Our little Russian doll Andrey Arshavin was a guest on A Question of Sport last night. I don’t think he understood half of what was going on, but at least managed to recognise Jack Wilshere and get an answer or two right.
It got me thinking about football (just for a change), is it a sport, a game, a way of life, an obsession?
By definition, it is a game. It involves teams, a set time for play and scoring. But should it be played in a ‘sporting manner’ or should we accept that ‘gamesmanship is part of the tactics? Beyond that, there is the question of whether we should continue to strive to create a spectacle involving elite sportsman or should we join the majority of teams who treat it as a game where tactics and other less virtuous practises can be employed to give an advantage?
I watched Stevie-me win a couple of free kicks for pool on Thursday by pushing the ball ahead and running into the defender in front of him and then diving spectacularly; the referee fell for it every time, but the slo-mo showed it for what it was; gamesmanship/cheating. Eboue has done the same thing for us and been soundly rebuked by fans as ‘letting the side down’. Barcelona outplayed us on Tuesday, but they also out-cheated us too. The quality of their fouls was far superior to ours. How many times have we persistently been fouled by the opposition with no cards in evidence and yet, the first time one of our players deliberately brings an opponent down, out comes the card. We’re not very good at fouling – could this have a bearing on the number of injuries we suffer?
A few people have commented lately that we need a midfielder or defender who strikes fear into opponents, an enforcer in the mould of Patrick Vieira. We were once criticised for the number of red cards we collected in Wenger’s early years (coincidentally, the years when we were winning trophies). Which is the more effective weapon against the opposition….. team spirit, or aggression?
Vermaelen is the best ‘fouler’ we have, Song is not very good, he holds his hands in the air in a plea of innocence before he’s even committed the offence – bit of a giveaway! Sagna’s too nice to foul deliberately, although Clichy does like to mix it. Since the Invincible’s, we’ve recruited/developed players many of whom are just too ‘nice’. Look at the way Fabianski handed the ref the ball when told to do so in the CL game against Porto – Lehman would never have done that.
Reading this you could be forgiven for thinking that I’m in favour of our players being dirtier and I could ask, what would you rather win – the Fair Play League or the Premier League?
The problem is that it is not Arsène’s style, therefore it is not Arsenal’s style. In general we play by the rules – that includes the rules of business that stipulate that you have to balance the books, it’s a shame that nobody else follows suit. I think Chamakh will add some much needed muscle to our forward line albeit with the ball skills to compliment his tempered aggression and it looks increasingly likely that we will have to buy a CB. Most of us are praying for a new keeper who doesn’t look terrified, but terrifying. Perhaps we are about to enter a new era in Arsène’s thinking that combines the steel of the Invincibles with the mobile ball skills of the current squad and has ALL the elements necessary to bring to an end our famine of trophies.
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Morning all,
I’ll not be around for a while this morning. I guess most bloggers will be out enjoying a rare sunny day.
I hope you find the article poses some interesting questions to debate.
Rasp, I think for a lot of professionals the rule is ‘if I got away with it, then it wasn’t a foul/cheat’. Cheating doesn’t come into it. In fact you hear a lot more complaints from players about other players whinging to referees than you ever do about sneaky fouls. Look at Fergie the other night, when he said ‘typical Germans’ he meant them surrounding the ref to get the little cherub sent off rather than Bayern’s fouling, diving etc. Or Karl Henry complaining about Arsenal getting him sent off for his perfectly reasonable hack at Rosicky’s Achilles tendon.
Morning again Alfa,
I agree, but do you think we are sufficiently expert at that aspect of the game or does our fair play stance put us at a disadvntage?
