You can't win the title with kids
By Nick Webster (Fox Soccer Channel)
Liverpool great Alan Hansen uttered that line after watching "Fergie Fledglings" open up the EPL campaign in 1995. Thirty-eight matches later he was choking on these words as the Red Devils pipped Newcastle for the title. It looks to me like Arsene Wenger is attempting the same approach with Arsenal: trying to win with kids. But unlike his great rival Sir Alex Ferguson, Wenger won't pull it off this season.
I'll admit that the outcome of the Community Shield is not exactly the greatest barometer for season success. In the past 13 Premier League terms the winner of the annual curtain-raiser has only gone on to lift the League crown twice (both times Manchester United). But the Gunners lack something that Chelsea don't, namely an "engine room".
In my humble opinion, "The Professor" sent out boys to do men's work.
Cesc Fabregas (18) and Mathieu Flamini (21) are both exceptional players but if they are the answer to the departure of Patrick Vieira then Wenger is already wearing the misty eyewear he reserves for referees. They were no match for Chelsea's Claude Makelele and a below-par-by-his-own-fantastic-standards Frank Lampard. Matches in the world's toughest league are won and lost in midfield and at the moment the Gunners don't have the physical presence to take that area by the scruff of the neck. With Newcastle's Jermaine Jenas supposedly available for fifteen million large ones though, that problem could be solved pronto.
Another area for concern is the center back Philippe Senderos (21), who is being groomed as the heir apparent to Sol Campbell. But a rampant Didier Drogba tossed around the young Swiss defender like a rag doll, something that would not happen to Campbell, who is an immovable object. Premiership teams will have taken note of this frailty and he can expect a torrid time in next week's opener against the master of all-out-warfare, Alan Shearer.
For anyone with the slightest of Inspector Clouseau-like powers, it is obvious that the spine of the Gunners is physically weak and ready for exploitation. Wenger will be hoping that Campbell can return before any lasting damage is done.
Don't get me wrong though, they will still be a match for most teams. I still think they are wonderful to watch but at the end of the day in professional football, it is not about the performance, it's about the results.
"The Special One", Jose Mourinho, understands this concept fully.
Chelsea was not the most attractive team in Cardiff. For many periods they didn't even bother playing football, more like long ball. But when you have the likes of Drogba, Arjen Robben (the only Blues player under 22), Damien Duff and Shaun Wright-Phillips flying up front, you play to your strengths.
That's what the Blues did in the opening phases of last term's campaign when they built wins around a rock-solid defense at the back. This time around they still have that defensive tenacity, which skipper John Terry epitomizes, but now this is superbly complimented by attacking players who are completely comfortable in the system Mourinho has created.
Drogba's 57th minute contribution fully deserved the man-of-the-match award and if he can continue to play with similar flair and passion, the US$48 million Mourinho paid Marseille last year looks like money well spent. Drogba is just so strong and for a big lad he's got a nice touch. My only complaint is the flopping around after Lauren had given him a tap. If you're going to dish it out, you better be prepared to take it.
I'm sure the Gunners, along with the rest of the Premier League, don't want to hear this but I don't think Chelsea even moved out of second gear at the Millennium Stadium. They looked in complete control throughout, even when Arsenal starting playing their brand of free-flowing football. When the Blues step it up and go through the gears, it is going to take a very special performance to stop them.
Mourinho has a squad full of quality players who have the experience to waltz away with the championship. He knows that "you can't win titles with kids". That is a thing of the past, just ask Alan Hansen.
Until then, get the beers in...
