Never mind another swoop into the French league for Eden Hazard, or a crafty pickpocketing of the Hammers midfield to land Scott Parker.
The one move that Arsène Wenger can make this winter to transform Arsenal’s title aspirations is sitting right under his fine Gallic nose.
All he has to do is move Alex Song back to the position that suits him best.
I have banged on about this before but there’s nothing wrong with a bit of good banging. So consider this to be the Song Bang Part Deux.
First some home truths for the misguided souls who take time away from their very pressing duties watching daytime TV to write comments on the internet about how rubbish our defenders are.
- Squillaci and Koscielny have both started extremely well this season. They were never intended to be a starting partnership but the Vermaelen injury has thrust them into the firing line from the outset and they are showing signs of adapting quickly to the physical nature of the EPL.
- Johann Djourou inevitably made a slow start back to first team action after a year out through injury but he, too, is showing his class. In his last couple of outings (including against Fulham on Saturday) he has been outstanding.
- Bacary Sagna is back to his best form of two or three seasons ago: solid as a rock defensively and starting to put over some really good crosses.
- Gael Clichy is, er, no more accident prone than last year.
During the second half of last season we started to get into a bit of a groove. Our previous defensive fragility was gradually replaced with a grittier, more effective shield for whichever dodgy ‘keeper happened to be playing.
How did we manage this? Well, we had a good central partnership of Vermaelen and Gallas and we had an excellent defensive midfielder sitting in front of them in Alex Song.
Then the wheels fell off. Song got injured before the Tottenham away fixture and in that game Vermaelen suffered a serious injury and had to go off after 19 minutes. I don’t need to remind anyone how that match ended up.
Without Song and Vermaelen we went on to suffer two more bad defeats in our final run-in – the infamous 2-3 away at Wigan, where we collapsed like Rooney in the penalty area after a non-contact challenge; and the 1-2 at Blackburn.
Who knows what might have happened if TV and Song had stayed fit?
And so to this season. No Gallas, but two new centre backs came in and we could also look forward to having the fastest improving defensive midfielder in the Premiership.
We got off to a flyer but after only three games two bad things happened: Vermaelen’s achilles tendon started twanging like a country guitar; and Alex Song started thinking he was Lionel Messi.
There’s nothing to be done about the first misfortune, but surely it’s time to do something about the second.
In game after game Song has traded the defensive cover role for what is probably meant to be a marauding box-to-box role. It’s as if he’s trying to be a Stephen Gerrard (minus the punching people in bars) or a Frank Lampard (minus the pie-eating). The only problem is that until this season Gerrard could maraud because he had Mascherano watching his back; and Lampard gets all those deflected goals because Essien is watching his.
When Song charges forward the defensive cover at Arsenal is left to either Wilshere or Denilson. They’re both decent players, but JW is young and inexperienced and, in any case, has a style of play much more suited to the attacking midfield role; and Denilson, while excellent in possession, has the attention span of an amnesiac goldfish when we don’t have the ball.
End result: two central defenders completely new to the EPL are left with negligible midfield cover in most games. It’s no wonder they’ve looked exposed at times.
Clearly, as a highly paid professional, Song hasn’t dreamed up this new role all by himself, so the responsibility lies with Wenger.
In early November, after Song scored the winner against West Ham, the boss had this to say about his cuddly Cameroonian:
“Song wants to get forward. Sometimes defensive midfielders just want to defend. It’s not just his main role. He does it well in fairness. He came here as a centre-back, maybe he will finish centre-forward.
“He sees there is big competition in midfield and that helps. Nobody is guaranteed a place. We’ve had so many good players and so many players who have become exceptional here but, at the moment, Song is moving forward.”
Well bloody well tell him not to move forward then Arsène! It’s not as if his forward momentum is unstoppable; he’s not a glacier, despite the dusting of light frost on his bonce.
If it’s an experiment to create our own Gerrard/Lampard it was doomed from the start because without Song shielding the defence we don’t have a Mascherano/Essien.
Wenger has also gone on record as saying that Denilson takes the holding role when the two play together – but who, reading this, really feels comfortable with the little Brazilian as the chief protection for our defence?
There were some excellent comments on Arsenal Arsenal yesterday about this issue. As someone pointed out, last year Song was a round peg in a round hole. This year he’s a round peg who’s flirting with all sorts of squarey, oblongy and rhomboidy type holes while ignoring the lovely round hole that’s sitting waiting for him.
It almost cost us dearly against Fulham. I have no doubt he worked extremely hard and put in a lot of miles in that game, but too often he was in the wrong place when Fulham attacked.
Aside from the weakness this causes our defence, he is also not as good at the attacking midfield part of the job as most of the other candidates for the role, including Rosicky, Nasri, Wilshere, Fabregas and Arshavin.
It makes no sense to have moved him from a position in which he was becoming world class to one in which he will never be better than average.
Come on Arsène, give us back the Song we love.
