What English Football Must Learn From Arsenal & Barcelona
By DariusArsene Wenger and Pep Guardiola promised the purest form of artistic entertainment to the footballing world, and the teams didn’t disappoint on Wednesday night.
I’ll be honest, the onslaught that Barcelona unleashed on Arsenal in the first half of that game was both beautiful to watch and extremely painful to watch as an Arsenal fan.
Nevertheless, most people will acknowledge that it’s probably one of the best displays of football brilliance that they’ve ever witnessed. However hair-raising the first 25 minutes were for Arsenal, we were treated to probably the most ecstatic match we will witness in our generation.
The match was undoubtedly elevated to epic status following the way which Arsenal dug deep, showed character, and tenaciously went about the business of coming back from the dead.
Right in that entertaining mixture of total football and total fight backs is a profound lesson that the English footballing establishment can learn.
There was everything you could ever desire from two teams – exquisite technique, sublime football, commitment and a ’never say die’ spirit, pace, suspense, heart-break, character, determination – you name it, it was there.
There was one thing that was evidently missing. It was conspicuous in its absence and is a lesson for those who insist that playing an insalubrious and uncouth brand of football that’s designed to kick and maim the opponent is an acceptable substitute for what is nebulously referred to as grit, steel and grafting ability.
How many times have we heard that the uniqueness of the English Premier league is the hard type of football that is said to be for ’men’. We are told that it’s a contact sport, and so Arsenal – who have been vocal in detesting the unreasonable physicality we are subjected to, should get with the program or stop playing a game that is clearly for men who are “well ‘ard”.
You see, I differentiate between contact sport on the one hand, and martial arts and violence on the other. For too long, kicking and bruising opponents has been accepted in the EPL as a strategy for those who are not able to cope with players who are technically superior to themselves.
Euphemisms like “you need to get in their faces”, “you have to get up their noses”, or “you need to get close to them and let them know you’re there” are bandied around like they’re going out of fashion.
In truth, those who spew these stereotypical euphemisms are just promoting thuggery and violence in the name of association football.
Arsenal were outclassed and outplayed in the first half an hour of Wednesday’s game, yet the team didn’t resort to the kind of mindless violence that we so often see in the EPL in response to such footballing master classes.
The Gunners dug deep, absorbed the pressure, and mounted a fight back. We fought and tackled hard when we could, and we moved the ball and pressed Barca back in their own half when we had the ball.
Nobody can say that Arsenal or Barcelona were not shy about committing to tackles and encouraging the healthy dose of physicality within the ’contact sport’ without descending into thuggery.
Can we now stop this nonsense of insisting that the only way you can play against a technically superior team is to kick them off the park? The law of averages suggest that players will get injured.
Arsenal and Barcelona have shown what teams can aspire to in terms of the quality of attacks and how to play against that attack. Arsenal were starved off the ball and this is not something the Gunners are used to – but they found a way of fighting back without resorting to violence and kicking the hell out of the opponent.
Arsenal focussed on playing football instead of being anti-football as we’ve seen so often in the EPL.
The bigger lesson I think is for the English FA who would have seen what they need to aspire to in order to improve the fortunes of the English game.
Enough with this ’kick, push and move’ brand of football augmented by an obsession with physicality. It’s a brand of football promoted at all ranks of the English game and is frankly speaking not entertaining in the slightest.
The English game can learn a lot from the epic encounter at the Emirates last Wednesday, not least that there’s another way to play football – and it doesn’t involve maiming opponents.
And enough of this ’grit and steel nonsense being used as a substitute to compensate for the inability to play football.
Speaking of anti-football, you might have missed our mini-series on Anti-football, Anti-Arsenalism and the misguided self preservation of English football.
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Tue 13th September 2011; 19:45, Dortmund
You will be very aware of what British football is all about tomorrow. You seem to be a little confused about what it is and I don’t blame you.
Tackles and hard close up work is a vital part of football. It didn’t go away when it separated with rugby and it want go away because you don’t like it. Wolves are using their bodies for other things than getting in contact with the ball and your winger Walcott and others will find that out when meeting Wolves tomorrow.
With your injuries, resting of players for the clash at Barcelona and underestimation of us we are bound to take at least one point away from you.
WE ARE WOLVES!
The harsh reality Paddytheflea is that even if we rest our players there are more than enough quality in our ranks to give you a good thumping. Good luck!
Its a cultural thing, deeply intrenched in the narrow mind of large swathes of the uk footballing public. Something to do with the british obsession of the underdog perhaps? Technically lacking, yet plucky and spirited. Unfortunately pluck and spirit, both themselves noble qualities, become something else when mixed with a dose of testosterone.
Added to which is the xenephobia still prevelant throughout the country, especially when it comes to dealing with the ‘frogs’. Those ‘foreign types’ are always cheating, rolling around on the floor, are soft, etc etc etc, or should i say blah blah blah.
