I wrote a pretty long piece about why Fabregas makes such a difference to Arsenal. Since he got injured we have given up a good chasing position in the league, lost a final and dropped out of the FA Cup and Champions League.
The saying goes that "every team will miss a player like..." It is used when referring to any great player. That is certainly true but not every team fails when they miss a good player. Barcelona are quite vulnerable to injuries to certain players – and they are a great team. But other teams seem to cope better. Why?
Looking back through the season, it is clear that injuries have had a big part to play. Liverpool were left behind after Gerrard and Torres were missing for long periods. Chelsea were almost pushed out of the top four when Drogba and Essien were out. Then there is Man Utd. They wobbled when their defence was rocked with injuries. Man Utd have not had a quality central for two seasons either. Scholes is good but old. Carrick is certainly not the same quality as other opponents have. Fletcher has been injured. Anderson could not get a run of games due to inconsistency. Owen Hargreaves is not coming back. Yet Man Utd only wobbled. They didn't lose a game for ages.
The lesson from United is two things. One is their mentality. They want to win, they don't fear going for a win, everything is about winning and the only players that make it and stay in that team are ones that display that winning mentality. If Chacharito was signed by Arsenal he would be different. As a United player, he has adopted their mentality.
The second lesson from United is that Alex Ferguson does not believe in plug-n-play the way other big team managers do. If Scholes is injured and he plays Carrick in midfield but he doesn't assume that the team will play the same just because someone else who is made for that position is there. He knows that Giggs, Rooney etc play with Scholes one way and play with Carrick in another way. Against Arsenal in the FA cup, Ferguson played 7 defenders mainly due to injury in their squad. He knew it so he didn't try to play through midfield.
Barcelona tend to play the same whomever is playing. It works sometimes and fails sometimes. Barcelona are not the same without Messi or Xavi – they are bound to play differently no matter how much the manager asks them to do the same.
In the same way, Nasri and Wilshere are not Fabregas. They are both very good but neither can do what Fabregas does to Arsenal's game. Where Arsenal have had players injured, we have not been smart enough to understand how our game is forced to change. You can insist that players play in the same way all you like but they can't. Their game will change.
Ronaldo used to take the ball and run 40 yards beating players on the way. He was a one man attack transition. United could attack without really needing their central midfield. United has played with a mediocre central midfield for a long time due to Ronaldo. Their job was to protect the defence and cover the space that wingers left. They were modern hatchet men. When Ronaldo left, they need to use those guys for passing and starting attacks. They had trouble doing that and Chelsea snatched the title from them. This year, instead of having one man moving the ball to attack, they make the ball get there quicker with a much quicker passing when transitioning to attack. United still use their midfield to defend and connect occasionally. Their attacking is almost exclusively full back to wing to centre.
I watched Man Utd against Chelsea and realised they are the way they are because their focus is much much simpler. Barcelona and Arsenal players have to think a lot on the pitch. They have to find new patterns, create new passing angles, decide who needs to drop back and defend and when to press high. To do this, you need some kind of leadership or self-driving players constantly showing the way, driving the team towards the best decisions. That's what Fabregas does. For Barcelona, it is easy – Messi can create enough trouble with each ball to make things clear. Xavi, Iniesta and Villa can keep the ball in have a great rapport. It is easier.
But they need this on the pitch because Arsenal and Barcelona probe their opponents waiting for an opening. When it doesn't happen they move the ball to the left or right being patient, passing it around until an opening occurs or is created and then they score.
Man Utd, have a very different approach. They get the ball forward as quickly as possible and everybody focuses on just one thing – supporting that attack to make a goal. There is no caution, just adventure and there is no search for an opening, it is just a search for whoever is available in a good position to have an attempt on goal. If there is no opening, it doesn't matter, they will not look for it, that attack goes on and ends rather quickly with someone attempting on goal or losing the ball. After that, they all focus on defence, after that they all focus on trying to force the ball in again. And then after that they all focus on defence. Simple. Nobody has to think. They never get drawn into the illusion of progress via possession. Their possession stats are not impressive but their defence to attack frequency is better than anybody's.
Should Arsenal adopt that. Yes. Because it is not new to Arsenal – the Invincibles have done it before. The Invincibles played that way. They were not a team that was about possession. It was about lightning quick transition to attack. It is not opposed to our philosophy.
We don't have interchangeable players like Barcelona (Nasri and Fabregas are very very different; Diaby and Song are enormously different, Walcott and Arshavin; Chamakh and Van Persie and the list goes on). Lastly, we are not in the Spanish league. We are in the English league and here, patience without serious adventure is crazy. You can knock the ball round waiting for the bus to move and then suddenly you are one goal down from a useless cheap throw-in or corner or from a counter-attack against the run of play. Man Utd got us like that.
The got us like that because that attack for them was the most important thing at that second and they were going to finish it. They were not going to probe. The ball was going to be hit towards goal by someone. That's what they focused on. And because of that, they don't particular need any leader on the pitch. They attack then they all run and defend. After they score one or two goals the strange thing happens. Instead of them starting to knock the ball around like Arsenal will do, it is the opponents that start knocking the ball around because they are too scared to attack for fear of the focussed and direct counter. So the opponents actually give Man Utd a rest when they are already 2 goals up rather than the other way round which is why Arsenal can lose or draw games after going two goals up.
IF Arsenal beat Man Utd; and IF Arsenal win all the remaining games and IF Man Utd draw at least one game in addition to losing to Arsenal... too many bloody IFs. When there are too many Ifs the only answer is to really go for it. Arsenal has to borrow a leaf from United's books and just go for it!
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