Slipperduke
The Camden Cad
I covered this game last night, and if you didn't see it then congratulations. It was truly awful and a shocking example of the way the game has gone in the top flight. Here's the report, have a read and be thankful that Southend aren't in the Premier League!
"What do you do with a problem called Arsenal? It's a conundrum that's been foxing football managers since Arsene Wenger arrived in the country. The answer, according to Steve Coppell, is to draw an imaginary line just in front of your own penalty area and, come Hleb or high water, keep as many players behind it as you can.
It's difficult to criticise Reading for their tactics because it's difficult to see what choice they had. Was it really worth coming out to play and risking a sound beating? When a football team is battling to stay out of the relegation zone, success depends on confidence. Ask Wigan and Derby how confident they're feeling after shipping nine goals between them this weekend.
Besides which, Reading sat deep and absorbed Manchester United for 90 minutes back in August, so why shouldn't they try the same here?
Well, because firstly when you play so deep that it would make Jacques Cousteau's ears pop it doesn't make for good entertainment and I truly pity the thousands of supporters who paid at least SG$100 to sit in the freezing cold and watch this. And secondly, of course, if it doesn't work, you get a sound beating anyway. Reading fans must be wondering if Premier League football is really worth it, if they have to sit through much more of this dirge.
For every game I cover for The New Paper, I have a spiral bound note pad on which I write every single incident of note and every possible talking point that I can use for the final feature. I get through a lot of notepads. Moments before the half-time whistle of this encounter I had two solitary lines of text and some nice doodles of spaceships.
Matthieu Flamini's opening goal finally forced me to do something constructive with my biro. It was the Frenchman's first strike in almost a year and he seemed rather pleased about it. Those neutrals who made the mistake of watching this game would not have shared his joy, as the scruffy toe-poke effectively ended this game as a contest.
At one point in the second half, Arsenal strung almost two minutes worth of consecutive passes together without advancing more than a couple of yards. They kept passing the ball square and Reading kept all of their players behind that imaginary line. It could have gone on all night and I am forever indebted to Kolo Toure for picking up the ball 40 yards out and going on a pointless loping run towards the goal
When, with just over ten minutes left, Hleb ambled into the penalty area and took the ball around Marcus Hahnemann at walking pace, it became officially 'embarrassing to watch'.
You can't blame Reading too much for their tactics as their entire existence is dependent on survival in the top flight. The financial abyss of relegation would obviously mean that this squad would be stripped apart and sold piece by piece. But it would also mean the demise of some of the unseen figures behind the club, the ticket sellers, the press officers, the ground staff, all of whom inevitably lose their jobs when a Premier League side is dumped out of the big time.
But at some point, someone is going to realise that there have been too many non-contests this season. Too many packed midfields and deep lying defenders. Too many fans paying too much money to watch too much dross. Arsenal were the winners here, but ultimately, if the cost of relegation remains so high that it prohibits the playing of the game itself, football as a whole will be the loser. "
"What do you do with a problem called Arsenal? It's a conundrum that's been foxing football managers since Arsene Wenger arrived in the country. The answer, according to Steve Coppell, is to draw an imaginary line just in front of your own penalty area and, come Hleb or high water, keep as many players behind it as you can.
It's difficult to criticise Reading for their tactics because it's difficult to see what choice they had. Was it really worth coming out to play and risking a sound beating? When a football team is battling to stay out of the relegation zone, success depends on confidence. Ask Wigan and Derby how confident they're feeling after shipping nine goals between them this weekend.
Besides which, Reading sat deep and absorbed Manchester United for 90 minutes back in August, so why shouldn't they try the same here?
Well, because firstly when you play so deep that it would make Jacques Cousteau's ears pop it doesn't make for good entertainment and I truly pity the thousands of supporters who paid at least SG$100 to sit in the freezing cold and watch this. And secondly, of course, if it doesn't work, you get a sound beating anyway. Reading fans must be wondering if Premier League football is really worth it, if they have to sit through much more of this dirge.
For every game I cover for The New Paper, I have a spiral bound note pad on which I write every single incident of note and every possible talking point that I can use for the final feature. I get through a lot of notepads. Moments before the half-time whistle of this encounter I had two solitary lines of text and some nice doodles of spaceships.
Matthieu Flamini's opening goal finally forced me to do something constructive with my biro. It was the Frenchman's first strike in almost a year and he seemed rather pleased about it. Those neutrals who made the mistake of watching this game would not have shared his joy, as the scruffy toe-poke effectively ended this game as a contest.
At one point in the second half, Arsenal strung almost two minutes worth of consecutive passes together without advancing more than a couple of yards. They kept passing the ball square and Reading kept all of their players behind that imaginary line. It could have gone on all night and I am forever indebted to Kolo Toure for picking up the ball 40 yards out and going on a pointless loping run towards the goal
When, with just over ten minutes left, Hleb ambled into the penalty area and took the ball around Marcus Hahnemann at walking pace, it became officially 'embarrassing to watch'.
You can't blame Reading too much for their tactics as their entire existence is dependent on survival in the top flight. The financial abyss of relegation would obviously mean that this squad would be stripped apart and sold piece by piece. But it would also mean the demise of some of the unseen figures behind the club, the ticket sellers, the press officers, the ground staff, all of whom inevitably lose their jobs when a Premier League side is dumped out of the big time.
But at some point, someone is going to realise that there have been too many non-contests this season. Too many packed midfields and deep lying defenders. Too many fans paying too much money to watch too much dross. Arsenal were the winners here, but ultimately, if the cost of relegation remains so high that it prohibits the playing of the game itself, football as a whole will be the loser. "
