On every occasion that Arsene Wenger has won the league with Arsenal, the team has shown great technical ability, but also a strength and toughness to their game. Arsenal have been aggressive, strong in the challenge and haven’t laid down for anyone. Pundits from the journalism world, as well as former Referee Howard Webb, have previously stated that Arsenal have lost their aggression under Wenger in recent years, but perhaps now things are slowly changing back to the ways they were in the old days.
A former Gunners manager George Graham, had a side prior to Wenger which was also full of players with both a strong physical and mental ability. Footballs were tough, aggressive and not afraid of fighting very much to the death. Of course football in general has changed a lot since then and it’s not only at Arsenal that footballers have lost their aggression and fight. But perhaps one of the changes that we’ve seen in North London largely behind Arsenal’s recent improvement, is the Gunners increase in physical strength.
Graham told the media in a report by ESPN: “It’s not a secret, is it, that they’ve needed more toughness, more mentally strong players?
“[The invincible era] had it all — power, strength, beautiful football. [Afterwards] they kept buying small players, very technical players, and they didn’t get the balance right. In possession? Up there with the best. Out of possession? Hmm, not so sure.
“Hopefully, with the buys Arsene has made, they’ve got that toughness now and they can have a real go — not just in the Premier League but in Europe because what I would love, more than anything, is to see Arsenal win the Champions League.”
The Arsenal squad that was often fielded in the era between 2007-2013, very much the years of struggle, was a smaller, weaker and less talented crop of players compared to the invincible team we had witnessed just years earlier. In present day however, we see big physical players in Koscielny, Coquelin and Xhaka, as well as players with a big name presence, such as Cech and Alexis. These are players who are not afraid to show aggression and fight for the win, both physically and verbally, rather than focus on the fancy trickery that has largely taken over football in general.
If Arsenal want to win the title this season, then of course it’s important we stick to our A game, the varied passing style of play that has seen us dramatically improve so far this season. But we also need to show dominance on the field and not roll over in fear of the other team. Our downfall in previous years has been our approach towards playing other big teams and competitors in England. However as Leicester showed last season, the strength, fight and passion given by every single player helped to keep their title charge running all the way until the end and that’s exactly what the Gunners need to show this season, if we want to come out on top in a very competitive Premier League.
By AH
Time will tell…
Times a tattle tale, the little rat.
It is all about…….
1. Fitness: Avoiding the massive injury bug is important.
2. Execution: Arsenal do have the players. Now, can they leave their mark on the pitch?
3. Avoid Inconsistency: Falling too far behind this season will hurt any club. Maybe the points could be made up but there are just too many good clubs bunching near the top – if your club falls behind they will not be able to leap over all of them.
“Players with big name presence” and you mention Cech and Alexis without mentioning Ozil? Are you kidding? Or is it that you don’t Ozil was the first big name player to come here after the exodus of our best players? Are you telling me he is not a big name player?
Please correct your to cool me down
If this is our team, we will have a great chance
Cech
bellerin….Koscielny…Mustafi…Monreal/Gibbs
Coquelin…Xhaka/Cazorla
Theo…….Ozil………Iwobi
Alexis
Well, I hope so anyway
I am so confident, I bet £50 on us winning
Yes we have but unfortunately we may not be the only one. Other factors play a part which is in no-ones hands. I must say I like our fixture list this season, it’s been a long time since I’ve been good with the fixture schedule. They seem to be spread out decent enough, there’s only a couple of times when we face big clubs closely followed one after one another. There is still going to be some that are not ideal but usually when we’d start a season there would be plenty jumping right off the page.
Injuries we can control to a certain extent. Some players will still get overplayed because they are most vital, but the engine room should not be like seasons past when third and fourth choice players played the most often. In defence it’s important to keep our starting back five regularly playing, all the same we look like we can cope quite well if needs be. It’s the vital players I worry about most. If a team had went out to injure J Vardy or R Mahrez it would’ve stopped them in their tracks, nobody did, but should we expect the same fair play. I know some can’t imagine that ever being an issue, but some of us grew up in an era when players did go out intending to hurt a major threat.
Forwards and the importance of them staying fit. Luckily Giroud is one tough sob, he surely can take the knocks, it’s the knocks to his confidence which is most danger. He’s reliable though, in the sense that you know he rarely gets injured, you know he can score a decent amount, and if he took penno’s he’d be chasing golden boot too. He’s also a battering ram which can create opportunities for others, and he’s our aerial threat. Alexis is also tough, which is great. These two should be the main goalscorers. Now there’s Walcott though, and Ozil too, that’s two more that we didn’t have last season, in the goal scoring sense. We have Danny to return, Perez.
Have we got the balance right, we’re still growing, but signs are good.
The reason Arsenal is been label as one of the title contender is the introduction of pacey players to the attack that stop the defenders and some mildfieders of opponent from excessive pressure on us. Take a look at Chelsea match how Sanchez collected a ball from defender and score, if it was not pace he wouldn’t have gotten that ball. If Arsenal can stick to the forward of Sanchez, Iwobi, and Walcott or Ox the the trophy is ours come May but when will gamble with Giroud, Ramsey and someone else then we are doom for failure. Giroud should come from the bench. Our defenders and mildfielders are doing well because the front department are tearing opponent defenders apart and making opponent mildfielders to assist the defenders to make the meilfield free for us to dominate. Have a look at out last champion league match when Ramsey and Giroud who have no pace start and hw difficult for us to win that game, they made the opponent feel they are good whereas they are not. Let stick to this formation that is working for us to aviod droping point.