Changing the Dynamics! RvP, Ramsey and Park all on Target!

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….