The One that Got Away

I was quite impressed with England last night. I thought we had a good shape, we played with a flexible but structured system, and the players improved as the game wore on. Obviously watching England as an Arsenal fan is somewhat strange, when players from your club side represent your country there’s an added sense of pride and a real willingness to see them do well. As things stand, we only had Theo Walcott to cheer on in the Under-21s game (he took his goal well, and did well as a lone striker), but it’s saying something when the team who is the top of the league fails to contribute one single player to the national side. I know why Arsene doesn’t buy English; poor technique, too expensive, poor mentality/attitudes etc… and by no stretch of the imagination am I in any way xenophobic, I think that football should be a global meritocracy, that the best players should play for the best team regardless of nationality. But when I watch England as a supporter none of that stops me wishing that we could have at least one player from our beloved club representing our beloved country.

Arsene Wenger has consummate judgement when it comes to transfers, when an English player leaves we don’t pine for their return because we have better players playing in their place: think Cole, Richard Wright, Matthew Upson, Sol Campbell, Steven Sidwell, James Harper; the list is endless. Yet watching England last night, David Bentley looked every bit the international star of the future, he showed levels of vision, skill, and subtlety rarely seen from a home grown player. His performance convinced me that Arsene Wenger was wrong to let him go. Bentley has of course made some ill-advised comments about his time at the club, which leave a bitter taste in the mouth, but if pressed any Arsenal fan would have him back in a second. He would fit in perfectly in the current l side, challenging Rosicky for the left wing position, and offering us a directness and a crossing ability that few of our current players possess. Like his hero Dennis Bergkamp, Bentley has that extra ingredient; that ability to produce something out of nothing when you least expect it, and despite the aesthetic beauty of our methodical team-play only the mercurial Robin Van Persie shares that characteristic.

Of course he wanted first team football - fair enough, but when Bentley left following a season’s loan at Blackburn, Rosicky had only just arrived, an always injured Freddie had seen better days, Alexander Hleb had just completed a patchy first season at the club, and Jose Reyes was sent back to Spain: David Bentley would have got the games he craved that season. Yet if a player expresses a desire to leave Wenger’s tried and tested attitude is to let them, judging by the great man’s record you can’t really challenge that philosophy.

Of course Arsenal fans can derive some pleasure in watching Bentley’s rise to the top; when you watch him play, just ask yourself, where did he learn to do that? And the next time some jobbing, little-Englander, Fergie minion like tit of a manager or pundit, suggests Arsenal’s foreign policy is ruining the English game, think of the players in the Premiership who were schooled in our academy, all of whom play regularly for lesser teams in the division: Harper, Sidwell ;-), Muamba, O’hara ;-). Here’s hoping the likes of Randall, Lansbury and Gibbs show patience and improvement, and find their way in to the first XI in the not too distant future, so in years to come we can watch the national side with that little bit of extra pride.

David Forrest

The key ingredient

During Wenger’s incredibly successful tenure at the helm of Arsenal Football club, we have seen several different Arsenal teams take the Highbury/Ashburton Grove pitch. The pace and power of the late 90’s, the Invincibles of the early 2000s and the technical youngsters of today. Styles may have altered and personnel changed, but one ingredient has always remained synonymous with a successful Wenger team. World-beating full backs.

When Wenger took over, he inherited Lee Dixon and Nigel Winterburn, who were half of one of the most meagre defence’s the premiership has ever seen. Not only were they defensively savvy, they were quick, aggressive and intelligent.

Wenger’s early footballing philosophy was based on speed, technique and power and with this revolutionary ethos came a new breed of Arsenal full-back, with Silvinho,Cole and Lauren. All three were incredibly brave, good on the ball and vital to the success of our prolific wingers Overmars, Pires and Ljungberg.

Footballing philosophy at Arsenal has not changed, but evolved and developed. In Clichy and Sagna, Wenger has seemingly found the defensive qualities of Dixon and Winterburn and mixed them with the attacking qualities of Cole and Lauren. Both have unbelievable pace and levels of fitness, unnerving composure and are now realising their attacking potential with a series of sublime assists this season.

It was very weird to see Clichy make a mistake at Man City this weekend, and was perhaps more obvious than most because he just doesn’t make them. When the myarsenalbloggers team watch an Arsenal match, the player we shower with the most superlatives and rather odd excitable squeals is not Fabregas, Van Persie or Adebayor, but Clichy. At some stage in a match, you have to expect that an opposing winger is going to get the better of your full-back, they can’t make every tackle and block every cross – or so I thought. Clichy’s reading of the game is phenomenal. No winger in the world can beat him for pace, and when he is under pressure, he always finds the space to manoeuvre around the opposition or find the appropriate pass – never a hoof. Sagna possesses many of the same attributes and is also fantastic in the air. His willingness to get forward at every opportunity means that Hleb can operate in his favoured central area, where he can be at his flowing and unpredictable best.

Another attribute these tremendous athletes have? Their mentality. In Lauren, Cole and Eboue, we have had three full-backs who can be petulant and at times very embarrassing. Never have I seen Sagna or Clichy dive, deliberately go out to hurt a player or moan at the referee. They are winners who are focussed on their individual game at all times, and when they don’t play, Arsenal miss them, badly. In Clichy, we have the best left-back in the world, and I’m fast becoming of the opinion that in Sagna, we have the best right-back in the world, which can’t be bad when you’re trying to win three major trophies.

By Martin Webb