Posts Tagged ‘Hansen And Co’
Arsenal and the great World Cup pundit conundrum
It was interesting to hear the thoughts of the so-called experts following Spain’s World Cup final win over Holland on Sunday.
The Spanish were roundly praised for their dominant brand of possession football and were seen as deserved winners of the tournament. Holland, meanwhile, were heavily criticised for their aggressive style as they sought to unsettle the Spanish midfielders.
But one thing struck me as rather odd.
While Alan Hansen and co on the BBC couldn’t find enough superlatives to throw at Spain and had plenty of bad things to say about the Dutch, I wonder what they will be saying about Arsenal in a month’s time.
Gunners boss Arsene Wenger has a similar footballing philosophy to the Spanish. He has assembled a group of technically gifted players who seek to play an attractive brand of attacking, possession football.
However, their main weakness in the Premier League has been their apparent “soft centre”. It is commonly assumed the Arsenal players “don’t like it up ‘em” and so are subject to rough treatment from opponents.
This weakness is often cited as the reason why they have failed to win a trophy over the past five years and, with the Premier League betting suggesting they won’t challenge again this season, many pundits believe Wenger should adopt a different style of play.
But why is it ok for teams to rough Arsenal up, yet “thuggery” to try and do the same to Spain? The ‘experts’ were calling for more protection for the Spanish players, but they are not so forthcoming about Arsenal.
I know Spain have proven more successful than the Gunners in recent years, but it hasn’t been through changing their style of play, they will keep passing regardless of the opposition.
Personally, I doubt switching systems would change Arsenal’s online odds anyway.
There seems to be a common thought among TV pundits that everything the Spanish do is perfect - proven by how little was said regarding the frequent instances of play acting, diving and card waving that went on during Sunday’s fractious encounter.
I think we deserve as much consistency from our hypercritical pundits as we expect from our players and referees.
Tags: Aggressive Style, Alan Hansen, Arsenal Players, Attractive Brand, Bbc, Boss Arsene Wenger, Conundrum, Different Style, Dominant Brand, Gifted Players, Gunners, Hansen And Co, Midfielders, Premier League, Rough Treatment, Spanish Players, Superlatives, Switching Systems, Tv Pundits, World Cup