bit like Adams, Keown & Campbell. Djourou and Squillaci are totally Holby City and are shite and if not shipped out in January, should only be utilised in emergencies.
We all wanted the marquee signing in someone like Benzema, Hazard, M’Villa, Goetze, Kaka, but we got what we got.
Looking at it we didn’t do that bad either.
Written by South Yorkshire Gooner
Few Snippets:
AaronRamsey scored for Wales last night, Chu Young Park went two better and nabbed himself a hat-trick for Korea and Robin van Persie went one better than him, he managed four for Holland in an 11-0 victory.
Theo played for England and set up Shrek for his second in a 3-0 win, Alex Chamberlain set up two goals the day before in the England under21 match and Yossi Benayoun played a full 90 minutes for Israel, proving he’s fit and ready.
Good news and so far no injuries reported….
Morning all,
Float like a butterfly, we can do that…
Sting like a bee… That’s what we need to start doing, from start to finish….
Got to pop off for a bit – back in an hour…
Morning all,
Blinging read SYG, thats what i like to read positive vibes, and this team put together by all at Arsenal looks pretty good, now i must admit not one of these players would have been my first choice, but seeing them on paper after the event, has made me think that Wenger may be finding his Plan b i sure hope so.
-SYG
Good read, agree with you about Song, he has a job to do, and more than often he isn’t there to do it, fancies himself as a goalscoring attacking midfielder, which by no stretch of the imagination, he is not. The few times he does sit in front of the back four he does an alright job.
But a player like M’vila could do the job far better, and even may allow us to go back to a 4-4-2 formation, Which I would love to see. Now that Fabregas is gone, why continue with a formation which failed? (and was built to suit him).
I really believe RVP can not play as a sole striker, its a waste of his talents, maybe with Park up beside him, we could start to see some real return from the strikers, something that hasn’t happened for a number of years.
On the wings this year, I’m maybe alone in this, but I would like to see Miyachi on the left and Gervinho on the right, both ahead of Walcott, who has done well for us so far, but as we all know, has very little end product, loses the ball far too easy and when things don’t go his way, runs into dead ends as to not be available to receive the ball. Not something you want a winger to get into the habit of doing.
Walcott in the sense is not a footballer, comes from a good family background, well educated, well spoken and far too much sense to find himself in the red tops every second week. Nice guy, maybe too nice. He might do well as a striker along side RVP. I’m sure not one defender would like to see him come on with 25minutes to go and run in behind them.
I think with the arrival of Arteta that himself and Wilshere could do very well in the centre, both excellent footballers and both not shy of a tackle which is what is needed.
Defense, Here comes the big question, now that we have Mert4 will we continue with the suicidal high line which, for reasons unknown to me, we have been playing. Mert4 is not a quick player, so thins has to stop.
Freekicks, bring back Lee Dixon and stick him on the post! Why did we stop doing this?! Neither free kick against united would have gone in if we had put CJ on the line. Also side note, how much of a douche is Anderson trying to syke out S13? If we had a captain such as Vieria he would have slapped anderson in his annoying face and told him to grow up.
One thing which I have been pondering, for the first time in a long time! Is first team selection. We now have actual competition. Players will hopefully but better shifts in knowing that there are others ready to take their place if they so much as blink. Hopeful this will be a swift kick in the ass of players like Chamakh, Rosicky and Ramsey.
Things are looking better!
Hi again all
Have to second comments about the post, it’s a cracker SYG and yes, we’d all have liked one or two ‘better’ signings but each one will bring something to this current side.
Big lump at the back to help stop the airial threst we suffer, Arteta will only help Ramsey – Yossi will be great player to come off the bench and both Oxo and Ryo can learn from him.
Park proved yesterday he has an eye for goal…
Song, totally agree, he’s not the best and now I see a battle between him and Frimpong, my bet is on the youngster to muscle his way in, and stay there…
I’m popping off again, back in a bit – shopping 🙁
Blinding read SYG.
Excellent post SYG, a really good read.
Dunno about anyone else but I feel like i’ve gone 12 rounds with Tyson today.
I don’t like to single out players but I do think Song is just too laxidasical, frimpong is gonna be a rottweiller for us, he’s still got his baby teeth at the moment, but I think this time next season he could be a monster.