And of course as soon as its an england player crooked, the story changes completely. There is the hypocrisy. An example of this was when David Beckham, the golden boy, had his metertarsal broken by the butcher of buenos aires, Aldo Deuchser.
Grassroots more than likely plays its part. Breeding youngsters raised on full scale pitches, armed in the art of kick and rush. A lack of technique is implanted at footballing birth.
British football has some noble stengths and qualities which souldn’t be lost.., valour, courage, commitment.., but all to often it descends into organised thuggery and is defended and its less able purpetrators protected and robbed of the chance to improve.
As seen at arsenal, sooner or later people will suffer injuries, horrific injuries. That, quite simply is unacceptable when it comes on the back of instruction to ‘get up em’. Reckless, dangerous, unacceptable.
The notion in this country, one happily legitimised by the hack set press, that it is acceptable, even gleefully encouraged to kick a superior team out of the game.., is about as credible as tripping Usain Bolt because he is faster than you so as to win the gold.
Absolutely spot on. However, I must admit to being on the horns of a dilemma in the first 30 minutes. On one hand I wanted us to stop Barca anyway possible but on the other I knew how I have felt a lot lately seeing us kicked apart. Reason won.
Absolutely spot on! Could not have said it better myself.
If we play good and win trophies then good, but no way would I want us to play boring like Chelsea and win. Better to die on your feet than to live on your knees!
Billboy, don’t worry – I know many people who might have had that dilemma.
But isn’t it more telling that it took Denilson, the ‘scapegoat du jour’ to stop the flow of Barca. The young man literally had Messi in his pocket because of the intelligent way he read the game, and because of his intelligent interceptions and ability to hold on to the ball and keep our game ticking.
Rather than kick our way out of the quagmire, Wenger brought in Eboue and Denilson to steady the ship and then unleashed Walcott on the hapless Barca defence.
I would suggest that that is so much better than trying to kick our way out of it.
J.
Here here. I agree that the root problem lies in the grassroots with very few if any kids coming up with more than pluck and spirit.
Technique is almost considered a profanity in the grand scheme of things.
There was absolutely everything in that game on Wednesday – valour, courage, spirit, technique, you name it, both teams had it. But no one kicked the other to death.
It was unfortunate that Puyol contributed to Cesc’s injury, but I’m happy to accept that challenge from the Barca captain as opposed to a calculated attempt at taking out the man.
PAddyTheFlea — of the dodgy statistics on shots to goals fame still seems to think otherwise. Maybe he saw the game between Barca and Arsenal and maybe he didnt. I cant put it any better than what J has said already – its a combination of British psyche, media purported lies and general apathy that we are fighting. We arent winning, but these northern monkeys have certainly started whining.
Football is about styles & evolution.
I don’t think we should be saying our way is right & anything else is wrong.
As far as I am concerned it is a matter of playing within the rules & not setting out to just “rough up”/ injure the opposition with reckless tackles.
The traditional English long ball game epitomised by the Wolves team of the 1950s was an exciting brand of attacking football based on hard defence skillful inside forwards, tricky wingers & a bulldozing CF.
That can be as exciting as our game against Barca.
The key is that both teams wanted to attack & that was generally the case in the 1950s, when in general “park the bus” had not been invented (not in England anyway).
J points out the situation very well. In general English youngsters have been brought up in “the bigger boy wins” environment, where technical ability has often not even been considered to be important.
In view of England’s poor record against the better teams we now know that grown ups playing good technical football will usually beat just hard graft & grit that apparently only the English have.
Arsenal’s acadamy is now producing high quality good technical youngsters, eg Wilshire, JET, Eastmond etc., who are nearing the 1st team.
We must hope the same is happening at Wolves & everywhere else up & down the country so that there is enough talent to go round for no team to have to be afraid of playing attacking football, of whatever style, against any opposition.
Flint.
I whole heartedly agree with the notion that we shouldn’t be suggesting that Wengerball is the right way to play and others are not.
Like you mention, the gripe is about the violence and thuggery used in lieu of alternative tactics that can get the opposing team into the game.
If the quick paced long ball beats us, fair and square, that’s something we have to live with.
What I resent is the rotational fouling and the deliberate targetting of our creative players to ‘stop us’ from playing.
There’s also this falsehood that if you get the ball and man with a hard tackle, then it’s acceptable. The fact that you get the ball doesn’t preclude a tackle as being dangerous. Liam Ridgwell’s tackle on Walcott is a prime example.
Players, managers and pundits could do with going back to the rule book and learn what the laws of the game say about dangerous tackles.
With regards to the future, the young crop of players (most of who are English) coming through the Arsenal academy is quite exciting. Whether they end up in the Arsenal first team is immaterial to the fact that they are being schooled in an alternative way.