By the way Rasp, some bloggers will be waiting in for a second day for the Homeserve %$^&*s to come and fix their boiler after a ‘routine service’ yesterday left them without any heat or hot water. 👿
Sorry to hear that Alfa, you’re talking to someone whose heating has not worked through most of the winter – so I empathise 🙄
I agree we are at a disadvantage. I think we should get smarter at playing for fouls e.g. just outside the box to the side – we get so many goals scored against us from there. Ronaldo and Drogba are masters at hanging around there waiting for a challenge to go down. Barça did it to us as well. Much more subtle than playing for a penalty. Unfortunately we have to do that as well.
But out and out diving, kicking, handballs etc., I draw the line at that, I’d rather lose.
Good Day All.
Alfa.
Congrats on the coloured lettering. Very smart.
I am not an adherent of “winning is everything, Second is nothing” trend.
I guess I have seen so many years of piss poor football played by some very average cloggers in the red & white, that I am purring when we see Wengerball.
That we try to set a moral example is wonderful and a testament to a “proper” club, that said, to be street wise is sensible. Had Sagna/Denilson clipped a few heels and taken a yellow for the team, we would be top of the PL today. But that is not diving or “simulation” (what a lovely modern word for cheating 🙂 )
Morning all
I’ve said for a while that AW doesn’t choose that type of man/boy to play for us, those with aggression as their middle name.
He believes that our football should be the winner. As Raddy says a few clipped heels and taking yellows for the team would have served the team really well.
This season has had such highs and lows that I’ll look back on it as a really memorable one whatever happens in the next five weeks. The race is still on, we’ve had the worst injuries and we’re still going to finish in the top four if not the top two!!!! For all my complaining we’re still by far the greatest team.
Alfa – whining girlie voice here – can the lettering be the same colour as the backdrop…..
Sorry to hear about your heating 😦
……by far the greatest team apart from that other team in Spain 😆
Peaches, sorry, just noticed. Change made.
Hmmmmnnnnn – I think its too dark now – can it be a bit more Highbury Burgundy
Wer’e by far the greatest team apart from that other team in Spain.
Now that is funny
It scans as well.
I’ll have a go at the colour.
Morning/afternoon all.
Honestly I can take a sneaky kick – which Super Tomas, Nasri and in his day Bergkamp have almost perfected – than a dive or a BLOODY HANDBALL.
A trip or a little ankle tap is just part of the game IMO (not a Henry who tears half of Rosicky’s calf) but diving is just so pathetic.
Hi Irish,
There are times when a midfielder loses possession high up the pitch and knows that the opposition will be through on goal when a ‘professional foul’ is the thing to do – rather than track back and give away a free kick on the edge of the box, almost basic defending procedure. We should have hacked Ryan Giggs down about 3 times when he was allowed to waltz through the defence in that ill-fated FAC semi … mind you, DB missed a penalty in normal time that should have sent us through.
I’m liking this colour Alfa 😛
It might sound hypocritical Rasp or even silly but I think there is a difference between a little trip as you say to stop a break – which generally sees a free-kick been given to the opposition – as opposed to a dive which usually sees a penalty awarded if you are Shrek or Stevie Me.
PS Ross County just beat Celtic 2-0 = embarrassing
Yes, I totally agree Irish. I don’t think we are skilled in the art of / or even prepared to use, the little trip tactic.
The trouble with AW is he wants to play by the book and expects others to do the same. Some play anti soccer which he will never play in amillion years but which can help you to win.
At some point Aw has to decide whether to go for a win against his fair play principle or lose games. He shd get a destroyer for the team ie someone who will break up the opposition attacks.
So rasp in answer to your question ‘if we can’t beat ’em should we join ’em?’…………sometimes is the honest answer 😆
Laters all – one day less for me till we meet and beat the scum 😀
Irish – absolutely agree that there is a time and a place for the little kick or trip. Up the pitch and early – preferably when I’m screaming for them to do it 🙄
As every year passes peaches, I lean slightly more towards the ‘do whatever it takes’ theorum 😦
I don’t mind so much the times when we lose out because we aren’t physical enough, but the number of injuries we recieve because other teams think we can be muscled out of games is unacceptable.