RockyLives
Arsenal News 24/7
arsenalarsenal.net 
Morning,
Excellent piece Rocky and spot on – thank you for summing up my feelings with far more eloquence than I could muster.
Like you, I am a huge Song fan – the Song of last season. I hope everyone reads and understands the post before jumping to conclusions as to your motivation, Song has never been a target for abuse on this site.
Nice post there!
I think Song has realised that he can actually play a bit of football these days and obviously Arsene Wenger encourages this.
That’s all good but as Rocky said Song venturing forward leaves us with gaps in midfield.
Wenger should tell Song his role in the time is the defensive midfield slot and remain there.
I actually believe though that Wenger wants a midfield three that can interchange with each other. Kind of three complete players.
The thing with that is obviously its difficult to get three complete midfield players!
Only Micheal Essian in my view is a complete midfield man.
Morning all
Seems we are not alone in the blogosphere in wanting AW to tackle this strange tactical move, Arseblog has also written an excellent post today about the same subject.
This is not to attack Song, he’s shown that he can do the DM role with good effect, its to try to understand why AW would want to continue pushing him into a different hole.
Yes, we are top of the league but mainly because the other top teams have also dropped masses of points.
Yes, we are still in the mix, but we could have been 10 points clear if our mid-field had been in control of the games against West Brom, Newcastle and Sunderland.
We have plenty of attacking mid-fielders, we need Song to stay back not to maraud forward at every opportunity.
“Yes, we are still in the mix, but we could have been 10 points clear if our mid-field had been in control of the games against West Brom, Newcastle and Sunderland.”
Morning Peaches, this paragraph is something has been doing my head in. You could include Spurs in that to.
I completely agree with you and it is so frustrating. This could be the easiest title Wenger has ever won!
This title is there for the taking and had we not been so complacent, especially at home, we would be pissing this league.
Superb post Rocky – I don’t disagree with a single word of it.
We need Song to be more disciplined about sitting in front of the defence, something Wenger said a little while ago he should do. There’s nothing wrong with a defensive player occasionally rampaging upfield, it causes confusion and can suddenly give numerical superiority. But obviously it needs to be done carefully and occasionally.
Our defence under Wenger will never be George Graham-like but it’s not a disaster either. We have the fourth best defensive record in the PL but it’s at home that it’s been most wanting, there being only a handful of sides (and none in the top half of the division) who’ve leaked more goals at home. As in games like those at Wolves and Everton, away games appear to be treated with more defensive discipline than home games. Bring a bit of that appraoch into home games, and we’ll reap the benefits.
You’re not alone Rocky, I see the guv’nor Arseblog has written on the same subject and with the same conclusion.
Hi Wrighty, we have had so many tight games this season decided by the luck of a deflection, unjust free kick or accident. So far the luck’s been about 50/50 – Saturday’s result could just as easily have been 1:2 to Fulham. Having a midfielder who sits back and covers is a form of insurance that we need.
Rocky
On the Friday after the Braga loss and/or before the Aston Villa win I emailed The Club with
Dear Arsene Wenger,
Wakey! Wakey!
Regards Gnarley in oz
Now you’d have to agree they certainly looked awake against Villa from the outset 🙂
So why not contact old mon ami yourself with your thoughts on Song? You never know 😎
Rasp
Everyone loves a good song.
Rasp, Peaches and Chary,
It was great to meet you all on saturday. Sorry Chary and I got separated on the way from the Tavern. I felt it my duty to control the man who saw any red nosed, bacon faced stranger as a perfectly legitimate target. Someone pulled the pin from that man! 🙂
Haha GG,
My favourite at the moment is ‘Barmey Army’ repeated ad nauseum by a load of half cut, bare chested, salmon pink poms 😆
http://www.arsenalnews.co.uk/wenger-why-song-has-a-licence-to-roam/link/59829/
Hi Micky,
Yes it was great to meet you and understand your history and passion for the great Arsenal. Hope we can link up again maybe when Raddy makes it over. P.S. I owe you a beer or two 😉
This is what Wenger said about Song at the end of October: “He has got the taste to go forward, even if I think a little too much sometimes for a holding midfielder!”
but how will we tell song to stop doing this, he will keep doing this until someone tells him he must sit back and defend. I can’t see arsen telling him and I bet he don’t come on to these sites and read them. So were stuck
Thanks ghurka,
We are aware of what has been written on Arse.com. As always and quite rightly, they support the player. That piece may well have been written to defuse the growing frustration amongst supporters that Song seems less effective than last season – what is your opinion on the topic?
Rocky,
The post is so accurate that you have more or less killed the debate! Could part of the debate include the question over whether Song has the appropriate partner in either JW or Denilson?
Lol MDi89 – it doesn’t take much for the red (devils) mist to descend. I’m glad of the extra Peroni as I get the feeling that the rest of the crowd were a bit more tense than I was.
