Match reaction v the orcs

[I am invisible]

Bad passing happens on bad pitches or when our energy levels drop.

Our counter attacking is ok, but no one really plays a high line against us, and with Giroud as the linch pin, there's really a limit to what you can do.

Our old school breaks usually had a leggy CF or winger take the ball all the way to the box, at the moment, we don't really have any wingers...

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It's not just us - no one really plays a high line against anyone any more. The offside laws are just too much of an ambiguous mess to make playing the offside trap a sane strategy. What you tend to see these days is defences that never really stray more than about 10 metres from their respective 18 yard boxes (unless you're sending the occasional fullback up in support of an attack), and, instead of following the old Arrigo Sacchi mantra of never having more than 25 yards between your front and back lines at any given time, we now have more of an accordion effect, where the defence is anchored, and your other lines expand and contract when you attack and defend. All this means that the space is now found in the middle of the park instead of behind high defensive lines, and this is why most sides have now moved away from 442, and sacrificed a second striker for the sake of an extra central midfielder. I suspect it's also why we've seen a gradual move away from pacey / leggy strikers like Henry, and towards powerful target-men who can hold their own as a lone man, and/or one-touch box-strikers who can flash in a goal in packed penalty areas?

Counter-attacking has obviously had to adapt to this too - the runners are now in the middle of the park, looking to gain ground when those lines get stretched, and not up front, with strikers looking to race clear from the halfway line. It still works in a slightly different way though - at it's core, it's still just about attacking space, and catching your opponent on the back foot when they've over-committed. It's just the space that's changed.

We look miles away from the 97/98 squad. Our counter attacks are pretty tame and need work. We're unable to dominate possession because of bad passing and decisions these days. I wouldn't say it's a strategy planned but something born out of circumstance.

Look, I'm not making a direct, like-for-like comparison here, or suggesting that this group are in any way the finished article - it's more of a general observation about what it looks like we're trying to do with them. That dominant, high-possession, intricate-passing game was a hallmark of later Arsenal sides under Wenger - IMO, the 97-98 side was more about defending deep, and in numbers, being comfortable with sitting back and waiting for the opposition to make the first move, and then picking them off quickly, with 3 or 4 precise passes, when they were over-committed. If you ask me, then that's what I think we're (currently) aiming for with this group - instead of getting ahead of ourselves, and immediately trying to get these guys to play like the Invincibles, I think we've aimed for one step further back, and are getting them comfortable with that slightly simpler, more pragmatic style of play first? Again, I'm not suggesting that they've mastered it yet - I'm just saying that I think that's what we're currently aiming for, and that I think it's a good fit for this group, and should be an achievable target for them...

[Dein-machine]

It's not just us - no one really plays a high line against anyone any more. The offside laws are just too much of an ambiguous mess to make playing the offside trap a sane strategy. What you tend to see these days is defences that never really stray more than about 10 metres from their respective 18 yard boxes (unless you're sending the occasional fullback up in support of an attack), and, instead of following the old Arrigo Sacchi mantra of never having more than 25 yards between your front and back lines at any given time, we now have more of an accordion effect, where the defence is anchored, and your other lines expand and contract when you attack and defend. All this means that the space is now found in the middle of the park instead of behind high defensive lines, and this is why most sides have now moved away from 442, and sacrificed a second striker for the sake of an extra central midfielder. I suspect it's also why we've seen a gradual move away from pacey / leggy strikers like Henry, and towards powerful target-men who can hold their own as a lone man, and/or one-touch box-strikers who can flash in a goal in packed penalty areas?

Counter-attacking has obviously had to adapt to this too - the runners are now in the middle of the park, looking to gain ground when those lines get stretched, and not up front, with strikers looking to race clear from the halfway line. It still works in a slightly different way though - at it's core, it's still just about attacking space, and catching your opponent on the back foot when they've over-committed. It's just the space that's changed.



Look, I'm not making a direct, like-for-like comparison here, or suggesting that this group are in any way the finished article - it's more of a general observation about what it looks like we're trying to do with them. That dominant, high-possession, intricate-passing game was a hallmark of later Arsenal sides under Wenger - IMO, the 97-98 side was more about defending deep, and in numbers, being comfortable with sitting back and waiting for the opposition to make the first move, and then picking them off quickly, with 3 or 4 precise passes, when they were over-committed. If you ask me, then that's what I think we're (currently) aiming for with this group - instead of getting ahead of ourselves, and immediately trying to get these guys to play like the Invincibles, I think we've aimed for one step further back, and are getting them comfortable with that slightly simpler, more pragmatic style of play first? Again, I'm not suggesting that they've mastered it yet - I'm just saying that I think that's what we're currently aiming for, and that I think it's a good fit for this group, and should be an achievable target for them...

Good posting - can't really disagree with you as none of us are sure if Wumger has a master plan after realising that his other master plan hasn't worked for 8 years. However I hear people say about us or others trying to play like Barcelona or the Invicibles, if you try to do this with inferior players there will only ever be one outcome & we've had it for 8 years. If we want to play like the Invicibles we need to find a Henry & Bergkamp upfornt, we need to find a Viera in midfield. If we want to play like Barcelona we need the passing & ball retention qualities of Iniesta & Xavi aswell as the little matter of a Messi upfront. You cannot compete these days by buying a Sonogo & trying to turn him into an Henry - Jack, Arteta & Rambo are good footballers but they are not in the same universe when it comes to quality against the little Spaniards. Football changes, we don't even know how the Invincibles would fare in the current league against stronger Chelski & Man Shity teams, we don't know if Barca woud dominate the EPL especially on boggy, cold days in winter getting kicked 6 foot in the air at Stoke' but we need to follow the route of Dortmund who's training methods are now light years ahead of ours & will improve quality of players. If you add this to the ability to spend big money to add the necessary quality then we have an answer, but we should be trying to produce a new Arsenal team playing in a modern way that suits the players we have, not trying to imitate. As they say in the movies, a sequel is never quite as good as the original.

[Power n Glory]

I don't think the overall philosophy for our style has changed. We just don't have the players to dominate possession. If we played Ozil and Cazorla wide with the freedom to roam, Rosicky in the middle with Flamini and Arteta/Jack, I have feeling we'd see us playing a different brand of football. This is born out of circumstance we're just adapting to what we have. Besides how to defend, I don't think Wenger has told his squad how to attack.

[Dein-machine]

I don't think the overall philosophy for our style has changed. We just don't have the players to dominate possession. If we played Ozil and Cazorla wide with the freedom to roam, Rosicky in the middle with Flamini and Arteta/Jack, I have feeling we'd see us playing a different brand of football. This is born out of circumstance we're just adapting to what we have. Besides how to defend, I don't think Wenger has told his squad how to attack.

I agree but the weird thing is that in recent years you will find our possession especially at Emirates % wise is regularly far higher than in the Invicibles year. This is because the other teams have realised that its fine to let Arsenal have the ball 30-40 yards out because they will move it from side to side until someone decided on the killer ball. If that killer ball is crap or the touch is bad then all of our midfield are in a forward position & they can hit us with counter attack. It amazes me how opposing teams always seem to have men over when they're attacking us. The difference in past years is that using the same system we had better players ie Pires & Freddy playing passes to the likes of Henry & DB where the touch was rarely bad. Should the move break down we had the likes of Viera & Petit sensible enough to have held back. When you had the quality of Henry, DB, Freddy & Pires, there was less emphasis on others getting forward because we could score goals for fun with those guys. In recent years we've relied on RVP as our only goal threat which has meant a need to get as many others forward aswell. If we invest in quality upfront, we can defend better from midfield & be far harder to score against.