As if we needed further evidence that Gary Neville is one of football’s most compelling voices, it came when he told Sky viewers last night that Arsene Wenger had verged on ‘’arrogance’’ in (to paraphrase) buying the same player over and over again and expecting to win the Premier League with a team light on enforcers.
Everyone knew what Neville meant. Never mind Patrick Vieira; just about every time I watch Arsenal, I see a hole where Gilberto Silva used to be - although to watch Francis Coquelin striving to fill it all by himself, as was the familiar case during the scoreless match with Liverpool at the Emirates, is to be consumed by admiration for the relatively inexperienced Frenchman.
Arsenal vs Liverpool - player ratings
But is it arrogance for Wenger to try to rule with a side lacking the balance of, say, Manchester United in Neville’s best days, or Chelsea now, or his own Arsenal as they used to be – or is it principle? I’d say a bit of both. And a good point was also made by Thierry Henry when he implied that Wenger had been dazzled by the brilliance of Cesc Fabregas into believing he could build a purist team that would be the best.
Build a Barcelona, indeed. But Fabregas went to the real Barcelona, where, as Henry would tell you from exhausting experience, enforcing is a requirement that must be fulfilled not only by the midfield presence, whether he be Sergio Busquets or, in previous years, Yaya Toure or Rafael Marquez, but just about every other player, including attackers.
That’s the key to Barcelona’s success with a purist game: hard work. And Arsenal proved it last night. When, in the first half, they performed in the effete image of Mesut Ozil, Liverpool were the superior side. When, thereafter, Wenger’s men might have been taking their cue from the defiant Coquelin, it was the other way round. Whatever your principles, football can be as uncomplicated as that.
