Arsene Wenger may have seen natural talent in the prodigious young left back, but Gael Clichy should start proving his worth or else the Gunners faithful will turn on him like they turned on Emmanuel Adebayor.
Losses to both Manchester United and Chelsea in successive matches has the citizens of Islington panicking about Arsenal’s title chances. Several weeks ago Wenger’s boys looked title bound, leading the league table from two promising displays versus Bolton. Today Arsenal’s title hopes hang by a thread; the tail end of a rope which has placed Chelsea and Manchester United in a class of their own at the top of the table for the past three seasons.
A large portion of the blame falls on the injuries, man marking, and an offense that lacks height. But the stand out weak link of the squad has been Clichy.
The former Cannes defender was assigned the duty of defending Nani in the United match on the 31st of January. Nani turned Clichy inside out, which led to the young Portuguese winger’s immensely significant goal. One week later Clichy found himself in a similar position, getting schooled by Drogba’s fancy footwork on a counterattack. Clichy, dumbfounded, should have been taking notes as the Ivorian smashed in the second goal. Pending fans take a closer look at recent defensive openings, Clichy might want to invest in a benchwarmer.
Overall the 24 year-old has played Wenger’s game: possession play. Arsenal have played brilliantly as Wenger has reiterated, yet Carlo Ancelotti and Michael Ballack overrule the Frenchman’s philosophies with practicality. “[Wenger] always says things like this when he loses to find an excuse but football is not possession of the ball and playing a nice pass, football is about winning games and that is what Manchester United showed when they played them and what we did.” Ballack commented after claiming a 2-0 victory at Stamford Bridge.
Now that fans and neutrals alike agree Arsenal are out of contingency for the title, the blame is falling on Arsenal’s playing style. A gunner has not been red carded in over a year, and there recent performances prove that possesion and beautiful passing does not win football matches, scoring does.
Clichy’s role has been strong where the critics are harshest. He plays the ball up and down his flank well, completing far more passes than Evra in the United match, and hardly missing a target in his passing play. Clichy completed twice as many passes in the 2-0 loss to Chelsea, tallying a total of 50, in comparison to a mere 26 in Arsenal’s last victory over Chelsea in 2008. If pundits choose to criticize Arsenal’s style of play, he cannot be at fault for this mid season massacre.
However, if critics were to accept Arsenal’s style and find the one weak link that caused the chain to snap-Clichy is a likely candidate. The player who Allows Nani and Drogba to flick a ball past you (while not uncommon due to Nani and Drogba’s world class talent) is the player who fails to meet defensive standards of a squad that are trained to disallow there opponents time and space.
The French full back should, at the very least null any attack from the right forward or right winger, let alone press forward for his own teams attack. But Clichy fails to do both, allowing Chelsea and Manchester United forwards to trample him and failing to complete any crosses from a wide position. With no Bendtner, Eduardo, or Van Persie to head home his crosses, Clichy’s role in the squad seems impotent.
If the Professor is still building a young team that needs time to mature, he may want to choose a left back that has the potential to intercept top class opponents rather than Clichy, who used to appear to have the potential. Understudy of London’s best left back for the past 5 years, Clichy took over Cole’s abandoned role with much promise, youthful enthusiasm, and without a stitch of greed (something his mentor could not downturn).
A very long sideline spell may have done the worst to Clichy, who now plays as if he is any other 24 year old defender. He follows the managers tactics but does nothing more.
It’s not every day a manager gets to hand pick his squad from all of Europe’s young talent pool, unless of course you are Arsene Wenger. Just as he sat down with Clichy’s parents in Toulouse, the Professor will need to sit down with another set of cautious parents and convince them that their son will be the next great Arsenal star.