As for Arshavin, its about time he started playing out of his pie crust for us again.
I always liked barry mcguigan as a boxer, always on the front foot, always in his opponents face and never giving them time to settle, a little bit of that this season wouldn’t go amiss either.
Anyone around?
TR7, have you seen where rohan ricketts has ended up ? he has joined Shamrock Rovers this week, he’s still one of the few that has crossed the great divide.
I think he done quite well at youth level but was another player who was never gonna make it in our first team.
Quiet on here today.
SYG… A quality post.
Anyone read Des Kelly in the Daily Mail…?
Kelly slagged off Everton & Arsenal.
Kelly is a Liverpool fan..!
Rohan Ricketts has joined Rovers?! I thought he looked a decent player as a youth.
Anyone going to watch Rosicky play Scotland?
ESP, it was all hands to the pump last night from what I was able to see, a couple of great chances in the last 15 minutes tho, Russia will be tough, feeling confident ?
Hi Guys, it’s a quiet day all around, probably the lull of the international break….
Such a shame as the post is so good, maybe I picked the wrong day, sorry SYG 🙁
Hi, everyone!
weekend of meditation…
Hi JM, I think so….
Just be glad when the next interantional matches are over and the players get home without injury..
Gervinho and Song play today i think…
Micko
I feel Trap is far too conservative in his picking of the team, we are built for scoreless draws, which is fine if you are playing away from home, but I would like to see a more attacking side at home.
Russia will be tough, but I think whatever happens it will be a close game.
When Hunt came on he did well, should have been on 20 minutes earlier, McGeady was off his feet having not played much, but was kept on for 80+ minutes, which didn’t make sense to me. We should have pressed a lot harder, Slovakia had a better share of the ball and moved it around nicely.
Internationals….. Yawwwn
ESP, that’s always been the problem, they never score enough goals and they find themselves defending for their lives in the last 10 minutes of the game, its a shame as their travelling support is fantastic, missed out on too many tournaments over the years.
I was surprised by that micko 😮
There is a media witchhunt for wenger.i read an article today asking why didn’t wenger shell out for cahill.even ‘arry himself found his price too steep.mancini went for savic while Dalglish went for coates.also mertsacker is superior to him and cheaper.
I read an article today saying arteta isn’t a cesc replacement since he is a winger 😮 Savage even said that mertsacker did not convince him when he was at madrid 😮
Kt, if we had got Cahill and Merts, we’d have the best central defence four in the PL – Kos, TV, Merts, Cahill – absolute no weakness…
Arteta is a central player, Moyes played him on the right as he had no other option and that’s from Moyes himself….
Good read, SYG?? Is this your debut post? I think we all know that the team generally lacks a fighting spirit. Too easily, their heads drop; of course, the young ones are quickest to lose their composure, and we have a good number of those. I like the experience we’ve brought in better by the day. (three days so far. 😉 )
I think RvP will make a good captain though. He is not unafraid to shout at teammates, isn’t he??
The question marks were menat to be exclamation points, SYG. Ooops. Hola, rico. Busy?
but we didn’t. I have seen a few players in the media. If we sign 50% of the names announced and rumours,we may have bought maybe 6/7 new players…
Our strikers struck a rich vein last night, it would seem. Sweet. May that unerring touch find be replicated for the club!
Hi agag, i agree re the youngsters except one, his head never went down and that’s little Jack 😉
Very busy, shopping, dog walking, mother and now baking 😉
JM, Wenger was doomed in the media with any player he purchased – having been linked to so many and most of that is made up by reporters who think they are who we need….
But – I still think just one of M’Vila, Fellaini, Hazard or even Mata, would have been the one to shut them all up…
Glad to see our players scoring though, just hope they take that form into next Saturday… 😛
Park chung-young is exciting me.i can’t put a finger on it why but i have a sneaky feeling about him %)put a finger on it why but i have a sneaky feeling about him %)
Now, that IS busy. I hope your mum is better. Is she able to walk on her own now?
It’s Hazard that I like best of the mad money names linked to us. I should probably unlike him since the ones I like end up going to the Chavs. 🙁
Hello, JM.
