a écrit le 18 septembre 2010 à 0h12 That’s what I like about Song, he isn’t going to jeopardize the defense for the offense, and that’s really, really important to retain that mentality as the defensive midfielder, but I think of that position as the “keymaster.†They need to unlock the opposing defense, open a few doors for the offense to start a successful attack, even come forward and pump in a few shots on goal themselves to keep the opposing midfield honest. And if they’re focused only on defense, the offense is essentially playing a man down. Alex Song showed on Saturday that Arsenal aren’t going to be playing a man down this year. If you’re an opposing coach, and you watch film from Saturday’s game, you have to redesign your defense because of Alex Song’s contributions. You need to mark him, you need to break him up on offensive attacks, you need to account for him because he’s going to unlock your defense if you don’t. It’s a totally different approach from defending Arsenal in the post-Vieira days, and I think credit needs to go to Song (and even Arsene Wenger from a tactical perspective) for unleashing himself more in attack.
Song had a wonderfully-complete match against Bolton on Saturday, completing 58 out of 62 passes, breaking up play in the midfield, and scoring a fantastic goal of strength and skill. But, as simple pass efficiency is a meaningless statistic, I wanted to look at where he was passing the ball to show how aggressive Song was in attack. Out of his 62 passes, roughly 70 percent of them were passed forward into attacking positions. He remained positionally cognizant and kept to his priorities still, spending 63 percent of his time planted firmly in the middle of the pitch, but he also spent 15 percent of his play just outside (and even a little bit inside) the Bolton box, showing a real sense of awareness in joining the attacking charge. Defensively, Song had five interceptions, five tackles, two blocks inside the penalty area, one big clearance in the box, and broke up play five times with run-stopping free kicks well-beyond the Arsenal goal. That’s smart defending. Concede free kicks away from your goal.
Song had a wonderfully-complete match against Bolton on Saturday, completing 58 out of 62 passes, breaking up play in the midfield, and scoring a fantastic goal of strength and skill. But, as simple pass efficiency is a meaningless statistic, I wanted to look at where he was passing the ball to show how aggressive Song was in attack. Out of his 62 passes, roughly 70 percent of them were passed forward into attacking positions. He remained positionally cognizant and kept to his priorities still, spending 63 percent of his time planted firmly in the middle of the pitch, but he also spent 15 percent of his play just outside (and even a little bit inside) the Bolton box, showing a real sense of awareness in joining the attacking charge. Defensively, Song had five interceptions, five tackles, two blocks inside the penalty area, one big clearance in the box, and broke up play five times with run-stopping free kicks well-beyond the Arsenal goal. That’s smart defending. Concede free kicks away from your goal.
