We have heard it before and now we're hearing it again. It has become all too predictable now. Arsene Wenger once again has begun his moaning on the eve of a clash with a bottom half premiership team.
Earlier this week Wenger made several comments about Stoke's performance against Tottenham last weekend, criticizing Tony Pulis' team by comparing their approach to that of a rugby match.
"I saw some pictures last Sunday; you cannot say any more it is football, it is rugby on the goalkeepers [more] than football.
"The referees cannot go on and accept that.
"When you see how [Stoke defender Ryan] Shawcross kicked [Tottenham goalkeeper Heurelho] Gomes, how [Robert] Huth pushed Gomes in the goal, you cannot say that is football any more.
"If the referees allow that you cannot accept that because that has nothing to do with the game.
Wenger's bellyaching is in light of the fact that Arsenal will be traveling to Ewood Park to face Sam Allardyce's Rovers this weekend. If we can recall, the last time Arsenal went to Ewood Park they were beaten 2-1 after Blackburn scored both their goals from corners by crowding the goalkeeper. Rovers boss Allardyce admitted his team had targeted Fabianski but insisted that they did so within the rules.
"We know that the weakness for Arsenal is balls in the box and we did that positively," said Allardyce.
"We have seen that under pressure Fabianski's handling is sometimes suspect.
"We felt that the more balls we put in, the deeper Arsenal would go and the more bodies Fabianski would then have to go through."
Well kudos to Big Sam for spotting his opponent's weakness and exploting it. It is also interesting to note that last season Blackburn lost only three times in the league last season in front of their own supporters and were undefeated againts teams such as Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool who all dropped points at Ewood Park. The difference however is that we have not heard any other manager complaing about the "anti-football" tactics of Blackburn or by any other premier league team.
It is an undeniable fact that Blackburn will probably never be able to outplay the likes of Arsenal by playing free flowing possession football, as they do not have players that are as technically gifted. Therefore managers will obviously try new ways of countering their opponents' technical prowess (within the laws of the game). Football tactics have been evolving over the years which has resulted in the sport moving from a very attacking sport to a more defensive one. This evolution however, has not resulted in the quality of the sport being diminished, but has in fact made it more competitive.
For me this is a part of what makes football the beautiful game; not to say that the tactics devised by teams like Stoke and Blackburn are beautiful, as personally i am not a fan of it, but it is the fact that we are seeing these smaller teams recording upsets against the heavyweights, like we witnessed Blackburn pull off against the traditional top four in the premiership last season.
Wenger should continue to focus on correcting his team's defensive frailties and sign a stable goalkeeper who will perform consistently week in week out. Until then he can have only himself to blame for Arsenal's continued under performance.
This upcoming match promises to be very interesting.
