» The Gooner World

The introductory idea by paul

The idea just hit me recentlyI read about the Ajax team of the past playing Total FootballWhere every player can be an attacker and a defenderAnd watching Arsenal play now days,am i wrong to say that we r close to playing total football?When or full backs go forward our wingers go with them and our DM drops back into the void left behindWhen our DM goes forward our CM drops back to protect our back forwardWhen our CB goes forward,our DM becomes a CBWhen Adebayor drifts wide,Rosicky and Fabregas run into the middleOur team follows the principles of the long lost art of total footballWhat do u guys think?

Here are some follow ups -

....In my opinion we still havent reached the stage where we can say that yes arsenal does play total football all the time... I feel maybe by the end of this season if not the start of next season we may see arsenal playing total football....

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Yup, we are close to it. What I would like to see next season is more fluidity in the positions up front during the game. Lets look at our forwards. I will list some of the other positions they have been used in so far this season.Bendtner - can play on the left wing, in the hole, he can link up play very well Walcott- on the right wing (has to improve on the right)Eduardo - on the left wing(has to improve on the left)RVP - on the right wingAde is one who will always stay in an advanced position.lets look at some players in the middle of the parkHleb plays in the hole, can play, left or right wing,Rosicky as well can play the same positions as Hleb.Flamini - plays DM but like to go forward for suppport and can also slot in as LB.Diaby - left wing and CMDenilson - Cm and I think he did play on the left wing in CC last year?Diarra - can play in defence and midfield.Fab is one who normally stays central because he is more effective there. but if the team becomes more fluid, he definitely has the capabilities to drift into other positionsOur defenders all like to go forward. We have seen Kolo and Gallas rushing out of defense as well as Song, yes Song , remember his pass to Eduardo in CC?The reason I have pointed out the positions is, to me Arsene seems to be making a deliberate effort to get players accostumed to diffeent positions. At the moment, once they start in a particular position, they tend to stay in that position for a majority of the time and I would like them to be a lot more fluid during the game, They are certainly capable of it. Once they start doing that, it will be virtually impossible to keep them in check. Ofcourse a LOT of practice will be needed for them to achieve that. While playing that brand, it will be important to make sure we are still strong defensively. And ofcourse, retaining possession is key. So we will probably not see it this year, but if the team sticks together, we should be much more closer to total football in the next season or two. ......

........We dont play Total Football..We play Wengerball!! ..........

......I dont think we play total football at the moment.We are capable of it n i think that by the end of the season we will play total football.Arsenal have played TF before during the unbeaten season.With Pires,Henry,Ljunberg,Reyes,Viera,Cashley Cole etc all of them continously going forward n scoring goals.Each pass would always find its target n each shot would almost always end into the back of the net.This season we are playing entertaining football but some of the passes go stray n sometimes we overplay a bit outside the box n take time to breakdown defence.During the unbeaten season we would just tear open the defence with Pires' passes n Henry's blistering runs.I think with a bit more practice Arsenal can play total football. ...

....The Dutch were the first to play this kinda football. They almost won the world cup with it. Arsenal seem to use this style as you can see are defenders drift forward too. ..

.........Its about playing football they way it should be. When you first start kicking the ball around the last thing to worry about is maintaining your positions. Somewhere down the line Science takes over and you learn only one or two aspects. What happened at Ajax, Holland were something beautiful and something so simple. In a few days we'll see something similar happening at Ashburton Grove....


.........Ajax and Holland were the chief architects of Total Football, which had players constantly shifting positions to undermine the opponents tactics, making space.I have to admit that i haven't seen the videos of the "orginal" total football, but have read enough to understand what it is and its effect.Total football had players, shifting their positions between themselves and players popping up in positions which would affect opposition the most.Arsenal with their short passing game, have the full backs overlapping the wingers, forming triangles with the striker and the winger, centre-backs regularly chipping in with regular runs forward.(Remember Toure's forward run against Fulham which won us the penality, Gallas' involvement in the 1st goal against Wigan)We have our machine, Flamini who has shown more intrest than his DM predecessors in joining in the attack.As Kautuk mentioned, we need to be a bit more fluid. Esp. our centre forwards, sometimes i feel Bayo could do better by going front often to provide the tap-ins.But, thats what Arsenal have always missed...For total football, we need to be strong defensively, fitness wise, good at retaining back the ball to curb the counter. .......

........Total football can't be done by 1 player,its a team thingUnited don't even come closeIts done with the players on the pitchwhen goes out of position,there will always be someone to take his place...

..........If taking the forward or midfield case, United are close to doing that, Rooney goes on the left or right flank, Tevez also goes to the flank (as we saw in he everton match), while Ronaldo and Giggs take central positions!Only Evra really succeeds at going forward (atleast now, because Neville is injured), so there are three defenders at the back! (Nobody takes the position of Evra from the midfield, so the defence isnt capable of what you guys are talking about.)Hope you know what i'm talking about....

....Arsenal play entertaining football, total football doesn't matter if you ask me, because when you are watching an Arsenal match, you expect to be at the edge of your seat, amazed at how the players are accustomed to each other. Arsenal are Arsenal for a reason, and thus they are the best in the EPL, and the local team is a local team for a reason, think about it. ...

.....commentators have watched football total football ... have you ?? when did u even first hear the term?? we at the moment r playing total football... hleb flamini rosicky n fab interchanging positioneboue n sagna interchanging sagna n toure interchanging toyre n gallas.... cliche n rosicky.. ade n rvp .. ade with the mid field ... gallas going forward he scored against MANU .. tour going forward taking chances..... what more do u want what else do you call total football ... may be i lack the sense n the knowledge or either i watch different games than you... please define total football help me to understand the term as well....

..... Arsenal don't play Total football...

... For n00bs Watch -

1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cW20rH2AfA
2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5YLG57a2GE

Focus on player positioning and movement.........


......Nowhere close to this.The goalkeepers positioning was excellent in the Holland Uruguay match. If we didnt know better the rest were just running around the park...

...Yeah you are right.Remember, Arsene Wenger is the only manager that I've heard of saying that he has a responsibility for those people who come to enjoy the football paying for the tickets. Ever heard that from another manager before? That is why we play very entertaining football. ...

..We play the best football being played in this physical era but we are no where near this fantastic total football... * Were these guys wizards by the way ?? Awesome stuff...

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