Safety First - Preventing Goals or Scoring Them?
SSI is delighted to see knowledgeable EPL commentary, one of which goes,
My gut feeling is that once again, Arsenal don't have the stomach for the fight and are too prone to defensive lapses. Man Utd, on the other hand, regularly win games in the last 10 minutes, precisely because they never believe they're beaten.
Without a doubt, Man U's and Chelsea's previous championships lead to a self-confidence that cannot be obtained any other way.
That's true of any team, in any sport. A team that hasn't yet won, has to find a way to climb a hill that doesn't exist for those who have already claimed the championships. :cpoints:
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That Arsenal are weak in the penalty box is a given, and Wenger's refusal to pony up the cash continues to drive me batty.
What did he offer for Schwarzer, 4 million or somesuch, received a counter of 6 million or somesuch ... and passed on that?
I honestly wonder whether Wenger doesn't have a % of profits under the table or something.
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That said, Americans continue to puzzle over the English safety-first mentality. A manager who spends his $$ up front, who creates a spectactular goal-scoring machine at any cost to the back four, seems to annoy the English fan. The contempt drips for a team that "fails to keep its clean sheets," even if it is winning 4-1.
In America, it is more like Brasil: we don't mind winning a shootout. Sometimes that means spending for a scorer rather than a stopper.
Must be said that the safety-first culture isn't working out so well in the World Cups. ;- ) I daresay that England's football siege mentality is not proving itself internationally. Does Barca keep 11 men behind the ball?
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To be sure, Drogba, and Rooney/Berbatov, are all too ready to lunge into a counterattack. But the point is that some fans want Torres added only after John Terry and Petr Cech are already firmly embedded in the team's fabric.
Chelsea and Man U both have goalkeepers who count among the greatest who ever lived, albeit both of them on the downside of their careers. The emotional security offered by having a Cech or van der Sar in the net? That's the English way.
Fascinating that Arsene Wenger, managing Arsenal, simply doesn't emphasise the same emotional tone. But then, does Brasil's national team?
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