Very classy colour
Very classy indeed, could we have a few yellow and blue stars scattered around the sides of the wallpaper.
Hello all, I had the winner in the Grand National and the third place 😉
Drinks are on you then peaches 🙂
Its been so quiet today, do we need a proper post for tomorrow do you think or just a good morning heres the news?
That message is for everyone – what d’ya all think?
jokes a plenty available.
Peaches, I’ve just lightened the colour a little to match the centenary shirt. I hope the compromise suits everyone. Pictures etc. in the background are no problem but I suggest we leave it like this for now until we get used to it.
We had a pretty normal number of views today, just no-one hanging around to chat, so I wouldn’t change anything particularly tomorrow on the basis of today (if that makes sense 😕 ) . I’ll be travelling all day so won’t be commenting anyway and you are all stuck with this colourscheme for 24 hours 🙂
And Drogba just scored 😦
Alfa – that colour is perfect 😉
Phew 😉
Bye all
What a lovely colour. I had an old VW Golf to take the dog to the park in this shade of red. It was a money drain that I bought off EBay…… never again.
Typical Chelsea…. bored Villa to sleep.
Thanks Alfa this colour is perfect 🙂
kelsey – I’m not sure we can have a post all about jokes but if you want to try and put one together then be our guest 😉
Evening all. Late arriving today. I hate ‘little trips’ to disrupt the opposition’s breakaway chances. They look innocuous and non-violent, so refs usually just give a free kick, not a card, yet they are actually the most cynical of fouls; they are anti-football fouls and they cause more damage to us than to most teams because we play through the middle of the park more than most. I can forgive a desperate late lunge that brings a player down, I can forgive a committed challenge slightly mis-timed but NOT these cynical trips. They ought to be punished with a straight yellow and the second offence (not just by the same player, but by the same team) should be a red. Because they are done, to use a legal term, ‘with malice aforethought’ they should be more severely punished. Morally, they are the equivalent of a player stopping a dangerous through ball by sticking out his hand and batting the ball away.
At least it would stop teams deliberately deploying the ‘rotational fouling’ technique first perfected by tha purple-faced Gorbalian and since copied by Walrus Face and all the rest.
Evening Rocky – do referees see them the same way as you? Is it poor gamesmanship to try to stop a player who’s travelling with the ball – mostly the quick and talented ones ie Ronaldo, Messi, Thierry come away with the ball anyway – not Theo though 😦 not yet……
If a little clip is poor form then surely a lunge is more dangerous. I am speaking as a girl here who’s never played football and realise I probably don’t understand enough about fouling 😳
Refs certainly know what’s going on, but it’s not a cause celebre so they just treat them as minor fouls. They’re happening under everyone’s noses but there’s no collective will to take them seriously even though they help make the game much less attractive to watch. Most Prem teams play a long-ball game so it’s not an issue for them.
Fair point about Messi, Ronaldo, but funnily enough when wingers get cynically tripped the refs are more willing to pull out a yellow. It’s when the likes of Cesc, Tomas, Samir etc are playing through the middle and get tripped that it seems almost to be accepted.
Hi Rocky,
I knew today would be quiet with the sunny weather and lack of any football remotely intersting to gooners so I thought I’d play devils advocate. I expect that the development of the game will gradually seek to filter out all cynical fouling, and obviously that would benefit our style of play. As you say, Cesc and Nasri in particular have been persistently kicked throughout the season with very little protection from referees.
rasp – have you looked at the stats, this has been by far the highest days hits for a saturday ever – weird
Peaches, I just think they’re different types of offences, but while most people agree that dangerous play is a bad thing that should be eradicated from the game the cynical trips are ignored. They’re bad in a different way.
And having read your posts on a regular basis Peaches, I’m not buying this ‘what do I know I’m just a girl?’ line for one second…
peaches – I think that is because a lot of sites have not even bothered to put out a post today. I must admit I value comments higher than hits because they suggest we have captured someone’s interest rather than they’ve just had a cursory read.
