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Reason Behind Our Collapse

There is still a long way to go in the 2008/09 season, but we have already lost more games than in our entire 07/08 league campaign. I won’t go as far as some skeptics to say the challenge is completely over. But it would truly be something to see us there abouts next year.
But why is this happening to us? Why are we playing so well in the Champion’s League but losing to Fulham, Hull and Stoke in the Premier League? I propose the following reasons.

CESC

“I scored 13 goals last season but then I had plenty of allies. Tomas Rosicky (injured) was around, Mathieu Flamini (now at Milan) covered every blade of grass and Alexander Hleb (who went to Barcelona in the summer) was like a brother to me out there. The team played with a lot of skilful touches, we were as solid as a brick wall and our opponents would not get a look in.”

– Cesc Fabregas

A large talking point for Gunners fans has been the positioning of Cesc. It seems like that he is looking to take on extra responsibility as one of the senior players in the team. I am of the firm belief that we play much better when he drops into space both in front of and behind the oppositions midfield where his superior pass ability allows him to pull the strings.

LACK OF VARIETY

Our inability to beat the team bus, when it’s parked in front of the goal is well noted. Our seemingly one dimensional approach consisting of passing around the edge of the box without any real penetration has become rather predictable. While it would be outrageous for me to suggest that we should revert to route-one garbage and part with my personal philosophy of the game, I feel there are many things we can do to stop us from being nullified.

The major suggestion I have is to use the space we create on the edge of the box to have the occasional shot. This is something Van Persie does incredibly well, creating chances for himself and for rebounds (ala Pires) but it also draws opponents out of their rigid lines of four to make space in the box. It is no coincidence that Fabregas’ goals have dried up this season with him not shooting from outside the box. His goal aginst Milan in the Champion’s League is a great example of the quality he possesses from range. I don’t understand we he doesn’t chance his arm occasionally.

In fact statistically this seems like a great option. Of the 67 goals scored in the league last season, we scored 28 from outside the box. That is almost 42% of our goals. This is more than the penalty area (almost 30%) and from inside the six-yard box (28%).

A typical Scenario for us.

NO COVER

Our frustration at not breaking teams down not only provides an explanation for Cesc sitting a lot high, but has also resulted in Denilson sitting rather high. Exposing us to counter-attacks.

“I am playing the role that Flamini and Gilberto had last season. That`s very important for the team and the manager has said that I need to think about the opposition more, rather than just looking for the ball all the time”

– Denilson

Unfortunately Denilson, who I am a huge fan of doesn’t play the role in the same way Flamini or Gilberto have. He is a creative player who likes to push on.

“I think it is important to score goals if you play midfield”

“I need to score goals or make the final pass for the strikers as often as I can. I don`t always play behind Cesc though, sometimes I can go forward, he can stay back.”

Above is an example of the huge spaces we leave. Our tracking back in the midfield is poor. As you can see two Tottenham players are in advanced midfield positions while 5 Arsenal players take too long to get back.

It is my personal belief that our victory against Man U and our success in the Champion’s League this season has a lot to do with our 5-man midfield. Denilson sat in this hole against Man-U and 2 more defensively positioned players do this in the CL.

Below are our average touch positions against Man U. Denilson is covering the gap between the lines. This made it difficult for players like Berbatov, Rooney and Tevez to drop deep and pick up the ball in central positions.

If we don’t cover this space we will continue to be carved up. Just like our 3-0 loss to Man City where Stephen Ireland destroyed us not only with his technical ability but with his willingness to get into this space. Combine this with Denilson’s inability to track him and we conceded. This must stop if we are to have any chance of getting our domestic campaign back on track.

Our average touch positions aginst Man-U. Notice how Denilson is in between ‘the lines’.

SET PIECES

Set-pieces have been one of our major undoings this season. Galls in particular has been quite poor when marking at corners. The winning goals against us for Fulham and Hull were both off corners. I am not going to criticize our marking systems, both zonal and man-marking. What I will criticize is a lack of intent to get to the ball first. Against Fulham the ball was there to be won and if anything Gallas was in a better position to do so. He just didn’t want it enough. A real lack of desire is a key issue in the form reversals of many teams. Tottenham haven’t made any changes to personnel, just confidence and their turn-around should send signals to us.

LEADERSHIP

When times get tough every team needs at least one individual who can pull everyone in. Say what needs to be said and get the players motivated to play. Every team needs one player who will stand up when the chips are down and rally to get their side back into the contest. When we look at recently successful English teams they all have that person. Keane at Man U during the treble season, Gerrard for Liverpool, particularly in Istanbul and closer to home, Patrick Vieira for the Invincibles. It is no coincidence that his departure has a direct correlation with a distinct lack of discipline and steel in the side. We seem to crumble under pressure now. A stark contrast to our comeback win against Liverpool in the 03/04 season after a loss in the FA Cup and Champion’s League Elimination in the preceding week.

When we look through our squad we have players who need to take leadership roles at the club. Almunia, Toure, Gallas, Fabregas in our youthful midfield, Van Persie and Adebayor. These players are literally, in a positional sense, the spine of the team. However, not one of them provides this fearless leader.

Gallas is mentally strong within himself, but doesn’t radiate confidence amongst the team, or wear his heart on his sleeve enough for it to rub off. He can be highly emotional at times and his recent media antics place him in question.

