By the way - changing history - Go back to 2002 you'll see references to the conceot of Arsenal "lacking a Plan B". Now does that mean that Gooners just make up complaints or that maybe we weren't as multi-dimesional as you would like to say?
No if anything you are changing - and ignoring - history that doesn't suit your "all is well the Board will take care of us" faith.
Yes we were bugger and stronger - faster and more athletic too. But did we have avstly more defensive minded side? No , we just had bigger and better and more proven defensive players and much more reliable keepers. Did we have a more multidimesional attack? No, we just had faster more dynamic and decisive players who executed our passing style far more effectively especially around the opposing goal.
Seriously watch the DVDs and tell me that the teams of today would have been just as good or effective playing in 2002-2004 using the tactics we used then,or that those teams from then would have been just as ineffective playing now using today's tactics. Tactics matter but the players using the tactics matter that much more.
WENGER OUT NEXT SUMMER IF WE DON'T WIN ANYTHING?
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Mr FINSBURY PARK GOONER
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QuartzGooner
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I mean - 
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I Hate Hleb
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I couldn't agree more and it's been happening constantly since 2005/06. I remember that season very well for all the wrong reasons as anyone with a love of the high ball gave us trouble - Bolton the key example when a 5' 9" Stelios used to expose our centre backs like a couple of statues.QuartzGooner wrote:OK, accuse me of being arrogant now, but I reckon Wenger has been a great manager, but has developed a blind spot.
He is putting out substandard defences.
It is not just a matter of players, it is about basic organisation.
If he brings in Keown as defence coach, then Wenger is very capable of continuing to manage us.
If not, we will struggle to win things because too often we do not deal with set pieces or hold onto leads.
The organisation of the back line has not improved much since. Toure was the ultimate flapper at set plays and had a complete inability to get off the ground, whilst Senderos showed a complete lack of positional sense and mobility.
We still concede the type of goals that separate us from the likes of Man United - Leon Osman at the Emirates last year would be a good example.
Do we think that the addition of Koscielny for Gallas, in basically the same back line otherwise will cut out the gaffes at the likes of Wigan, Blackburn and Stoke. Personally I don't. Delap's missile catches out every time at the Britannia and even though Arsene gives it the "we know what to expect" bollocks, precious little seems to be done to stop it re-occuring.
As Quartz says it's not about the individual players either. If you've ever read Kenny Sansom's book after the 1987 season, the attention to detail on defending was second to none and it showed on the field. None of the famous back line were great players in their own right - Dixon and Winterburn were lower division journeymen before they joined and Adams and Bould the type of players who would be mocked in the modern game. But organisational discipline and an amazing ability to strangle more talented opponents out of the game turned them into a back line, the likes of which we will never see again.
Last edited by SteveO 35 on Thu Aug 19, 2010 7:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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QuartzGooner
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I Hate Hleb
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