How the Community Shield provided Wenger with the perfect blueprint for toppling Mourinho.
After ending his winless streak against his
bitter rival, the Arsenal boss must now replicate his plan at Stamford
Bridge if he is to record a far more significant victory
“We were the best team,” a defiant Jose Mourinho told BT Sport in his post-match interview following last month’s Community Shield, the season’s traditional curtain-raiser that saw his Chelsea side defeated 1-0 by Arsenal.
“We had more initiative, we controlled the game by having ball possession. Arsenal defended with ten players, they put everybody in front of their own line and they had good organisation. Congratulations to them.”
Never one to miss an opportunity to have a dig at arch-enemy Arsene Wenger, Mourinho’s comments after the game could in fact be interpreted as complimentary, despite the obvious tone of sarcasm in the 52-year-old’s voice when he commended the Gunners’ performance.
By adapting his tactics in relation to the specific challenge and circumstances in front of him, Wenger had, somewhat uncharacteristically, adopted an approach that Mourinho himself has become famous for.
It was the first time in 14 attempts that Wenger had defeated his Portuguese counterpart, and the manner in which he did it will give Arsenal fans plenty of hope as their side prepares to take on the champions on Saturday afternoon.
One of the key reasons for the ongoing rift between the Premier League’s two foremost managerial stalwarts is that Wenger and Mourinho are very different characters who see the game in contrasting ways.
Mourinho, a pragmatist whose career has been defined by successful short-term stints at multiple different clubs, has never hid his disdain for Wenger, whose modest recent trophy haul and adherence to attacking, entertaining football is alien to the former Porto, Inter and Real Madrid boss.
While Arsenal remain one of the most attractive teams to watch in the Premier League, the evidence in the last year or so suggests that Wenger has become increasingly prepared to discard his principles in the quest for positive results.
The best example of the Frenchman’s slight shift in outlook came in the 2-0 win at Manchester City in January, when Arsenal ceded possession, kept things tight at the back and hit Manuel Pellegrini’s outfit on the counter-attack.
Broadly speaking, those were also the tactics employed in the Community Shield. Instead of holding possession in midfield for long spells, Arsenal looked to get the ball forward quickly to exploit Chelsea’s unbalanced shape when the ball had been turned over. The deployment of Theo Walcott up front ahead of Olivier Giroud facilitated such an approach, the England international’s blistering pace encouraging direct distribution.
The Gunners also showed a readiness to defend their lead late on by sitting deeper in the pitch and making life difficult for Chelsea. Last season’s title winners may have had 14 shots on the FA Cup holders’ goal, but only two of them were on target. Wenger and his charges successfully nullified Chelsea’s strengths, shackling Eden Hazard and Cesc Fabregas and cutting off their creative spark, before winning the game through their own quality.
It is interesting to compare Arsenal’s performance at Wembley to the one they put in against Chelsea in March 2014, when the Blues triumphed 6-0 and embarrassed Wenger in his 1000th game in charge of the north Londoners.
Although the early sending-off of Kieran Gibbs did not help Arsenal’s chances that afternoon, their tactics were not conducive to winning a big game away from home against a side as strong as Chelsea.
Arsenal were simply too bold and adventurous, unrealistically trying to impose their game on the Blues with little regard for first negating their opponent’s considerable gifts.
This was illustrated perfectly by the configuration of the midfield – Mikel Arteta tucked behind Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Santi Cazorla – which was full of neat passers of the ball but bereft of any naturally defensive-minded players.
In the Community Shield, conversely, Arsenal used a specialist holding midfielder in Francis Coquelin, who broke up play in front of the back four with little fuss and whose presence allowed full-backs Hector Bellerin and Nacho Monreal to push on and join the attack without having to worry about leaving huge gaps behind them.
Arsenal also had less possession last month (43.4 percent) than in the 6-0 defeat (47.1 percent), while their lower passing accuracy (75.6 percent vs 84.5 percent) demonstrates that they were willing to attempt more adventurous passes and put the ball at risk in order to attack Chelsea quickly.
Their new-found pragmatism could also be seen in an increase in fouls (12 vs 8) and the percentage of tackles won (81.8 percent vs 68.4 percent).
“We abandoned nothing,” Wenger insisted in response to Mourinho’s jibe that Arsenal had left their principles in the changing room. “We defended. Our game is based on togetherness, on solidarity, on defending well and attacking well.
“I don’t think that’s giving up your philosophy. It’s just a fact that in a game like that – we wanted to win – we behaved like that. I’m quite proud of that.” Arsenal fans will be hoping for more of the same at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.
0 comments:
Post a Comment