So that’s the answer to how to enjoy Arsenal home games nowadays – watch them half-cut. 🙂
Welcome afc,
I believe the club does monitor opinion from many sources including blogsites. I agree with those who think that of the two choices, it is most likely that Arsène has encouraged Song to be more adventurous and therefore he is unlikely to tell him to stop.
I know R Lives is still in the land of nod, but a good point for debate there sir.
Out of interest gurkha, are you actually in Nepal at the moment ? My ancestry goes back to a region not so far from you in that case.
Rocky, a fiesty Post! 🙂
I’m not sure who you are referring to with your “home truths for misguided souls etc”, and perhaps I fall into that category, though I don’t sit around watching daytime TV.
My views are no secret and I will limit myself to saying that Squidgy and Kosser are not rubbish, they are just not of the highest quality.
That therefore begs the question; why should I, or any other like minded Arsenal fan, supress the view that a decent but ordinary player is simply not OK for us.
In my opinion, we should only recruit excellent players, after all Wenger has often said he would only recruit “top, top players”. Alright, he forgot to add the killer caveat “within my tight budget”.
With regards to Song and his positional play, I read this morning that Arsene is quoted as saying “Song is playing high up because I want him high up; I am comfortable with that”.
He then goes on to say; “Sometimes it leaves us open in the middle of the park. We want to play in the other half of the pitch and, therefore, we we have to push our opponents back. If we lose the ball in the build-up, we’re in trouble”.
Now we know why Song is playing up front. Orders from the Boss!
In giving Song those attacking instructions, he has tacitly agreed with you that the defensive cover in front of the CB’s is being reduced and our central defence is inevitably exposed and vulnerable.
But, that is why I say to you, averagely decent CB’s, like Squidgy and Kosser, are not good enough to cope with such tactics. We need “top, top” (excellent) defenders to accomodate Arsene’s style of play.
So, hands up, if that reasoned analysis makes me appear misguided, I plead guilty.
(I still like you, your prose and your undoubted passion for the Gunners, though)! 🙂
Off topic for a moment, but my concerns after the game where less about our defensive fragility and more about the missed chances. Much as I like Chamakh, and he certainly brings a new dimension to our play, he does miss ’em. As for Theo, I finally give up, although I no longer see him as a starter, so as an impact sub against a tiring defence, then he has a useful, albeit expensive, role. To my mind, Vela is more effective than Theo!
Back to the defence. The collision between was Kos and Squil was unlucky, although it allowed us to see once more what a good player JD is going to be. It does go back to points I have made before about the importance of the understanding between CB’s, which we have not been able to establish. I am sure we have the players, and it will come.
Chary/Gurkha,
I too have connections with Nepal. A brother who has lived there for the past twenty odd years!
What’s the difference between Lionel Messi and Alex Song?
Messi can’t defend.
RA,
Hi. Do you think a back line of Sag, Verm, JD and Gibbs are up to the job?
Oh right MDi89 – my parents are from an area just over the border from Nepal where a lot of them live – fierce and proud fighters they are too. Send them into Helmand and they’d sort out the Taliban no sweat!
Looking at the main point of R Lives’ post, I fall into the majority view here – Song should be the DM of last year. We have waaay too many attacking midfielders and to convert one of our rare defensive midfielders into another attacking one is throwing our team balance out of kilter.
London,
🙂
Chary,
They are in Helmand! My brother served with them.
I didn’t know that MDi89 – maybe we need more of them!
Must attend to some work issues. Back later.
Sorry Chary,
He was a Gurkha soldier, not Taliban! Thought I’d better clear that up! Offski.
……..& Lionel isn’t as messi going forward as song
I fear I might be a bit out on my own on this one but I think a bit too much is being made of the Song issue.
Firstly, I don’t think he’s being asked to become an attacking midfielder, more that he is being asked to press the other team higher up the pitch, as is the trend among europes most succesful teams. He is probably our most athletic player so it makes some sense to allow him off the leash to press opponents more than he could if he was asked to sit as an auxilary 3rd centre half.
Secondly, the logic in highlighting Song’s new role must be that it is at least partialy responsible for the goals we are conceding. In my view, of the goals we have conceeded this season, very few have been due to a lack of defensive cover from midfield or Song in particular. My view is that the more pressing issues are at Central Defence. Whilst I think Koscielny and Squillaci have both been impressive in their own right, the addition of Djourou makes us look far more dominant. Add to that Vermaelen and I think a lot of the goals we’ve given away would have been stopped.
Just to finish, we give a lot of goals away on the counter attack which would endorse, in theory, the idea of keeping Song at home however, we conceeded a lot on the break last season too and Song was a commited anchor man then. I think the fact we throw our full backs forward creates a lot of space for opponents and exposes our Centre backs but to ask the full backs to stay at home would diminsh a lot of our attacking threat. When you are as attacking as we are, you sometimes have to accept you’ll be vuln erable at the back.