Arsene has replaced him with Fabregas, who as shown earlier in this article is having an identity crisis of sorts and at his tender age lacks the experience and maturity forged by years of hardship that we need. His level of communication is subject and with the potential f him leaving the club in the near future it would have a huge impact on the club to see their captain go just after he was instated.

Clichy and Almunia attempt to fill leadership roles but are hardly candidates for the Captaincy. Clichy is still maturing and Almunia hasn’t been in the first tem long enough.

Flamini and Gilberto were our players last season who could perform the communication duties, yet still we lacked a leader and without them our communication throughout the team is weak at best.

COMPLACENCY

Why is it that we can put Man U away, but falter at home to Hull and Fulham amongst others? The statistics pointed towards a ‘fortress’ at the Emirates. We built an Aura of Invincibility at home. As a result complacency has set in against opposition we should beat. Not withstanding the fact that one defensive mistake cost us against Fulham and Hull scored two exceptionally well taken goals, in neither game we could say we played well at all. Against Fulham we looked Jaded, the running of Bobby Zamora made it look like a race between the tortoise and the hare. The difference was the hare kept going and the tortoise never looked like catching up.

THE INVINCIBLES

A strange reason you might say, but hear me out on this one. If we compare both the 03/04 team and the current one we see similarities all across the park.

Right Back: Lauren and Sagna both would make occasional raids down the sides but were far less attack-minded than their left-sided counterparts.

Left Back: In Late 2003 Ashley Cole was probably the best Left-Back in the world. He didn’t get caught out and was a real attacking weapon. This may be a controversial comment but I believe Clichy is the best Left-Back in the world now and for the same reasons. He is slightly more agile and conversely scores fewer goals but is a really similar player.

Right Mid: The right side was always the more direct one. Ljungberg was pacey and got in good positions. Walcott is pacey (kinda obvious, I know) and to quote the boss:

“When he takes the ball to his feet he’s like a Ferrari. But Theo is more a guy who has the timing to run off the ball and that is something that is difficult to find. We had Marc Overmars who was especially good at that and I’m a great, great lover of movement off the ball.”

Left Mid: Pires was an artist. He was a right footed left winger. Who would cut inside, get assists and bags of goals. Nasri is also a right footed left winger who cuts inside, gets assists and scores a lot of goals. I believe Samir has a long way to go to get to Bobby’s level but he is more than capable.

Support Striker: Bergkamp is a legend. Probably the last true genius is the game. Van Persie is also a creative Dutch Player. While Robin is being moulded in a similar way they are different players, albeit similar in many respects.

Centre Forward: This is not so much a comparison of players, because Adebayor is in no way anywhere near Thierry. But they both drift to the left side to get things going.

It seems that we are trying to play almost the same way as the great side of 4-5 years ago. But they were able to pick players out from anywhere. They scored all types of goals. They were slightly more direct. We are now a different side and while it is OK to be similar, we are not so across the park. You may have noticed I left out the Central Midfielders. This is why:

Denilson is playing the Gilberto role. Yeah, kind of, sort of, maybe, not really. Denilson is a naturally attacking player. He doesn’t shield the back four like Gilberto did.

Fabregas and Vieira are vastly different players. Last season however Fabregas had that instinct of our fearless leader in that he would sit back and would make something happen when he hose to go forward. Now Cesc just sits high. This means we have 8 players up at times.

We used to have a primarily defensively positioned centre midfield. This compensated for attacking wingers and allowed space for Dennis and Robert to drift into, infront of them. They were considered to have a 4-2-4 formation in attack. Now we have an attackingly positioned midfield, denying Nasri space at times and leaves use with a 4-0-2-4 formation in attack. The zero is there to highlight the space we leave.

Same formation. Higher sitting midfield. Huge gaps.

INJURIES

This is a pretty simple one. We have missed a lot of players through injury. Despite this I believe that we have had good cover and our squad hasn’t been exceptionally thin. Players like Ramsey have been terrific in my opinion. I believe that our direct backup players have lacked somewhat. Silvestre is a prime example. He was destined to be our aerial dominator and I feel he has been placed in a tough situation being thrust into first team duties not long after his injury spell. It seems that injuries have effected our players in the respect that recoveries have been cut shorter but tem have succeeded with worse injury crisis’s and it just isn’t feasible to say that injuries are the sole reason for our mini slump.

FINISHING

People have long criticized Adebayor for his lack of finishing but the table below show that issues are throughout the side.

Before the Man U game:

Team

Goals

Shots

On Target

Shot Accuracy

Arsenal

23

174

74

43%

Chelsea

27

169

74

44%

Man Utd

19

134

66

49%

Considering we take barely an shots from outside the box (Van Persie a minor exception) it is inconceivable that we convert so few chances when we have so many of them.

CONCLUSION

Our mini-demise has been triggered by a series of events. Our one-dimensional play against defensive sides has resulted in a frustrated Cesc trying to do too much. This means that balance is gone from our midfield leaving giant holes for team to counter attack with.

When we have needed a leader to get us back on track there hasn’t been one and negativity is starting to rear its ugly head.

Don’t get me wrong. The season isn’t over. Arsene can still perform a minor miracle to get us back into the title hunt. I don’t see this as the end for us, just a blimp on the road to greatness.

Written by Justin McMahon

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