Thanks Rocky 😉
I have to say that I’d never really thought too deeply about the differences in the way players were either hacked down or not too cleverly dispossessed. We have had quite a few discussions about it on here so I’ve had to become more aware. To me it always seemed that some players were good at it and some were not especially good at it and that we were always getting kicked off the ball.
chary wrote a great post about fouling a few weeks ago I don’t know if you read it. I’ll see if I can find it.
Looks like a it’ll be a Chavs v Spuds Cup Final. Don’t want either to win – it’s like being asked to choose between piles and warts.
Rocky 🙂
rasp – do you know how to find old posts?
peaches,
Why don’t we try our first poll tomorrow seeing as an election has been announced?
I’ve been having some post-Barca thoughts – thought it might make a post.
https://arsenalarsenal.wordpress.com/2010/02/22/carry-on-fouling-they-arsenal-dont-like-it-up-them-mr-mainwaring/
This is chary’s post Rocky if you haven’t seen it.
Have you time to put something together this evening – are you going to watch el classico first?
Thanks for the link. Can’t write anything tonight, but I’m flying to LA tomorrow afternoon so would be able to write something during the flight.
Just read Chary’s piece – excellent article confirming statistically what we have all instinctively known from watching the games.
His upsum is as follows: “In conclusion I would say we have to wise up and learn how to foul more “efficiently” and we have to make Ashburton Grove a more forbidding environment for the opposition so that we can make our home advantage count for more in influencing the referees.”
It’s sad but true that we probably do have to do more efficient fouling (if the refs won’t give us a level playing field). And Chary’s definitely right about trying to intimidate the refs. I (along with thousands of others) was booing the ref off at half time in the home game versus Barca precisely because I hoped it would influence him in the second half. He duly obliged by giving us a penalty when he got the chance.
The referees seem to consistently make poor decisions – I didn’t see it but Villa should have had a penalty today at Wembley according to the radio.
We’ve only just started being awarded penalties following the Eduardo incident and thats not right either.
My son tells me it all evens itself out over time but I feel that it must be harder to pick yourself up when the men in black don’t offer you any protection and make poor/wrong decisions.
Post barça-thoughts sounds good Rocky, if you get a chance to write it and email it through I’ll let you know when it’ll go up. Thanks
Right, off to watch the big Spanish ding-dong…
Evening all – Gnarley, thanks for your well though out reply to my rant yesterday.
To be honest the level of success ole 65% proof nose has had is probably the secondary reason I hate the manks so much. It was the fact that I lived in the greater London area but was surrounded by legions of London reds, i.e glory hunting shiesters who rammed their smugness down my throat at every opportunity.
But as you said, Sir Drinksalot is heading towards the twilight of his managerial time, and we won;t have to tolerate him for much longer.
Can’t write anything tonight as I am flying to LA tomorrow but should be able to write something during the flight…….how fucking glamorous is that. Nice one Rocky.
Rocky is off to Little ‘Ampton, should be enough time on that journey to write a post London.
What did you think of tonight’s game Chary?
Perhaps tomorrow.
You mean El Classico ? I didn’t catch it actually. It seems that Barca are going to retain their title, but there are still 7 more games to go and it is still only a 3 point lead.
Morning all,
The rumour that RvP may return against totnum is gaining momentum. I find it very hard to believe. If there’s one lesson we should have learnt this season it is that rushing players back too early seldom pays off = Cesc, Gallas
Morning,
El Classico showed what a fine team Barca are. The way they work for each other is inspirational. Casillas was great in defeat, he saved two one on one’s with Messi, if only we had a top GK. It is a priority for the summer.
And at Wembley, Mr Terry almost removes Milner’s left leg with a tackle that was nowhere near the ball, gets a yellow then shakes his head in disbelief! The man should have been sent off – it was high, dangerous and violent. But Mr Webb showed once again the refs bias towards the Chavs.
Morning all
Theres a NEW POST