I don’t neccesarily think the best application of Song is as advanced as he’s been in some games but I also don’t think it’s as big an issue as it’s coming across in many Arsenal blogs.
Rocky,
In case you think I have been a bit mean, when you get here, I thought you might like to read a joke, which perhaps we should really dedicate to Gnarley.
A blonde Arsenal fan was sent on her way to heaven. Upon arrival, a concerned St Peter met her at the Pearly Gates.
“I’m sorry,” St Peter said; “But Heaven is suffering from an overload of goodly souls and we have been forced to introduce an Entrance Exam for new arrivals to ease the overcrowding.”
”That’s cool”, said the blonde, “What does the Exam consist of?”
“Just three questions”, said St Peter.
“Which are?” asked the blonde.
“The first one,” said St Peter, “is, which two days of the week start with the letter “T”?
“The second is; how many seconds are there in a year?”
“The third and most difficult is; what was the name of the swag-man in Waltzing Matilda?”
“Now,” said St Peter, “Go away and think about those questions and when I call upon you I shall expect you to have the answers for me.”
So the blonde went away and gave those three questions some considerable thought, (and I expect you guys to do the same).
The following morning, St Peter called upon the blonde gooner and asked if she had considered the questions, to which she replied, “I have.”
“Well then,” said St Peter, “Which two days of the week start with the letter T?”
The blonde said, “Today and Tomorrow.”
St Peter pondered this answer for some time and decided that indeed the answer could be applied to the question.
“Well then, could I have your answer to the second of the three questions?”
“How many seconds are there in a year?”
The Arsenal loving blonde replied, “Twelve!”
“Only twelve?” exclaimed St Peter, “How did you arrive at that figure?”
“Easy,” said the blonde, “there’s the second of January, the second of February, right thru until the second of December, giving a total of twelve seconds.”
St Peter looked at the blonde and said, “I need some time to consider your answer before I can give a decision.” And he walked away shaking his head.
Sometime later he returned and said, “I’ll allow your answer to stand but you must the third and final question must be absolutely correct for you to be allowed into Heaven.”
“Now can you tell me the name of the swagman in Waltzing Matilda?”
The blonde in her red and white scarf replied; “Of the three questions, I found this the easiest of all.”
“Really!” exclaimed St Peter, “And what is the answer?”
“It’s Andy.”
“Andy?” said St Pete.
“Yes Andy,” said the blonde.
This totally floored St Peter, and he paced this way and that, deliberating her answer.
Finally, baffled, he could not stand the suspense any longer, and turning to the blonde, asked “How in God’s name did you arrive at THAT answer?”
“Easy” said the blonde, “Andy sat, Andy watched, Andy waited ‘til his billy boiled.”
And the blonde entered heaven
And what’s worse ….. you are now singing it to yourself ……….
Hi all- I had very similar thoughts about Song after the game. Check out this video analysis on the benefits of Song’s “liberation” as a counterpoint to the argument here and on Arseblog
Well we have a real “Song and Dance” this morning. Obviously teaching Song to dance is causing a lot of trepidation.
How else does a player add another dimension to his game? Most certainly not during training.
You can have endless training or practice sessions, you can also add theoretic positional layouts but it’s only during competition that you hone your game – which includes making errors (big and small).
What if AW insisted that, when paired together, JW was the offensive midfielder and AS defensive – how would they improve and become more complete footballers?
How would we grow as a team when all we would have would be one dimensional players fitting perfectly into their respective round holes? Sounds like a recipe to disaster to this punter.
How many times have we been exposed by Sagna and Clichy being caught out of position, does that mean they should become full backs of the fifties?
HELL NO!!
Why add another dimension to a players game? ………… I give you TH14!
Without AW sticking to his guns (and not listening to all the noise around him) we would have had a very fast winger who scored a few goals.
Instead AW helped to craft the best and record goal scorer in our history. He had the highest goals per game ratio of any EPL player at .69 – 242 games 167 goals his goal tally was only exceeded by Alan Shearer 441/260 and Andy Cole 389/185.
You don’t learn to dance in one or two lessons or without stepping on your partners toes.
Practice makes perfect and practical application of theory is the best form of practice.
Let’s dance…….
Excellent point and is what I have been saying myself. Noticed a bit on the arsenal website with AW saying how he gives Song licence to roam forward. I am ok with this in certain times in certain games but there is a time for him to sit and protect the back 4. There is a time when AW should be saying I want you at all times 15m in front of the back 4 where you can face the attacks coming through midfield, mop up and be the first line of defence for counter-attacks. This is known as tactics or having a tactical shape about the team and comes from the managers instructions to the team.
