If Wenger got his rule changes, we’d have one more point.
8 comments September 26th, 2005
Which would put us level with West Ham. Who we drew with.
It all adds up.
In all seriousness though, I do wish Wenger would stop moaning. He’s a superb manager, but he does come out with some right crap sometimes. We are used to him know how to read through his post-match bullshit, but to the rest of the Premiership he must occasionally come across as a bit of a wally.
Yes, of course I want a more open Premiership with more goals. Yes, I despise 4-5-1 and the way it turns games into bitty midfield slogs. But Alan Hansen got it right on Match of the Day – Arsenal are the only team who would benefit from a more open league. There was a fairly open league in 2004: we went unbeaten playing wonderful attacking football.
But defending in the Premiership has improved. And Arsenal have been somewhat sussed. Get all your men on the edge of the penalty area, and let them knock it about in front of you. For Arsenal, it means we have to produce something genuinely outstanding everytime we want to score. But we’re off-form. Which is why we’ve had to profit from set pieces.
It is no coincidence that probably our best performances of the season have come against Chelsea: a team good enough to not build their entire gameplan around shutting us down. But for any team who wants to, it now seems achievable.
It’s not game over though. Extraordinary talents like Thierry Henry will always find a way to the goal. Alexsander Hleb’s dribbling skill and eye for a pass will help pick a channel through the tightest of defences. But it is going to be tough. Without the battering ram of Baptista, we will find it hard.
But hey. We’re Arsenal. We’ll be fine.
Probably.
