Not delusion but patience characterises Wenger
Eduardo
By Boris Mellor
December 30 2007
On Boxing Day, some pundits tried to convince Arsene that going one point behind Man U was a crisis. Arsenal were on the slide, some of the click tarts out there picked up on it. Wenger was delusional and stubborn declared one blogger. Stubbornness is one of his finest attributes, but delusional is just plain insulting.
Crisis what crisis?
All this was occasioned by drawing at Portsmouth, oh my what a disaster, one game would decide the Premiership. Yet who becomes champions is decided over 38 games, not on one Sunday, or one holiday period.
Football punditry is also becoming over obsessed with formation, increasingly 4-5-1 has been identified as the enemy, which fortunately gives Eboue and Adebayor a break. No doubt, some will claim that Wenger having read their blog saw the light and switched to 4-4-2. In fact, Arsenal probably did not play as well against Everton as they did against Pompey. They certainly did not create more chances, indeed, there were four shots on target, and the only difference was that they all went in. Why?
Was it because of the formation? Not really, it was because of the personnel, the chances fell to Eduardo and he netted them when it mattered. It seems to me that Rosicky only nets, these days, when it does not count. Eduardo scored two crucial goals. It’s first goals that matter, fourth goals are icing on the cake.
Patience
Now this is where Wenger’s strength of patience is revealed, he refused to write off Eduardo after a few poor performances. He also said that Eduardo would come good in the second half of the season. He made it clear he would play a big role after Christmas. Wenger was waiting for the right moment to kick start Eduardo’s career.
True if RvP was fit, Arsene may have played him, as he would be a safer bet than Eduardo. Wenger has been waiting for the return of RvP to go back to 4-4-2. As that was undermined by further injury, Wenger turned to plan B, Eduardo. If he could not play Robin, then the Crozilian had now matured enough to fill the role of second striker.
In the first half Arsenal’s 4-4-2 allowed Everton to dominate. To succeed in 4-4-2 the strikers must be ruthless and they also need service, but the midfield provided little.
Eduardo scores the second
In the second half, the midfield failed to provide much more, nearly all the goals were initiated from defenders playing the long ball. Fortunately, Eduardo and Adebayor proved to be ruthless. Indeed the Crozilian is a natural goals corer in the Ian Wright mode, but with the technique of a Bergkamp or a Henry. As Myles Palmer puts it the Robbie Fowler of Rio de Janeiro.
It would appear that Wenger can now manage 4-4-2, with or without Robin van Persie, but to do that he had to be convinced Eduardo could really do it. That took patience, and I must admit I wasn’t sure that diddy du du could hack it at Goodison. His presence would leave the defence with less cover. However, thanks to Everton’s dominance in midfield, the Gunners resorted to the long ball, and the wee man was able to break away and score key goals.
However, at 2-1 the game was not decided, Bendtner’s sending off reduced Arsenal to ten men. Everton could have got back into the game, but Wenger brought on Adebayor and changed to 4-4-1, it paid off as Adebayor seized on Almunia’s goal kick calmly rolling it into the net. It was game set and match. The Arsenal had gone from one point behind to two points ahead, and no top three team has had a better Xmas. All comes to those who wait.
Since the end of WW1, 1919, when the FA restarted its 4 tier football league, with Arsenal fc in the 1st div, there’s only ever been one club to have never been relegated from Div 1/ EPL.
Arsenal fc
Let’s keep making history
i doubt their was any nigerian arsenal fan who believed arsenal would beat everton 4:1 but to my greatest delight that was the final result.by the end of the 1st half,the nigerian pundits on tv were happing about how poor arsenal were. they were certain we won't take advantage of man utd's loss but before they could bury the gunners eduardo showed his class.then bendtner got sent off and i was so worried but Otunba[thats ade's new nickname in nigeria, its a yoruba chieftain title]struck after yobo gave nigerians a reason to worry concerning the nations cup gifted ade a chance he didn't miss.rosicky capped it all.i am most definately sure moyes will never attempt to play attacking football against gunners again.like deji a nigeria football pundit said this morning; verity is the spice of like and we showed it.long ball and bam the goals were coming.
Date: 31 December, 2007 11:54
Patience is a virtue - I said all would come to those who wait
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oh Great One, you meant 21-May-2008?..