Under what circumstances is this protective screen most important? Try when you are 2 bloody nil up at home to Spurs at half time, against a manager who you know will come out and have a go rather than go for damage limitation, and who has decent counter-attacking players at his disposal. For Spurs first goal we were up their end with Song also high up in the attack. When they won possession they just launched the ball forward into the huge gap in front of our defence where the 4’0″ Defoe got a nod on while pulling Clichy out of the back 4 to challenge him. Bale then scored from the area Clichy should have been defending. When they launched the ball forwards you can see Song starting to sprint back fromjust outside their box. Too bloody late son. If he had been 15m in front of his back 4 he would have won the aerial challenge with defoe, and Clichy would have stayed in the back 4 and the goal would never have happened.
I don’t mind Song helping the attack if we are chasing the game or are at 0-0 and trying to get ahead but at 2-0 up it is tactical suicide. How can a team get cought on the counter when they are 2-0 up. It should have been us catching them on the break. We even had the quickest player in the EPL on the bench. It is a massive tactical oversight.
6 years ago when we got our noses in front we would get goals 2,3 & 4 by letting the opposition push on a bit and hit them quickly on the break. We were the best counter-attacking side around then and used it as a great tactic to win games. It lead us to silverware and titles and was still great football to watch. I feel now AW has abandoned all ideas on tactics and tactical shape now so that he can realise his vision of the best all out attacking team ever. I am afraid I feel it doesn’t work and you have to pay attention to tactics at the top level.
I am an AW fan and want him to continue his great work but what worries me is that he still has great understanding of tactics and shape but now chooses to ignore it. It seems the more people tell him he needs to address it the more he goes the other way in a desperate attempt to prove himself right and all others wrong. Even Barca subscribe to tactical shape and provide a protective midfield screen. They do it even more so once they are ahead and will often hammer a team by with patience waiting for the team to expose themselves while they try and get back into the game. I don’t know if it isWengers pride or vanity but I know it is one of the 7 deadly sins that seems to not allow him to be advised differently by anyone else.
Failing to give Song and the team tactical instruction at half time in that game, and adapting our shape so that we were harder to break down and were set up to hit them on the break, was the reason they scored and came back into the game. I am concerned that AW is now still a great, (possibly greatest), coach but has gone backwards as a first team manager on matchday. I feel like a traitor to suggest it but I feel that at half time in the Spurs game if you had removed Arsene and put in Fergie or Mourinho they would have adapted the tactics to hit on the break and we would have won 3-0 or 4-0. I just pray that AW reins himself in slightly and doesn’t continue on this pursuit of the most attacking and purist football team of all time as I don’t think it is fully achievable.
Hi GN5,
I understand where you are coming from, but I am not too sure if you mean the development is for the benefit of the player or the team? Both?
Apart from Song, all our midfielders are diminutive, it surprises me that Song is used high up the pitch, leaving the tiddlers to defend.
On the other hand Arsene agrees with you (or you with him) and frankly, when it’s a choice between his knowledge and mine, it’s no contest, Arsene really does know best! 🙂
Actually, as long as we keep winning I don’t care! 🙂
well the way i see it is man-u is very good at counter attacking and if song is caught to far forward then i fully expect utd to punish us. also this concept of out scoring the oppenents is just being naive imo. can anyone tell me the last time we have scored more than 1 goal at old trafford????
Browny,
I find myself in agreement with you.
We had a long running debate here regarding this very issue, and the need to amend our tactics, as necessary, in a balanced way.
What we need to bear in mind however, is that in his pomp, TH14 was the most amazingly gifted and swift athlete, perfect for counter attacking.
We do still launch counter attacks occasionally, but we have, understandably, never been able to replace Thierry, and certainly our fastest player, Theo, just doesn’t cut it.
Kelsey:
We have never scored more than one goal at Old Trafford in the history of the EPL, in fact we have failed to score on 10 out of 18 visits.
Our EPL record is:
P- 18
W- 3
T- 5
L- 10
GF- 8
GA- 24
Pretty damn ugly!
GN5,
They are indeed horrible stats. Just shows that tactically, we need horses for courses, SingaSong to stay back and cover the CB’s and allow, JW, Sami and Rosicky to weave their magic.
(We both know Arsene will say b*ll*cks to that, and still go gung ho on attack with Singa “high up”).
Bloggers’ smiles all round if we win; bloggers’ “told you so’s”, if we lose! 🙂
Red Arse, on the counter-attacking issue, I do agree that TH14 was unique and largely irreplaceable. I still would have put Theo up top though, even if he is not TH14. He has started to show an aptitude for clinical finishing when one on one with the keeper. About 18 months ago my mate stated that Theo should now fight for his spot as a striker. I felt it was too soon but now feel that more technical players should be covering the wide right area and he should be deployed through the middle. Chamakh actually had 2-3 balls put in behind the defence but was about 1 yard short of the pace to turn those into one on ones. Theo would have made them one on ones. He may not have scored them granted but at least we would have given ourselves the opportunity. At worst it would have scared the Spuds and may have made them play with more caution and nervousness which may well have played into our hands just as effectively.
