I think part of my opinion is how a team plays according to their coached system, and on the whole Tottenham has, to me, looked more convincing in their statement wins than Arsenal. I'm not a fan of the counterattack approach but they can pull it off. If Arsenal closes out the season with 2 wins, I'll happily retract my statement.
Yeah, but that's a bit of a different take to what I was responding to --- or at least to what I understood I was responding to. That is, there are really only two players in Spudz current squad I would definitely take to start in our first XI: the mouth breather and the divey-smiley-but-I-cry-when-I-snap-a-guy's-ankle-so-I-get-my-ban-reduced cheat.
i feel like arteta overrates cedric's defensive solidity versus tavares' defensive frailty. i'm not saying tavares is a finished product or that he doesn't have suspect moments but, while cedric does have some smart/wily defensive moments, i feel like he has just as many shitshow/suspect moments. but without tavares' running, offensive threat, or physicality.
in line with what you said, it is possible that i'm remembering incorrectly or just biased but i feel like some of mourinhos' side at chelsea was just 8 in the bus and the 3 insane attackers making something happen out of nothing?
i feel like 3 in the back with saka at 1 wingback would have been the better call. drag them out of counter attacking and force them onto the front foot.
I think Essien was really really good. He made Mourinho's "quick transitions" tactic work. Makalele was also brilliant, but, yeah, part of the bus for Mourinho.
essien was so good. he's the one player from rival clubs that i've always wanted with us. not to say that others (say, drogba) aren't amazing but he's just the one dude i would have loved to have with us.
Not really Jose brought aggressive transitional play to the EPL I remember big games against them one of the problems was our midfield 2 was always over worked
He was only there for the second title? IIRC in that first campaign gudjonssen played in midfield? Top player pre injury
i don't know if it's just bad recollection but i can remember him being a thorn in the midfield and more than once from right-back. so damn good. i remember seeing flashes of really good plays from him.
maybe my bias then. i don't know why it always felt like he parked the bus against us and it felt like it always worked.
You are remembering that they played a low/medium block as a transitional/countering side - but very aggressive on both sides of the ball. This all took place before the Guardiola revolution. Wenger and SAF had been routinely owned in Europe playing their naive 4-4-2 dual winger systems, including of course, by the Deco/Maniche Porto team which humiliated Utd. Jose bought this European style to the EPL for the first time. A powerful 3 man midfield, super compact. When a team like Arsenal committed numbers forward, they'd actually struggle to maintain possession as they'd be outnumbered in each key area of the pitch and especially the playmakers would have no time/space Utd also abandoned 4-4-2 in the Fergozzzzzz area - remember rooney at left wing? Utd booed at OT for not playing 4-4-2 with double wingers? A betrayal of Utd's attacking principles? EPL football was different back then. This is what lead to Guardiola's approach to systemic possession. Trying to attack via one playmaker in the face of intense defensive pressure was just too hard. Guardiola created a system that his creative players could use to probe a defense, but also protect themselves against counters.