Gibbs, JET, Little Jack Willy, Eastmond, Watt, Bartley etc – are going to dominate the English game for the next decade – and it’s going to be good to see how they fair.
To be honest with you – Gazza and Hoddle are the last 2 English flair players that I can remember – players who had the technique to hold onto and seduce the ball, players who made the hairs at the back of your head stand because you felt that something would happen when they had the ball.
There’s not enough of that talent pool.
It is interesting that Cesc was booked for his follow through, even though he clearly won the ball, whilst Gardiner & Ridgwell did not even have free kicks given against them for much more violently cynical lunges.
The FA had the chance to deal with Ridgwell for that reckless challenge that took out the lino & Wigan player a couple of weeks ago but did nothing.
Hoddle & Gazza were individuals out of step with their time in the English game. It is no coincidence that the former found it easier playing for his club combining with Ardiles, while struggling to find like minds in the England team.
There have been some very skillful English players with good technical ability but something else in their characters stopped them being absolute international superstars. I think of the likes of Stan Bowles, Rodney Marsh, Tony Curry, Charlie George, Alan Hudson, Peter Osgood & Michael Thomas. Those are from the 70s & 80s but I do struggle for players from the 1990s. Beckham & Lampard are very good technical footballers, while Gerrard is the most highly skilled kick & rush player I can remember. The mere fact that so few of our players have gone abroad to play, let alone be successful, tells us much.
The question is what kind of football do Brits want to see? Do they really just want to see Long Ball all the time? I for one find that hard to believe. All you have to do is look at how the media have been gushing over the Barca first half performance to see that people here like the ‘beautiful’ game as much as anywhere else.
Somewhere along the line the British people have managed to convince themselves that they could never play the kind of football a Barcelona or a Brazil would play. Being aware on an instinctive level that they had been left behind (a little) they chose to refute all those ‘fancy skills’ and became even more dogged in sticking to the kick and rush tactics. After all, we all know that British is best. Any proper attempt to address the situation would have required the Brits to go out and learn from others, and thus admitting that the nation who gave football to the world had fallen behind. That would never do.
Until there is a widespread realisation that English/British football is not good enough as it is, until there is a real desire to learn from those who have moved far ahead (Brazil, Spain, Netherlands etc.), and until the British people have learned to curb their pride (and stop thinking we still have an empire) the football in this country will remain backward.
Let’s pray more English coaches grow a pair like Steve Mclaren, a man who deserves much more credit than he is currently being given. More people like him are exactly what we need.
We may have competed better with Barca’ if Wenger hadn’t started the game with two players carrying injuries(Arshavin and Cesc), and allowing Gallas to play in a high tempo game after two months out was crazy, thanks to his gamble we are missing three players for the rest of the season. the gamble in my opinion was not worth it as the rest of the team had to carry the three. Arshavin was non-existent before he went off and Cesc was clearly suffering from the injury sustain against the Brummies. Once again Wenger messed up with his tactics. it will be a struggle against Barca’ in the return leg, and if we are not careful we could suffer an embarrassing loss.Alumina was outstanding in the first half but as always he went back to being Alumina the keeper we can’t trust. I hoping Diaby has a better game, start with Walcott and Rosicky along with Eboue who when he came on scared the Barca’ players along with Walcott. I just hope Wenger gets his tactics right
Quote from Mikey above:
“Until there is a widespread realisation that English/British football is not good enough as it is, until there is a real desire to learn from those who have moved far ahead (Brazil, Spain, Netherlands etc.), and until the British people have learned to curb their pride (and stop thinking we still have an empire) the football in this country will remain backward”.
Mikey, if the widespread realisation that you refer to still doesn’t exist after 44 years of successive failure from the England national team, then I suspect that – unfortunately – things aren’t going to change for the better anytime soon.
(Quote) “You will be very aware of what British football is all about tomorrow….. Wolves are using their bodies for other things than getting in contact with the ball and your winger Walcott and others will find that out when meeting Wolves tomorrow. ” – Paddytheflea (Unquote)
What shame. That pretty well explain English football and the attitude – and why no British country has ever won the WC, except for England, 1966, some 40 years ago. Disgraceful..when you even consider yourself the mother of football.
Wha is so disgraceful, Kyoto? Are you in the belief that football is a non contact sport? Think again!
And what has that to do with winning the World Cup? You’re making the analysis easy for yourself.
The reason why Premier League is the best league in the world today is that the teams inherits the ability to combines technical skill, good passing skills and the highest tempo in play in the world with (fair) tackles and in your face football when defending.
It would very much surprise me if not that kind of football will be the football for the future nationally as well as internationally.
Do you think that Wayne Rooney is a brute? Do you think he is a softy? He is a player who can use his technical skills as well as his body strength to get forward and score. A complete athlete in the game. What’s so disgraceful about that?