El Genio de Oviedo wrote:
When teams withdraw into a shell to defend a 1-0 is actually terrible tactics by the way, and is a tactic that Wenger has increasingly used in recent years. I distinctly remember him throwing on Carl fucking Jenkinson to play as right wingback to hold onto a result against Spurs in the last ten minutes. The best way to play is to retain possession of the ball without sending too many players forward. That way you continue dictating the play while maintaining proper defensive positioning.
With respect Genio, thats not what I said and I fundamentally disagree with you about possession being the best way to dictate a game.
Have a look at Irish Gunners graphic stat in the Leicester wins the league thread......
Withdrawing into a shell is something teams do to when they desperately want to just hang on for a short time- I'm talking about attacking from a defensive position, of luring the opposition to overcommit in search of a goal and thereby leaving space that wouldn't be available if you retain possession and they themselves were wary of conceding.
This is of course not what Wengers team does, it is not constructed to allow the opposition the ball the time and enough rope to hang themselves, when we try to defend a lead we more often than not end up losing it or even lose the game.
Needless to say there are reasons why Real Madrid can't play like that but they are political/ideological rather than pragmatic, I maintain that it would have been a very effective tactic in their position.
But there is no reason why we can't adopt this style of play and I hope to see it again one day at Arsenal.
