Just Like Watching Barcelona

Watching Arsenal beat Tottenham yesterday, not much use having a stronger bench Harry if the eleven you put out are crap, it struck me how similar they are in style to Barcelona and how close they are to becoming a serious challenger for the Premiership.

What Arsenal do, along with Barcelona and Manchester United, is ignore the opposition's strengths and play to their own strengths. Remember the quote from Kanu about Arsene Wenger saying, "Forget about your weaknesses and concentrate on your strengths," well that's they way they play. The sign of a good side is the attitude of the players when they don't have the ball, the great Liverpool side of the 1980's had Kenny Dalglish and Ian Rush closing down the opposition, the change that Thierry Henry noticed when Pep Guardiola took over at Barca was that he was expected to close the opposition down twenty yards further up the filed than under Frank Rijkaard - Arsenal's front three players: Van Persie, Arshavin and one other, close down the opposition quickly.

The other thing about Arsenal's players is the way and when they pass the ball. Inferior players often pass the ball because they have run out of ideas and don't want the responsibility, Arsenal players hold onto the ball for just as long as it takes for a team mate to get in a better position. It would be churlish to criticise a team that is averaging three goals in every home game but you do still feel that Arsenal are cruising in third gear at the moment, the one weakness (as is the case with Barcelona) is that they find some games too easy - the difference against Spuds was that local pride (even for a team without a single Englishman in it) wouldn't allow them to take their collective feet off the pedal.

Chelsea are all about power and strength with little finesse (apart from Joe Cole) but Arsenal play the game the way we all want it to be played, it's a pity their squad lacks the depth of their two main title rivals because otherwise they would be real contenders. If there is any soul left in the 'beautiful game' then Arsenal would win something this year, I just sense they will be bullied out of it somewhere between now and the prize giving ceremonies in May.

Whilst Arsenal play like Barcelona the Catalan side are playing like a team struggling to kill off games. Watching the game against Osasuna you just knew that having wasted the proverbial 'hatful' of chances Barca weren't going to leave Pamplona with all three points. The fact that the person who was ultimately responsible for making the crucial mistake was Rafael Marquez wasn't a surprise either, Marquez return from injury has restricted his appearances this season to five games and in three of those games he has been responsible for an error leading to the opposition scoring and either saving the game or, in the case of the Champions League match against Rubin, leading to defeat. Still things could be worse, you could be a Real Madrid supporter or even a West Ham one!

Received wisdom has it that the two most overrated players in the short history of the Premiership are Alan Smith and David Bentley well I think that Ashley Young of Aston Villa could well join that duo. I haven't seen a player explode into the Premiership with such a blaze of expectation since Joe Cole the problem with Young is that since that initial excitement he has gone rapidly downhill. He could do worse and look across the pitch to the opposite wing where James Milner lurks, Milner is a player who has taken, in my view, very limited talent and combined it with a work ethic that finds himself listed as a possible for South Africa 2010.