From Norrie : Good teams are hierarchical, not democratic
Myles,
A couple of interesting points from your recent mails:
Yes, City are catchable, definitely; beatable, certainly.
But the question remains: by whom?
United\’s set-up is too open, Chelsea look vitiated, Liverpool too often look as if they fall between two styles, without the personnel – or conviction, come to that -to implement either fully or fluently enough.
Which leaves Arsenal and a segue to your second point: yes, Arsenal are more direct, and yes, RvP is now the main man but I imagine he would have been close to that primary status had he (had he!) stayed fit rather than averaging 16 games a season over his Arsenal career to date.
Cesc, as good as he was, was the main man by default because Vieira and Henry grew old, and Robin couldn\’t put a run together.
Perhaps Cesc would have attained that status regardless, but his throne and status was never challenged. At Barcelona, it is challenged every single day.
Arsenal more democratic? Probably. Does that make them a better team than last season? I don\’t think so.
Most teams operate as hierarchies; great ones as oligarchies.
Too equal and the mean becomes the mode.
Rather than a side that has moved closer to Cesc\’s and Nasri\’s quality, it has instead regressed to Gervinho\’s – collective and willing but flawed.
There has been a gradual decline in the calibre of signings since Vieira left, to the extent that it is difficult to recall a player better than the one he replaced.
The lack of outstanding players in this Arsenal side – and squad – has meant a more willing and, perhaps, less egoistical team, but while they wouldn\’t perhaps flake in the style of their recent predecessors at critical junctures, the suspicion remains that they are not quite good enough to reach those critical junctures in the first place.
Summation: this team won\’t bottle the league as they\’re not good enough to win it; but they\’ll fight all the way for fourth.
Myles says:
And people call me negative!
Seriously, thanks for an elegant and insightful overview. Your email is almost a poem.
Please compose further poem about Arsenal’s strong spine. Note that TV5 is better than Sol or Kolo.
You’re now on record in a tiny corner of a vast blogosphere.
You’re here to be shot at. Maybe.