Mails: Arsenal’s best team, neutering N’Golo and…

If you have anything to add on any subject, you know what to do – mail theeditor@football365.com

 

Arsenal’s best team does not include Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
When Arsenal signed Aubameyang last season, the general consensus was that Lacazette will lose his place to him. The then Arsenal manager, Arsene Wenger, was reluctant to start two of them in a match. He later changed his position and started playing the pair with Auba shifted to the wide and Laca as the main striker. They were complemented by Ozil and Mkhitaryan. Laca and Auba proceeded to contribute 18 goals* in 17* matches that they played together.

This season, the new coach is trying something new. He pushed Ramsey up field because a box to box midfielder he is not, and a defensive midfielder he is not suited for. This little tweak affected the whole attacking balance. With Ozil and Ramsey’s qualities, you need to have them in the pitch as much time as possible. Laca and Auba goal threat are very much important. Throw in other attacking players like Iwobi, Welbeck and Mikhitaryan, the coach has serious good problems.

The second match of the season against Chelsea where Ozil played on the left, Mkhitaryan played on the right, Iwobi played the no10 position and Auba as the lone striker was probably the most balanced attack so far this season. The combination of Bellerin and Mikhitaryan on the right was so devastating – the two goals Arsenal scored came from that side – for want of a better word, Iwobi was running with the ball at Chelsea’s central defenders with gusto, and Ozil-, though not playing at his favored position, was putting in some shift. Arsenal lost the match and the coach changed things, again.

Mikhitaryan was dropped and so his partnership with Bellerin was discarded, Iwobi was also dropped. Arsenal now lacked players that are capable of running at defenders with the ball at their feet. See Mikhitaryan pass to Iwobi against Vrslako.

Ozil took Mikhitaryan’s position at the right, Ramsey took Iwobi’s at the center with Aubameyang at the left and Laca as the lone striker. With Ozil having the tendency to drift infield, the whole right side of the pitch was left only for Bellerin to cover (at the detriment of his defensive duties), with Auba who can’t or won’t bit his marker, Ramsey not being good enough at dribbling (but he can finish off moves, mind) and Ozil operating in a congested area. This leaves Laca slightly isolated. Yes, Arsenal has been scoring goals since the new system was introduced (remember that they scored two against a good Chelsea side but lost because of their profligacy in front of goal), yes they have not lost a match since then but still, the new system does not bring out the best from their talented players.

My preferred formation is this. Laca (lone striker), Iwobi (left attacking midfield), Ozil (no 10) and Mikhitaryan (right attacking midfield).
Shaolin Temple, Bayelsa (Nigeria)


Watching paint dry > Man United
Before our recent house move we did some basic work on the new house ourselves – including painting. I have experience to disagree with Kenny (Manchester)’s cliched assessment that watching Man United is slightly more entertaining than watching paint dry. With paint, there’s the element of surprise – did I get the shade right? There’s planning – does it look nice with the feature wall? There’ hope – will this last 10 years before I need to redo this? With Man United – pah!
Fendi, Malaysia

 

These are strange times for Liverpool fans
Being a Liverpool fan is a bit weird at the minute. We’re repeatedly winning without playing to our potential and, whilst this is great, City and Chelsea threaten to be relentless. There is hope, but way too early for expectation.

I have absolutely no idea how this is going to play out but suspect, whatever happens, it’ll be tight.
Aidan, Lfc (you can’t even discount the other 3 getting their game on)

Neutering N’Golo
Unfortunately I agree with the comments made on this site about Sarri neutering the best defensive midfielder in the world. I’m really worried we’re going to lose Kante because he just doesn’t fit into our system.

Don’t get me wrong, he’s still a brilliant midfielder and he’s showing a different side to his game, and I can see him adding value in that position against top teams that will have greater possession. But against weaker opposition who we are struggling to break down I think we’d be better off playing one of Fabregas, RLC or Barkley.

I’m surprised he hasn’t been substituted yet in any of our games where we’re trying to find a goal late on. Maybe that’s an indication that Sarri really values Kante and feels he’s crucial to our new style.