Hey, KT. That young seems a bright prospect. People are quick to belittle Lebanon, bu a hattrick is a hattrick and I hope that carries over to the prem. 😉
Plasters off on Tuesday agag, fingers crossed 🙂
Kt, you and me both and I don’t know why either, maybe it’s having watched the Park at the Mancs?
Hola agag.I wonder how people are saying our transfers are poor even before they have even played.give them a chance first.
Fingers crossed; “break a leg” seems very inappropriate, somehow, rico. 😉
KT, I guess it’s cos the media has it in for us. We are a bunch of Johnny Foreigners after all. Maybe the media’s concerted effort to have a go at us for every other reason, the Cesc farewell (I still don’t care about Nasti), the thrashing at Old Toilet, the interlull, and the general sense of “us against the world” would finally get our team going.
hello agirlgunner.
On January Chelsea goal will be A. Pereira and Modric.
Hazard is in thre plans of Liverpool.
M’villa scored yesterday for France
If our signings had cost £100mil the media would be creaming themselves.to them the price equates to quality.we have never spent millions on a single player and i don’t know how they seem to never understand that.it would be incredible if we were to shock ’em all by the time the season ends.
Hazard would be silly to choose Liverpuddle over us, JM. I am just appalled at the spending of the chavs and the manchavs. FFP, my foot!
😆 agag
Kt, no matter what we do in transfers, the media would still pick holes….
Agree agag, but MU running for Schneider (Inter) and not for Hazard. Chelsea wants Modrid and nor Hazard.
I’v watching The Premir League magazine on TV. Lees Ferdinand supports spurs since were be young
JM, maybe they don’t like buying French players?
maybe, but I think it depends of the coach (and the money…). Chelsea has Villa-Boas and is option was for Meireles…
He knows him since along time ago and Meireles has a lot of experience.
Pretty much agree with the original post except in 2 areas:
1) van Persie is a great choice for Captain. He does fight. Sometimes last year it seemed he was the only player willing to challenge a Ref. But more importantly he trains very hard, he sets a good example off the pitch (doesn’t drink or go out to clubs) and overall has maturity.
2) Djourou is not shite. He has potential and was often our best defender last year. We should keep him, possibly as a backup to Sagna on the right.
I actually think we have pretty good defensive options. Let’s say we want to rest Sagna and Santos… We can line up Djourou(r), Per Kos, Verminator(left).
Let’s say we want to rest Verminator and Per. We can play Sagna, Djourou, Kos and Santos. Not ideal with Djourou in the middle, but for easier games it’s OK.
Anyway, the point is that we can rest 1 or 2 guys and shift the others around to still have quality players in every position. Although one more center back above Djourou would be ideal, it’s not realistic to expect.
We have (at least on paper) a solid starting 4 and flexibility to rest and rotate players (not as much as I’d like, but much better than last year).
I’m an optimist i know, but i really think our defense will make the difference this year. While everyone is focused on midfield and strikers, it’s defense that wins championships. I firmly believe our defense will help us bring home silverware this year! (and until we are unequivocally mathematically eliminated, I refuse to believe anything else!!!)
Well, rico, I remember Neville’s interview before the match at OT, and he went on and on and on about Henry’s “airs” or “conceit”. The way he spoke of our fine Frenchman, you would think he had a mancrush on Henry. Lover spurned or something. Haha. The English (press) do love to hate the French.
I hope the likes of Madrid or Barca or Citeh do not go for Hazard, JM. He has a good eye for the pass, and is class all around. 😉
Arsenal (and Newcastle and Liverpool) was refound in the past Al Nahyan (M. City owner).
Top-ten of transfers 2010/2011:
Aguero (A.Madrid) M. City – 45 m
Pastore (Palermo) PSG – 43 m
Falcao (Porto) A.Madrid – 40 m
Coentrao (Benfica) R. Madrid – 30m
Fabregas (Arsenal) Barcelona – 29m
Nasri (Arsenal) M. city – 27,5 m
Eto (Inter) Anzhi – 27m
Mata (Valencia) Chelsea – 26,7 m
Alexis Sanchez (Udinese) Barcelona – 26m
Ibrahimovic (Barcelona) Milan – 24 m
Downing (A.Villa) Liverpool – 22,8 m
Lukaku (Anderlecht) Chelsea 22m
Cazorla (VilaReal) Málaga 21m
DeGea (a. Madrid) MU 21m
Phil Jones (Blacburn) MU 19,3 m
In the Jan transfer window I would like to see Cahill, M’vila and Higuaín join.
