Mikel Pulis is ‘more like David Moyes’ than Pep Guardiola, while Tottenham Hotspur are at risk of copying Erik ten Hag’s Manchester United.
Send your thoughts to theeditor@football365.com…
Mikel Pulis
It’s quite amusing to see Arsenal fans defending their Stoke-ish tactics because for years under Wenger they complained non stop about teams doing this against them.
For the record, I don’t like that style of football and would never choose to watch it but it’s a perfectly valid form of football. As is Jose style non stop time wasting, diving and fouling. As is Pep’s endless passing. As is Klopp’s ‘heavy metal footy’. They’re all valid tactics.
This Stoke ball at Arsenal isn’t a new criticism, I’ve been referring to Mikel for a while now as Paelladyce (which annoyed Arsenal fans a couple of seasons ago when I posted it here) because every time I watched Arsenal play (usually against top 6 opponents) the tactics was to be compact, physical and smash long balls for Martinelli and Saka to sprint onto. Again it’s a valid way of playing, I just hate watching it.
If Liverpool played that way I wouldn’t watch them either. It’s the football equivalent of clinching to tire out a smaller opponent in boxing. Does it work? Of course. Is it fun? Not in the slightest. I have watched Arsenal against ‘lesser’ opposition. And they’re more open against them. It’s often pointed out that Arteta is a disciple of Pep but honestly, I don’t see much of Pep in Arteta tactics. He is much more like David Moyes at Everton for me and I think the time he spent under Moyes has probably influenced him more than anything else. Which is why he kind of has a small club mentality in big games and swaps to a safety first, nick a win on set pieces approach.
I’ll repeat again that there is nothing wrong with how he plays. It’s a valid tactic, it gets him top four consistently and some wins against top opposition. I just don’t enjoy watching it, and it seems neither do many others.
Lee
READ: Arsenal supporters seethe at Stoke comparison and slam ‘bitter little man’ Neville for ‘disrespect’
It’s only wrong when Arsenal do it…
All this debate about Arsenal being Stoke FC or set piece merchants got me thinking about one of the best sports movies ever made ‘Any Given Sunday.’ Especially the iconic Al Pacino speech before the final game, which to me is one of the greatest monologues in cinema in my opinion. Where Pacino states that football (American football here but the metaphor applies) like life is a game of inches and these inches needed are everywhere around us. The team that is willing to fight for that inch is the one that will make the difference between winning and losing. The inches in this case are set pieces which are an oft-ignored aspect of the game, which Mikel has focused upon to maximise his team’s chances of winning.
As you can do all the prep, planning and training in the world but just have the team not click on certain days. It just happens, its one of those things in football. Every fan has seen their team play and think their team could play till the cows come home and not score from open play. On those days and having an additional threat something that could give you another inch or two in the game is what could make all the difference in the world.
For years Arsenal had a tag of being easy to be bullied, boys against men. I remember when we would play Stoke and how we’d be scared shitless at their throw ins and corners and every time Wenger complained he was told to pipe down. Now that the tables have turned, the media and opposition can’t handle that Arsenal have shed the weak underbelly tag and have an army of tall but technical players unafraid to mix it up and fight.
Also just to give context we’ve scored 25% of our league goals via set pieces, do you know who tops that list? It was the other team at the Emirates, yep United have scored 29% of their total goals in the league via set play. But I guess we won’t talk about that as its just a mid table club doing mid table club thing, being plucky and nicking set piece goals. Maybe it would be better to focus on the fact that without set pieces United generated just 0.03xG all game and never looked like scoring. But why shine a mirror on ones own failings when its easier to ridicule the opposition and delude yourself into believing that you were totally in the game without the set pieces.
Ronnie (Corners goals are clearly a lesser form of goal scoring and should be awarded as just 0.5 a real goal..)
MORE ARSENAL COVERAGE ON F365…
👉 Arsenal: Arteta responds to Berbatov’s ‘new Stoke’ jibe after Man Utd win – ‘I understood very well’
👉 Arsenal ‘very close to signing’ Barcelona starlet as Arteta ‘convinces family’ to move
👉 Neville reveals ‘controversial opinion’ about Arsenal midfielder Jorginho in Man Utd win
Well done Arsenal
I would like to congratulate Arsenal fans. Developing a coterie of increasingly unhinged haters is a sure mark of success. If it wasn’t Jover (a man so notorious I had no idea who he was till this week) it would be Arteta’s hair, or Gunnersaurus somehow disrespecting the troops or something.
No one in football will love you for your success. Treasure the hatred, it’s so much more enlivening than gentle pity or apathy.
Dan, Jurgen Klopp’s plastic teeth LFC
David Raya
After listening and reading comments about Arsenal being compared to Stoke it is total nonsense. Arsenal mix their talent with open play and set pieces. Basically if a team cant keep out Arsenal’s corners they’re talentless in defence.
One of my favourite topics is Raya’s all round ability in goal. We all loved Ramsdale but he couldn’t stay focused whereas Raya can. He is superb at catching , passing and saving. The save against ManYoo at 1:0 was match winning. Unbelievably we still have fans who wont accept him and even blamed him for two unstoppable goals by West Ham.