Some excellent comments on here today. Much to think about.
My tuppence worth is that Song still exhibits tactical naivety which will hopefully be eradicated very soon.
I can see the point about pressing higher up the pitch but that requires a solidity at CB which we have yet to find. When TV returns and he has a regular partner (perm one of three) we should be tighter at the back, without blunting our attacking intentions.
For the Spuds 1st goal it was Denilson who was outjumped by Defoe, and which would be repeated anytime Song moves forward, the fact remains that neither JW nor Denilson have the stature for a DM and Song does.
RA. Fine joke and had me singing along!!
Come on now lets not become embroiled in “what if’s” – lets deal with the realities of what is occurring on the field of play.
Theo is, and always has been, more miss than hit, one or two good games for England and Arsenal does not make him a star. He runs like the wind straight into trees, he has little or no idea on how to beat a defender one on one. He invariably gives up possession and is the cause of many an opposition break away. His goal scoring record is pathetic at best. Worst of all he shows no sign of improvement.
Use him in the middle, my arse, at whose expense?
Chamakh: why talk about his misses and pace? How about what he is there for – goal scoring – 7 in 15 games!
Walcott – 1 in 4 games. He has become a classic no hoper – he’s so bad in my opinion that I would prefer to play Bendtner (I almost choked on that)
GN5, 🙂
Browny does have a point in that Theo has finishing skill, once he is level with or away from the opposition. But he is a bit like road runner; fast but without apparent purpose.
On Saturday, he received the ball in our half, ran 70 metres with a lumbering CB hard on his tail, and simply ran off the end of the pitch! Que?
So much has been analysed already there is little to add.however 2 years ago,Song was “learning” at charlton and though much maligned on his return,he has become not an immense player but an important part of the defence.i stress defence,that is his rightful place.
Diaby though not a similar player has the same problem,always wanting to be on the offensive,it’s a natural instinct for him.
Comparison to TH14 are futile, players like him have natural ability and taking into account moving to the PL and age,the time this takes to come to fore differs from player to player.
Nasri,has comparitively quickly put his mark on the team,and in Wenger’s own words,he has natural ability and intelligence.
Arshavin,fabregas and I am sure eventually Wilshere have the same.RVP with a big if,as he has a limited amount of games each season as proved by various injuries.
That is enough flair players in a team,and therefor add a bit of steel and grit,especially in defence,and cover the wing backs better than we usually do, and an improvement will happen.
I have question marks over Bendtner,Walcott,Vela and possibly Rosicky (though others will disagree).
I haven’t seen written anything about communication between whoever is in defence or in goal.This is an issue for me, as hardly a game goes by where there is uncertainty in that area.
Thanks for appreciating my joke BR. At least someone reads my comments occasionally! 🙂
Fair points Kelsey.
We discussed “fantasy” football management a little while ago; …. who should be sold to enable others to be brought in.
Let go? Bendy, Walcott, Denilson, Clichy spring to my mind. I would keep Vela (but play him!) so we are not very far off in our judgements.
Communication between defence and GK, is essential, as you rightly say. The mitigation here is that the defence has changed so frequently this season, [perm any five from; Big Al, Flappy, Chezzer, Clichy, Gibbs, Sagna, Eboue, Squidge, Kosser, TV, DJ] that I am surprised they even know each other! 😦
Some brilliant comments on here today, both for an against the thrust* of my argument.
Browny – your careful explanation tallies with my view, but there is still part of me that wonders whether Wenger will be proved right in the end and we’ll have a title-winning side of 10 attackers and a goalie.
Redders – wasn’t really having a pop at anyone in particular, more at the tendency to write players off so quickly. In difficult circumstances I think Squidge and Kozzer have shown some real class this season (as well as making some mistakes). But there have been signs that one or both of them could become outstanding players for us. However, a significant minority of the fan base has already decided they’re not up to it just because they didn’t arrive with a huge price tag or a big reputation or, dare I say it, a British passport. Presumably these people would have been writing off DB10 when he didn’t score for his first 10 games or whatever it was.
GN5 – I totally disagree with you about Theo, but that’s such an interesting debate (and another opinion splitter) that I reckon you should write a post about him and then I’ll reply in the comments.
* “thrust” used with kind permission of MickyDidIt.
Kelsey. Good point about communication, but how does Squillaci tell Song to get back when he is 40 yards away in a noisy stadium? There has to be a tactical discussion prior to the game.
As to who to sell. Why do we have to sell anyone before summer?
