You could see it happening, during the weekend Arsenal took on Manchester United and there was this feeling in the air that even with Arsenal being the favourites for the game, it certainly was not going to be easy for the Gunners. Arsenal have not clicked this season at all and recent collapses against Anderlecht and Swansea did not help a brittle defense and midfield or provide any confidence to a team which had not won back to back premier league games this season.
It happened in the 55th minute, Ashley Young crossed into the box, Szczesny couldn’t get the ball and Antonio Valencia slammed the ball which took a deflection from Gibbs and went into the net. That provided the impetus for Arsenal to turn the screw on United but they just could not get through a stubborn Manchester United defense.
Then it all unraveled for Arsenal, in their search for an equalizer, they started to over commit and were caught out in the last few minutes for Wayne Rooney to make it 2-0 on a counter attack with Angel Di Maria. Arsenal had the possession but not the goals, they were beaten yet again by one of their rivals, Olivier Giroud did score a superb goal but it was too little too late. The knives were out and all were being pointed at Arsene Wenger and his philosophy.
The Arsenal way
Arsene believes in possession and that is the one thing which is almost guaranteed when you see an Arsenal team play, even last season when they were beaten by huge margins by Liverpool, Chelsea and City, it was Arsenal who kept the majority of possession but they still conceded. The way to play against this Arsenal team is to have players who are willing to cut out and intercept the pass from the Arsenal midfield, once you cut out that, you have a chance at counter attacking the team.
Sir Alex Ferguson had mastered the tactic of playing against Arsene by winning 10 of the 14 fixtures in the last 5 seasons of Ferguson’s reign. He had an entire chapter devoted to Wenger but there was something to pull out from the chapter,
“Arsene had a template of how he sees his players and the way they play. We didn’t need to win the ball against Arsenal, we needed to intercept it. You need good players who can intercept.”, wrote Ferguson.
Ferguson’s tactic as stated in the book was to stay with the runner, intercept the pass and then counter fast, you didn’t need to win the ball, and you needed to intercept it.
While this is something that most teams have learned about the style of play by Arsenal, Wenger has two issues to fix, not only does he need to have a Plan B or C when he faces the big clubs or when he faces clubs able to deal with his style of play, the bigger concern is his midfield or defense generals.
The Invincibles
Arsenal had some really great players up front, Henry, Pires, Ljungberg and Wiltord but ask any pundit and they will let you know that those players could not play unless they had someone doing the dirty work in midfield, Arsene has not replaced Patrick Vieira. That is probably the biggest problem with Arsenal, they do not have leadership in the team.
During Arsene’s early years he had the likes of Seaman, Adams, Campbell and Winterburn, they had a steely resolve about them and they could close down games even if they were only 1-0 up, nowadays you cannot trust this Arsenal side with a 2-0 lead as well, they just cannot kill off games with the current squad which is costing them immensely.
Arsene Wenger has made Arsenal a team worth watching but it often leads to frustration rather than enjoyment, especially with the team losing often against their main title rivals. Fourth place was once considered as a trophy for Arsene but he needs to step it up and make Arsenal the dominant force they once were. Arsene needs to learn to adapt to the opposition, otherwise it will be the same story time and again for the North London club.