Reuters Soccer Blog
World Soccer views and news
Arsenal need to bulk up to avoid blowout
It used to be said that rugby was a sport for all shapes and sizes yet the modern professional game is so dominated by massive, athletic gym monkeys that diminutive wingers such as Shane Williams are as rare as England tries.
And, if Sunday’s game at the Emirates, where Chelsea completely bullied Arsenal into submission is anything to go by, soccer could be following a similar path.
Impact and collision will always play less of a role in the round-ball game and as long as referees help out smaller players by awarding cheap free kicks, being knocked over will not always be bad.
Yet the over-riding impression on Sunday was of men against boys.
With Cesc Fabregas, Samir Nasri, Eduardo, Andrei Arshavin, Carlos Vela, Theo Walcott and Tomas Rosicky scuttling around the pitch, Arsene Wenger’s place on the touchline could have been taken by Snow White.
Yes they are skilful, sharp and often evasive but when pitched en masse against the likes of Michael Essien, Branislav Ivanovic, Jon Obi Mikel, John Terry and Didier Drogba the confrontation more often than not ended with Chelsea in possession.
Wenger, as usual, saw things differently, telling reporters that it was “too easy to have that impression” and that a video analysis of the physical side of the match “would surprise you specialists”.
Timely comment on this issue from some fellah called Arshaving: “We are not good on set-pieces because we don’t have many tall players – every other team has an advantage over us in this area.
“They were much stronger than us when it came to physical power. Had we possessed a tall player then things would have been better for us.
“We had nobody capable of holding on to the ball. We played good football against all these top teams but that is not enough.”
I agree that you don’t have to have a team of giants to do well but a whole team of lightweight players certainly limits your options.