Redders – the joke 🙂 🙂
yo Guys
I don’t completely agree with you on this
Yes Song is our DM and shoudl for the most part protect the Defence, but when we play teams that are not only packing people in defence but are good at defending. They leave little to no space for our awesome attack minded players
What Wenger is saying is it doesnt hurt to have another UNEXPECTED attacking option , one that the defence wont see comming , Yes this causes problems if we get caught on the counter
But i dont think he needs to go up all the time. But Sure as another option when we struggling to find space up front WHY NOT
Welcome Gabzevo. I think you’ve hit the nail on the head. When we’re pushing for a goal against a team that wants to ‘park the bus’, having Song bursting forward as an extra attacking MF has real value. But there are so many occasions (see Browny’s description above of what happened versus Sp*rs) when we need to protect a lead and don’t. And those are the times Song needs to play a more disciplined role.
Throw into the mix a fit Ramsey and then one might well see Song’s advances limited.
RL,
In your post you said
“I have banged on about this before but there’s nothing wrong with a bit of good banging.” 😉
So there in lays all the answers.
Been away for a bit but just looked at GN5’s point about Walcott and chamakh. It is not about directly comparing them as strikers as they are very different. Currently in 90% of the games Chamakh would get the nod but Theo has the pace and he is better when running behind a defence or when spinning off one defender and then accelerating away than coming from deep wide areas. I agree with you that when he has the ball deeper and wider with space, options and defenders in front of him he often looks caught in 2 minds and gets tangled up or over-runs it. That was my point however that he should not be deployed here. Through the middle relies more on making a split second decision and going on instinct and I think he is better in this situation than when he has too long to think about it and has too many options. That is why I would now start playing him as a striker rather than a wide player. I am not saying he is a better striker than Chamakh I just feel that at 2-0 up with Spurs likely to have a go that he would have been our best option at that specific time in that position.
Kelsey – now you’re talking! Ramsey really could turn out to be our Stephen Gerrard.
Afternoon all,
Great debate today and cogent arguments on both sides.
A particular welcome to Browny and Gabzevo – you guys are the kind of bloggers we value on AA.
As a related issue, I agree that we could do with a more clinical finisher up front. This would add weight to the simplistic theory that all we need to do is outscore the opposition. We know AW prefers attacking football and yet he doesn’t seem to favour out-and-out strikers. As it is, I believe the goals we concede added to the chances we fail to convert (or shooting opportunities we shun) mean that it is more important to stop the opposition scoring than to risk another player higher up the pitch in search of a goal, for this reason, I think Song should make breaking up the opposition’s attacks and protecting the back four his priority.
I understand the theory of defending with a high line, and I know AW believes it is the way we should play. The problem is that when the wingbacks commit forward, there are times when an extra midfielder fails to drop back to cover and this makes us vulnerable. Barca are very attacking, but they would say they have two DM’s who give the freedom to the rest of the midfield to play offensively.
Hi…nice blog…very compliments!I would like to make an exchange of links with mine…why don’t you visit STADIOGOAL and let me know your idea about it? thanks
Thanks riccardo, we’ll be in touch.
Looks like some great comments today…
Grerat post to kick it off Rocky.
Ofthe comments I’ve read so far (to 12.00) – I am mostly in agreement with Smith14.
Also loved GN5’s ‘Lets dance’ and Reds good gag.
Read the rest when I get home.
Rasp,
Agree with the clinical finisher need. I mentioned something similar earlier today, and threw MC’s name into the equation. Whilst his strike rate is very good (particularly for a first season in the Prem), the fact remains that we miss a shed load of chances. In light of our deliciously extravagant style, as we know, even a two goal advantage with anything more than ten seconds on the clock does leave us vulnerable!
My main hope for tonight is a slightly overcast day in Adelaide, plenty of swing and an 8 wicket victory.
Come on England …….
Micky. Sorry to have missed you on Saturday.
We do miss lots of chances but which team doesn’t? I am satisfied with our shot conversion record, not happy but satisfied
We have had a something of a Songfest here today, but I am suprised it has not thrown up more questions as to who parners him. Ramsey has rightly been mentioned, but Denilson? Have we given up? Am I being unbelievable naive in believing he will do a Flamini?
Raddy,
Sorry too you could not make it. Can’t see me making Partizan game sadly.
Hi Micky,
It has become apparent (and was said by Bordeaux fans before we bought him) that Chamakh is not a fantastic finisher, but his team work and link-up play is phenomenal. So far this has proved to be the case. There were two occassions on Saturday when he just had to shoot but hesitated and the moment was lost. I don’t see why he should be suffering from a lack of confidence – he’s done very well in a short period of time.
Raddy,
I’m sure our goals per shot ratio is on a par with most teams, but considering how creative we are, our shots per shooting opportunity ratio must be quite low. I’m sure no such statistic exists. I wouldn’t mind a greedy shoot-on-sight striker as an option in the squad, someone we could bring on after 70 minutes when we need a goal. Out of the current squad I would say that Cesc is the most willing to take on a shot followed by AA.
Hi Rasp,
Good points. I am sure RVP will really bring more of a shoot-on-sight mentality to our play. Hopefully he will start against Partizan and Utd in place of Theo.
