Arsene Wenger’s Tactics, Pt2: Arsenal Years 1998.

Arsenal pre 1996 was anything but the Arsenal many associate it with today. Under the stewardship of George Graham, Arsenal were a team built not to ship goals first, score goals second, a strategy that brought a haul of seven major trophies in nine years. Despite winners medals coming to Highbury, few would have said Arsenal were proponents of attacking football, so much so they were mocked with the song ‘One Nil to the Arsenal’. The infamous ‘Back Five’ of David Seaman in goal, Lee Dixon and Nigel Winterburn as side defenders, with Steve Bould and Tony Adams as central defenders, were the bedrock of Arsenal’s success under Graham, resolute defending that thwarted all attack forces. In addition, there was Paul Merson pulling the strings in midfield and the then record scorer Ian Wright spearheading the attack. Bruce Rioch inherited this team for a season, bringing in Dennis Bergkamp and David Platt, only for Arsene Wenger to arrive in October 1996. Arsenal would never be labelled boring again.

Initially, Wenger kept with the conservative approach ingrained by Graham, a steady 4-4-2, the side defenders rarely venturing forward, the midfield mechanical, the strikers always looking to poach. However the first piece that would give Arsenal life was an AC Milan reject, Patrick Vieira, a tall gangly figure who effectively doubled up as a 1 man midfield such was his presence. The Arsenal midfield now had an enforcer and lung to breath life into the attack. Arsenal finished 3^rd in a season where he was still assessing the squads capabilities and their compatibility to Wenger’s style.

At the start of the 1997/1998 season, the real Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal took shape. To compliment Vieira in midfield, he brought in his former protégé Emmanuel Petit, a crocked but highly talented Dutch winger called Marc Overmars, and talented youngster Nicholas Anelka from P.S.G. The old Arsenal emphasis on defence only was replaced by attack when the opportunity arose and Arsenal would now create opportunities at will. Dixon and Winterburn, who had a phobia of going beyond the halfway line, became more adventurous than previous before, playing as Argentine full backs constantly on the overlap to provide crosses. The center back pairing began to push up more rather than hang by the 18 yard box squeezing the opposition further up the pitch.

In midfield, a dynamic duo of Petit and Vieira took center stage. Petit with a cultured passing range, and his background as a defender allowed him to act as a third defender in offensive moves. Vieira set the standard for what a modern central midfielder had to be which still has a legacy today, dominant on and off the ball, a box to box player adept all over the pitch. On the left, the jet heeled Dutchman Overmars terrorised defences single handedly recapturing his Ajax Champions League winning form providing assist to the strikers and scoring himself. Ray Parlour on the right added industry and valuable assists, and importantly balance to the team that allowed Arsenal to score and defend in equal measure.

Up front, Dennis Bergkamp set the standard in England for the supporting striker behind the poacher supreme Ian Wright and Nicholas Anelka. Bergkamp was the link between the midfield and the strikers, and it was literally a foreign concept to English defenders, and it became common to see them dragged all over only for Bergkamp to receive the ball and pass intricately in one movement and a few seconds later the ball in the back of the net.

This new style, in Wenger’s first full season duly delivered the much coveted League and FA Cup Double, amassing 78 points to pip Manchester United to the title, and the defensive unit that rarely conceeded let in 33 whilst scoring 68 at the other end, and hence obliterating the way the game was interpreted in England forever. Side defenders were now expected to attack, central midfielders would not only have a hardman and attack minded player but a duo who could dominate the match, wingers who would not just be there to cross but to tuck inside and score, and have a striker that was also a chief assist provider. Arsenal had entered a new era tactically, the Wenger Era.

Arsene Wenger’s Tactics, Pt 1: Pre Arsenal.

Since Arsene Wenger arrived at Arsenal, he has rarely veered from the staple English 4-4-2, however in a subtle manner, he has reinterpreted it. To understand Arsene Wenger’s tactical strategy at Arsenal, we must visit his tactical education in France and Japan.

At Monaco, in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, Wenger employed a fluid 4-4-2 that accommodated as many attack minded players in the line up as possible. The full backs made ventures beyond the halfway line with the wide midfielders and normally a ball playing playmaker in the middle, providing ammunition for his venomous strikers. This was aided by having two commanding central defenders and a protective defensive midfielder to give balance to the team.