Chris, Croydon
How is Ange Postecoglou still in a job?
Honest question: how is Ange Postecoglou still in a job? Each time I hear him post-match he says the same tired things (usually following draws that feel like losses or losses that feel like colonoscopies). Tottenham appear a team of few flash moments in a season of overarching regression, with the highlights a pair of lopsided victories over two Manchester sides that, with closer scrutiny, are explained away more by the prevailing context around those two clubs at the time than of Spurs’ inherent quality.
The Neanderthal-like gruffness and strange aversion to eye contact don’t endear. They also don’t mask the fact that months on from soundbites revealing voluntary neglect training for set-pieces, his side still concedes from them with regularity. His tactics are one-note and devoid of nuance; it’s blind aggression with no awareness for rest defence whilst in possession, and little shape or sturdiness out of. Bournemouth probably should’ve hung four on that rabble.
If they do deliver 2nd-season silverware prophesized with such tact and definitely no pomposity, it’ll be akin to Ten Hag’s FA Cup win last summer… one rung up on the ladder to nowhere.
Eric, Los Angeles CA (Another question: is James Maddison captain material? Reminds me of that annoying bit of loose, unglued glitter on a cheap party hat.)
READ: Postecoglou reaches familiar Spurs manager endgame as Angeball drifts towards despair
#LevyOut
After 25 YEARS of this owner, including the last manager telling the fans exactly why the club is a disaster and never wins anything, can we finally unite behind getting Levy to sell our club please?
And for anyone saying ‘Oh but look at the stadium’ – this has just meant we pay double for tickets and where the extra revenue streams make the football less of a priority.
Sick of it.
Dave (#LEVYOUT), Winchester Spurs
MORE SPURS COVERAGE ON F365…
👉 Postecoglou, Klopp and Arteta among ten Premier League managers we misjudged last season
👉 Tottenham: Levy’s fresh Postecoglou sack stance surfaces after ‘really disappointing’ Bournemouth loss
👉 Merson predicts statement Chelsea win at Tottenham as Postecoglou pressure piles up
It’s ACTUALLY great being a Spurs fan
We have a squad with a lot of fun players – our sweetheart of a captain, Son, mercurial creators in Maddison and Kulusevski, emerging youngsters like Van de Ven and Sarr, and unpredictability from Romero and Vicario which even the neutrals can appreciate.
Our stadium is magnificent. Every time I visit I’m inspired to take photos – it’s stunning, inside and out, and with the crowd in full voice it’s a spine tingling place to be.
Our legends include some of the best of all time – Gascoigne, Blanchflower, Hoddle, Bale, Kane. And I have wonderful memories of players like Dawson, Anderton, Dele and Vertonghen – players who will always be revered among Spurs fans, who are the funniest and most levelheaded fans I know (mostly).
And despite all his many flaws, we have a chairman who’s put us on a very solid basis, financially. I’m old enough to remember the very real possibility of Spurs being relegated due to financial woes in the early 1990s, so I’m grateful that there’s seemingly no prospect of that again.
It’s just such a shame the referee has to blow his whistle and spoil it all…
Michael C
Sam Morsy will be proved right…
Just a quick one to explain what I meant when I said ‘history will prove Morsy right’. In the not too distant future there won’t be any kneeling, rainbow laces, OneLove campaigns or any other virtue signalling, but completely pointless woke campaigns, in football. And the reason why: these campaigns are pointless and divisive in our multi-cultural society. In that sense, Morsy will be proved right. Even the poppy might succumb!
G Thomas, The Netherlands
Newcastle vs Liverpool reflections…
Peacock’s (markedly Liverpool-philic) replay commentary more or less started with the observation that only Liverpool had surrendered fewer points from winning positions than Newcastle. It’s notable that both teams lost points from winning positions in this match.
Mo Salah was just magnificent. What a player, and he’s gutted me far too many times. (Get thee to Riyadh!) But that only makes me prouder of my club’s performance.
Lewis Hall didn’t play any part in Salah’s goals; his worst moment was allowing Salah the space to assist Jones’ equalizer. Still, he regularly beat Salah in duels. He made a really astute run just before Tonali’s early chance, and never seemed to let off from that start. He played Isak through for an early chance, then carved one out for himself with another run. He wasn’t the best player on the pitch (Salah, Isak, Guimaraes/Tonali) but I’m really pleased with the lad. I initially suspected that his transfer was a failure of policy on NUFC’s part, but he’s been quite good this season. Even better than Livramento, if you ask me, and maybe worth his fee, which seems to have quietly crept up to 33 million pounds. Didn’t it start at 25?
More briefly: Pope deserves a lot of credit for a sharp performance, and that Fabien Schar goal gets better with every view. Jacob Murphy could have had a hat trick, the poor bastard.
I really hope that VVD shoulder to Gordon’s face wasn’t intentional; it would have drawn a suspension in the NHL. Extra time was the first time I’ve really seen Arne Slot looking a c*nt during a match, though that’s more or less an EPL tradition amongst winners, and he was gracious enough after.
It was not a great performance by the referee, in my opinion. Madley made wrong calls in our favor almost as often as he did to our disadvantage.