Hi Rasp, Micky
Chamakh’s goal return has been excellent for a new-to-the-EPL striker. What’s mystifying is how he turns away from goal to look for a pass when he’s in a good one-on-one position.
I wonder if it’s to do with his general awareness rather than being shot-shy. One of his skills is bringing the ball under control with his back to goal, holding up play for a second or two, then laying off to a colleague. In the Fulham and Sp*rs games it was almost as if he did not realise how clean through he was and instead behaved as if there were men between him and the goal and, therefore, he performed his normal role of controlling, holding up and trying to lay off. If he could grab a split second to check his bearings before receiving the ball he might realise the opportunities that are being presented to him. But I don’t know whether that’s coachable or not.
Rasp : Here are some Arsenal stats for you, through Nov 27th.
Goals 32 – 2nd in League
Shots 199 – 2nd
ON Target 94 – 1st
Shot accuracy 47% – 2nd
Accurate passes 6585 – 1st
2nd in PL passing accuracy Song – 87%
2nd in assists in PL Arshavin 7
Wow. Great stats Gn5.
So we’ve had more on-target shots than anyone else…
Who is 1st in those categories where we come 2nd?
Thanks GN5, you never let us down 😛
My point was similar to Rocky’s in that we appear to shoot less when the opportunity presents, but I’m sure that will not be covered by any statistic.
I appreciate that is what makes us the team we are – always trying to create the perfect move, but the accusation that we always want to waltz it into the back of the net is often levelled. It just so happens that is exactly what Nasri did against Fulham, but it can’t always be relied on.
Gunnern5,
Strewth, some stats. Thanks. Bearing in mind we are second highest scorers, can you imagine how much more weighted those stats would look if you threw in the figure for “was through on goal, but failed to pull the trigger”!!!
Kind of blows my earlier theory out of the water, but I must stress, every one of my theories and brilliant ideas have absolutley no basis on factual research or rational thought!
A risotto needs eating. Yum yum. Nite.
Night Micky.
Rocky:
Here are non Arsenal 1sts;
Goals, 35 – Man U
Shots, 216 – Chelsea
Shot Accuracy, 48% – Man C
Passing Accuracy, 88% – Mikel, Chelsea
Most assists, 8 – Nani, Man U
Remember stats are through Nov 27th.
Sharkey – are you about, can you email me at arsenalnuts@live.co.uk please
Fascinating facts. I wouldn’t have had Chelsea down as having the most shots (I would have thought ManU).
And Song’s passing accuracy is very creditable. He’s a top player and I don’t blame him at all for his positional play this season. AW has clearly encouraged him to play a different role (partly influenced by our switch to 4-2-3-1) and he’s doing the best he can with it. I just wish that at times (2-0 against Sp*rs for example) he and the rest of the team would show a bit more caution.
Yea Rocky I agree we need more defensive resolve to protect leads and then benefit from quick breakaways.
Mailed you Peaches !!
Cracking joke redarse.
Fantastic stats GN5 !!!
Jon Obi Mikel first…lol !!! He’s lucky its ‘Soccer’ and not NFL or CFL* cos that boy really doesn’t want anyone counting his yardage. 60 passes for 23 yards gained, and 55yds lost. Way to go Jon !!
*I throw in CFL as I went to an Eskimo’s game back in 2006. I’ve still got my green EE blanket !!
Nite all
Second Test won by England.
Aussies were really thrashed in this one.
Gunners need goalkeeper … come on wenger buy manuel neuer or hugo Lloris.
Rocky,
You say you are happy with the mobile Song role as we play 4-2-3-1, only at times we should show more caution. Not unsuprisingly this has given me another brilliant idea, and it goes back to the Plan A/B debate. What we ought to have is simply two orders barked from the bench:
1. “Plan A, Plan A” and
2. “Less A, Less A”.
Gnarley,
Were for art thou?
I have had an epipheny and it concerns you and the Good Lord. You were given two options. The Ashes or The League.
You are a Gooner and a Gentleman.
Chin up matey, football is far more important than skippy and his mates getting thrashed.
Some work.
Gnarley,
On a serious note, we have the north/south divide and other regional rivalries. Is there such a thing between Tasmanians and Mainlanders, and how does it manifest itself?
spot on in every sense, if song sticks to what he is mainly supposed to do then we dont need to worry to much, come on boss you got to get this right
Cracking stats GN5.
Jon Obi Mikel first…lol. He’s lucky its ‘Soccer’ and not NFL or CFL*. They also count yardage, and I’m sure he loses more yards than he gains !!
*I saw a CFL game live in 2006. I’ve still got My Edm. Eskimo’s blanket
Morning all
Theres a New Post
Cracking stats GN5.
Jon Obi Mikel first…lol. He’s lucky its ‘Soccer’ and not NFL or CFL*. They also count yardage, and I’m sure he loses more yards than he gains !!
*I saw a CFL game live in 2006. I’ve still got My Edm. Eskimo’s blanket
good job for you !