The editor's comments from yesterdays blog on Arsenal concerning Alexandr Hleb:
"Hleb was fantastic last night but he was guilty a few times of looking for the extra pass AFTER beating his man to gain a clear sight of goal"
I'm bored in Munich, so here's my thinking on Hleb and a clip of the Belarusian.
There's no questioning Hleb's qualities as a soccer player, but I'm not convinced he improves Arsenal as a whole. In fact, and this might sound a bit double-dutch, in some ways the better he looks on the field the the worse I think it is for Arsenal. When Pires and Ljunberg were in their prime they'd get the ball and go straight at the opposition, often simply straight at goal. Hleb doesn't, as he doesn't come from a football culture that plays that way. Yes, both Arsenal and Eastern European football is rooted in high technical ability and ball possession but Arsenal's game is based on speed, whereas East European teams have a tradition of playing a patient, considered game. At Stuttgart, Hleb's last team, where he was successful, he was the fulcrum of the team. He'd hold up the ball, bringing others into play. At Arsenal he's just one of many, and when he holds the ball up he's just giving the opposition more time to get players back. He looks very good doing it, with beautiful ball control, but ultimately it's not what Arsenal want.
Contrast Theo Walcott's performances of the past month with those of Hleb's at the beginning of the season. Walcott has often messed up, but he's done so in areas that can really hurt the opposition. Hleb is often the opposite. He looks good on the ball but in areas of little threat. Rosicky seems a better combination of the two, though all need to start scoring goals a'la Pires.
It'll be interesting to see what happens over the summer with Franck Ribery, a player who perhaps fits the Arsenal mold better [not least because he's French]. There's clearly reasons to stick with Hleb. He's certainly not played poorly and unquestionably has the talent to adapt to Arsenal's style. In fact, clips like the one below imply he slowly doing so. But will Wenger be able to resist another young Frenchie?
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2 comments:
An astute analysis, Alec. I agree. But don't tell me you're bored in Munich. That's not what I want to hear. There are far too many great beers and interesting places where they can be consumed for you to be bored.
Interesting observiations Mr Bottoms. I think for the most part you're right about Hleb. Rosicky displays a lot of these tendancies as well, though he is capable of a more direct approach. However I think that there's another factor which needs to be considered here, which is forward play. In days of yore when the Gunners were getting more direct play from the outside players they were playing with forwards who were able to spring them into open spaces. One of the hallmarks of Pires game was combination play with Henry (and Cole) down the flank which would actually see the forward playing more outside and Pires having more space in the middle due to defenders getting pulled out of position. Many of his signature goals came from Henry drawing defenders wide and the springing Pires into the box for an open shot. With Freddie on the right there was a somewhat similar relationship with Dennis Bergkamp, who didn't play wide but was able to hold the ball and release Freddie into space. We have not really seen Henry get into the same sorts of advanced wide roles this year and on the right his various partners (Adebayor, Van Persie) have not played the same kind of role that Bergkamp did, as if anyone could. Adebayor has been great at providing Henry with layoffs and making space but this does appear to limit the opportunties the wide players have to get into open space in the box. It's possible that Wenger is looking for a more settling quality on the flanks since the loss of Bergkamp and Ashley Cole has completely changed the way tha the Gunners move the ball forward.
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