Not quite

By Boris Mellor
July 8 2014

When Holland beat Spain 5-1 in the opening stages of the World Cup it was not a blip, it was a sea change, the end of tikka takka, and for many of us it was a relief.

It wasn’t a one off for several reasons, firstly Spain went out at the group stage, unthinkable a few months ago.

Secondly the kind of football that has dominated the tournament has been very much about counterattacking. Many of the goals have been scored at the end of brilliant counter attacks.

Of course tikka takka didn’t just die because of one good performance by Holland, the Spanish method was dependent on the players of Barcelona; a team that has peaked and is now in flux. Maybe some of the players involved are just getting too old, whatever the reason it is dead at this level.

Neither are the victorious teams just dependent on counter attacking, they are muscular, good at defending, pushing up when necessary, and dropping back when needed. Goal keepers are far more mobile and dominate their area.

The best ones, like Navas don’t depend on their backs to protect their air space, they are first to the ball. Meanwhile managers are super active coaching and directing from the touchline. Prowling the technical areas like tigers and then breaking into imitations of a traffic policeman.

The midfields shield the defence as a block, team work is supreme, the individual is secondary. Neymar’s and RvP’s are substituted at any stage of the game, not the last ten minutes.

There is a lot more to be said but I haven’t time to write it, plus my concern is Arsenal, will this have any effect in North London?

Of course it would be easy to laugh it all off, the World Cup is the Haute Couture of football, it is just the icing on the cake not the day to day grind of the premiership. After all Haute Couture is the preserve of the minority rich who can afford it. True but not the whole story, as Haute Couture is copied further down the chain, for example the highly successful ASOS internet clothes retailer copies and sell clothes of the stars at an affordable price.

A few years back when Greece won the European Championship, with the most sterile, but effective, brand of football ever, the style was copied by many teams in the premiership. Arsenal was developing tikka takka, the rest were developing anti-football a la Grec.

So there is a good chance World Cup styles will find their way to this little island that is now finally equal to Spain and Italy in the football world and not happy about it. Clearly Louis van Gaal will bring his style to the Premiership. Will his squad be good enough? That may not be the main issue, Holland has many water carriers amongst its stars. And he is not afraid to sub his stars, there is no deference to seniority.

Arsenal also have Pellegrini and his City team to contend with, and all of the Gunner’s rivals (Chelsea, Man U, Liverpool, Man City have bought quality players). Of course Arsenal have not been allowed to buy during the World Cup, a rule we must campaign against, but jesting apart we must hope that Arsenal do buy quality players. Sanchez would be a good addition but we will have to wait and see.

But quality players are not enough, they must be prepared to work hard and realise the team is more important than the individual. The managerial style will need to be more pro-active, only getting up now and then to adjust the zip on a coat will not be enough. Substitutions cannot just be made on 75 minutes.

This coming season may be one of the toughest yet for the winning of the Wenger Trophy, crab football (tikka takka lite) won’t cut it. Arsenal are at their best when counterattacking, which they do well when Theo, Ramsey and the Ox are playing, when they are not it becomes ponderous. Yes they were injured, but pace must be replaced with pace.

The day of mainly midgets has passed, the squad and not just the team needs to more muscular and more pacy. These are some of the lessons of the World Cup, ignore them at your peril.