That would do nicely.
Hi Doc – I don’t think anyone believes that JD is shite as you put it 😉 He’s just not been the same since he suffered injury towards the end of last season – maybe he was rushed back because we had little option….
agag, i meant maybe the managers don’t like signing the French players?? 😉
How many French players play for
Chavs
Citeh
Manure
?
Evra, is that it 😉
Agag, i never liked neville as a player, seeing him on sky sports now I realise i like him even less.
I think JD will find his form if he is allowed a breather. We don’t want him going down the Clichy route (i.e.; backwards.) Haha. I’m knocking Clichy now, rico. Is this me??? I don’t like turncoats. But it’s Nasti that’s making my blood boil.
I’d like Hazard and GvdW in January, ESP. Cahill, too, but a little less so.
Doc – i am not a fan of moving players out of their proper position, just to rest others – unless desperation sets in..
ESP, Cahill and M’Vila would do for me – unless we suffer a serious injury in another position, in which case an extra signing…
I think its fair to say that with mertesacker coming in we won’t be conceding any more goals like the one welbeck scored against us last week which can only be a good thing.
So slooow, self. 😉 That’s quite the donut comment from me. Must keep up, rico. 😉
Micko, there’s something rodent-like about Neville. I never liked him either.
What is it about Man United, they tend to breed the most unlikable players. Evra being at the top of the list! He would be in my most hated XI.
Oh I would also like to see Gourcuff come in also! (Wouldn’t be me if I didn’t!)
It will be interesting to watch kevin davies try to elbow mertsacker 😉
Exactly Micko,
shame we didn’t get him a couple of summers ago – but, we have suffered with goal keeping too, Almunia and Fabianski were not strong enough, not commanding enough in the box to come and meet the ball and when they did, they fluffed it – finally we have a keeper prepared to do that, and a defender with the height to help him….
There is only one decent Neville and she played Nettball for England 😉
ESP, just look to their manager, he instills his own ways into the players…..
Kt, what, elbow his knees 😉
@ Rico. But Djourou plays right back regularly for the Swiss (and his speed and play might be better suited to that position any way), and Verminator plays left back for Belgium. So we wouldn’t really be moving them to positions they don’t know or play regularly. Granted it’s not ideal, but it’s a workable option when/if needed – an option we didn’t have last year. Down the stretch when injury and fatigue set in, it will make a difference.
Did Metsacker play yesterday for Germany ?
(keepin mind that the only other alternative at right back, other than Djourou is Jenkinsen.)
Doc, RB?? I never knew that, i though he only played central, either defence or midfield….
RB – Sagna, and Jenkinson is much better back up than Eboue imho
JM, no, unused substitute…
Evra is likely to take each single spot in the Hateful XI. Although, there is that diver Shrek, that diver Nani.
GvdW is a ready RB, if AW’s interested.
Agag am not sure you want van der wiel for his football abilities 😉 …
Whatever do you mean, KT? 😉 He’s first choice for no less than the Dutch NT. He’s quite good. That he’s quite good-looking, is not something I even considered. (wink wink nudge nudge)
I thought i heard that you once said it was his thighs 😉
Kt 😆 😆
agag, you have been sussed.. 😉
Hah! KT, you have me confused with “Someone” checking out the thighs of another Dutch, our very own Choco Leg v. Persie. Yes, I do mean, rico. 😀
You also referred vermy to as coffin hot 😮 and stop changing the topic.i have a pretty good memory.
Guys, I’m off for the day – got to go and see the patient …
Catch up tomorrow…
Nighty Night all….
agag, robin thighs are a good thing to think about before going to sleep 😳
Ha, KT. 😛 I’ll never live that Vermy comment down it seems. Eeek.
Sweet dreams, rico. Hope Robin’s thighs make an appearance. 😀
Nighty, you both,
New Post up