At the back, he had the raiding French right back Manuel Amoros, the towering centre back Luc Sonor with the emerging Lillian Thuram and Emmanuel Petit. In midfield he bought in the under appreciated playmaker Glen Hoddle, the current Lyon manager Claude Puel as the midfield buffer and a prodigious Youri Djorkaeff on the flank. Up front he had a hungry striker by the name of George Weah as well as the likes of Mark Hately and Jurgen Klinsmann.

These tactics delivered one Ligue Un title in 1988, and in between many near misses on both the domestic and continental fronts, then again he was up against the legendary Olympique Marseille team that went on to win four championships in a row, with another stripped for match fixing allegations. Monaco were widely acknowledged to play the best football in France at the time, with only the likes of Sacchi’s AC Milan and Van Gaal’s Ajax playing football as attractive as them in Europe, with the former awash with Bellusconi’s money and Ajax’s golden generation emerging led by Dennis Bergkamp.

Against this backdrop, he was formally approached for the coveted Les Bleus job, which he turned down, his visionary tactics were heavily favoured since France had failed to qualify for the 1990 and 1994 World Cups and performed dismally in Euro 92. Public consensus saw Wenger as the ideal man to lead stars like Papin, Cantona, Ginola, and integrate the young players like Petit, Deschamps, and Djaorkaeff, in playing to their potential and not the boring play produced by Platini and Houllier. Tactically in France, Wenger is known as one of the most shrewd, to defeat his opponents through flair attacking football.

In his sabbatical in Japan, he clearly had his eye on a bigger job in Europe. In a country where football was an emerging sport being enthused by Brazilian legend Zico, Wenger was able to experiment more with his tactics whilst keeping himself motivated. His team Grampus Eight carried on the attacking purpose, scoring 99 goals in 51 league games in the 1995 season. Factored in he had some limited players, the goal tally remains very impressive in his debut season.

This short stint was as Wenger bided his time, and when Arsenal wanted a change in style from the ‘boring boring Arsenal’, the Wenger Era was nigh.

Arsene Who Begins

Welcome to the newest Arsenal Blog, ‘Arsene Who?’. It shall try to differ from the plethora of other Arsenal Blogs (many good, many rubbish!), in offering a global personal perspective of Arsenal.

This blogger grew up in the Southern Hemisphere, but is now resident in London, a Red Member who gets to see the club he supports at least 10 times a season live. Having grown up watching the French Ligue Un, German Bundesliga and the Italian Seria A, i rarely watched English football until Dennis Bergkamp arrived in England.

Back then, English football was largely boring, offering little tactical and technical variety on offer in Germany and Italy. Having being wooed by the Olympique Marseille team that won the European Cup in 1993 which included the legendary trio of Dider Deschamps, Marcel Desailly and Rudi Voller, i followed the former two’s journey into the Seria A. This Marseille team was the thorn in Arsene Wenger’s Monaco side that contained technical players like Hoddle, Klinsmann and Weah.

Having seen Desailly impress at AC Milan, I remember the swift arrival and departure of Dennis Bergkamp. That a player of such sublime skill would leave Italy for a team i knew was a long ball team of Arsenal made me very curious, especially after the early ridicule he received from the English press. I followed Arsenal’s progress due to Bergkamp’s presence. This was heightened when AC Milan sold their young midfield enforcer Patrick Vieira to Arsenal, a player who Desailly spoke very highly of.

A few months later, another man was heavily ridiculed and questioned with the infamous “Arsene Who” tag. I’d known Arsene Wenger to be a manager of great ability from his Monaco exploits, and my following of Arsenal increased as i knew something special was occurring for this London club. The rest as they say is history, Wenger proved his worth by changing the entire English football landscape in technical and physical preparation terms. I have been a fan ever since.

It is from this premise that this blog begins. It shall offer analysis on matches, operations of the club, all from a global perspective. I hope this blog will be refreshing to you, the readers, especially as we approach the 2008-2009 season, where we hope to clinch the Premier League Title for the fourth time in Arsene Wenger’s reign.