As my last few blogs have been a little critical to say the least, I have decided to balance my karma with an article offering encouragement. The team on the receiving end are not a side I have much love for personally but one which, like most other fans, I do admire. That team is Arsenal, who make that dreaded trip up the M6 to Ewood Park tomorrow, where Ryan Nelson and chums will be waiting to kick seven shades of shit out of them, as per usual.
They will do this because it has proven a successful tactic in the past. They will do it because if they allow Arsenal time and space on the ball, they will be embarrassed. Blackburn have already earned more yellows in their two matches than any other team (five), and there is every chance they will add to this tally tomorrow. So far they have the lowest pass completion rate in the league (56%), whereas Arsenal have the highest (87%). Arsene Wenger has made the traditional appeal for a strong performance from the unlucky man chosen for the thankless task of refereeing this match, Chris Foy. All pretty standard so far then.
This season, though, it seems that Arsenal may finally be ready to stand up for themselves. The purchase of 30-year-old Sebastien Squillaci goes against Wenger’s usual transfer policy. He brings experience to Wenger’s eternally-young side, but there is every chance that the manager found his hard-man reputation an attractive prospect, especially for games such as this (although Squillaci is not expected to play tomorrow). Rather than slating Blackburn’s approach before tomorrow’s game, Wenger has even acknowledged that Sam Allardyce’s side are simply playing within their means. Might he finally have accepted that Blackburn will always play this way, and that it is he rather than Big Sam who has to change his game?
Wenger seems to have finally taken on board the criticism that his team are too weak to contend with the more agricultural teams in the Premier League on a physical basis, and has admitted defeat in his policy to sign players purely for their technical ability accordingly. His interest in the huge but technically limited German centre-back Per Mertesacker provides further evidence for this theory. Arsenal’s ‘untouchables’ were built around a tough, some may even say nasty, back four. Maybe Wenger hopes Squillaci can be his new Martin Keown. He’s certainly ugly enough.
Laurent Koscielny should start tomorrow, and although he lacks a bit of timber compared to most Premier League centre-halves (Wenger has already out him on a special training programme to remedy this), he has already said that he won’t be intimidated by Blackburn, and Wenger obviously took this fearlessness into account when deciding to splash out almost £10 million on him. The red card he received against Liverpool proves he likes a tackle.
The fact remains that Arsenal still have small players who do not enjoy the rough treatment that a visit to Ewood guarantees, for instance Thomas Rosicky, Andrei Arshavin and Theo Walcott. But (with the exception of Gael Clichy, maybe) the back four can now give as good as it gets. Cesc Fabregas and Robin van Persie have been playing Premier League football for long enough not to be intimidated, with the hooded, phlegmy Spaniard showing a nasty streak against Hull last year. Meanwhile Abou Diaby, Emmanuel Eboue and Alex Song are big, powerful lads, and Marouane Chamakh and Samir Nasri, having acclimatised to the physical side of the game in Ligue 1, are no pushovers.
Of course it would be a shame for purist team like Arsenal to give in to Blackburn’s tactics and play their own bigger boys in the starting eleven tomorrow, but I think Wenger should admit defeat, and do just that. Arsenal have got to stop dropping points in the North West if they are to challenge for the title. Games against limited sides like Blackburn should be a guaranteed three points, yet another loss (2-1) at the end of last season shows that they are still very much Arsenal’s bogey team. Wenger should play Eboue instead of Arshavin and attempt to match Blackburn physically. An attractive, technical philosophy is admirable, but at the end of the season three points is what counts.
Read Charlie Coffey’s World Cup every weekday at my11.com.
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