Rocky the King
Having given Arsene Wenger a hard time with my earlier blogs, this week. one must give credit where credit is due. Arsene Wenger alone is responsible for the training methods that enable the brightest prospects to go into the cauldron of a premier League fixture and still play without fear. It is his signing of Flamini which is looking to be a master stroke. Before Flamini’s latest injury set back, he was getting better in every game and his dominance of the midfield was a joy to watch. He broke up the opposition attacks and managed to keep the ball under extreme pressure of two or sometimes three players around him. So congratulations Arsene Wenger, please stick to what you have proven to be good at!
Defensively I still feel that we still need to press the opposition more and prevent them from having too much time on the ball. Is this a question of fitness I wonder? Anyway one thing is clear, Giroud appears to be a deft exponent of Wenger-ball and together with Cazorla and Özil every swift demonstration of Wenger-ball should fill us with pride about Arsenal’s quality attacking play. Jack Wilshere’s goal against Norwich was Wenger-ball at it’s best. The confidence is also springing from the positive goal keeping of Szczesny whose double save at Crystal Palace recently meant they were unable to profit from playing against 10 men.
Palace were chasing shadows for the first fifteen minutes of the game so superlative and assured was the performance, and on another day Arsenal could have scored three or four goals. So what exactly is Wenger ball?
Here are the key components then.
1. High paced moving and running with or off the ball.
2. Sublime first touches.
3. Ability to bypasss opponents in congested confined areas of the pitch.
4. High quality technical ability to control the moving football.
5. Awareness and anticipation of other team mate’s movement.
6. Understanding of the importance of running into and receiving the ball in key areas of space on the field which will result in goal scoring chances being made.
The image above is a pictorial reminder of Wishere’s goal. The move was started in the Arsenal 18 yard box and involved Flamini who laid the ball off to Wilshere who advanced and played the ball wide to Gibbs. Gibbs ran swiftly down the left flank and passed to Cazorla who then made an angled run in field and passes to Wilshere who then returns the ball to Carzorla, as seen in the graphic above.
In my opinion, Wenger-ball is a variation of Johann Cruyff’s Total Football. It is a form of play that entertains whilst at the same time, devastates the opposition. It requires technically gifted players combined with a training regime which allows them to play this game naturally. The last time that Wenger-ball was in evidence was in the season 2003/4 and we all know what happened then. Come on you Gunners!!!
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