Team Focus: Arsenal Win Midfield Battle in North London Derby
The story of Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur this season so far has been all about the respective central midfields. Tottenham have been powerful but not especially creative, while Arsenal had shown signs of an all too familiar flimsiness. On Sunday, when the sides met at the Emirates, though, there was bite and snap back for Arsenal while Spurs’ lack of guile from central areas was exposed. It may come as new players settle in and learn one another’s games, and Arsenal’s slender squad may yet be exposed, but in the short term there must have been sweet vindication for Arsene Wenger in hearing fans who two weeks earlier had urged him to “spend some f***ing money” chanting “What a waste of money” at Spurs.
On the opening day Aston Villa’s pace exposed the defensive limitations of the pairing of Aaron Ramsey and Jack Wilshere at the back of midfield. Both, clearly, are hugely gifted players, but neither is an instinctive defender. If a team sits back against them as, say, Fenerbahce did, particularly in the first leg of the Champions League play-off, the pair, with time, can destroy a side.
Wilshere on Sunday had a relatively quiet game before stomach cramps forced him off just before half-time. He hadn’t made a tackle or an interception or been involved in an aerial duel, although he did block one shot. Nor was he particularly effective from an attacking point of view, failing to register a shot or a key pass.
The difference when Mathieu Flamini came on for his second Arsenal debut was obvious. In his first spell at the club, Arsene Wenger nicknamed him the Corporal, and it was easy to see why, as he snapped about, constantly cajoling and organising. It could be that he returns to Arsenal an abrasiveness they have lacked in recent seasons – in fact, probably since he left to join AC Milan in 2008.
His stats give some sense of his influence – three tackles, two clearances, a blocked shot and an interception (all with a pass success rate of 86%, just 2% less than Wilshere achieved) – but that is only part of the story. Flamini also gets the best out of those around him by dint of his energy and ability to structure the midfield. Ramsey, who has been in fine form so far this season, was again impressive, making seven tackles, four clearances, three interceptions and blocking a shot, while also completing 78% of his passes, playing one key pass and having two shots. Wenger once referred to him as a more attacking version of Roy Keane and, as he finally regains his confidence after the broken leg he suffered at Stoke in February 2010, it’s beginning to look as though he could justify that billing.
Tottenham, though, have problems centrally. It was a feature of their play last season that they often struggled to get players breaking through the middle to support their centre-forward, which was one of the reasons they were at times so reliant for goals on Gareth Bale. The 4-3-3 system Andre Villas-Boas said will be their prime mode this season looks like facing similar problems – although it may be that if Christian Eriksen is one of the three it takes on a more attacking aspect. Equally, if Erik Lamela can offer the goal threat he did at Roma, cutting in from wide, then having what is essentially a defensive shield in front of the back four may not be such a bad thing.
What was noticeable on Sunday was how much less Paulinho, nominally the most creative of the three holders, got forward than he had against Swansea. Last week he surged through to have seven shots, but against Arsenal he was restricted to three. Perhaps more troubling is the lack of impact made by Nacer Chadli, who had two shots, was dispossessed three times and didn’t manage a single key pass or successful dribble. He is the player most likely to stand down for Lamela.
Villas-Boas dismissed the issue afterwards, but there must be concern that Spurs, free scoring as they were in the Europa League ties against Dinamo Tbilisi, have managed only two goals in the Premier League, both penalties. A strong defensive foundation is there and they certainly have the players, but it may take some time before they become a fluent attacking unit.
