Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Where it has all gone wrong for Arsenal


Former Arsenal defender Lee Dixon did an outstanding tactical view of what Arsenal is missing in their team, and to him, it all starts with the hole in front of Arsenal's back four.

Patrick Vieira filled that role as good as anyone in the world during his time at Arsenal, but Dixon feels that a major void was left when Vieira departed.

Manager Arsene Wenger's biggest problem is he has never properly replaced Patrick Vieira.

The absence of a defensively minded midfielder in that crucial area in front of the back four makes their defence so vulnerable.

Centre-halves do not like going into that area because they feel out of their comfort zone.

The longer your back four stays intact the better chance you have of keeping the ball out of your area.

Arsenal's defence have been exposed time and time again this season.

Early in the season, when Nasri played in the middle against Everton, they got hit by a ball over the top.

Against United in the Champions League the blame for the crucial opening goal was put down to Kieran Gibbs' slip in the area.

But the reason they conceded was because nobody was protecting central midfield when they gave away the ball. Nobody challenged Anderson when he picked it up.

The reason Gibbs fell over was because he was running back and tried to change direction.

Gibbs is inexperienced and if that had been Nigel Winterburn he would have already been in the box waiting for the cross not running back.

I believe Wenger is one of the best managers there has ever been but I cannot explain why he has not replaced Flamini.

Little things like that contribute but what went before the slip was not the fault of Gibbs - the ball came into the box too easily.

When I played in the Arsenal back four we always had that protection in front of us.

You need someone to break things up; someone with a bit of intelligence who knows where to be in that area, when to push forward, when to support and when to drag someone back.

Vieira was brilliant at that. If he felt exposed he would get hold of someone and get them to help him.

In turn, our back four had a cigar in their mouths because he was doing the work for us.

Vieira was not a particularly good passer but he broke things up and then gave a simple pass that started the attack.

He made runs forward but when he did you could guarantee Emmanuel Petit would stay there and cover him.

They never went together and exposed that area in front of the centre-backs.

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