Either way, as everyone starts to settle into Sarriball we’ll get an indication of his thinking.
Edward Brooks

 

Broadcasters > Ex-pros
I think Nicholson’s argument that broadcast professionals are just as valuable (if not more so) than ex-pros as pundits being posted on Football365 is definitely a case of preaching to the converted, as we are of course reading about it here.

As Nicholson pointed out clearly there are some ex-pros who have become good broadcasters. Then there are others who show varying degrees of dedication to the role, and therefore fall on a spectrum of awful to good. Alan Shearer has publically admitted that part of the reason he has improved as a pundit, is that at the beginning of his broadcast career he had one eye on getting back into management and so couldn’t be as honest as he is now. I suspect there are others who haven’t made that decision yet and their performance is suffering. It’s no surprise that with increased dedication comes increased performance.

Rob Stourbridge asked for our favourites and I’ve got some that are players and some that aren’t. For ex-players I like Don Hutchison and Ian Wright. But the non-players are even better – I too dig the Football Ramble guys, Phillipe Auclair is arguably the best journo going around (if he tells you a transfer is happening, its happening) and Iain McIntosh is probably the funniest writer.

Without naming names there are bad ex-pro pundits (You haven’t played the game! Shouty men) and bad journalists/broadcasters too (anyone who becomes such a sycophant to the players/manager that they stop doing it for the audience).

One thing I have noticed that can separate ex-players and pros is the level of conflict they are willing to get into. Partly this is hammed up in a grab for ratings based on old rivalries (watch Carragher and Neville argue!) but I suspect may also come from the dressing room culture, where expressing anger is culturally more acceptable than in most worksites. This is sometimes ok, but can also be off putting (is there anything worse than listening to two grown men try to talk over the top of each other?).

Another thing I’ve noticed is that non-players are sometimes more willing to burst the hype bubble. Football does at the end of the day remain…just a game…and it seems its more acceptable for a non-player to deflate the hot air. Maybe ex-players feel they owe a game that gave them so much a bit more respect? I’m not sure. I suspect the ability to laugh at the game is probably the reason I like the broadcasters more.
Hugo (NUFC) Adelaide

 

Journos are just as bad
It was great to read John Nic’s article regarding ex-pros who dominate the live media field. It’s the rare case that the ex-pro can add value. I can see that having someone who has played the game could add some interest by explaining what it might feel like to walk out into a large stadium while making your debut or what might be going on in the dressing room at half time. But generally, most of them can’t articulate having their breakfast, so they resort to cliches. After all, they only have to take it one broadcast at a time.

Where I disagree with John is his assertion that journalists would do a better job. Hang on, the same journalists that are so often and rightly parodied by MediaWatch, who not only focus on non-fact based journalism but resort to the same trite cliches as ex-pros, frequently make comments that are opposed to something they said a few weeks before.

There are some great commenters on football. As mentioned by other letter writers the top football podcasts are dripping with them. Some are journalists sure, but very few. Sports journalism as a whole is pretty poor – unlike political, financial or investigatory journalists who live by the facts – most sports journalists won’t let data get in the way of getting the rise out of readers and creating clickbait.

The Monday Night Club and Sportsweek regularly involve journalists in their show and are pretty poor. Even with exalted titles like Chief Sports Writer or Chief Football Correspondent – and that goes for many of the non-ex-Pro commentators as well. Being ‘connected’ and able to tittle tattle the latest rumour generally substitutes for substance. And perhaps rubbing so close to sports ‘royalty’ makes them too chummy.

Is it that the bar has been set so low over the years that even a mediocre performance gets rave reviews?

There are some young guns who are doing a better job than the older pros – I quite like Jermaine Jenas. I also listened to a BBC show this weekend with three lesser known ex-pros, and while they did resort to some ‘banter’ was happy to hear two of them talking about wanting to see the GPS charts of top players from a game this weekend. I could just see Chris Sutton wincing at such a comment – while I like his straight forward style he is clearly a man for the past – and something neither Savage or Wrighty would ever think about.

The last point would be that John and the Football365 team should love that these ex-pros and bad journos and commentators are around, it forces us to sites like Football365 to read something more substantial about the game.
Paul McDevitt