Last week marked a huge setback for Arsenal in their chase for the English Premier League title.
Like has been for many other teams before – Manchester United, Chelsea, most recently, Manchester City and Liverpool – this time of the season has not made it any clearer for Arsenal than what we all knew back in August when the league kicked off.
Essentially, so much can still change. Actually, even Manchester United can still win the title if they maintain their recent form, which has seen them win three successive games. Therefore, even with the recent slips Arsenal has suffered, they ought to keep believing that this is their year, as it could be for anyone else.
However, that should not give Arsene Wenger a license to repeat past mistakes, which include failing to read the game, and to pick the right personnel to perform on the day. The game against Manchester City last Sunday was one that Arsenal should have easily got a result from had Wenger not fumbled in his tactics.
Clearly, he had set out to play a defensive game with a ploy to counter-attack. That meant that he needed real workaholics throughout his team. I know it may look odd to leave a classy player like Ozil out, but very few players out there, including possibly the topmost professional, can fit in every single tactic.
And seeing that Arsenal had accepted to cede possession to Manchester City and play closer to their penalty area, Ozil was not going to be helpful under the circumstances; especially when he had no ball. Put simply, it is not in Ozil’s nature to hassle, and that has to be acknowledged.
Yet, for the masters of the defensive game, like we saw Jose Mourinho at Inter Milan against Barcelona in the semi-finals of the Uefa Champions League of 2010, even the forwards the coach chooses must have the discipline to backtrack and tackle. That is all for the result.
But most importantly, looking at the bigger picture, Wenger needs shrewdness to win the Premier League title at least once more before he retires. Being a purist does not mean negating from entirely being pragmatic too; otherwise, there would be no need of looking for good defenders, if all one (a coach) thinks about is being offensive.
Good teams defend well too. If it is not through solid defenders, it can be through a ruthless attack that ensures they keep their opponents on the back foot and at bay all the time. That is exactly what the likes of David Silva, Kevin De Bruyne, Leroy Sane and Raheem Sterling did.
And probably that is what Ozil had to do too. But oftentimes, he has not succeeded in that regard, meaning that Wenger ought to notice that and keep him on the leach in circumstances he can thrive in; otherwise, he costs the team. It was so clear in the jumbled-up substitution that got Oxlade-Chamberlin on for Alex Iwobi; and within a few minutes, he was off.
At a time when one could easily tell the Arsenal defensive midfielders Granit Xhaka and Francis Coquelin were running out of gas in the middle of the pack, Iwobi was doing a lot more defensive duties than Ozil would ever do in a lifetime.
But then, Mohamad Elneny needed to come on for the German to protect the point at least that Arsenal had before Sterling’s late strike. Principally, when a team gets heavily-bombarded like Arsenal was by Manchester City in a rather sustainable manner, while some individuals are not putting in a shift, inevitably, the rest will crack.
Remember, Alexis Sanchez was walking gingerly for much of that game’s second half, which meant that he could not cover much ground. That left Arsenal quite vulnerable. Yet, Wenger cannot say he did not see the danger of that, especially when Ozil was not fitting into the defensive scheme Arsenal had employed.
Sometimes in football, as has been proved over the years, good coaches decide on one thing for a scheme. But in Wenger’s style, he, at times, gets stuck at crossroads. He wants to live the romantic football while at the same time chooses a graft-oriented approach.
It is difficult to mix the two. In fact, each time you try to, the players will be left in a quagmire and you will get beat. However, one of the times when Wenger showcased real tactical nous was in the 2013/2014 season at White Hart Lane. Following an early Tomas Rosicky strike against Tottenham, Wenger realized that his offensive possession-based game was not clicking.
He started bringing on defensive-minded players like Mathieu Flamini and Kieran Gibbs to maintain the 1-0 lead. Those were the players for the task then. And with Wenger closing in on 70 in three years’ time, he will not be coaching for much longer after that.
So, Wenger should by now know that Ozil is not the man for every occasion if Arsenal is to end the 12-year voodoo of never winning the Premier League. It is such fine details that separate winners from perennial bridesmaids.
jovi@observer.ug